Nivkh (Нивхгу диф)

Nivkh is a language isolate spoken by about 1,000 people in Outer Manchuria along the Amgun and Amur rivers and part of Sakhlin Island. There are three main dialects: Amur, East Sakhlin and North Sakhlin, with only limited mutally intelligibilty between them.

Nivkh is also known as Gilyak. It is unrelated to any other language, though is sometimes included in the Paleosiberian group of languages for convenience. Nivkhs living along the Amur river call themselvesNivh, while those on Sakhlin are known asN'ivhgn-N'igvn, meaning 'man'. The term Gilyak is the name given to the Nivkhs by the neighbouring Manchus.

Nivkh first appeared in writing in the 1880s in a Nivkh-Nanai primer compiled by a missionary. A Latin-based alphabet for Nivkh was used between 1931 and 1953, when a switch was made to the Cyrillic alphabet.

Nivkh alphabet and pronunciation

The letters Ё, Щ and Ь are only used for Russian loanwords.

Download an alphabet chart for Nivkh (Excel)

Information about Nivkh pronunciation compiled by Wolfram Siegel

Sample text in Nivkh

Сик нивгун куғытӻарта, пʼинамад яймта адяй правоғир̌ пʼӊафқ-ӊафқғир̌ салӻата ӿат пантадғун.

Transliteration

Sik nivgun kuğygharta, pʼinamad jajmta adjaj pravoğiř pʼngafq-ngafqğiř salghata hat pantadğun.

Source:https://unicode.org/udhr/d/udhr_niv.html

Sample video

Information about Nivkh |Numbers

Links

Information about the Nivkh language and people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nivkh_language
http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/nivkhs.shtml
http://www.peoples.org.ru/eng_nivh.html

Sound Materials of the Nivkh Language
http://ext-web.edu.sgu.ac.jp/hidetos/HTML/SMNStitle.html

Languages written with theCyrillic alphabet

Abaza,Abkhaz,Adyghe,Aghul,Akhvakh,Akkala Sámi,Aleut,Altay,Alyutor,Andi,Archi,Assyrian / Neo-Assyrian,Avar,Azeri,Bagvalal,Balkar,Baraba Tatar,Bashkir,Belarusian,Bezhta,Bosnian,Botlikh,Budukh,Bulgarian,Buryat,Chamalal,Chechen,Chelkan,Chukchi,Chulym,Chuvash,Crimean Tatar,Dargwa,Daur,Dolgan,Dungan,Enets,Erzya,Even,Evenki,Gagauz,Godoberi,Hinukh,Hunzib,Ingush,Interslavic,Itelmen,Juhuri,Kabardian,Kaitag,Kalderash Romani,Kalmyk,Karaim,Karakalpak,Karata,Karelian,Kazakh,Ket,Khakas,Khanty,Khinalug,Khorasani Turkic,Khwarshi,Kildin Sámi,Kili,Komi,Koryak,Krymchak,Kryts,Kubachi,Kumandy,Kumyk,Kurdish,Kyrgyz,Lak,Lezgi,Lingua Franca Nova,Lithuanian,Ludic,Macedonian,Mansi,Mari,Moksha,Moldovan,Mongolian,Montenegrin,Nanai,Negidal,Nenets,Nganasan,Nivkh,Nogai,Old Church Slavonic,Oroch,Orok,Ossetian,Pontic Greek,Romanian,Rushani,Russian,Rusyn,Rutul,Selkup,Serbian,Shor,Shughni,Siberian Tatar,Sirenik,Slovio,Soyot,Tabassaran,Tajik,Talysh,Tat,Tatar,Teleut,Ter Sámi,Tindi,Tofa,Tsakhur,Tsez,Tsudaqar,Turkmen,Tuvan,Ubykh,Udege,Udi,Udmurt,Ukrainian,Ulch,Urum,Uyghur,Uzbek,Veps,Votic,Wakhi,West Polesian,Xibe,Yaghnobi,Yakut,Yazghulami,Yukaghir (Northern / Tundra),Yukaghir (Southern / Kolyma),Yupik (Central Siberian)

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Language isolates

Adaizan,Ainu,Basque,Burushaski,Candoshi-Shapra,Chitimacha,Eskayan,Hadza,Haida,Karuk,Kawésqar,Keres,Kuot,Kusunda,Kutenai,Maybrat,Natchez,Nihali,Nivkh,Páez,Purepecha,Sandawe,Seri,Sumerian,Tartessian,Ticuna,Tiwi,Tonkawa,Tunica,Urarina,Waorani,Warao,Wardaman,Washo,Yaghan,Yele,Yuchi/Euchee,Zuni

Page last modified: 01.06.25

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