Research Projects

Aleut

In the frameworks of the project of preservation of the languages of peoples of Siberia, Far East and North America a dictionary of the language of Kamchatka Aleuts has been recently published. Book in Aleutian “Язык алеутов острова Беринга: словарь и тексты” (“The Language of the Aleuts of the Bering Island: Dictionary and Texts”) was prepared for publication, published and printed in Japan. The dictionary was published in Aleutian, English and Japanese languages. That project was developed by the Center of linguistic studies of Otaru University, Japan with the participation of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North of Kamchatka, Northern Academy of KSPU (Kamchatka State Pedagogical University) and Kamchatka Branch of Pacific Institute of Geography (PIG), Far Eastern Branch of RAS. In prospect the translation of the dictionary of the Aleut language published in Japan into Russian is planned.

Chelkan

Grant of the RFBR in collaboration with Germal Scientific Research Society (DFG) (No.03-06-04-001): “The Corpus of Chelkan Texts: Documentation of Spoken Chelkan Language with the Purpose of Preservation of the Data of this Language”, 2004-2005.

Chulym

In 2003 American linguists sponsored by Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project organized a short-term expedition to Tomsk Province, to the compact communities of Chulym Turkic people. In 2005 project (Documentation of Ös: A Turkic Language of Siberia) was supported to be implemented in 2005-2008. Funds provided by The Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project equaled to £65572. The project is directed by Prof. Gregory Andersen and Prof. David Harrison (both from Swarthmore College, USA). The project should yield in a reading book for children, grammar of Öс language and an electronic archive of annotated digital video records. [details]

Ket

At the Laborotary for languages of the peoples of Siberia the work at a dictionary of Ket-Russian Dictionary, grant of the Institute of Max Plank (project leader E.G. Kotorova).

At the Institute for Phylology of Siberian section of the Russian Academy of Sciences the work at the Ket folklore volume in the series “Folklore of the peoples of Siberia” is being done (project leader N.M. Grishina).

Two projects are being realized at Research Computer Centre of Moscow State Lomonosov University:

• “A Multimedia database of Ket”, grant of the Russian Foundation for the Humanities, 2004-2006, No.04-04-12028v, (project leader O.A. Kazakevich; some materials can be found on the Web sites minlang.srcc.msu.ru and sdld.narod.ru);
• “Interaction of the segmental and supra-segmental levels in the phonetic systems of Siberian languages (a case study of the contacting languages of the Middle Yenisei and adjacent territories)”, grant of the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Researches, 2005-2007, 05-06-80234 (project leader O.A. Kazakevich).

Languages of Kamchatka Peninsula

Since 1993, a number of international ethnographic field projects in Kamchatka have been conducted by Erich Kasten in collaboration with Russian colleagues and local experts. Unfortunately however, more specific project proposals on the important issue of preserving endangered languages of Kamchatka had never received institutional and financial support. Nevertheless, I followed up these themes on my own and initiated respective projects. The outcomes turned out as spin-offs from the overall research agenda, although these eventually led to more substantial results. [details]

Nivkh

• Project “Sound Patterns of Arctic Languages”. Scholar: Hidetoshi Shiraishi (Chiba University, Japan). Financed by the Ubbo Emmius Fonds. Supervisors: Prof. Dr. J. Nerbonne, Dr. T. de Graaf, Dr. D. G. Gilbers. This research project consists of two academic activities that will be carried out simultaneously:
  1. A description of the phonology of Nivkh within the framework of Generative Phonology
  2. Construction of a linguistic database of Nivkh
  Address: Department of Linguistics, Postbus 716, 9700 AS Groningen. Phone: +31 50 363 5982. E-mail: H.Shiraishi@let.rug.nl. Homepage: www.let.rug.nl/~toshi, ext-web.edu.sgu.ac.jp/hidetos/, www.rug.nl/let/onderzoek/onderzoekinstituten/clcg/projects/shiraishi

Oroch

Linguistic processing of the archive materials of V.K. Arsenyev on the Udege and Oroch languages (1908-1912). Supported by the Russian State Foundation for Humanities. Project No.05-04-04073а (together with the senior research fellow of the Institute of Linguistic Studies, RAS N.L. Sukhachev).

Selkup

• “A Computer Thesaurus of the language of Folklore texts of the Northern Selkup”, grant of the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Researches, 1998-2000, No.98-06-80100 (project leader O.A. Kazakevich);
• “Changes of the language of the Northern Selkups in the XXth century”, grant of the Russian Foundation for the Humanities, 2001-2003, No.01-04-16225a;
• “Local dialects of the Northern Selkups: a comtrastive description and a data base of sound files”, grant of the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Researches, 2001-2003, No.01-06-80363 (project leader O.A. Kazakevich).
• “Interaction of the segmental and supra-segmental levels in the phonetic systems of Siberian languages (a case study of the contacting languages of the Middle Yenisei and adjacent territories)”, grant of the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Researches, 2005-2007, No.05-06-80234 (project leader O.A. Kazakevich).
• “A Dictionary of the dialects of the Southern Selkup”, grant of the Russian Foundation for the Humanities, 2001-2003 (project leader V.V. Bykonia).
• There was also a project aimed at reconstruction of historical development of Selkup supported by the Russian Foundation for the Humanities, 2001-2003 (project leader L.A. Ilyina).
• Databases of Selkup linguistic materials (texts and dictionaries including “A Sounding Dictionary of Local Dialects of the Northern Selkups”) are developed at the Laboratory for Computational Lexicography (Research Computer Centre of Moscow State Lomonosov University), at the Institute of the Finno-Ugric/Uralic Studies (Hamburg University), and at the Chair for the languages of Siberian Peoples (Tomsk State Teacher Training University).

Shor

In December 2003 with the financial support from The Endangered Language Fund, USA D.A. Funk completed the project on audio fixation of the Shors heroic epos from the modern epic singer – kaichi Vladimir Egorovich Tannagashev (born 1932). The aim of the project was to preserve probably the last examples of the poetic Shors language. Fund covered travel expenses from Moscow to Kemerovo region and back, also the cost of disks for MD recorder and informant’s fee. The project expenses were partly covered from the fundamental research program from Historical-Philological Department of Russian Academy of Sciences “Historical and cultural evolution, contemporary situation and perspectives for the sustainable development of small indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and Far East”. [details]

Udeghe

The project “Linguistic processing of V.K. Arceniev's achival data on Udeghe and Oroch languages (1908-1912)” is supportde by Russian Foundation for Humanities (website), grant No.05-04-04073a (A.Kh. Girfanova and N.L. Sukhachev, senior research fellow, Institute of Linguistic Studies, RAS).

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