This volume offers the most comprehensive and wide-ranging treatment available today of the Uralic language family, a group of languages spoken in northern Eurasia. While there is a long history of research into these languages, much of it has been conducted within several disparate national traditions; studies of certain languages and topics are somewhat limited and in many cases outdated. The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages brings together leading scholars and junior researchers to offer a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the internal relations and diversity of the Uralic language family, including the outlines of its historical development, and the contacts between Uralic and other languages of Eurasia. The book is divided into three parts. Part I presents the origins and development of the Uralic languages: the initial chapters examine reconstructed Proto-Uralic and its divergence, while later chapters provide surveys of the history and codification of the three Uralic nation-state languages (Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian) and the Uralic minority languages from Baltic Europe to Siberia. This part also explores questions of endangerment, revitalization, and language policy. The chapters in Part II offer individual structural overviews of the Uralic languages, including a number of understudied minority languages for which no detailed description in English has previously been available. The final part of the book provides cross-Uralic comparative and typological case studies of a range of issues in phonology, morphology, syntax, and the lexicon. The chapters explore a number of topics, such as information structure and clause combining, that have traditionally received very little attention in Uralic studies. The volume will be an essential reference for students and researchers specializing in the Uralic languages and for typologists and comparative linguists more broadly.
Transcription and glossing The contributors Timo Rantanen, Outi Vesakoski, and Jussi Ylikoski: Mapping the distribution of the Uralic languages Marianne Bakró-Nagy, Johanna Laakso, and Elena Skribnik: Introduction Part I: The Making of the Uralic Languages 1: Ante Aikio (Luobbal Sámmol Sámmol Ánte): Proto-Uralic 2: Janne Saarikivi: The divergence of Proto-Uralic and its offspring: A descendant reconstruction 3: Johanna Laakso: The making of the Uralic nation-state languages 4: Annika Pasanen, Johanna Laakso, and Anneli Sarhimaa: The Uralic minorities: Endangerment and revitalization 5: Konstantin Zamyatin: Language policy in Russia: The Uralic languages 6: Johanna Laakso and Elena Skribnik: Graphization and orthographies of Uralic minority languages Part II: Language descriptions 7: Eino Koponen: Saami: General introduction 8: Jussi Ylikoski: South Saami 9: Jussi Ylikoski: Lule Saami 10: Ante Aikio (Luobbal Sámmol Sámmol Ánte) and Jussi Ylikoski: North Saami 11: Taarna Valtonen, Jussi Ylikoski, and Ante Aikio (Luobbal Sámmol Sámmol Ánte): Aanaar (Inari) Saami 12: Eino Koponen, Matti Miestamo, and Markus Juutinen: Skolt Saami 13: Michael Rießler: Kildin Saami 14: Johanna Laakso: Finnic: General introduction 15: Johanna Laakso: Finnish, Meänkieli, and Kven 16: Anneli Sarhimaa: Karelian 17: Riho Grünthal: Veps 18: Elena Markus and Fedor Rozhanskiy: Ingrian 19: Elena Markus and Fedor Rozhanskiy: Votic 20: Helle Metslang: North and Standard Estonian 21: Karl Pajusalu: Seto South Estonian 22: Johanna Laakso: Livonian 23: Arja Hamari and Rigina Ajanki: Mordvin (Erzya and Moksha) 24: Sirkka Saarinen: Mari 25: Gerson Klumpp: Permic: General introduction 26: Nikolay Kuznetsov: Komi 27: Svetlana Edygarova: Udmurt 28: Elena Skribnik and Johanna Laakso: Ugric: General introduction 29: Marianne Bakró-Nagy, Katalin Sipxocz and Elena Skribnik: North Mansi 30: Ulla-Maija Forsberg: East Mansi 31: Mária Sipos: North Khanty 32: Zsófia Schön and Katalin Gugán: East Khanty 33: István Kenesei and Krisztina Szécsényi: Hungarian 34: Beáta Wagner-Nagy and Sándor Szeverényi: Samoyedic: General introduction 35: Svetlana Burkova: Nenets 36: Florian Siegl: Enets 37: Beáta Wagner-Nagy: Nganasan 38: Olga Kazakevi%c: Selkup 39: Gerson Klumpp: Kamas Part III: General issues and case studies 40: Marianne Bakró-Nagy, Johanna Laakso, and Elena Skribnik: Introduction to Part III: General issues and case studies 41: Marianne Bakró-Nagy: Palatalization 42: Marianne Bakró-Nagy: Consonant gradation 43: Karl Pajusalu: Prosody 44: Seppo Kittilä, Johanna Laakso, and Jussi Ylikoski: Case 45: Gwen Eva Janda, Johanna Laakso, and Helle Metslang: Person marking 46: Jeremy Bradley, Gerson Klumpp, and Helle Metslang: Tense-Aspect-Mood (TAM) and evidentials 47: Matti Miestamo: Negation and negatives 48: Jussi Ylikoski: Non-finites 49: Maria Vilkuna: Word order 50: Riho Grünthal: Adpositions and adpositional phrases 51: Johanna Laakso and Beáta Wagner-Nagy: Existential, locational, and possessive sentences 52: Rigina Ajanki, Johanna Laakso, and Elena Skribnik: Nominal predication 53: Elena Skribnik: Clause combining 54: Gerson Klumpp and Elena Skribnik: Information structuring References Index
Marianne Bakró-Nagy is Professor Emerita at the Research Institute for Linguistics and the University of Szeged. She was formerly Head of Department and Deputy Director of the Research Institute and Chair of Finno-Ugric Studies at the University of Szeged, and has been a member of the Scientific Committee for Humanities of Science Europe, and an honorary member of the International Committee of Finno-Ugric Studies. Johanna Laakso has been Professor of Finno-Ugric Studies at the University of Vienna since 2000. She is a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters and the Academia Europaea. From 2015-2021 she was President of the Organizing Committee for the International Congress in Finno-Ugric Studies. Elena Skribnik is Professor Emerita and former Chair of Finno-Ugric and Uralic Studies at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. She has previously been Deputy Director of the Institute of Philology in the Siberian division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Humboldt Research Fellow and DAAD Guest Professor at the University of Hamburg, and is a member of the Organizing Committee for the International Congress in Finno-Ugric Studies.
Reviews for The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages
This book is a thoroughly admirable compilation. We can be very glad that it has been produced while at least a few speakers of most of these languages survive: a decade or two later it might have become very difficult to achieve such comprehensive coverage of one of the world's major language families. The book is well written and clear, despite the fact that scarcely any contributor has English as his or her mother tongue. * Geoffrey Sampson, University of Sussex, Linguist List * This book is a thoroughly admirable compilation. We can be very glad that it has been produced while at least a few speakers of most of these languages survive: a decade or two later it might have become very difficult to achieve such comprehensive coverage of one of the world's major language-families. The book is well written and clear, despite the fact that scarcely any contributor has English as his or her mother tongue. * Geoffrey Sampson, Linguist List * This book is meant for a linguistically oriented readership worldwide, throughout linguistic and related disciplines...I assume that typologists world-wide will also be happy to see this volume. * Roger Blokland, Keel Ja Kirjandus *
