2015-2016 Expeditions to subethnic groups of Tuvans living in Mongolia and Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Krai

Authors

  • Nadezhda D. Suvandii Tuvan State University
  • Elena M. Kuular Tuvan State University
  • Aylanmaa M. Soyan Tuvan State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2017.4.11

Keywords:

expedition; subethnic groups of Tuvans; small populations of indigenous Tuvans; Tuvan language; Mongolia; Krasnoyarsk krai

Abstract

The article presents some of the findings of the 2015-2016 expeditions which aimed to study the speech, folklore and culture of small populations of ethnic Tuvans living outside the Republic of Tuva – namely, subethnic groups of Tuvans in Mongolia (sumon Tsagaannuur) and Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia (Usinski Sel’sovet)

The 2015 expedition was focused on ethnic Tuvans – Tukhalars (Tsaatans) in sumon Tsagaannuur. They are cattle herders who live mostly in taiga areas. We examined the number of thematic groups of Tukhalar vocabulary which highlight their ethnic peculiarity and typical details of the everyday life. Among these groups are the names for relatives and kinsmen, for mature domestic animals; household items; kitchenware; foodstuffs; time periods; and work-related words. Tukhalar’s phonetic and morphological peculiarities of speech have also been recorded, as well as the absence of pharingalization in a number of lexemes. The expedition collected over 100 units of linguistic material.

It was also noted that in everyday life only elderly villagers speak Tuvan, while the younger generations speak Mongolian.

In 2016, the authors organized an expedition to Usinsk Tuvans. Its outcomes include describing the phonetic peculiarities of local speech, specific traits of the vocabulary and anthroponymy. Over 80 samples of folklore were recorded. Elderly villagers were found to be using their mother tongue only in everyday speech, while the youth, school students and preschoolers speak almost no Tuvan. Those aged 30 and over understand Tuvan and can speak it, but typically don’t. The school of selo Verkhousinskoye stopped providing classes of Tuvan in autumn 2006. Almost no ethnic customs and traditions are kept in the area, and no traditional rites held, with the exception of Shagaa – Tuvan New Year, the celebration of which was restarted in 2014.

The field material collected and analyzed during the expeditions will be of use for further studies in history of Tuvan language, folklore and ethnography, as well as of linguistic contacts. The expeditions have confirmed the previously made conclusion that Tuvan language among sub-ethnic groups of Tuvans in Mongolia and Krasnoyarsk krai is disappearing as a tool of communication. Given this sad fact, it is of utmost importance to collect and publish the linguistic and cultural heritage of our fellow countrymen.

References

Datsyshen, V. G. (2017) Osobennosti istorii usinskikh tuvintsev [Aspects of history of the Usinsk Tuvans]. The New Research of Tuva, no. 1 [online] Available at: https://nit.tuva.asia/nit/article/view/694 (access date: 15.06.2017). DOI: 10.25178/nit.2017.1.2 (In Russ.).

Kara-ool, L. S., Kuular, E. M. and Suvandii, N. D. (2006) Nekotorye osobennosti rechi usinskikh tuvintsev [Some of the features of speech of Usinsk Tuvans]. In: Ertem bizhikteri. Kyzyl, RIO TuvGU. Pp. 19–26. (In Russ.).

Krivonogov, V. P. (2017) Sovremennye etnicheskie protsessy u tuvintsev iuga Krasnoiarskogo kraia [Contemporary ethnic processes in Tuvan population in the south of Krasnoyarsk Krai]. The New Research of Tuva, no. 1 [online] Available at: https://nit.tuva.asia/nit/article/view/695 (access date: 15.06.2017). DOI: 10.25178/nit.2017.1.3 (In Russ.).

Kuular, E. M. and Suvandii, N. D. (2014) Tyva dylda ivi azhyl-agyiynyӊ leksikazy [Vocabulary of reindeer breeding in the Tuvan language]. Kyzyl, RIO TuvGU. 128 p. (In Tuv.).

Kuular, E. M. and Suvandii, N. D. (2017) Etnicheskie tuvintsy sumona Tsagaan-Nuur Mongolii: issledovatel'skie problemy [Ethnic Tuvans in Tsagaan-Nuur sumon, Mongolia: Research issues]. The New Research of Tuva, no. 1 [online] Available at: https://nit.tuva.asia/nit/article/view/696 (access date: 12.07.2017). DOI: 10.25178/nit.2017.1.4 (In Russ.).

Lamazhaa, Ch. K. (2017) Problemy opredeleniia i izucheniia subetnicheskikh grupp tuvintsev [Sub-ethnic groups of the Tuvans: problems of definition and research]. The New Research of Tuva, no. 1 [online] Available at: https://nit.tuva.asia/nit/article/view/693 (access date: 15.06.2017). DOI: 10.25178/nit.2017.1.1 (In Russ.).

Mikhailova, Ia. S. (2014) Sovremennye iazykovye protsessy u usinskikh tuvintsev [Contemporary linguistic processes among Tuvans of Usinsk]. The New Research of Tuva, no. 2 [online] Available at: https://nit.tuva.asia/nit/article/view/164 (access date: 13.12.2016).

Mongush, M. V. (2010) Odin narod: tri sud'by. Tuvintsy Rossii, Mongolii i Kitaia v sravnitel'nom kontekste [One people, three destinies. Tuvans of Russia, Mongolia and China in a comparative context]. Osaka, Natsional'nyi muzei etnologii. 358 p. (In Russ.).

Ragagnin, E. (2013) Archaic linguistic features in Khӧvsgӧl aymagʹs sayan varieties. In: Tiurkskaia runika: iazyk, istoriia, kul'tura [Turkic runes: language, history, culture]. Materialy Mezhdunarodnoi nauchn. konf. / ed. by K. A. Bicheldei. Abakan, Khak. knizhn. izd-vo. 170 p. Pp. 99–104.

Sarykai, D. (1974) Svedeniia o rechi usinskikh tuvintsev [Some features of the speech of Usinsk Tuvans]. In: Uchenye zapiski TNIIIaLI, vol. XVI. Kyzyl, Tuvinskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stvo. Pp. 269–276. (In Russ.).

Sat, Sh. Ch. (1987) Tyva dialektologiia [Tuvan dialectology]. Kyzyl, Tuvinskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stvo. (In Tuv.).

Serebrennikov, B. A. and Gadzhieva, N. Z. (1986) Sravnitel'no-istoricheskaia grammatika tiurkskikh iazykov [A comparative and historical grammar of Turkic languages]. Moscow, Nauka. 301 p. (In Russ.).

Seren, P. S. (2014) Moolda Tsagaan-Nuur tyvalarynyң ezu-chaңchyldary (Dylynyң, kul'turazynyң materialdary) [The rituals and customs of the Tsagaan-Nuur Tuvans (materials, language and culture)]. Kyzyl, Tyvapoligraf. 191 p. (In Tuv.).

Seren, P. S. (2016) Tuvintsy-olenevody Mongolii [The Tuva reindeer herders of Mongolia]. Kyzyl. 159 p. (In Russ.).

Soian, A. M. and Ulamsuren, Ts. (2015) Obriadovaia poeziia etnicheskikh tuvintsev Tsagaan-Nuura [Traditional poetry of ethnic Tuvinians in Tsagaannuur]. Kazanskaia nauka, no. 10, pp. 206–208. (In Russ.).

Chadamba, Z. B. (1974) Todzhinskii dialekt tuvinskogo iazyka [Todzhu dialect of Tuvinian language]. Kyzyl, Tuv. kn. izd-vo. 136 p. (In Russ.).

Published

02.12.2017

How to Cite

Suvandii, N. D., Kuular, E. M. and Soyan, A. M. (2017) “2015-2016 Expeditions to subethnic groups of Tuvans living in Mongolia and Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Krai”, The New Research of Tuva, 4. doi: https://www.doi.org/10.25178/nit.2017.4.11.

Issue

Section

Scientific life

Author Biographies

Nadezhda D. Suvandii, Tuvan State University

Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor, Department of Tuvan Philology and General Linguistics, Tuvan State University.

Postal address: Office 118, 5 Studencheskii Kvartal St., 667004, Kyzyl, Republic of Tuva, Russian Federation. T

el.: +7 (394-22) 5-22-50; +7 (923) 268-93-69.

E-mail: suvandiin@mail.ru

Elena M. Kuular, Tuvan State University

Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor, Department of Tuvan Philology and General Linguistics, Tuvan State University.

Postal address: Office 213, 5 Studencheskii Kvartal St., 667004, Kyzyl, Republic of Tuva, Russian Federation. 

Tel.: +7 (394-22) 5-22-50; +7 (923) 263-46-85.

E-mail: kuular-e-m@mail.ru

Aylanmaa M. Soyan, Tuvan State University

Candidate of Philology, Senior lecturer Department of Tuvan Philology and General Linguistics, Tuvan State University.

Postal address: Office 213, 5 Studencheskii Kvartal St., 667004, Kyzyl, Republic of Tuva, Russian Federation.

Tel.: +7 (394-22) 5-22-50.

E-mail: soyan-a@mail.ru

Most read articles by the same author(s)

<< < 1 2 3 > >>