Ket language

Ket language

language
name=Ket
familycolor=Dené-Yeniseian
states=Russia
region=Krasnoyarsk Krai
speakers=550
fam2=Yeniseian
fam3=Northern Yeniseian
iso3=ket|notice=nonoticeThe Ket language, formerly known as Yenisei Ostyak, a Siberian language long thought to be an isolate, the sole surviving language of a Yeniseian language family, is spoken along the middle Yenisei Basin by the Kets.

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. None of these attempts have been conclusive. However, in February 2008, linguist Edward Vajda proposed a link between Ket with the Na-Dene languages of North America. His paper has been favorably reviewed by several experts on Na-Dene and Yeniseic languages, including Michael Krauss, Jeff Leer, James Kari, and Heinrich Werner, as well as a number of other well-known linguists, including Bernard Comrie, Johanna Nichols, Victor Golla, Michael Fortescue, and Eric Hamp.

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.

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 "Puteshestviya po raznim provintsiyam Russkogo Gosudarstva"). In 1858, M. A. Castrén published the first grammar and dictionary ("Versuch einer jenissei-ostjakischen und 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 Khanty. 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). Edward Vajda's (2004) monograph "Ket" is the first modern scholarly grammar of the Ket language in English. (Lueders 2008)

Phonology

Vowels

Ket Alphabet

In 1930's a Latin based alphabet was developed and used:

In 1980's a new, Cyrillic-based, alphabet was created:

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) Munich: Lincom Europa Languages of the World vol. 15.
* Edward J. Vajda. "Ket". (2004) Munich: [http://www.lincom.eu/ Lincom Europa] Languages of the World vol. 204. ISBN 3895862215. 109pp.
* E. Vajda, M. Zinn. "Morfologicheskii slovar ketskogo glagola: na osnove iuzhno-ketskogo dialekta. = Morphological dictionary of the Ket verb: Southern dialect" / E. Vajda, M. Zinn. (2004)

External links

* [http://lingsib.unesco.ru/en/languages/ket.shtml.htm Endangered Languages of the Indigenious Peoples of Siberia - The Ket Language]
* Filtchenko, Andrei. 2001. [http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~andreif/project/ket%20language.htm Ket Language]
*Georg, Stefan: "A Descriptive Grammar of Ket (Yenisei Ostyak), Volume I: Introduction, Phonology, Morphology", Folkestone/Kent 2007.
* Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ket Ket] . In Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International.
* Kazakevich, Olga, et al. 2006?. [http://minlang.srcc.msu.ru/index-2.htm Multimedia Database of Ket Language, Moscow State (Lomonosov) University]
* Lueders, Ulrich. Books: Language Description, Ket: Vajda. [http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/17/17-1521.html Publisher's announcement] on LINGUIST List
* Vajda, Edward J. 2000. [http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ea210/ket.htm Ket and other Yeneseic Peoples]
* Vajda, Edward J. 2006. [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6050673836854498204 The Ket People - Google Video]
* Vajda, Edward J. 2008. [http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/vajda.html The Siberian Origin of the Na-Dene Languages] . Lecture presented at [http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/dy2008.html Dene-Yeniseic Symposium] , February 26-29, 2008, Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska.
* Viikberg, Jüri. [http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/kets.shtml Kets] . In " [http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/index1.shtml The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire] ", NGO Red Book, ISBN 9985-9369-2-2 (Wikipedia article)


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