Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/80949

KEYWORDS : ツングース諸語;言語記録;危機言語;言語の多様性;コーパス;Manchu-Tungusic;documentation;endangered languages;linguistic diversity;corpus

This article introduces the current research status in Altaic languages in the last two decades, paying particular attention to Manchu-Tungusic languages. This paper can be divided into two parts. In the first part (section 2), I describe the documentation of endangered Altaic languages focusing on Manchu-Tungusic languages. In the second part (section 3), I describe the current status of research on Manchu-Tungusic languages. Our field research team conducted language documentation of Altaic languages, keeping with the “documentation of endangered languages to maintain and preserve language diversity” that linguists worldwide have been working on recently. We used the same questionnaire from the beginning of the documentation. The questionnaire consists of approximately 2,700 vocabulary items, 344 sentences containing daily conversation, and 380 sentences for describing grammatical structure. We surveyed the following languages from 2000 to 2019. Tungusic (11 languages): Ewen, Ewenki, Manchu, Nanai, Negidal, Orochi, Sibe, Solon, Udihe, Uilta, Ulchi; Mongolic (8 languages): Bonan, Buriat, Dagur, Dongxiang, East Yugur, Kalmyk-Oirat, Mongolian, Monguor; Turkic (20 languages): Altai, Bashkir, Chulym Turkish, Chuvash, Crimean Tatar, Dolgan, Fuyu Kirghiz, Gagauz, Karaim, Kazakh, Khakas, Kirghiz, Sakha, Salar, Shor, Tatar, Turkmen, Tuvan, Urum, West Yugur. In section 3, I review the studies on publications and languages. The bibliographical information and the relationships of the different editions of the Manchu dictionaries Yuzhi Qingwenjian (御製淸文鑑 , 1708) and Yuzhi Zengding Qingwenjian (御製增訂淸文鑑 , 1771) were investigated respectively. We also built a searchable database (DB) containing the two dictionaries mentioned above, the early dictionaries of the Manchu language and the entire Manchu texts published during the Joseon period. Furthermore, the publications including Manwen Laodang (滿文老檔 ), Man-Han Hebi Xixiangji (滿漢合璧 西廂記 , 1710), etc. have been translated into Korean, and many phonological and grammatical investigation on Manchu and Tungusic languages have been done. Over the past twenty years, we gathered linguistic materials of thirty-nine Altaic languages through field research, translated the significant publications written in Manchu, and established Manchu DB. In the future, utilizing the data thus constructed, we have high expectations to achieve linguistically meaningful results in historical linguistics and language typology.