Kamas language

Kamas
"Kamass", "Kamassian"
Kaŋmažən šəkət
Native toRussia
RegionSayan Mountains
Ethnicity2 Kamasins (2021)
Extinct1989, with the death of Klavdiya Plotnikova
Uralic
DialectsKoibal
Kamas
  • Eagle
  • Fat
Language codes
ISO 639-3xas
xas
Glottologkama1351
kama1378
ELPKamas
Traditional distribution of the extinct Sayan Samoyedic languages including Kamas[1][2]

Kamas (Kaŋmažən šəkət) is an extinct Samoyedic language, formerly spoken by the Kamasins. It is included by convention in the Southern group together with Mator and Selkup (although this does not constitute a subfamily). The last native speaker of Kamas, Klavdiya Plotnikova, died in 1989. Kamas was spoken in Russia, north of the Sayan Mountains, by Kamasins. The last speakers lived mainly in the village of Abalakovo, where they moved from the mountains in the 18th-19th centuries.[3] Prior to its extinction, the language was strongly influenced by Turkic and Yeniseian languages.

The term Koibal is used as the ethnonym for the Kamas people who shifted to the Turkic Khakas language.[citation needed] The modern Koibal people are mixed Samoyed–Khakas–Yeniseian. The Kamas language was documented by Kai Donner in his trips to Siberia along with other Samoyedic languages, but the first documentation attempts started in the 1740s.[4] In 2016 the university of Tartu published a Kamas e-learning book.[4] The grammar and vocabulary of Kamas are well documented.[5]

Linguists managed to record about 1,550 words of the Kamasin language. And It has been noted that at present a few activists still have knowledge of the Kamasin language.[6]

  1. ^ Rantanen, Timo; Tolvanen, Harri; Roose, Meeli; Ylikoski, Jussi; Vesakoski, Outi (2022-06-08). "Best practices for spatial language data harmonization, sharing and map creation—A case study of Uralic". PLOS ONE. 17 (6): e0269648. Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1769648R. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0269648. PMC 9176854. PMID 35675367.
  2. ^ Rantanen, Timo, Vesakoski, Outi, Ylikoski, Jussi, & Tolvanen, Harri. (2021). Geographical database of the Uralic languages (v1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4784188
  3. ^ Salminen, Tapani (2023-02-20), "On the Demography, Endangerment, and Revitalization of the Uralic Languages", The Uralic Languages (2 ed.), London: Routledge, pp. 81–116, doi:10.4324/9781315625096-2, ISBN 978-1-315-62509-6, retrieved 2024-08-27
  4. ^ a b Klumpp, Gerson (2016). Kamas (PDF).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Коротких Г. В. (2022). Современный язык нарымских селькупов (PDF). Томск: Грасион. p. 52. ISBN 978-5-6046304-5-7. "Язык, наиболее близкородственный селькупскому – камасинский. Камасинцы жили в Саянских предгорьях к югу от Красноярска. Согласно научным источникам, на 2001 год оставалось не более 50 потомков камасинцев. В наши дни их языком владеет ряд активистов."