Khanty and Mansi languages at the beginning of the 20th century[2][3]
Khanty (also spelledKhanti orHanti), previously known asOstyak (/ˈɒstjæk/),[4] is aUralic language family that has multipledialect continuua and is varyingly considered a language or a collection of distinct languages spoken in theKhanty-Mansi and theYamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs. There were thought to be around 7,500 speakers ofNorthern Khanty and 2,000 speakers ofEastern Khanty in 2010, withSouthern Khanty being extinct since the early 20th century.[5] The number of speakers reported in the 2020 census was 13,900.[6][1]
The Khanty language has manydialects. The western group includes theObdorian,Ob, andIrtysh dialects. The eastern group includes theSurgut andVakh-Vasyugan dialects, which in turn are subdivided into 13 other dialects. All these dialects differ significantly from each other byphonetic,morphological, andlexical features to the extent that the three main "dialects" (northern, southern and eastern) are mutually unintelligible.[7] Thus, based on their significant multifactorial differences, Eastern, Northern and Southern Khanty may be considered separate but closely-related languages.
Khantyliterary works are usually written in three Northern dialects,Kazym,Shuryshkar and Middle Ob. Newspaper reporting and broadcasting are usually done in the Kazym dialect.
Khanty is divided in three main dialect groups, which are largelymutually unintelligible and therefore best considered three languages: Northern, Southern and Eastern. Individual dialects are named after the rivers on which they are or were spoken. Southern Khanty is now probably extinct.[8][9]
A general feature of all Khanty varieties is thatlong vowels are not distinguished, but a contrast between plain vowels (e.g./o/) and reduced or extra-short vowels (e.g./ŏ/) is found. That corresponds to an actual length distinction in Khanty's close relative,Mansi. According to scholars who posit a commonOb-Ugric ancestry for both, that was also the original Proto-Ob-Ugric situation.
Palatalization of consonants is phonemic in Khanty, as in most other Uralic languages.Retroflex consonants are also found in most varieties of Khanty.
Khanty word stress is usually on the initial syllable.[10]
The 19 consonants reconstructed for Proto-Khanty are listed with the traditionalUPA transcription, shown above, and anIPA transcription, shown below.
A major consonant isogloss among the Khanty varieties is the reflexation of the lateral consonants, *ɬ (from Proto-Uralic *s and *š) and *l (from Proto-Uralic *l and *ð).[11] These generally merge, however with varying results: /l/ in the Obdorsk and Far Eastern dialects, /ɬ/ in the Kazym and Surgut dialects, and /t/ elsewhere. The Vasjugan dialect still retains the distinction word-initially and instead has shifted *ɬ > /j/ in this position. Similarly, the palatalized lateral *ľ developed to /lʲ/ in Far Eastern and Obdorsk, /ɬʲ/ in Kazym and Surgut, and /tʲ/ elsewhere. The retroflex lateral *ḷ remains in Far Eastern but in /t/-dialects develop into a new plain /l/.
Other dialect isoglosses include the development of original *ć to a palatalized stop /tʲ/ in Eastern and Southern Khanty but to a palatalized sibilant /sʲ ~ ɕ/ in Northern, as well as the development of original *č similarly to a sibilant /ʂ/ (= UPA:š) in Northern Khanty and partly also in Southern Khanty.
xot "house" (cf.Finnishkoti "home", or Hungarianház)
xotŋəna "to the two houses"
xotətnə "at the houses" (cf.Hungarianotthon, Finnishkotona "at home", an exceptional form using the old, locative meaning of the essive case ending -na).
Singular, dual, and plural possessive suffixes may be added to singular, dual, and plural nouns, in three persons, for 33 = 27 forms. A few, fromməs "cow", are:
The formation of multiples of ten shows Slavic influence in Khanty, whereas Hungarian uses the collective derivative suffix-van (-ven) closely related to the suffix of theadverbial participle which is-va (-ve) today but used to be-ván (-vén). Note also the regularity of[xot]-[haːz] "house" and[sot]-[saːz] "hundred".
Khanty verbs must agree with the subject in person and number. There are two paradigms for conjugation. One has the verb agree only with the subject (subjective conjugation column in the verbal suffixes table), and one has the verb agree with both the subject and the object (objective conjugation in the same table). In a sentence with both a subject and an object, the subjective conjugation puts the object in focus. A sentence with the objective conjugation puts the object as a topic.[17]
A table of verb suffixes in Khanty
Khanty has present and past tenses, indicative and imperative moods and passive and active voices.[18]Generally, the present tense is marked, and the past is unmarked, but some verbs distinguish the present from the past bychanging vowels oradding consonants.[18]The order of suffixes is always tense-(passive.)number-person.[19]
The on-finite verb forms are the infinitive, the converb and four participle verb forms.[19] Infinitive can complement a modal verb or a motion verb such as go. If it is alone, necessity or possibility is meant.[20]
The participles are present, past, negative and conditional. The first two are in use, and the last two are now scarcely used.[20]
Yes/no questions are marked only by intonation. Indirect yes/no questions are constructed with “or” :[21] S/he asked if Misha was tired [or not]. Wh-questions most often contain a <<wh-word in the focus position.[21]
Negation is marked by the particleəntə, which appears adjacent to the verb and between the particles of particle verbs.[21] That is different from other Uralic languages, which tend to have a negation verb or at least a negation particle that is inflected in some way.
Both Khanty andMansi are basicallynominative–accusative languages but have innovative morphologicalergativity. In an ergative construction, the object is given the same case as the subject of an intransitive verb, and thelocative is used for the agent of the transitive verb (as aninstrumental). That may be used with some specific verbs such as for "to give", the literal translation would be "by me (subject) a fish (object) gave to you (indirect object)" for the equivalent of the sentence "I gave you a fish".
However, the ergative, since it is marked by using a case, is only morphological, not syntactic. In addition, it may be used in the passive voice in a way that resembles English. For example, inMansi, the equivalent of "a dog (agent) bit you (object)" may be changed to "you (object) were bitten, by a dog (instrument)".
On the phrasal level, the traditional relations are typical for an OV language. For example,prepositional phrases may be after the verb, manner adverbs are after verbs,verb phrases precedes auxiliaries and the possessor precedes the possessed.[23]
On the sentence level, case alignment in Surgut Khanty clauses follows a nominative-accusative pattern.[24] Both the subject and the object may be dropped if they are pragmatically inferable,[23] possible even in the same sentence.
Khanty is usually a verb-final language, but about 10% of sentences have other phrases after the verb.[25] The word order in matrix clauses is more variable but is quite strict in embedded clauses.[26] Those constraints are caused by grammatical relations and discourse information. Those phrases used to havee content that was already introduced in the discourse. However, newly-introduced content may now be placed after the verb as well. Schön and Gugán speculate that to be caused by contact Russian.[25]
Imperative clauses have the same structure as declarative sentences, apart from complex predicates, whose verb may precede the preverb. Prohibitive sentences include a prohibitive particle.[27]
Tthe Khanty varieties have a relatively well-documented lexicon. The most extensive early source is Toivonen (1948), based on field records byK. F. Karjalainen from 1898 to 1901. An etymological interdialectal dictionary, covering all known material from pre-1940 sources, is Steinitz et al. (1966–1993).
Schiefer (1972)[28] summarizes the etymological sources of Khanty vocabulary, as per Steinitz et al., as follows:
^abcdeHolmberg, Anders; Nikanne, Urpo; Oraviita, Irmeli; Reime, Hannu; Trosterud, Trond (1993). "The structure ofINFL and the finite clause in Finnish".Case and other functional categories in Finnish syntax. p. 177.doi:10.1515/9783110902600.177.ISBN978-3-11-013812-2.
^Schön, Gugán, Zsófia, Katalin (2022).The Oxford guide to the Uralic languages. Oxford University Press. p. 615.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Gulya, János (1966).Eastern Ostyak chrestomathy. Indiana University Publications, Uralic and Altaic series. Vol. 51.
Honti, László (1988). "Die Ob-Ugrischen Sprachen". In Sinor, Denis (ed.).The Uralic Languages.
Honti, László (1998). "ObUgrian". In Abondolo, Daniel (ed.).The Uralic Languages.
Kaksin, Andrej D. (2007).Казымский диалект хантыйского языка (in Russian). Khanty-Mansijsk: Obsko-Ugorskij Institut Prikladnykh Issledovanij i Razrabotok.
Steinitz, Wolfgang, ed. (1966–1993).Dialektologisches und etymologisches Wörterbuch der ostjakischen Sprache. Berlin.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Toivonen, Y. H., ed. (1948).K. F. Karjalainen's Ostjakisches Wörterbuch. Helsinki:Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura.
Nikolaeva, Irina Alekseevna (1999).Ostyak. Languages of the world: Materials. Lincom Europa.ISBN3-89586-562-1.
Holmberg, A., Nikanne, U., Oraviita, I., Reime, H., & Trosterud, T. (1993). The structure of INFL and the finite clause in Finnish.Case and other functional categories in Finnish syntax,39, 177
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