Khanty languages

Khanty (also spelled Khanti or Hanti), previously known as Ostyak (/ˈɒstjæk/), is a Uralic language family composed of multiple dialect continuua, varyingly considered a language or a collection of distinct languages, spoken in the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Okrugs. There were thought to be around 7,500 speakers of Northern Khanty and 2,000 speakers of Eastern Khanty in 2010, with Southern Khanty being extinct since the early 20th century. The number of speakers reported in the 2020 census was 13,900.

Khanty
Ostyak
Geographic distribution	Khanty–Mansi, Russia
Ethnicity	31,467 Khanty people (2020 census)
Native speakers	14,000 (2020 census)
Linguistic classification	Uralic Ob-Ugric? (disputed) Khanty
Subdivisions	Northern Southern † Eastern
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kca
Glottolog	khan1279  (Khantyic)
Khanty and Mansi languages at the beginning of the 20th century

The Khanty language has many dialects. The western group includes the Obdorian, Ob, and Irtysh dialects. The eastern group includes the Surgut and Vakh-Vasyugan dialects, which, in turn, are subdivided into thirteen other dialects. All these dialects differ significantly from each other by phonetic, morphological, and lexical features to the extent that the three main "dialects" (northern, southern and eastern) are mutually unintelligible. Thus, based on their significant multifactorial differences, Eastern, Northern and Southern Khanty could be considered separate but closely related languages.

Literary languages

The Khanty language is spoken primarily in the Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug in western Siberia

The Khanty written language was first created after the October Revolution on the basis of the Latin script in 1930 and then with the Cyrillic alphabet (with the additional letter ⟨ң⟩ for /ŋ/) from 1937.

Khanty literary works are usually written in three Northern dialects, Kazym, Shuryshkar, and Middle Ob. Newspaper reporting and broadcasting are usually done in the Kazym dialect.

Varieties

Language-dialects of Khanty (and Mansi):

  Obdorsk (Salekhard) dialect

  Ob dialects

  Southern (Irtysh) Khanty

  Surgut dialects

  Far Eastern (Vakh-Vasyugan) dialects

Khanty is divided in three main dialect groups, which are to a large degree mutually unintelligible, and therefore best considered three languages: Northern, Southern and Eastern. Individual dialects are named after the rivers they are or were spoken on. Southern Khanty is probably extinct by now.

Phonology

A general feature of all Khanty varieties is that while long vowels are not distinguished, a contrast between plain vowels (e.g. /o/) vs. reduced or extra-short vowels (e.g. /ŏ/) is found. This corresponds to an actual length distinction in Khanty's close relative Mansi. According to scholars who posit a common Ob-Ugric ancestry for the two, this was also the original Proto-Ob-Ugric situation.

Palatalization of consonants is phonemic in Khanty, as in most other Uralic languages. Retroflex consonants are also found in most varieties of Khanty.

Khanty word stress is usually on the initial syllable.

Proto-Khanty

		Bilabial	Dental	Palatal(ized)	Retroflex	Velar
Nasal		*m [m]	*n [n]	*ń [nʲ]	*ṇ [ɳ]	*ŋ [ŋ]
Stop/ Affricate		*p [p]	*t [t]	*ć [tsʲ]	*č̣ [ʈʂ]	*k [k]
Fricative	central		*s [s]			*γ [ɣ]
	lateral		*ᴧ [ɬ]
Lateral			*l [l]	*ľ [lʲ]	*ḷ [ɭ]
Trill			*r [r]
Semivowel		*w [w]		*j [j]

19 consonants are reconstructed for Proto-Khanty, listed with the traditional UPA transcription shown above and an IPA transcription shown below.

A major consonant isogloss among the Khanty varieties is the reflexation of the lateral consonants, *ɬ (from Proto-Uralic *s and *š) and *l (from Proto-Uralic *l and *ð). These generally merge, however with varying results: /l/ in the Obdorsk and Far Eastern dialects, /ɬ/ in the Kazym and Surgut dialects, and /t/ elsewhere. The Vasjugan dialect still retains the distinction word-initially, having instead shifted *ɬ > /j/ in this position. Similarly, the palatalized lateral *ľ developed to /lʲ/ in Far Eastern and Obdorsk, /ɬʲ/ in Kazym and Surgut, and /tʲ/ elsewhere. The retroflex lateral *ḷ remains in Far Eastern, but in /t/-dialects develops into a new plain /l/.

Other dialect isoglosses include the development of original *ć to a palatalized stop /tʲ/ in Eastern and Southern Khanty, but to a palatalized sibilant /sʲ ~ ɕ/ in Northern, and the development of original *č similarly to a sibilant /ʂ/ (= UPA: š) in Northern Khanty, partly also in Southern Khanty.

Grammar

The noun

The nominal suffixes include dual -ŋən, plural -(ə)t, dative -a, locative/instrumental -nə.

For example:

xot "house" (cf. Finnish koti "home", or Hungarian "ház")

xotŋəna "to the two houses"

xotətnə "at the houses" (cf. Hungarian otthon, Finnish kotona "at home", an exceptional form using the old, locative meaning of the essive case ending -na).

Singular, dual, and plural possessive suffixes may be added to singular, dual, and plural nouns, in three persons, for 3³ = 27 forms. A few, from məs "cow", are:

məsem "my cow"

məsemən "my two cows"

məsew "my cows"

məstatən "the two of our cows"

məsŋətuw "our two cows"

Cases

1. Nominative case
2. Accusative case
3. Dative case
4. Lative case, collapse of differentiated local cases. Used to indicate relative location.
5. Locative case Used to indicate place and direction.
6. Ablative case, external case used to mean moving away from something.
7. Approximative case, used to indicate a path towards.
8. Translative case, used to indicate transformation.
9. Instructive case (related to Instrumental case), as in something is an instrument for an action.
10. Comitative case, used to indicate that something is with (accompanying) X.
11. Abessive case, used to indicate that something is without x.

Pronouns

The personal pronouns are, in the nominative case:

	singular	dual	plural
1st person	ma	min	muŋ
2nd person	naŋ	nən	naŋ
3rd person	tuw	tən	təw

The cases of ma are accusative manət and dative manəm.

The demonstrative pronouns and adjectives are:

tamə "this", tomə "that", sit "that yonder": tam xot "this house".

Basic interrogative pronouns are:

xoy "who?", muy "what?"

Numerals

Khanty numerals, compared with Hungarian and Finnish, are:

Number	Khanty	Hungarian	Finnish
1	yit, yiy	egy	yksi
2	katn, kat	kettő, két	kaksi
3	xutəm	három	kolme
4	nyatə	négy	neljä
5	wet	öt	viisi
6	xut	hat	kuusi
7	tapət	hét	seitsemän
8	nəvət	nyolc	kahdeksan
9	yaryaŋ	kilenc	yhdeksän
10	yaŋ	tíz	kymmenen
20	xus	húsz	kaksikymmentä
30	xutəmyaŋ	harminc	kolmekymmentä
40	nyatəyaŋ	negyven	neljäkymmentä
100	sot	száz	sata

The formation of multiples of ten shows Slavic influence in Khanty, whereas Hungarian uses the collective derivative suffix -van (-ven) closely related to the suffix of the adverbial participle which is -va (-ve) today but used to be -ván (-vén). Note also the regularity of [xot]-[haːz] "house" and [sot]-[saːz] "hundred".

Nomen

Case and number inflection of qɒːt 'house'

		Number
		Singular	Dual	Plural
Case	Nominative	qɒːt house	qɒːtɣən two houses	qɒːtət houses
Dative + Lative	qɒːtɐ to the house	qɒːtɣənɐ to the two houses	qɒːtətɐ to the houses
Locative	qɒːtnə in the house	qɒːtɣənnə in the two houses	qɒːtətnə in the houses
Ablative	qɒːti from the house	qɒːtɣəni from the two houses	qɒːtəti from the houses
Aproximative	qɒːtnɐm towards the house	qɒːtɣənnɐm towards the two houses	qɒːtətnɐm towards the houses
Translative	qɒːtɣə as the house	qɒːtɣənɣə as the two houses	qɒːtətɣə as the houses
Instructive	qɒːtɐt with the house	qɒːtɣənɐt with the two houses	qɒːtətɐt with the houses
Comitative	qɒːtnɐt with the house	qɒːtɣənnɐt with the two houses	qɒːtətnɐt with the houses
Abessive	qɒːtɬəɣ without the house	qɒːtɣənɬəɣ without the two houses	qɒːtətɬəɣ without the houses

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns in Surgut Kanty

	Singular			Dual			Plural
	1.	2.	3.	1.	2.	3.	1.	2.	3.
Nominative	mɐː	nʉŋ	ɬʉβ, ɬʉɣ	miːn	niːn	ɬiːn	məŋ	nəŋ, niŋ	ɬəɣ, ɬiɣ
Accusative	mɐːnt	nʉŋɐt	ɬʉβɐt ɬʉβət	miːnt miːnɐt	niːnɐt	ɬiːnɐt	məŋɐt	nəŋɐt	ɬəɣɐt
Dative	mɐːntem	nʉŋɐti	ɬʉβɐti	miːnɐtem miːntem minɐti	niːnɐti	ɬiːnɐti	məŋɐtem məŋɐti	nəŋɐti niŋɐti	ɬəɣɐti
Lative	mɐːntemɐ	nʉŋɐtinɐ nʉŋɐtenɐ nʉŋɐtijɐ	ɬʉβɐtiɬɐ ɬʉβɐtinɐ ɬʉβɐtɐ	miːnɐtemɐ miːntemɐ	niːnɐtinɐ niːnɐtenɐ niːnɐtijɐ	ɬiːnɐtiɬɐ ɬiːnɐtinɐ	məŋɐtinɐ məŋɐtemɐ	nəŋɐtinɐ nəŋɐtenɐ nəŋɐtijɐ	ɬəɣɐtiɬɐ ɬəɣɐtinɐ
Locative	mɐːntemnə mɐːnə, mɐːnnə mɐːn	nʉŋɐtinə nʉŋnə nʉŋən, nʉŋn	ɬʉβɐtiɬnə ɬʉβɐtinə ɬʉβnə, ɬʉβən	miːnɐtemnə miːntemnə miːnnə, miːnən	niːnɐtinnə niːnən	ɬiːnɐtiɬnə ɬiːnɐtinnə ɬiːnnə, ɬiːnən	məŋɐtemnə məŋɐtinnə məŋnə, məŋən	nəŋɐtinnə nəŋən, niŋnə	ɬəɣɐtiɬnə ɬəɣɐtinnə ɬəɣnə, ɬəɣən
Ablative	mɐːntemi mɐːni	nʉŋɐtini nʉŋɐteni nʉŋi	ɬʉβɐtiɬi ɬʉβɐtini ɬʉβɐti, ɬʉβi	miːnɐtemi miːntemi miːnɐti, miːni	niːnɐtini niːnɐteni niːni	ɬiːnɐtiɬi ɬiːnɐtini ɬiːnɐti, ɬiːni	məŋtemi məŋɐtini məŋɐti, məŋi	nəŋɐtini nəŋɐteni niŋɐtiji, nəŋi	ɬəɣɐtiɬi ɬəɣɐtini ɬəɣɐti, ɬəɣi
Aproximative	mɐːntemnɐm mɐːnnɐm	nʉŋɐtəɬnɐm nʉŋɐtinɐm nʉŋɐtenɐm nʉŋnɐm	ɬʉβɐtiɬnɐm ɬʉβɐtinɐm ɬʉβnɐm	miːnɐtemnɐm miːnɐtimənɐ miːnɐm	niːnɐtinɐm niːnɐtenɐm niːnɐnɐm	ɬiːnɐtiɬnɐm ɬiːnɐtinɐm ɬiːnɐtijɐt	məŋɐtemnɐm məŋɐtinɐm məŋnɐm	nəŋɐtinɐm niŋɐtinɐm nəŋɐtenɐm nəŋɐtijɐ	ɬəɣɐtiɬnɐm ɬəɣɐtinɐm ɬəɣnɐm
Translative	mɐːntemɣə mɐːnɣə	nʉŋɐtinɣə nʉŋɐtiɣə nʉŋɐtenɣə nʉŋkə	ɬʉβɐtiɬɣə ɬʉβɐtinɣə ɬʉβɐtiɣə ɬʉβkə	miːnɐtemɣə miːnɐtikkə miːnɣə	niːnɐtinɣə niːnɐtiɣə niːnɐtikkə niːnɣə	ɬiːnɐtiɬɣə ɬiːnɐtinɣə ɬiːnɐtikkə ɬiːnɣə	məŋtemɣə məŋɐtinɣə məŋɐtikkə məŋkə	nəŋɐtinɣə nəŋɐtiɣə nəŋɐtikkə nəŋkə	ɬəɣɐtiɬɣə ɬəɣɐtinɣə ɬəɣɐtikkə ɬəɣkə
Instructive	mɐːntemɐt	nʉŋɐtinɐt nʉŋɐtenɐt nʉŋɐtijɐt	ɬʉβɐtinɐt ɬʉβɐtiɬɐt ɬʉβɐtijɐt	miːntemɐt	niːnɐtinɐt niːnɐtenɐt niːnɐtijɐt	ɬiːnɐtinɐt ɬiːnɐtiɬɐt ɬiːnɐtijɐt	məŋɐtemɐt məŋɐteβɐt	nəŋɐtinɐt nəŋɐtenɐt nəŋɐtijɐt	ɬəɣɐtinɐt ɬəɣɐtiɬɐt ɬəɣɐtijɐt
Comitative	mɐːntemnɐt mɐːnnɐt	nʉŋɐtinɐt nʉŋɐtenɐt nʉŋnɐt	ɬʉβɐtiɬnɐt ɬʉβɐtəɬnɐt ɬʉβɐtinɐt ɬʉβnɐt	miːnɐtemnɐt miːntemnɐt miːnnɐt	niːnɐtinɐt niːnɐtenɐt niːnnɐt	ɬiːnɐtiɬɐt ɬiːnɐtinɐt ɬiːnnɐt	məŋɐtinɐt məŋɐtemnɐt məŋɐtiβnɐt məŋnɐt	nəŋɐtinɐt nəŋɐtenɐt nəŋnɐt	ɬəɣɐtiɬnɐt ɬəɣɐtinɐt ɬəɣnɐt
Abessive	mɐːntemɬəɣ	nʉŋɐtiɬəɣ nʉŋɐtinɬəɣ	ɬʉβɐtiɬəɣ

			possessee
			singular	dual	plural
possessor	1st person	singular	-əm	-ɣəɬɐm	-ɬɐm
dual		-imen	-ɣəɬəmən	-ɬəmən
plural		-iβ	-ɣəɬəβ	-ɬəβ
2nd person	singular	-ən, -ɐ, -ɛ	-ɣəɬɐ	-ɬɐ
	dual	-n	-ɣəɬən	-ɬən
	plural	-in	-ɣəɬən	-ɬən
3rd person	singular	-əɬ	-ɣəɬ	-ɬɐɬ
	dual	-in	-ɣəɬən	-ɬən
	plural	-iɬ	-ɣəɬ	-ɬɐɬ

Morphology

Verbs

Khanty verbs have to agree with the subject in person and number. There are two paradigms for conjugation. One where the verb only agrees with the subject (subjective conjugation column in the verbal suffixes table) and one where the verb agrees with both subject and object (objective conjugation in the same table). In a sentence with a subject and an object the subjective conjugation puts the object in focus. The same kind of sentence with objective conjugation leaves the object topically.

Khanty verbs have to agree with the subject in person and number. There are two paradigms for conjugation. One where the verb only agrees with the subject (subjective conjugation column in the verbal suffixes table) and one where the verb agrees with both subject and object (objective conjugation in the same table). In a sentence with a subject and an object the subjective conjugation puts the object in focus. The same kind of sentence with objective conjugation leaves the object topically.

A table of verb suffixes in Khanty

Khanty has the tenses present and past, the moods indicative and imperative and two voices, passive and active. Generally, the present tense is marked and the past is unmarked, but for some verbs present and past are distinguished by vowel alternation or consonant insertion. The order of suffixes is always tense-(passive.)number-person.

Non-finite verb forms are: infinitive, converb, and four particle verb forms. Infinitive can complement a modal verb or a motion verb such as go. Standing alone it means necessity or possibility.

The participles are present, past, negative and conditional. The first two are in use while the latter two are seemingly going extinct.

Questions

Yes/no questions are marked only by intonation. Indirect yes/no questions are constructed with “or” For example: S/he asked if Misha was tired [or not]. Wh-questions most often contain a wh-word in the focus position.

Negation

Negation is marked by the particle əntə, which appears adjacent to the verb and between the particles of particle verbs. This is different from some other uralic languages, as they tend to have a negation verb or at least a negation particle that is inflected in some way.

Syntax

Both Khanty and Mansi are basically nominative–accusative languages but have innovative morphological ergativity. In an ergative construction, the object is given the same case as the subject of an intransitive verb, and the locative is used for the agent of the transitive verb (as an instrumental). This may be used with some specific verbs, for example "to give": the literal Anglicisation would be "by me (subject) a fish (object) gave to you (indirect object)" for the equivalent of the sentence "I gave you a fish". However, the ergative is only morphological (marked using a case) and not syntactic, so that, in addition, these may be passivized in a way resembling English. For example, in Mansi, "a dog (agent) bit you (object)" could be reformatted as "you (object) were bitten, by a dog (instrument)".

Khanty is an agglutinative language and employs an SOV order.

Word order

On the phrasal level, the traditional relations are typical for an OV language. For example: PPs can come after the verb. Manner adverbs precede the verb. The verb phrase precedes the auxiliary. The possessor precedes the possessed.

On the sentence level, case alignment in Surgut Khanty clauses follows a nominative-accusative pattern. Both the subject and the object can be dropped if they are pragmatically inferable. This is possible even in the same sentence.

Khanty is a verb final language, but this is not absolute as about 10% of sentences have other phrases behind the verb. While the word order in matrix clauses is more variable, in embedded clauses it is quite strict. The constraints are due to grammatical relations and discourse information. In older sources these phrases have content that was already introduced in the discourse while in newer sources newly introduced content can also be placed post verbally. Schön and Gugán speculate that this is because of contact with other languages, namely Russian.

Imperative

Imperative clauses have the same structure as declarative sentences, apart from complex predicates where the verb may precede the preverb. Prohibitive sentences include a prohibitive particle.

Passive

In Khanty passive voice is achieved by moving other phrases than the subject into subject position, focus on the agent and indefiniteness of the agent.

Pro-drop

In Khanty names or pronouns can only be dropped if they are obvious from the context and marked on the verb.

Lexicon

The lexicon of the Khanty varieties is documented relatively well. The most extensive early source is Toivonen (1948), based on field records by K. F. Karjalainen from 1898 to 1901. An etymological interdialectal dictionary, covering all known material from pre-1940 sources, is Steinitz et al. (1966–1993).

Schiefer (1972) summarizes the etymological sources of Khanty vocabulary, as per Steinitz et al., as follows:

Inherited	30%	Uralic	5%
		Finno-Ugric	9%
		Ugric	3%
		Ob-Ugric	13%
Borrowed	28%	Komi	7%
		Samoyedic (Selkup and Nenets)	3%
		Tatar	10%
		Russian	8%
unknown	40%

Futaky (1975) additionally proposes a number of loanwords from the Tungusic languages, mainly Evenki.

References

• Abondolo, Daniel (1998). "Khanty". In Abondolo, Daniel (ed.). The Uralic Languages.
• Csepregi, Márta (1998). Szurguti osztják chrestomathia (PDF). Studia Uralo-Altaica Supplementum. Vol. 6. Szeged. Retrieved 2014-10-11.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Filchenko, Andrey Yury (2007). A grammar of Eastern Khanty (Doctor of Philosophy thesis). Rice University. hdl:1911/20605.
• Gulya, János (1966). Eastern Ostyak chrestomathy. Indiana University Publications, Uralic and Altaic series. Vol. 51.
• Honti, László (1988). "Die Ob-Ugrischen Sprachen". In Sinor, Denis (ed.). The Uralic Languages.
• Honti, László (1998). "ObUgrian". In Abondolo, Daniel (ed.). The Uralic Languages.
• Kaksin, Andrej D. (2007). Казымский диалект хантыйского языка (in Russian). Khanty-Mansijsk: Obsko-Ugorskij Institut Prikladnykh Issledovanij i Razrabotok.
• Steinitz, Wolfgang, ed. (1966–1993). Dialektologisches und etymologisches Wörterbuch der ostjakischen Sprache. Berlin.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Toivonen, Y. H., ed. (1948). K. F. Karjalainen's Ostjakisches Wörterbuch. Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura.
• Bakró-Nagy, Marianne; Laakso, Johanna; Skribnik, Elena, eds. (2022-03-24). The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198767664.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-876766-4.
• Nikolaeva, Irina Alekseevna (1999). Ostyak. Languages of the world: Materials. Lincom Europa. ISBN 3-89586-562-1.
• Holmberg, A., Nikanne, U., Oraviita, I., Reime, H., & Trosterud, T. (1993). The structure of INFL and the finite clause in Finnish. Case and other functional categories in Finnish syntax, 39, 177

External links

• Khanty Language
• Omniglot page for Khanty alphabets
• Documentation of Eastern Khanty
• Khanty basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
• Khanty Language and People
• Khanty–Russian Russian–Khanty dictionary (download), mirror (in case the PDF link gets misdirected)
• Khanty Bibliographical Guide
• OLAC resources in and about the Khanty language