Ket language

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{{language |name=Ket |familycolor=Paleosiberian |states=Russia |region=Krasnoyarsk Krai |speakers=550 |family=Yeniseian, part of the Paleosiberian languages |iso2=mis|iso3=ket|notice=nonotice}}

The Ket language, formerly known as Yenisei Ostyak, is a Siberian language isolate, the sole surviving language of a Yeniseian language family, spoken along the middle Yenisei Basin. Attempts have been made by Soviet scholars to establish a relationship with either Burushaski or the Sino-Tibetan languages, and it frequently forms part of the Dene-Caucasian hypothesis. The language is threatened with extinction—the number of ethnic Kets that are native speakers of the language has dropped from 1,225 in 1926 to 537 in 1989. Another Yeniseian language, Yugh, is believed to have recently gone extinct.

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Documentation

The earliest observations about the language were published by P. S. Pallas in 1788 in a travel diary (Путешествия по разным провинциям Русского Государства Putešestvija po raznym prvincijam Russkogo Gosudarstva). In 1858, M. A. Castrén published the first grammar and dictionary (Versuch einer jenissei-ostjakischen and kottischen Sprachlehre), which also included material on the Kot language. During the 19th century, the Kets were mistaken for a tribe of the Finno-Ugric Khats. A. Karger in 1934 published the first grammar (Кетский язык Ketskij jazyk), as well as a Ket primer (Букварь на кетском языке Bukvar' na ketskom jazyke), and a new treatment appeared in 1968, written by A. Kreinovich. E. Alekseyenko has written a historical-ethnological treatment of the Kets (Кеты Kety, 1967).

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Literature

N. K. Karger, Кетский язык. — Языки и письменность народов Севера. Ч. III, Moscow, Leningrad (1934)
E. A. Kreinovich, Кетский язык. — Языки народов СССР. Т. V, Leningrad (1968)
Edward J. Vajda. Ket Prosodic Phonology. (2000)
E. Vaida, M. Zinn. Morfologicheskii slovar ketskogo glagola : na osnove iuzhno-ketskogo dialekta. = Morphological dictionary of the Ket verb : Southern dialect / E. Vajda, M. Zinn. (2004)

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