Ago Künnap Knihy

The aim of this book is to address the issue of some main language shifts in the group of Uralic languages. The motive for supposing the language shifts is based on the newest research results in population genetics. Thus Lapp (Saami) languages have long been supposed to have developed in the manner that the Lapps' ancestors shifted from their earlier language to a Finno-Ugric language form. The author believes that earlier the Lapps spoke some kind of an unfamiliar language or a Finno-Ugric language form that they changed for a Finnic language form. The data of population genetics make one suppose that the development of Samoyed and Ugric languages took the same course and that the Samoyeds' and Ugrians' ancestors shifted from their ancient, probably a Paleosiberian language form to a Finno-Ugric language form. At this the linguistic data seem to indicate that the Samoyeds obtained a Finnic(-Lapp) language form. A peculiarity of Mordvin languages "in word stock they are close to Finnic languages, in grammar to Ugric and Samoyed languages" makes one also suppose a language shift.

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 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.