Pumpokol language

Template:Short description Template:Template other Pumpokol (Pumpokol: ) is one of the Yeniseian languages, formerly spoken by the Pumpokol people (). It has been extinct since the 18th century. It shares many features with the ancient Xiongnu and Jie languages, and according to Alexander Vovin, Edward Vajda, and Étienne de la Vaissière, is closely related to them. It is poorly attested, the only available lexicon amounting to about 65 words, and some of them have been identified as being Yugh, not Pumpokol.

Classification

It has traditionally been viewed as being grouped with Arin in an Arin-Pumpokol subfamily of Southern Yeniseian, but Vajda 2024 challenges this, stating that "Arin, Pumpokol and Kott-Assan display no shared innovations to support them as an opposite "'Southern Yeniseian' branch" of Yeniseian, reflecting only their geographical position rather than a genealogical grouping. According to O. Tailleur, it should be considered a dialect of the Ket language, as most materials labeled 'Pumpokol' are in reality of Ketic affiliation, not Pumpokol. Furthermore, the term 'Pumpokol' was originally geographic, referring to the name of a town and a former district (volost), originating from Template:Langx "grassy village". Pumpokols and Yughs frequently mixed with each other in the Pumpokol volost. This may be the reason for the mislabeling of these words.

Phonology

Pumpokol is notable among the Yeniseian languages in that the phoneme Template:IPAslink is often replaced by Template:IPAslink. This idiosyncrasy of Pumpokol seems to be shared with the language of the Jie, suggesting that Jie is more closely related to Pumpokol than other Yeniseian languages. For example the Jie word 'catch' seems to be a cognate with the Ket word , having the same sound change.

Moreover, this aforementioned characteristic of Pumpokol has been used by Vajda to demonstrate that Yeniseian-derived hydronyms in northern Mongolia (the southernmost known extent of Yeniseian influence), , , , , , are exclusively Pumpokolic. Since the Jie, as a tribe of the Xiongnu, are likely to have come from the same area, rather than further north, this finding lends credence to the possibility that Jie is a Pumpokolic language.

Vowels

The reconstructed vowels of Pumpokol are as follows, based on G. F. Müller's materials:

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i Template:IPAblink	ɨ Template:IPAblink	u Template:IPAblink
Close-mid	e Template:IPAblink		o Template:IPAblink
Open-mid	ɛ Template:IPAblink		ɔ Template:IPAblink
Open		a Template:IPAblink

Consonants

According to G. F. Müller's notes, the consonants of Pumpokol are as follows:

		Labial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Laryngeal/ Pharyngeal
Plosive	voiceless	p Template:IPAblink	t Template:IPAblink	(tʼ Template:IPAblink)	k Template:IPAblink	q Template:IPAblink	(ʔ Template:IPAblink)1
	voiced	b Template:IPAblink	d Template:IPAblink	(dʼ Template:IPAblink)	g Template:IPAblink (gʼ Template:IPAblink)
Fricative	voiceless	f Template:IPAblink	s Template:IPAblink			x Template:IPAblink, xʼ Template:IPAblink	-h- Template:IPAblink?2
	voiced	(v Template:IPAblink)	(z Template:IPAblink)	(ž Template:IPAblink)
Affricate		(pf Template:IPAblink pʰ Template:IPAblink)	c Template:IPAblink	č Template:IPAblink (dž Template:IPAblink)
Nasal		m Template:IPAblink	n Template:IPAblink	(nʼ Template:IPAblink)	ŋ Template:IPAblink
Lateral			l Template:IPAblink	(lʼ Template:IPAblink)
Approximant				j Template:IPAblink
Trill			r Template:IPAblink

1. Template:IPAblink only occurs as a prosodic device of tone, as in other Yeniseian languages.
2. Pumpokol word-initial Template:IPAblink only sometimes corresponds to Arin Template:IPAblink, and is not present in other Yeniseian languages.

The phonemes Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr are allophones of Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr are allophones of Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr are allophones of Template:Angbr. Thus, the phonemes in brackets are not really phonologically relevant.

Sibilant phonemes are absent in words of native Yeniseian origin.

Vocabulary

Selected Pumpokol words are presented here, sourced from Werner 2005.

Word	Meaning	Comment
	father
	mother
	to lie down
	forest, tree
	tree
	leaf	glossed as 'leaves'
	egg	cf. Ket
	son
	boy, son
	Sun
	mountain
	growth
	horse
	love	literally 'he loves me', cf. Yugh id.
	measure	Russian loan
	daughter, girl	Kott
	house, village	Ket, Yugh

Pumpokol words in Pallas 1789
Russian gloss	бог	небо	вечер	лес	дерево	земля	поле	снег	вода	дух	вино	свинья	труд	здоров	они
English translation	God	sky, heaven	evening	forest	tree	earth	field	snow	water	spirit	wine	pig	work	healthy	they
Pumpokol translation			,					,

Numerals

Pumpokol numerals

No.	Numerals (Werner 2005)	Numerals (Pallas 1789)
1
2	~
3
4
5
6	~
7
8
9
10	()
11	-iga-
12	-
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000

External links

• Pumpokol basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database