New books: Samoyed languages

Here's some shameless cross polination from a message on
the HistLing email list... Having to do with Enets/Kamass/Samoyed Langs
Since,
Jay B.


 LINCOM EUROPA <LINCOM.EUROPA@...>
>ENETS
>
>AGO K\NNAP
>University of Tartu
>
>Enets is one of the Samoyed languages, fairly little investigated but of
>considerable interest from the point of view of historical linguistics.
>The native speakers of Enets live in Siberia, on the eastern bank of the
>Yenisey River, close to the estuary of the river.
>        The written records about Enets were first fixed in the 17th
century.
>Now there are about 200 Enetses, from them nearly 100 can yet speak
>Enets. All the Enetses can speak Russian and/or Nenets, partly also
>Nganasan. In the 18th century the number of the Enets population is
>supposed to have exceeded 3,000. The Enetses have never had their own
>written language or school instruction in their mother tongue.
>        From all the other Samoyed languages, Nenets and Nganasan are the
>closest to Enets. Enets has received most of the outside influence from
>Nenets, more recently from Russian. Enets has two dialects: Bai (Forest)
>and Madu (Tundra). The dialects primarily differ phonetically and
>lexically, partly also morphologically. The present outline has been
>compiled on the basis of the Bai dialect.       In the Enets phonology the
>opposition of short and long vowels can be observed. Although there is a
>fairly good survey about the grammar of Enets, very few longer texts
>have been recorded.     Enets is typologically a rather common Uralic
>language. Agglutination predominates over flection, synthetical features
>over analytical ones.
>        The parts of speech in Enets are nouns, adjectives, numerals,
pronouns,
>verbs, adverbs, postpositions, conjunctions, particles and
>interjections. Grammatical gender is lacking. The category of case is
>primarily expressed by means of suffixes, there are seven cases. The
>nouns are used with the possessive suffix. There are also subject and
>object conjugations with differences in personal suffixes. The nouns may
>also be conjugated (nominal conjugation). The Enets modes are
>indicative, exadhortative, conjunctive, debitive, optative, imperative,
>auditive, interrogative and quotative. The tenses can be expressed by a
>common verbal aspect but in the preterite and future tenses separate
>suffixes can also be used.
>        The separate orientation can be expressed by a trinominal
distribution
>of locatives: to where? where? from where? In case of verbal negation a
>separate negative auxiliary is used. The verbal forms can indicate the
>subject person and, in addition to its number, also the number of the
>object. Enets has no compound sentences: instead of a subordinate clause
>participial, gerundial and infinitival constructions are used. An
>attribute precedes its main word. In Enets there are numerous loan words
>from Nenets, particularly concerning reindeer rearing, Nganasan loans in
>connection with reindeer hunting and Russian loans related to more
>modern spheres of activity.
>This outline is the first extensive modern survey about Enets.
>AGO K\NNAP is Professor of Uralic Languages of the University of. He has
>published numerous papers and a few books on Samoyed languages.
>
>ISBN 3 89586 229 0.
>Languages of the World/Materials 186.
>Ca. 50pp. EUR 25.46 / USD 32.50 / DM 49.30
>
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>shipment worldwide by airmail. A standing order for this series is
>available with special discounts offered to individual subscribers.
>
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>
>
>KAMASS
>
>AGO K\NNAP
>University of Tartu
>
>Kamass is one of the Samoyed languages, extinct to date, relatively
>little investigated but of considerable interest from the point of view
>of historical linguistics. The Samoyed and Finno-Ugric languages
>together form the Uralic family of languages. The Kamass native speakers
>lived in Siberia, on the northern slopes of the Sayan mountains. Earlier
>they were reindeer rearers of shamanistic faith. Up to date they have
>changed to using Russian or some local Turkic language and become
>agriculturists.
>
>The first written records about the Kamass language date back to the
>year of 1721. The author of this outline is the last gleaner of the
>Kamass linguistic facts whose last informant died in 1989. Kamass is
>supposed to have had the Koibal dialect, the latter, however, has left
>us nothing more in writing than about 600 words. Likewise, the main
>Kamass dialect itself was divided into two subdialects.
>
>The number of the native speakers of Kamass was very small years ago
>already, perhaps a couple of hundreds only. Kamass never had an alphabet
>of its own, to say nothing about having its own written language or
>school instruction.
>
>In Kamass a strong phonetical and lexical influence by the neighbouring
>Turkic languages can be observed. Due to the scarcity of Kamass written
>records, it is possible to report only an approximate phonological
>characterization and a few basic features of syntax. On the other hand,
>a comparatively good picture can be obtained about its morphology and
>lexicology, there are also a few longer texts available.
>        Typologically, Kamass is an agglutinative language with numerous
>flective markers. Synthetical features predominate over analytical ones.
>On the whole, Kamass is a rather typical Uralic language. The parts of
>speech in Kamass are nouns, adjectives, numerals, pronouns, verbs,
>adverbs, postpositions, conjunctions, particles and interjections.
>Grammatical gender is lacking. There are three numbers: singular, dual
>and plural.
>
>The category of case is predominantly expressed by suffixes, there are
>seven cases. Nouns can be used with possessive suffixes. The tenses can
>be used mostly by means of suffixes but, occasionally, may also be
>expressed by verbal aspects. Transitive and intransitive verbs may have
>different personal suffixes, in part. There are four modes: indicative,
>conjunctive, optative and imperative. The space orientation is expressed
>by a trinominal distribution of locatives: to where? where? from where?
>In case of verbal negation a separate negative auxiliary verb is used.
>The typical word order is SVAdO. The definite object is usually
>expressed by a suffixal accusative, the indefinite one by a 0-suffixal
>nominative. A compound sentence is not typical of Kamass: gerundial
>constructions can be found instead of a subordinate clause. About
>one-third of the word-stock has been borrowed from Turkic languages. The
>outline is the first extensive modern treatment of the Kamass language.
>
>ISBN 3 89586 230 4. Languages of the World/Materials 185. Ca. 50pp. EUR
>25.46 / USD 32.50 / DM 49.30 / # 19.90.
>
>
>Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no.
>/ expiry date or send us a cheque. Prices in this information include
>shipment worldwide by airmail. A standing order for this series is
>available with special discounts offered to individual subscribers.
>
>LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany; FAX +4989
>3148909;
>http://home.t-online.de/home/LINCOM.EUROPA
>LINCOM.EUROPA@t-online.de.
>