 Distribution of Soyots in Okinsky District of Buryatia | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 4,368 (2021) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Russia
| 4,368[1] |
| Languages | |
| Buryat, Soyot (partly revitalized)[2] | |
| Religion | |
| Tibetan Buddhism, Tengrism (shamanism) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Buryats, Dukhans, Tofalar, Tozhu Tuvans, Koibals | |
The Soyot are an ethnic group of Samoyedic and Turkic origin who live mainly in the Oka region in the Okinsky District in Buryatia, Russia. They share much of their history with the Tofalar, Tozhu Tuvans, Dukha, and Buryat; the Soyot have taken on a great deal of Buryat cultural influence and were grouped together with them under Soviet policy. Due to intermarriage between Soyots and Buryats, the Soyot population is heavily mixed with the Buryat. In 2000, they were reinstated as a distinct ethnic group.
Like other taiga peoples, the Soyot traditionally practiced reindeer breeding and hunting and lived nomadically, but today most Soyot live in villages.[3] According to the 2021 census, there were 4,368 Soyots in Russia.
The Soyot language is Turkic, and closely corresponds with the Tofalar language;[2] most Soyot spoke Buryat during Russian rule, but following the collapse of the Soviet Union, there has been an active effort to revitalize the formerly extinct Soyot language.
- ^ [1] (in Russian)
- ^ a b Rassadin, V.I. "The Soyot Language". Endangered Languages of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia. UNESCO. Retrieved 2021-07-18.
- ^ Khabtagaeva, Bayarma (2009). Mongolic Elements in Tuvan. Foreign Language Study. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 15–16.