Tungusic languages
The Tungusic languages (also known as Manchu-Tungus, Tungus) are spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria. Some linguists consider them to be part of the Altaic languages but many others do not think so.
| Tungusic | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution: | Siberia, Manchuria |
| Linguistic classification: | possibly Altaic (controversial)
|
| Subdivisions: |
Northern
Southern
|
| Ethnologue code: | 17-844 |
| ISO 639-5: | tuw |
 Geographic distribution | |
Many Tungusic languages are in danger, and the long-term future of the family is uncertain.
Classification
Linguists working on Tungusic have proposed a number of different classifications based on different criteria, including morphological, lexical, and phonological characteristics.
Northern Tungusic
- Evenki (obsolete: Tungus), spoken by Ewenkis in central Siberia and northeastern China and
- Even (Lamut) of eastern Siberia
These languages can be considered dialects or related languages of Evenki:
Southern Tungusic
- Southeast Tungusic
- Southwest Tungusic (or the Jurchen-Manchu group)
- Manchu of Manchuria, the language of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Dynasty of China.
- Sibe - spoken in Xinjiang autonomous region by descendants of a Manchurian tribe dispatched by the Qing Dynasty to Xinjiang as a military garrison.
- Jurchen - an extinct language of the Jin Dynasty of China.
Jurchen-Manchu (Jurchen and Manchu are simply different stages of the same language).
Tungusic Languages Media
References
- Ethnologue entry for Tungus languages
- Kane, Daniel. The Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary of the Bureau of Interpreters. Indiana University Uralic and Altaic Series, Volume 153. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, 1989.
Other websites
- Monumenta Altaica - Altaic Linguistics. Grammars, Texts, Dictionaries, Bibliographies of Mongolian and other Altaic languages Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
- Tungusic Research Group at Dartmouth College Archived 2012-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
