The Nenets languages are classified in theUralic language family, making them distantly related to some national languages spoken in Europe – namelyFinnish,Estonian, andHungarian – in addition to other minority languages spoken in Russia. Both of the Nenets languages have been greatly influenced byRussian.Tundra Nenets has, to a lesser degree, been influenced byKomi andNorthern Khanty.Forest Nenets has also been influenced byEastern Khanty. Tundra Nenets is well documented, considering its status as anindigenous andminority language. It has a literary tradition going back to the 1930s, while Forest Nenets was first written during the 1990s and has been little documented.[6]
Apart from the word 'Nenets', only one other Nenets word has entered theEnglish language: 'parka', their traditional long, hooded jacket, made from skins and sometimes fur.[8]
Tundra Nenets has 16moods, most of which reflect different degrees of certainty in what in English might be calledindicative statements or different degrees of force in what in English might be calledimperative commands.[9] An overarching feature of the Nenets languages is the introduction of systematicpalatalization of almost all consonants. This originates from contrasts between different vowel qualities in theProto-Samoyedic language.[10]
*Cä, *Ca → *Cʲa, *Ca
*Ce, *Cë → *Cʲe, *Ce
*Ci, *Cï → *Cʲi, *Ci
*Cö, *Co → *Cʲo, *Co
*Cü, *Cu → *Cʲu, *Cu
Thevelar consonants *k and *ŋ were additionally shifted to *sʲ and *nʲ when palatalized.
Similar changes have also occurred in the other Samoyedic languages spoken in the tundra zone:Enets,Nganasan and the extinctYurats.
Tundra Nenets generally has remained closer to Proto-Nenets than Forest Nenets, whose phonology has been influenced by easternKhanty dialects. Changes towards the modern languages include:[11][10]
Tundra Nenets:
Delabialization of /wʲ/ → /j/
Lenition of initial /k/ → /x/
Simplification of /ʔk/ → /k/
Forest Nenets:
Initial /s/ → /x/
Medial denasalization of /nʲ/ → /j/
The change of rhotics to lateral fricatives: /r/, /rʲ/ → /ɬ/, /ɬʲ/
Shortening of geminate nasals
Breaking of geminate /lː/ → /nɬ/
Phonemicization of palatalized velars /kʲ/, /xʲ/, /ŋʲ/ due to vowel changes
Raising of non-close vowels preceding a syllable with an original close vowel
Loss of vowel distinctions in unstressed syllables
Introduction of short/long contrasts for /a/ and /æ/
^abSammallahti, Pekka (1988), "Historical phonology of the Uralic languages, with special reference to Samoyed, Ugric, and Permic",The Uralic Languages: Description, History and Foreign Influences, Leiden: Brill, pp. 478–554
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