Shor

I. Sociolinguistic data

1. Existing alternative names

Self-designation is шор тили / тадар тили .

2. General characteristics

2.1. Total number of speakers and their ethnic group

Fluent speakers according to the 2020 Census: 2 927 people. Native speakers (2020 Census): 5 579 people. Population (2020 Census): 10 581 people.

2.2. Age structure of native speakers

Language proficiency is limited to the middle and older generations.

No more than 10% of ethnic Shors of the middle generation are fluent in their mother tongue. In both middle and older generations, all native speakers are bilingual. They use mainly Russian in their everyday life, including for communication with each other.

2.3. Sociolinguistic characteristics

2.2.2. Extinction threat

Mrasu dialect / literary variant is seriously endangered, Kondoma dialect is seriously endangered or on the verge of extinction.

There are communities of the Mrasu native speakers in both small and large settlements, including cities (Myski, Tashtagol, Mezhdurechensk). The attempts to revive Shor (nursery school courses, video tutorials, publication of ABC and grammar books) are also based on the Mrasu dialect. The Kondoma speakers, on the contrary, live only in small villages in remote locations.

2.2.3. Use in various spheres

2.4. Information about written language and its existence

The mid-19th century – the first Cyrillic-based Shor alphabet created by missionaries. This alphabet was used in several books published by the Spiritual Mission (ABC, the Holy Scripture).

1927 – introduction of the official Cyrillic-based Shor alphabet, introduction of Shor at school, first publications in Shor.

1929 – transition to Yanalif, the first Latin-based alphabet common for all the Turkic languages of the USSR.

1938 – approval of the new Cyrillic-based Shor alphabet. However, it was virtually never used after 1941 due to the abolition of the Gornaya Shoria Administrative Autonomy.

1992 – attempts to revive the Shor literary language, publication of schoolbooks and an ABC using the new graphics (added letters қ , ң ). This alphabet is in use today. However, the literary language is virtually not normalized (there are no clear rules of spelling or selection of the correct forms of words from dialect options).

3. Geographic Characteristics

3.1. Subjects of the Russian Federation with compact residence of native speakers

Kemerovo Region, Khakas Republic

3.2. List of l ocalities traditionally inhabited by native speakers (based on the 2010 Census)

Total: two to three dozens

Kemerovo Region: Tashtagol, Mezhdurechensk, Myski, Osinniki, Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo, Sheregesh, Klyuchevoy, Ust-Kabyrza, Orton, Chuvashka, Spassk, Borodino, Malinovka, Ust-Anzas, Kolchezas, Elbeza, Bolshaya Sueta, Belsu, Chulesh, Shalym, Pritomsky, Shor-Tayga, Mrassu, Chazy-Buk, etc.

Khakas Republic: Nikolaevka, Shora, Balyksa, Neozhidanny. Since the 18 ^th century, there have been Shor settlers living in Matur, Nizhny Marut, Anchul, etc. Their descendants do not speak Shor (the Shor dialect of Khakas emerged here in the 20 ^th century), but some native speakers of Shor moved here from Gornaya Shoria in the 20 ^th century.

4. Historical Dynamics

The number of native speakers and corresponding ethnic group based on various censuses (starting from 1897) and other sources.

II. Linguistic Data

1. Position in the genealogical classification of world languages

(Altai macrofamily >) Turkic family  > Khakas subgroup.

2. Dialects

Shor has two dialects: Mrasu and Kondoma (based on the names of Mrasu and Kondoma rivers). These dialects belong to different subgroups of the Turkic languages: Mrasu belongs to the z-group (Khakas), whereas Kondoma, to the j-group (northern dialects of Altai). The Old Turkic /d/ became /z/ in Khakas and /j/ in Northern Altai. For example, the word leg in Mrasu dialect is азақ , whereas in Kondoma, it is айақ ; him/herself is пос in Mrasu and пой in Kondoma.

The literary Shor language is based on the Mrasu dialect, which is why Shor as a whole belongs to the Khakas language subgroup.

3. Brief history of the study of language

Radloff can be considered the first researcher of the Shor language. He published a series of texts in Shor that he recorded during his journeys across Siberia [1]. Radloff also used Shor materials in his works on comparative Turkology. In the second half of the 19 ^th century, members of the Altai Spiritual Mission studied Altai languages and used them to write religious literature. Through their efforts, three books were published in Shor [2], [3], [4],that were compiled and translated by I. Shtygashev.

Turkologist N. Katanov touched upon some issues of Shor phonetics and morphology in his research. He recorded several short texts in Shor during his expedition to Abakan Tatars (Khakas) [5]. S. Malov included 11 texts in Shor in the report about his mission to Tomsk and Yenisei province in 1908 [6].

The apparition of the system of writing triggered the creation of the Shor literary language, elaboration of spelling norms, publication of dictionaries, grammars, schoolbooks, as well as fiction and collections of folklore. At this point, the key contributors were G. Babushkin ([7], [8]) and N. Dyrenkova ([9], [10]).

In 1939, the autonomy of Gornaya Shoria was abolished, which soon made it impossible to publish books in Shor. During this time, there were several publications of collections of Shor folklore and fiction, but only in Russian translation. The collection and studies of Shor folklore were carried out by N. Alekseev, A. Chudoyakov, V. Kimeyev, S. Totysh, S. Torbokov, and others. In the second half of the 20 ^th century, the most prominent figure in the Shor studies was E. Chispiakov, alumnus of the Tomsk School of Linguistics named after A. Dulzon, creator of the Novokusnetzk School of Turcology and the Department of Shor Language and Literature under the Novokuznetsk Pedagogical Institute (together with A. Chudoyakov).

Following the collapse of the USSR, Shor intellectual circles made several attempts to revive the Shor literary language. They published a dictionary [11], a schoolbook for students [12], a grammar book [13], a Russian-Shor phrasebook [14]. Several candidate and doctoral theses on Shor were presented at the Novosibirsk Institute of Philology of the Russian Academy of Science (RAS) and the Moscow Institute of Linguistics of the RAS, several of them were published as monographs [15], [16]. The series of publications Памятники фольклора народов Сибири и Дальнего Востока [Monuments of Folklore of the Peoples of Siberia and the Far East] included a volume on Shor heroic tales [17]. Since 2000, over a dozen collections of Shor folklore were published. They were used to create a digital text corpus of Shor heroic epic literature. Other genres of Shor folklore were collected as well, they are represented in several publications: [21], [22].

• Bibliography (teaching materials, grammars, dictionaries).
• [1] Radloff, W. Образцы народной литературы тюркских племен, живущих в Южной Сибири и Джунгарской степи. Часть I: Поднаречия Алтая: алтайцев, телеутов, черновых и лебединских татар, шорцев и саянцев [Examples of folk literature of Turkic tribes living in South Siberia and Dzungar steppe. Part I: Altai Sub-Languages: Altai , Teleut, Chern and Lebed' Tartars, Shor, and Sayan ]. St. Petersburg, 1866. P. 310-399.
• [2] Священная история на шорском наречии для инородцев восточной половины Кузнецкого округа [Sacred history in Shor for foreigners of the eastern half of Kuznetsk Okrug]. Kazan: Izdanie Pravoslavnogo missionerskogo obschestva, 1883.
• [3] Указание пути в царствие небесное на шорском наречии [Pointing the way to the kingdom of heaven in the Shor dialect]. Kazan, 1884.
• [4] Шорский букварь для инородцев восточной половины Кузнецкого округа /Шор кижилері балаларың мичике ӱргетче [Shor ABC for foreigners of the eastern part of Kuznetsk Okrug]. Kazan, 1885.
• [5] Образцы народной литературы тюркских племен, изданные В. Радловым. Ч. IX. Наречия урянхайцев (сойотов), абаканских татар и карагасов. Тексты, собранные и переведенные Н.Ф. Катановым. Тексты [Examples of folk literature of Turkic tribes published by W. Radloff. Part IX. Dialects of Uriankhai (Soyot), Abakan Tatars, and Khakas. Texts collected and translated by N. Katanov. Texts]. St. Petersburg, 1907.
• [6] Отчет о командировке студента Восточного факультета Степана Евграфовича Малова [Report on the mission of Stepan Malov, student of the Oriental faculty]. Изв. Русск. комитета для изуч. Сред. и Вост. Азии . №9, 1909.
• [7] Babushkin, G. Шор ныбактары [Shor fairy tales]. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1940.
• [8] Babushkin, G. Грамматика шорского языка. Учебник для средней школы [Shor grammar. A textbook for secondary school]. Novosibirsk, 1935 (part 1), 1938 (part 2).
• [9] Dyrenkova, N. Грамматика шорского языка [Shor grammar]. M., L., 1941. 
• [10] Dyrenkova,N. Шорский фольклор [Shor folklore]. , 1940.
• [11] Kurpeshko-Tannagasheva, N., Aponkin, Ph. Шорско-русский и русско-шорский словарь [Shor-Russian and Russian-Shor Dictionary]. Kemerovo, 1993.
• [12] Chispiakov, E. Учебник шорского языка [Shor textbook]. Kemerovo, 1992.
• [13] Amzorov, M. Грамматика шорского языка [Shor grammar]. Novokuznetsk, 1992.
• [14] Amzorov, M., Shentsova, I. Русско-шорский разговорник [Russian-Shor phrasebook]. Kemerovo, 1992.
• [15] Nevskaya, I. Формы деепричастного типа в шорском языке [Participial forms in Shor].
• [16] Shentsova, I. Акциональные формы глагола в шорском языке [Actional verbal forms in Shor]. Kemerovo, 1997.
• [17] Шорские героические сказания. Кан-Перген. Алтын-Сырык |Shor heroic tales. Kar-Pergen. Altyn-Syryk] In Chudoyakov, A., Nazarenko, P., comp. Памятники фольклора народов Сибири и Дальнего Востока [Monuments of Folklore of the Peoples of Siberia and the Far East]. Moscow, Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1998. V. 17.
• [18] Nevskaya, I. Пространственные отношения в тюркских языках (на материале шорского языка) [Spatial relations in Turkic languages (based on Shor)]. Novosibirsk, 2005.
• [19] Urtegeshev, N. Малошумный консонантизм шорского языка (на материале мрасского диалекта) [Quiet consonantism of Shor (based on the Mrasu dialect]. Novosibirsk, 2004.
• [20] Chispiakov, E. Язык, история, культура тюрков Южной Сибири [Language, history, culture of Turkic people of the Southern Siberia]. Kemerovo, 2004.
• [21] Духовная Шория. Шорский фольклор в записях и из архива профессора А. И. Чудоякова [Spiritual Shoria. Shor folklore in recordings and from the archive of Prof. A. Chudoyakov]. Kemerovo: IPP Kuzbas, 2008.

[22] Фольклор шорцев [Folklore of Shors]. In Arbachakova, L., comp. П амятники фольклора народов Сибири и Дальнего Востока [Monuments of Folklore of the Peoples of Siberia and the Far East]. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 2010. V. 29.

4. Key linguistic data (phonetics, grammar, vocabulary)

Phonetics

Shor has 16 vowels – 8 short vowels ( а, э, ы, и, о, ӧ, у, ӱ ) and 8 corresponding long vowels ( аа, ээ, ыы, ии, оо, ӧӧ, уу, ӱӱ ). The vowel [e] is represented by the letter э at the beginning of a word and е in all other cases. Letters ё, ю, я are only used for loanwords from Russian.

Shor has 21 consonant sounds and 24 consonant letters

Letters в, ф, х, ц, щ can only be found in Russian loanwords. Voiced variants of stops ( б, д, г, ғ ) and fricative consonants ( з, ж ) are located only in the middle of a word (with the exception of loanwords). The velar nasal ң cannot be used at the beginning of a word. Palatal stops к, г can only be found in words with front vowels (with the exception of loanwords), whereas the corresponding velar қ, ғ – only with back vowels. Letter ч may designate both the voiceless stop ч [ tʃ ] and its voiced variant [ dʒ ] in the middle of a word.

There is no opposition of hard and soft consonants in Shor, but consonants may soften in the vicinity of front vowels. In some dialects, the consonant л is also softened in the vicinity of back vowels.

Letters ъ and ь are only used in Russian loanwords.

Shor language is governed by the vowel harmony in a row. In the majority of grammar indicators, only the height of vowels is predetermined, whereas the row depends on the stem. If the final syllable of the word stem ends with a back vowel, the suffixes will also contain back vowels:

ағаш [tree]‘дерево’ – ағашт а р [trees] – ағаж ы [his tree]

қузуқ [nut] – қузуқт а р [nuts] – қузуғ ы [his nut]

If the last syllable of the word stem ends with a front vowel, the suffixes will also contain front vowels:

тиш [tooth] – тишт е р [teeth] – тиж и [his tooth]

сӧс [word] – сӧст е р [words] – cӧз и [his word]

One can see that the plural uses a mid-central vowel ( а/е ), whereas the possessive indicator contains a high vowel ( ы/и ).

Some dialects are equally governed by the rule of roundness harmony. It means that if the vowel of the last syllable of the word stem is rounded ( о, у, ӧ, ӱ ), there will also be rounded vowels in suffixes. Usually, it only concerns high vowels:

қузуқ [nut] – қузуқтар [nuts] – қузуғ у [his nut]

сӧс [word] – сӧстер [words] – cӧз ӱ [his word]

The first vowels of suffixes are selected depending on the ending of the word stem. In some cases, there is a choice between a voiceless consonant (following a voiceless one) and voiced consonant (following a vowel or a voiced consonant):

иште [work] – иште з е [if works]

пар [leave] – пар з а [if leaves]

тик [sew] – тик с е [if sews]

There are other cases. For plural, e.g., there can be a nasal variant, along with voiced and  voiceless ones. It is formed after a stem that ends with a nasal consonant, in which case the suffix begins with a nasal consonant ( н ) as well:

пылан [elk] – пылан н ар [elks]

In the case of suffixes indicating possession, one can witness the elision of the first sound (i.e. the alternation of the sound with its absence). In the 1 ^st and 2 ^nd persons, the vowel (after the vowel of the stem) is dropped:

чер [land] – чер им [my land] – чер иң [your land]

кебе [boat] – кебе м [my boat] – кебе ң [your boat]

And in the 3 ^rd person, it is the consonant (after the vowel) that is dropped:

кебе зи [his/her boat] ~  чер и [his/her land]

In Shor, stress does not serve to distinguish words, it is usually placed on the final syllable of a word.

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