Five languages have survived in the vast frozen regions of Siberia and the Russian Arctic. They are more than just words. They are the last living remnants of a branch of language that is thousands of years old. These are the Samoyedic languages.
Together with the Finno-Ugric language group, it forms the Uralic language family. But Samoyeds are different. It’s easy to break. they disappear. For decades they existed without ink on paper.
Who speaks forgotten dialects?
If you are looking for Samoyedic languages, you need to look North. Speakers live in the most remote areas of Russia. The group split into two different camps. Northern Samoyeds and Southern Samoyeds. The division is not only geographical. This is cultural and historical.
The Northern Voices
The Northern Samoyed subgroup has three different identities.
- Nenets (Yurak) : This is the most talked about group. They live in the tundra and are carried on the backs of reindeer herders.
- Enets (Yenisei) : Used along the Yenisei River. It’s smaller. More isolated.
- Nganasan (Tavgi) : Located further north. It is one of the few languages still spoken by the indigenous people of the Taimyr Peninsula.
The Southern Ghosts
The situation in the Southern Samoyed communities is even more dangerous. There are only two members.
- Selkup : This language still exists in the Krasnoyarsk region. Although it is a struggle, the community of speakers still exists.
- Kamas : This is where the story gets tragic. Kamas is practically extinct. This is a ghost story told in a voiceless language.
Why Written Records Are So Recent
This fact is contrary to common expectations. Until 1930, these languages did not have a written language. For centuries these languages existed only in the air. They were carried on the wind. They learn it by ear.
There were no books in the world until the Soviet Union strongly promoted the literacy movement at the beginning of the 20th century. There are no newspapers. There are no legal regulations. Oral tradition only.
This lack of a written standard has consequences today. It makes preservation difficult. This makes teaching difficult. If the dictionary was written 50 years ago, it is difficult to translate it.
Where is it currently being used?
You may wonder how these languages survive in today’s society. The answer is limited. Very limited.
The government does not use these. Not for commercial purposes. Not used in most media.
Their primary modern home is in some elementary schools. Even there, their use is occasional. This is not required. It is not universal. This is a drop of water in a huge ocean.
“None of these languages were written before 1930, and today they are only occasionally used for teaching purposes in some elementary schools.”
This is not a failure of the speakers. This is the result of historical pressures. This is a result of colonization. This is due to the extreme difficulty of maintaining a small language in a large country.
