Sibirica

Regular readers of Sibirica are surely familiar with the region of Siberia broadly construed, whether the boundaries are defined from an eco-political, geographic, or cultural perspective. Siberia covers an enormous geographic area (generally agreed to encompass the part of Russia that stretches from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east) and is home to just over 37 million people (as of 2021),¹ merely one-fifth of the overall population of Russia. Scholars of the region will also know that this sparsely populated area nevertheless boasts considerable cultural and linguistic diversity, with over three dozen distinct Indigenous language groups (Vajda 2009), each with its own distinct lifeways and traditions linked largely to stewardship of the land on which the people live.

The aim of this research is to identify and describe synonyms and antonyms in Even, aspects of the language that have been previously unexplored. This work aims to illustrate the semantic development of word synonymy in the Even language, covering individual words, morphological categories, and semantic divisions. Previously, only a few articles and superficial investigations in a number of textbooks have been dedicated to this topic. Various methodologies are used in this study, including traditional linguistic methods (language description through observation) and comparative and statistical research methods. Research into synonyms and antonyms in Even can provide valuable material for understanding the lexical-semantic and structural development of the language. Furthermore, this study can contribute to a wider investigation into the development of the stylistic resources of this language.

Even folklore, represented by original epic canvases, original texts of fairy tale and non-fairy tale prose, samples of ritual song and dance art, and a variety of other genres, represents unique spiritual wealth, a component of the common cultural heritage of the Even people. Even folklore is a stable and well-established system, having an oral form that has been handed down by storytellers from generation to generation since ancient times. At present, the Even, like all indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East, are experiencing a gradual loss of folklore traditions and a narrowing of their repertoire, which is illustrated by the authors’ field material. This article deals with the circumstances of Even people concentrated in thirteen regions of Yakutia. A brief review of the history of Even epic folklore collecting from the eighteenth century to the present is provided. The modern repertoire and the degree of preservation of Even folklore genres in all regions of Even settlement in Yakutia are characterized. There is a gradual extinction of minor genres, such as riddles, proverbs, and sayings, along with the disappearance of archaic epos and fairy tales.

Under conditions of intensive development in the northern and Arctic territories, the issue of preserving the linguistic and cultural diversity of the Peoples of the North and the Arctic of Russia is becoming increasingly relevant. Within this context, this article studies linguistic ecology in light of sustainable development and wellbeing in communities of Dolgan and Evenki—small-numbered indigenous peoples living in the Arctic zone of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia. Linguistic ecology is associated with the study of factors affecting the functioning and development of language, as well as with the search for ways and means of preserving and enriching language. Monitoring the processes taking place in the speech practices of society makes it possible to judge some negative phenomena and trends in the language.

This article presents an anthropological analysis of the relationship between landscape, culture, and identity of Indigenous Peoples of the North of Yakutia. The topic of the study is focused on an important marker and resource of identity that encompasses the landscapes of the North, its physical, geographical, natural, and climatic features, the integrated system of northern occupations and traditional practices—the domestic reindeer. This research also considers various cultural texts and personal and collective narratives of the “imagination” and “experience” of the cold space associated with reindeer in the construction and modern representations of the ethnicity of Indigenous Peoples of the North.

This article examines various aspects of identities conveyed by urban populations, factors of transformation and development of urban spaces, and historical memory as tools for the socialization, stratification, and integration of a polyethnic society in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The empirical base of the study is a variety of material, including a questionnaire survey of the urban population of Yakutia, spontaneous polls, and in-depth expert interviews. The novelty is the research strategy itself, aimed at identifying all the listed actors through the prism of symbolic representations. The study of the symbolic value of the northern cities of Yakutia as informational and cultural spaces, understanding the heritage as a certain mediative mental-material cultural layer with symbolic codes and texts, provides key registers for considering the fundamental problems of the spatial and socio-cultural development of territories in general. The results of the study show that the political identity of the population of Yakutia has been formed according to the historical memory of the Soviet past. A trend towards positioning the region as “northern” or “arctic” has emerged in recent years, which also depends on government policy in the Arctic.

This article aims to determine the way languages are represented in the linguistic landscape of the city of Yakutsk, in particular, the representation of Sakha and ethnic (minority) languages: Even, Evenki, Yukaghir, Chukchi, and Dolgan. To meet this aim, the following objectives were completed: a systematic compilation of texts from outdoor signs available on two main streets of Yakutsk; field research on the linguistic landscape of the city; formation of a linguistic corpus of urban texts; and a comprehensive analysis of the linguistic landscape. This analysis solves two research questions: 1) What languages are represented in the linguistic landscape of Yakutsk and what is their share? 2) What are some of the characteristics of bilingual/multilingual signs?

The findings of this study relate primarily to the processes of globalization that directly affect linguistic shift and present a threat of extinction to the cultures and languages of the peoples of the world. The article is based on the results of sociolinguistic research conducted in 2021 by the authors in the Eveno-Bytantaiskii National District of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The aim of the research is to study the linguistic situation of a settlement of Tiugiasirs, where the Sakha, Russian (predominantly), and Even languages all coexist. Sociolinguistic interviews were conducted, aimed at studying the linguistic biography of the informants, determining the degree of language proficiency, and assessing the linguistic situation in the study area. The survey results show that the Even language is undergoing a linguistic shift due to the assimilation of the Even language by the Sakha language.

This article deals with current issues regarding the protection of the traditional cultural expression and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples of the Russian Arctic in the context of intellectual property rights. The relevant problem in terms of legal regulation is the collective nature of intellectual property rights for indigenous peoples, since we are talking about a society whose composition is constantly changing as some members are born and others die. Still, rights relating to cultural heritage belong to the people as bearers of their tradition. The collective nature of the intellectual property rights of indigenous peoples requires theoretical justification as a new phenomenon and a definition of the term, as well as special legal regulations and the development of mechanisms for the implementation of the right.

Eveny, Evenskii Iazyk, Fonetika, Grafika i Orfografiia, Morfologiia [Evens, Even language, Phonetics, Graphemes and Orthography, Morphology.] A.A. Burykin and S.I. Sharina. (Novosibirsk: Nauka, 2021), 402 pp. ISBN: 978–5–02–041468–6.

Strategies for Knowledge Elicitation: The Experience of the Russian School of Field Linguistics T. B. Agranat and L. R. Dodykhudoeva (eds.) (Springer Nature, 2021), 192 pp. ISBN: 978-3-030-79340-1.