View source for Even language

{{Short description|Tungusic language}}
{{Distinguish|Evenki language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Even
| altname          = Lamut, Ewen, Eben, Orich, Ilqan
| nativename       = {{lang|eve|эвэды торэн}}<br>{{tlit|eve|evedy toren}}
| states           = [[Russia]]
| region           = [[Russian Far East]]
| ethnicity        = 21,800 [[Evens]] (2010 census)<ref name=e18/>
| speakers         = {{sigfig|5660|2}}
| date             = 2010 census
| ref              = e18
| familycolor      = Altaic
| fam1             = [[Tungusic languages|Tungusic]]
| fam2             = Northern
| fam3             = [[Ewenic languages|Ewenic]]
| script           = [[Cyrillic]]
| map2             = Lang Status 40-SE.svg
| mapcaption2      = {{center|{{small|Even is classified as Severely Endangered by the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]''}}}}
| iso3             = eve
| glotto           = even1260
| glottorefname    = Even
| notice           = ipa
| dia1             = Western
| dia2             = Eastern
| dia3             = Arman [[Extinct language|†]]
| map              = File:Distribution_of_the_Tungusic_languages.svg
| mapcaption       = {{Legend|aa251c|Even}}
}}

'''Even''' {{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|v|ɛ|n}} {{respell|ə|VEN}}, also known as '''Lamut''', '''Ewen''', '''Eben''', '''Orich''', '''Ilqan''' ({{langx|ru|Эве́нский язы́к|Evénsky yazýk}}, historically also {{langx|ru|Ламутский язы́к|Lamutsky yazýk|label=none}}), is a [[Tungusic languages|Tungusic]] language spoken by the [[Evens]] in [[Siberia]]. It is spoken by widely scattered communities of [[Reindeer herding|reindeer herders]] from [[Kamchatka Peninsula|Kamchatka]] and the [[Sea of Okhotsk]] in the east to the [[Lena (river)|Lena]] river in the west and from the [[Arctic Ocean|Arctic coast]] in the north to the [[Aldan (river)|Aldan]] river in the south. Even is an [[endangered language]] with only some 5,700 speakers (Russian census, 2010). These speakers are specifically from the [[Magadan Oblast|Magadan region]], the [[Chukotka Autonomous Okrug|Chukot region]] and the [[Koryak Okrug|Koryak region]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/even.htm|title=Even (Lamut) language and alphabet|website=www.omniglot.com|access-date=2017-02-08}}</ref>

In the regions where the Evens primarily reside, the Even language is generally taught in pre-school and elementary school alongside the national language, [[Russian language|Russian]]. Where Even functioned primarily as an [[oral language]] for communication between reindeer herding brigades, textbooks began circulating throughout these educational institutions from around 1925 to 1995.<ref name="lingsib.iea.ras.ru">{{Cite web|url=http://lingsib.iea.ras.ru/en/languages/even.shtml|title=Endangered Languages of Siberia - The Even Language|website=lingsib.iea.ras.ru|access-date=2017-02-09}}</ref>

The syntax of the Even language follows the [[nominative case]] and subject-object-verb (SOV) word order, with the attribute preceding the dependent member.<ref name="lingsib.iea.ras.ru"/>

==Dialects==
The dialects are Arman (transitional between Even and [[Evenki language|Evenki]]), Indigirka, Kamchatka, Kolyma-Omolon, Okhotsk, Ola, Tompon, Upper Kolyma, Sakkyryr and Lamunkhin.<ref>{{Ethnologue15|eve}}</ref> Ola is the literary dialect.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Эвенский язык |url=https://tapemark.narod.ru/les/590b.html |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=tapemark.narod.ru}}</ref> The Arman dialect has been extinct since the 1970s.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000187026|title=Atlas of the world's languages in danger|first1=Christopher|last1=Moseley|first2=Alexandre|last2=Nicolas|quote=Languages that have become extinct since being linguistically described include Mator (Samoyed, in the 1840s), Kott (Yeniseic, in the 1850s), Arman (an archaic variety of Even, in the 1970s)|journal=[[UNESCO]]|date=2010|access-date=2025-03-02}}</ref>

==Language contact==
In some remote Arctic villages, such as [[Russkoye Ustye]], whose population descended from Russian-Even intermarriage, the language spoken into the 20th century was a dialect of Russian with a strong Even influence.<ref>[http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/lilab/krasovitsky/krasovitsky-eng/archive.htm Russian dialects in East Siberia and Kamchatka]. Reviews such publications as: A. Krasovitsky and Ch. Sappok. "The Isolated Russian Dialectal System in Contact with Tungus Languages in Siberia and Far East"; A.Krasovitsky.  "Prosody of Statements in the Speech of Old Settlers in the Polar Region".</ref>

== Phonology ==
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+ Vowels
|-
! !! [[Front vowel|Front]] !! [[Central vowel|Central]] !! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}} {{IPA link|iː}}<br />{{IPA link|ɪ}} {{IPA link|ɪː}}
|||{{IPA link|u}} {{IPA link|uː}}<br />{{IPA link|ʊ}} {{IPA link|ʊː}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}} {{IPA link|eː}}
|{{IPA link|ə}} {{IPA link|əː}}
|{{IPA link|o}} {{IPA link|oː}}<br />{{IPA link|ɔ}} {{IPA link|ɔː}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}} {{IPA link|aː}}
|
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Consonants<ref name=":0">Kim, Juwon. 2011.</ref>
|-
! colspan="2" | 
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPAlink|m}}
| {{IPAlink|n}}
| {{IPAlink|ɲ}}
| {{IPAlink|ŋ}}
| 
| 
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Plosive]]/<br />[[Affricate]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
| {{IPAlink|p}}
| {{IPAlink|t}}
| {{IPAlink|t͡ʃ}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPAlink|k}} ~ ({{IPAlink|q}})
| 
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
| {{IPAlink|b}}
| {{IPAlink|d}}
| {{IPAlink|d͡ʒ}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPAlink|g}} ~ ({{IPAlink|ɣ}})
| 
| 
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
| 
| {{IPAlink|s}}
| 
| 
| {{IPAlink|h}}
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
| 
| {{IPAlink|r}}
| 
| 
| 
| 
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant]]
| {{IPAlink|ʋ}} ~ {{IPAlink|w}}
| {{IPAlink|l}}
| {{IPAlink|j}}
| 
| 
| 
|}

{{IPA|[q]}}, and {{IPA|[ɣ]}} are allophones of {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/g/}}, respectively.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Vowel harmony in two Even dialects: Production and perception|last=Aralova|first=Natalia|year=2015}}</ref>

==Morphology and syntax==

Even parts of speech include [[postposition]]s, [[conjunction (grammar)|conjunction]], [[particle (grammar)|particles]], and [[adverb]]s, as well as nouns and verbs; nouns in Even can function as adjectives and adverbs. Even features a [[nominative-accusative alignment]] with [[subject-object-verb word order]]. There exists an obligatory [[copula (linguistics)|copula]], but it can be omitted if a noun in the [[predicate (grammar)|predicate]] is inflected for the third person.

Nouns in Even are marked for 13 [[grammatical case|cases]], including the [[nominative]], [[accusative]], [[dative]], [[lative]], two forms of the [[locative]], [[prolative]], three forms of the [[ablative]], [[instrumental case|instrumental]], and [[comitative]]. They are also inflected for the singular or plural number and for possession, as well as for the subjective, which indicates that the subject noun has no object. Noun inflection is exclusively suffixing. Its pronouns are distinguished between personal, [[reflexive pronoun|reflexive]], and [[possession (linguistics)|possessive]] forms, with a distinction between [[inalienable possession|alienable and inalienable forms]].

Verbs can be conjugated with prefixes for 15 [[grammatical aspect|aspects]] and feature 6 distinctions in [[voice (grammar)|voice]], with specific negative and interrogative forms. There are 14 ways to form [[participle]]s, 8 being [[transgressive (linguistics)|transgressives]].

==Orthography==
{{main|Even alphabets}}
At present, Even writing functions in Cyrillic. There are 3 stages in the history of Even writing:
* until the early 1930s, early attempts to create a written language based on the Cyrillic alphabet;
* 1931-1937 - writing on the Latin basis;
* since 1937 - modern writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet.

''Modern Even alphabet''
{| style="font-family:Arial; font-size:1.4em; border-color:#000000; border-width:1px; border-style:solid; border-collapse:collapse; background-color:#F8F8EF"
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | А а
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Б б
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | В в
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Г г
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Д д
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Е е
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ё ё
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ж ж
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | З з
|
|-
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | И и
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Й й
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | К к
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Л л
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | М м
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Н н
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | [[En with hook|Ӈ ӈ]]
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | О о
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | [[Oe (Cyrillic)|Ө ө]]
|
|-
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | [[Oe with diaeresis|Ӫ ӫ]]
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | П п
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Р р
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | С с
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Т т
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | У у
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ф ф
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Х х
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ц ц
|
|-
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ч ч
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ш ш
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Щ щ
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ъ ъ
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ы ы
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ь ь
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Э э
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ю ю
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Я я
|
|
|
|}

Long vowels are indicated by a macron above the corresponding letter.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://lingsib.iea.ras.ru/en/languages/even.shtml Endangered Languages of Siberia - The Even Language]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110526200913/http://pge.rastko.net/dirs/pge/pge05/100171/e100171.html Universal Declaration of Human Rights] in Even language
* [http://kaltric.de/mat/matlingu/even Vergleich der Reziproken des Ewenischen mit verwandten Sprachen]
* {{cite book| author = А. А. Бурыкин | title = Язык малочисленного народа в его письменной форме : На материале эвенского языка : диссертация ... доктора филологических наук |location= СПб. |year= 2001 | ref = Бурыкин}}

{{Tungusic languages}}
{{Languages of Russia}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Even Language}}
[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Russia]]
[[Category:Severely endangered languages]]
[[Category:Tungusic languages]]


{{Lang-stub}}