A historical dictionary of Yukaghir

More about the book

The Historical Dictionary of Yukaghir serves two primary purposes. First, it aims to be a comprehensive source of information on the lexicon of Yukaghir, which includes the closely related and endangered Tundra and Kolyma varieties spoken in extreme North-East Siberia. Currently, there is no modern, thorough lexicographic description available for these languages in the international linguistic community. This dictionary presents all known Yukaghir varieties in a comparative format, drawing from both published sources and original fieldwork by the author, with some materials published for the first time. It also includes examples of now-extinct early forms of Yukaghir recorded since the late 17th century. Second, the dictionary offers a reconstruction of the common ancestor of all known Yukaghir varieties. Proto-Yukaghir stems are established through internal reconstruction and comparisons among various idioms, along with external data. While it does not provide etymologies for all Yukaghir words, it includes possible cognates from other languages, mainly Uralic and Altaic. By presenting modern forms alongside reconstructions, the dictionary lays the groundwork for future etymological research and aids in exploring the genetic affiliations of Yukaghir, often considered an isolated language. It will also benefit linguists studying the distant genetic relationships between language families and the prehistoric linguistic lands