Tungusic languages

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Tungusic languages (or Manchu-Tungus languages) are spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria. Although it is a very debated subject, some linguists consider them to be part of the Altaic language phylum, which, if it actually exists as a genetic entity, also includes the Turkic and Mongolic language families. Many Tungusic languages are endangered, and the long-term future of the family is uncertain.

1 Classification
2 Common characteristics
3 Relationships with other languages
4 References
5 External links

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Classification

Linguists working on Tungusic have proposed a number of different classifications based on different criteria, including morphological, lexical, and phonological characteristics. One classification which seems to be advocated for a little more than the other alternatives is that the Tungusic languages can be divided into a northern branch and a southern branch, with the southern branch further subdivided into southeastern and southwestern groups.

Northern Tungusic

Evenki (obsolete: Tungus), spoken by Ewenkis in central Siberia, Mongolia, and China and
Even (Lamut) of eastern Siberia
Oroqen
Negidal
Solon
Manegir

Southern Tungusic

Southeast Tungusic
- Nanai (Gold, Goldi, Hezhen)
- Akani
- Birar
- Kile
- Samagir
- Orok
- Ulch
- Oroch
- Udege

Southwest Tungusic (or the Jurchen-Manchu group)
- Manchu of Manchuria, the language of the Manchus, who founded the Qing dynasty of China.
- Sibe - spoken in Xinjiang province, descendants of the Manchus brought to Xinjiang as a military garrison.
- Jurchen - an extinct language of Jin dynasty.

Jurchen-Manchu (Jurchen and Manchu are simply different stages of the language; in fact, the ethnonym "Manchu" did not come about until 1636 when Emperor Hong Taiji decreed that the term would replace "Jurchen") is the only Tungusic language with a literary form which dates back to at least the mid- to late-1100s, as such it is a very important language for the reconstruction of Proto-Tungusic. The earliest extant text in Jurchen is the Da Jin deshengtuo songbei inscription (The Jin Victory Memorial Stele), which dates from the dading period (1161-1189).

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Common characteristics

The Tungusic languages are of an agglutinative morphological type, and some of them have complex case systems and elaborate patterns of tense and aspect marking. They also exhibit a complex pattern of vowel harmony, based on the parameters of vowel rounding and vowel tenseness, also known as ATR.

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Relationships with other languages

Tungusic has traditionally been linked with Turkic and Mongolian languages in the Altaic language family. Korean and Japanese are also considered by some to belong to the Altaic family, but this theory is not universally accepted. Some linguists have proposed a closer relationship within Altaic between Tungusic, Korean and possibly Japanese, though this remains speculative.

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References

Kane, Daniel. The Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary of the Bureau of Interpreters. Indiana University Uralic and Altaic Series, Volume 153. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, 1989.
Miller, Roy Andrew. Japanese and the Other Altaic Languages. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1971.
Poppe, N.N. Vergleichende Grammatik der Altaischen Sprachen [A Comparative Grammar of the Altaic Languages]. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1960.
Tsintsius, V. I. Sravnitel'naya Fonetika Tunguso-Man'chzhurskikh Yazïkov [Comparative Phonetics of the Manchu-Tungus Languages]. Leningrad, 1949.

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