Tungus Languages
The Tungus (or Tungusic) languages are a group of genetically related languages spoken in eastern Siberia and northeastern China, mostly in the provinces of Heilongjiang and Liaoning, and the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. Smaller Tungus-speaking groups are also found in Xinjiang and Mongolia. Traditionally, the family is subdivided into a Northern and a Southern branch, though this classification has occasionally been called into question.
The North Tungus languages are Evenki (formally often called simply Tungus), spoken by around 10,000 speakers in central and eastern Siberia, between the Yenisey and Amur rivers. In China, the language of the Evenki nationality, usually called Solon, has 20,000 speakers in Heilongjiang. The Oroqen (in Chinese, Elunchun) language, with about 4,000 speakers in Inner Mongolia, is also close to Evenki, as is Negidal, on the lower Amur (about 200 speakers). Even, formally known as Lamut and spoken exclusively in Siberia by 5,000 people, is officially written in Cyrillic script.
The South Tungus languages include Nanai (formally known as Gold), with about 5,000 speakers on the lower Amur. The 1,500 members of the Hezhen nationality in Heilongjiang, China, also speak a language close to Nanai. Ul'cha (c. 1,000 speakers) and Orok (fewer than 100 speakers on Sakhalin island) are vanishing languages of the Nanai group. Udi (or Udihe) and Oroch, both with fewer than 500 speakers in the Amur region, form a close-knit subgroup, which is generally considered South Tungusic.
Manchu has one of the longest written traditions of the Tungus languages. The first Manchu documents, written in Mongolian script, date from the beginning of the sixteenth century. Manchu was the official language of Qing dynasty China (1644–1912). Today, very few speakers remain; most of them living in Heilongjiang. The Sibe nationality, originally a Manchu tribe relocated to Xinjiang in 1764, numbers 80,000 speakers. An early predecessor, though some scholars view it as a mere dialect, of Manchu is the Jurchen language, recorded in a unique script from the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). Some Jurchen texts were compiled in Ming times as well.
Further Reading
Benzing, Johannes. (1956) Die tungusischen Sprachen. Versuch einer vergleichenden Grammatik. Wiesbaden, Germany: Steiner.
Menges, Karl Heinrich. (1968) "Die tungusischen Sprachen." In Handbuch der Orientalistik, Erste Abteilung, Fünfter Band, Dritter Abschnitt: Tungusologie, edited by Spuler, Berthold et al. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 21–256
Janhunen, Juha. (1996) Manchuria: An Ethnic History. Helsinki, Finland: Finno-Ugrian Society.
This is the complete article, containing 384 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
