Mansi Language

I. Sociolinguistic Data

1. Existing alternative names 

The self-designation of Mansi is ма̄ньщи (ма̄ньси) , their language – ма̄ньщи ла̄тыӈ (ма̄ньси ла̄тынг). Various Mansi dialects had different phonetic versions of this word: in Sosvinsky dialect, it was маньси ( mańśi ); in Pelym, ма̄ньсь ( māńś ); in Lower Konda, мȫньсь ( mɔ̄̈ńś ); in Tavda, mäńćī, etc. This name dates back to the pre-Ugric word mańćз ‘man,’ and it has parallels in other Ugric languages, such as Khanty and Hungarian (see the self-designation of Hungarians magyar ).

The outdated name of Mansi is Voguls or Vogulichi (it can be traced down to 1396-1397 and was used up to the 1930s). According to one of the versions, there is a possible connection between the toponym of Vagil and the ethnonym of vogul , since on one of the maps of the Chertezhnaya Kniga Sibiri [Drawing Book of Siberia] (Remezov,1701), the Vagil river is called Vogulka, and its Mansi name is Volia , Vuolia (Mansi воль, вуоль ‘River Reach’ and я ‘River’) (Matveev 2008: 52). Subsequently, their language was called Vogul.

Since there used to be other, now extinct, Mansi languages, we tend to call the only surviving language North Mansi, in order to distinguish it from the others. However, for the sake of simplicity, we will refer to it as Mansi within this article.

II. General Characteristics

2.1. Number of Native Speakers and the Corresponding Ethnic Group

Based on the 2010 Census, 938 people out of 12 269 ethnic Mansi speak their native language. However, we have encountered a view that the native speakers might in reality total over 1 000 people (S. Ivanova).

2.2. Age of Native Speakers

The age structure of speakers differs in various subjects of the Russian Federation inhabited by Mansi speakers. In the Ivdelsky district of Sverdlovsk Oblast (inhabited by only a fraction of native speakers, 10% at most), representatives of all generations still speak the language, including children and young people, but its use among younger generations is gradually decreasing. In the localities of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra, where the majority of Mansi speakers resides, as far as we know, the language is spoken mostly by the representatives of the older generation, the middle one uses it to a lesser degree, whereas children and younger generation, not at all. Mansi-speaking representatives of the middle generation also live in the capital of the region, Khanty-Mansi, where one can find a job requiring fluency in the native language in the editorial office of Лӯима̄ Сэ̄рипос, a Mansi newspaper, as well as on television.

2.3. Sociolinguistic Characteristics

In the 20th century, the preservation of the Mansi language was negatively impacted by the historically established polyethnicity of Mansi settlement territory, close and prolonged contacts with Russians, Khanty, and Komi, urban growth, and related socio-economic changes that drastically disrupted the way of life of Indigenous people.

As of March 1, 2012: there were 899 Mansi preschool children in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra. In preschool educational facilities located in the areas of Mansi compact residence (Berezovsky, Oktyabrsky, and Kondinsky districts, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra), the administration pays particular attention to the integration of ethnocultural components in the educational process. Mansi children are introduced to their national culture through their native language, folk dances, games, songs, and ornamental art.

Since 2012, 3 preschool educational facilities in the Berezovsky district (Saranpaul, Nyaksimvol, and Sosyva) have participated in the innovative ethnocultural project of Language Nest. A “language nest” is a nursery school or a daycare group that immerses children into the everyday life of an ethnic minority, where preschool teachers communicate with children exclusively in the language of this minority from the get-go. Such a language nest is designed for all children, regardless of their origins, cultural or linguistic background, whose parents would like them to speak the language of the national minority. The goal is to raise bilingual children by providing preschool educational activities in the native (Mansi) language.

The district has 26 general education institutions that integrate an ethnocultural component into their educational process. There are Mansi language courses in 10 general educational establishments in the district. As of March 1, 2012: the total number of Mansi students in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra was 1,909 people, incl. 1,601 people in countryside.

At primary school level, students can take Mansi language courses from the 2nd to the 4th grade, 2 hours a week, Mansi language and literature from the 5th to the 11th grade, 1 to 2 hours a week. There are fewer students who study native language and literature in the 10th and 11th grades. The main reason, indicated by both parents and students, is the preparation for the Unified State Examination (USE).

The district organizes the Mansi Language and Literature Olympics, an annual competition for high school students, as well as the Native Language and Literature Teacher of the Year, a professional skills contest for Mansi language teachers.

Basic vocational training establishments launch new majors designed for students from the midst of small indigenous peoples of the North residing in the locations of traditional land use in Yugra. Since 2004, they have acquired skills to become longshoremen, reindeer herders, crop farmers, game rangers, and foresters. The Khanty-Mansi Technological and Pedagogical College is the only one to provide Mansi language courses as part of the Native Language and Literature major, its students are certified as teachers of native language and literature for primary schools.

In the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra, there are 2 universities (Surgut State University and Surgut State Pedagogical University), 1 academy (Khanty-Mansiysk State Medical Academy) under the authority of the Department of Education and Youth Policy of the Autonomous Okrug, and 2 federal universities – Yugra State University and Nizhnevartovsk State University. The district also has 35 university branches. Yugra State University provides Mansi language and literature courses. Mansi is taught by certified specialists, and the teaching staff has a scientific degree.

In 1992, the Research Institute of Ob-Ugric Peoples opened, then it was renamed the Institute of Ugric Studies in 1995, then the Ob-Ugric Institute of Applied Researches and Development in 2005. It is a somewhat unique ethno-linguistic and ethno-cultural research center located in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra.

The analysis of the available educational and methodical materials for Mansi language and literature teaching showed that the situation is quite favorable for grades 1 to 6. However, it also allowed to uncover a series of issues:

• lack of teaching kits (methodological recommendations for language teachers, didactic materials for students);
• lack of reworked ABCs for the 1st grade (1994), copybooks, workbooks for students;
• lack of Mansi textbooks for grades 7, 8, 9, 10, 11;
• lack of literature textbooks and reading books for grades 10, 11;
• lack of various types of dictionaries (etymological dictionaries, glossaries, dictionaries of Mansi synonyms and antonyms, etc.).

The textbooks printed by the Prosveschenie publishing house are mostly obsolete, for they focus on traditional methods and are designed for previous generations of students who were often fluent in their native language. Thus, these materials do not always correspond to modern students’ level of proficiency and their willingness to study their mother tongue.

Today, there is a clear need for new training manuals, fundamentally new textbooks, and an original unified educational and methodical system (instead of a carbon copy of the Russian one). There is also a lack of teacher’s guides, dictation books, student skills tests, tables, didactic materials for students, copybooks, task compilations, and various dictionaries for all levels. A modern secondary school providing courses with an ethnocultural educational component requires media resources (dictionaries, lessons, a new generation of electronic textbooks, folklore recordings, audible ABCs, programs for correct pronunciation), visual aids (Mansi alphabet, replicas, portraits of writers, scientists, and artists).

The most prominent works of Mansi fiction are the writings by Yuvan Shestalov (1937-2011), the very first professional Mansi poet, writer, and opinion leader, member of the Writers’ Union of the USSR. His first poems, as well as his first book Дыхание земли [The Breath of the Earth] were written in his native Mansi language. The focal point of his writings is the vivid and reverential awareness of the native land, the rugged beauty of its nature, and the unbreakable bond between a man and the outside world. His first poetic collection Макем ат [Breath of Near Land] appeared in 1954, whereas the first prose work, a short novel Синий ветер каслания [Blue Wind of Reindeer Migration], in 1964.

The translation of the Bible into Mansi was carried out by K. Afanasyeva, candidate of pedagogical sciences, professor, social activist.

Since 1989, there have been regular editions of Лӯимā cэ̄рипос [Northern Star], a Mansi newspaper. In Khanty-Mansi, there are radio broadcasts in Mansi (2 times a week, 40-minute slot; once a week, 15 minutes). Since 2003, Yugoria, a district TV-channel, broadcasts two TV-programs in Mansi, Novosti [News] (once a week, 20 minutes) and Ugorskoye Nasledie [Ugric Heritage] (once a week, 30 minutes). In 2007, Yugra, a local TV- and radio company, created, produced, and broadcast a special “Let’s speak Mansi” video in order to promote the native language.

In 2002, the State Theatre of Ob-Ugric People, with a repertory including concert programs and shows based on Mansi fairy tales and folklore, was opened in Khanty-Mansi.

2.4. Information on the Writing System

There are 3 key stages in the history of Mansi writing system: prior to the early 1930s, early attempts at creating a Cyrillic-based script; 1931—1937, Latin-based system of writing; since 1937, modern Cyrillic-based script.

The first recordings of Mansi words (mainly object names) appeared in the 16th – 17th centuries. From the 18th century, we were able to preserve some handwritten and printed dictionaries with Mansi dialect vocabulary that represent a valuable source for analysis of the Mansi language from a historical perspective, even though these materials were mainly compiled not by specialists, but by travelers who visited Mansi on separate occasions and without any intention of studying the indigenous language: Словарь вогульского языка [Dictionary of Vogul Language] compiled by I. Kuroyedov by order of V. Tatischev (1736); Латинско-вогульско-остяцкий словарь [Latin-Vogul-Ostyak Dictionary] (containing 286 words of various dialects in Latin transcription); Краткий вогульский словарь с российским переводом, собранный и по разным материям расположенный, города Соликамска и свято-Троицкого собора Симеоном Черкаловым 1785 года [Concise Vogul Dictionary with Russian Translation, Compiled and Divided into Different Categories by Simeon Cherkalov, of the City of Solikamsk and the Holy Trinity Cathedral, 1785]; Словарь латинско-вогульский [Latin-Vogul Dictionary] (1775); the Mansi part of Сравнительные словари всех языков и наречий, собранные десницею Всевысочайшей особы [Comparative Dictionaries of All Languages and Dialects Collected by the Hand of the Highest Authority] complied by P. Pallas (1787). All these compilations that recorded Mansi words from different dialects, some of them extinct today, used Cyrillic (more often) or Latin (less frequently) alphabets.

The scientific study of the Mansi language began in the mid-19th century. Hungarian scientist A. Reguli was the very first linguist to visit Mansi (1843-1844). At the beginning of the 20th century, B. Munkaci (Hungary) and A. Kannisto (Finland) also traveled to study this group. At the end of the 19th century, missionaries and local priests, who relied on the help of Mansi speakers to translate religious writings into Mansi, made several attempts to create a system of writing for them. Thus, the Gospel According to Matthew in Konda Mansi, translated by Gregory Popov (1868), was published in London.

In the second half of the 19th century, the first schools for Mansi, primarily Konda Mansi, were established. In 1903, Азбука для вогул приуральских [ABC for Ural Voguls] complied by bishop Nicanor in Pelym dialect was published in Moscow.

In 1930—1931, there was developed a new Latin-based Unified Northern Alphabet, destined to be used by all peoples of the North.

Initially, the Mansi alphabet was supposed to look the following way:

A a, Ç ç, E e, Ə ə, G g, Ƣ ƣ, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, Ŋ ŋ, O o, P p, R r, S s, Ş ş, T t, U u, V v, W w, Ь ь

In 1931, this new Latin-based alphabet for Mansi, using the Unified Northern Alphabet, was approved.

The cedilla indicated palatalization. Vowel length was not indicated in writing.

The first book based on this new alphabet was Iļpi ļoŋꜧh, an ABC. It was followed by other publications, mostly children’s and educational literature, then it was also used in the Hantь-Maŋꞩi ꞩop newspaper. In 1932, a first Latin-based ABC compiled by V. Chernetsov was published.

In 1937, the Mansi alphabet, along with all alphabets of other Soviet peoples, was switched to a Cyrillic script. It included all Russian letters, as well as the digraph Нг (нг) that was considered a separate letter. In the 1950s, the digraph Нг (нг) was replaced by the letter Ӈ (ӈ).

In 1979, E. Rombandeyeva introduced macrons to mark long vowels, thus finalizing the Mansi alphabet:

Letters Б б, Г г, Д д, Ж ж, З з, Ф ф, Ц ц, Ч ч, Ш ш are only used for loanwords.

The first Mansi ABC based on the improved graphics and orthography was published in 1980. Currently, the Mansi system of writing has been undergoing certain changes, for instance, the letter щ is now used before palatalized consonants to designate the sound [ç], instead of the letter с. Speakers of Upper Lozva dialect also use the letter й instead of г to designate the sound [j].

During the expedition to the speakers of Upper Lozva dialect, there was also elaborated a transcription system for Mansi. Below, find the table of correspondence between this system and the Mansi orthography. The orthography column contains only the letters corresponding to the sounds used in the Mansi language.

III. Geographic Characteristics

Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation with Ethnic Communities

At present, Mansi live in two subjects of the Russian Federation: Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra and Sverdlovsk Oblast. In Sverdlovsk Oblast, all Mansi population lives in the Ivdelsky District, whereas in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, their area of settlement is much wider: localities with compact residence of native speakers are situated in the western part of the Okrug, in particular, in Berezovsky district, but also Sovetsky, Kondinsky, Oktyabrsky, and Khanty-Mansi districts. According to the Census data, some Mansi speakers also live in Permsky Krai, Tyumen Oblast, and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

Total Number of Traditional Native Settlements

About 30 in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, about 10 in Ivdelsky District, Sverdlovsk Oblast.

4. Historical Dynamics

Linguistic Data

Position in the Genealogy of World Languages

Uralic language family > Ob-Ugric branch > Mansi group

Mansi languages belong to the Ob-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family. The closest related group is the Khanty languages spoken by Khanty (researchers call these two people Ob-Ugrians).

Dialects

In addition to North Mansi, the Mansi group used to include Easten Mansi (Konda), Western Mansi (Pelym), and Southern Mansi (Tavda). The differences between the dialect groups could be found at all levels of language, making it difficult for speakers of different dialects to find common ground. The dialects were named after the rivers where the native speakers traditionally lived: Konda, Pelym, and Tavda. Last speakers of Konda Mansi passed away in the early 21st century (presumably, in 2018), Pelym – at the turn of the 21st century, Tavda – in the 1960s. In recent years, Western and Eastern Mansi have been coalescing into a single Central Mansi language.

The Western dialect group of Central Mansi also used to be divided into a series of subdialects: Middle Lozva, Lower Lozva, Pelym, Vagil. They were greatly different from each other, but the majority of Western Mansi dialects are already extinct by now.

The Eastern dialect group of Central Mansi used to include the dialects of the basin of Konda river (inflow of Irtysh): Upper Konda, Middle Konda, and Lower Konda, as well as the Jukonda Mansi dialect spoken along the Jukonda river, left tributary of Konda river (Levdym, Kashat, Shugur, Karym of Konda District, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug). Already in the 1920s, the Western dialect area was the most significant one and second only to the Northern area [Haidu 1985: 38]. But today Western Mansi dialects are virtually never used: Konda and Juconda Mansi do not use their mother tongue to speak with their children, optional courses of the Mansi language at school are based on its literary variant (Sosvinsky dialect of North Mansi). In March 2013, in the course of a dialectological expedition to Shugur (Konda District, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug), where Mansi account for 60% out of 704 dwellers of the village (i.e. approximately 420 people), there were found only two speakers of the local Juconda (Eastern) dialect that were able to speak it: Elizaveta Selivanova (born Nokhova), 1923—2013, 89 years old at the time of recording) and Maksim Shivtorov (born in 1939, 74 years old at the time of recording); the rest of Mansi in Shugur only remembered separate words. During the same expedition in 2013, it was discovered that out of 26 Mansi families (approximately 49 people) living in Bochary (Kondinsky Districts, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug), not one single Mansi spoke the local Lower Konda (Eastern) dialect.

Southern Mansi (Tavda) fully disappeared before the others: it was spoken by the Mansi living along the Tavda river, and by the beginning of the 20th century, there were only 300 speakers left.

Thus, the only Mansi language still functional is North Mansi. In its turn, it can be divided into a series of close dialects: Sosvinsky, Sygva (Lyapin), Upper Lozva, and Ob. The literary language was based on the Sosvinsky dialect, whose speakers traditionally used to live along the shores of Sosva river (Kimk’yasui, Sartynia, Irgrim), but now reside in various localities, including Khanty-Mansi. The closest to Sosvinsky is Sygva dialect (named after the Sigva river, also called Lyapin), whose speakers live in such localities, as Saranpaul, Lombovozh, Sosva, etc. Speakers of Upper Lozva dialect live in the north of Sverdlovsk Oblast, mainly in Ushma and Yurtakh Pakina. Speakers of Ob dialect form the smallest group, and they are dispersed in various settlements along the Ob river, for instance, in Verkhnie and Nizhnie Narykary. The discrepancies between the first three dialects are insignificant and limited to phonetics and vocabulary, while the Ob dialect has significant differences from the others, since it was more greatly affected by the North Khanty language.