CONTENTS

The Peoples
of the Red Book

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THE NGANASANS

The earlier and more widespread name is Tavgi-Samoyed, or simply Tavgi.
The term comes from the Nenets whose tavy ~ taawi denotes the Avam Nganasan.
Through Russian Tavgi has become established in other languages and outside
the former Soviet Union it is universally used up to the present day. The
name Samoyed may have derived from the Selkup word, somatu ~ samatu, denoting
the Enets. It may, however, also originate from a yet unknown non-Russian
word.

The first written record of the Samoyeds was made by Monk Nestor. In his
chronicle A Tale of the Times Past they appear as samoyad.

Habitat. The Nganasans are the northernmost of the Samoyedic peoples, living
on the Taymyr Peninsula in the Arctic Ocean. Administratively, their Arctic
territory is part of the Taymyr Autonomous Region of the Krasnoyarsk district
(formerly the Dolgan-Nenets National District). Their "capital" is the
village of Ust-Avamsk. The Avam Nganasans live in the Avam District in
the western part of the Taymyr Peninsula, in the valleys of the rivers
Pyassina, Dudypta and Boganida. The speakers of the Vadeyev Dialect live
in the tundra and in the eastern parts of Taymyr, in the Khatanga District
by the river Heta, Lake Taymyr and Khatanga Bay. The Nganasans share their
territory with the Dolgans. Their southern and southeastern neighbours
are the Yakuts, in the southwest they border upon the Enets.

The northern and central parts of the Taymyr Peninsula are mainly frost
desert and to the south there is the permafrosted tundra. During summer
the maximum temperature is +13 °C while in winter the average is below –30 °C.

Population. Information about the population of the Nganasans is mainly
to be found from census data:

The census results, however, should probably be approached with some reserve.
It is known that in 1959 a large number of Enets were registered as Nganasans,
and erroneous registration in favour of one or another ethnic group may
have occurred in instances after that as well. The near 20 percent fluctuation
in the figures for native language speakers is quite inexplicable.

Taymyr is a sparsely populated area. In 1989 the region's total population
was 55,000 (on 862 sq. kilometres), among whom the Nganasans are a small
but conspicuous entity. Only fairly recently have the towns and villages,
where most of the recent settlers reside, begun to attract the people of
the tundra.

Anthropologically, the Nganasans are representatives of the Uralic race
in which Mongoloid and Arctic traits dominate European. Due to their relative
isolation they have scarcely mixed with other peoples, (this situation
has changed in more recent times with incursions by the Dolgans and Russians).
Nganasans are a short (men up to 160 cm), stocky people. They have a broad
face with high cheekbones, a flat nose and the epicanthic fold. Hair and
eyes are dark but the skin is relatively fair.

The language belongs to the Samoyedic branch of the Uralic languages, and
with the Nenets and Enets languages it makes up the Northern Group. There
are two distinguishable dialects: the Avam or Western Dialect, and the
Vadeyev, Khatanga, or the Eastern Dialect. A separate group, the Oko tribe,
exists, formed of the Nganasans of Dolgan origin, assimilated in the 19th
century. The dialectal differences are minor and phonetic only. A speaker
of one dialect can quite easily understand the other.

Language. The Nganasan vocabulary is mainly of Proto-Samoyedic origin.
Contacts have occurred with all the neighbours and compared to its cognate
languages, Nganasan has been under a strong influence from the Evenki and
Dolgan languages. In some fields, like reindeer-breeding and animal husbandry,
Nenets loan-words are in evidence.

In the past it was common that a Nganasan would be familiar with the language
of the Dolgans, the Evenks or the Nenets (and vice versa) but since the
1950s Russian has developed as the lingua franca. Large-scale loans have
been made from Russian, particularly in the fields of politics, social
life, economics and culture. Direct contact with Russian occurs from school,
the press, cinema, governmental organizations, public services, and numerous
other areas. The intense russification of the 1970s was pivotal. Nowadays,
Russian words and phrases are arbitrarily inserted into Nganasan speech
and a sudden switch in conversation to Russian, depending on the subject
or partner, is a common phenomenon. The younger Nganasans have lost command
of their native language.

Origin. The Proto-Uralic people probably broke into two groups in the 4th
millenium BC: the Finno-Ugric to the west, and partly also east, of the
Ural mountain range, and the Samoyedic between the Urals and the River
Yenisey. It has been wider believed that the ancestors of the Samoyeds
first moved east from their original home, and then northeast. According
to a different theory, the original home of the Samoyeds was in Siberia,
particularly in the regions north of the Altai and Sayan Mountains. About
the beginning of Christian era the Proto-Samoyedic tribes were stirred
to movement by a notable onset of a warmer and drier climate in the central
Urals. Another cause for the retreat was the migration in the south of
the Huns and the Taghars.

In the second half of the 1st millenium separate peoples began to emerge
from the Northern Samoyedic unity, the Nganasans being one of these. The
Nganasan are considered, and they consider themselves, native inhabitants
of the Taymyr Peninsula. Some genetic traits have been inherited from the
assimilated former Arctic inhabitants of the peninsula. In the course of
time the differentiation process among the Northern Samoyedic languages
continued, induced directly by geographical dispersion and the economically
and culturally isolated position of Taymyr.

History. The Samoyeds emerged in history in connexion with the trade and
military expeditions of the Russians. Monk Nestor of Kiev has mentioned
them as neighbours and allies of the Ugrians (of Jugra). Russian interest
was not confined to trade; the main incentive was to levy taxes on other
peoples and to take possession of their territories. At first the Nganasans
were spared because of their remote position. It was not until the early
17th century that tradesmen and officers of the Tsar Mikhail reached the
land of the Nganasans. The governor of Tobolsk, Prince Trubetskoy, was
ordered to hand out 15 tubs of strong spirits every year to aid in the
collection of taxes. The main aim of both the taxation system and trade
was always to secure the highest possible amount of furs -- a copper kettle,
for example, cost a Nganasan a kettleful of sable furs.

As late as the 1930s the Nganasans led a tradition-bound nomadic life.
Their main occupations were fishing and hunting, with reindeer the main
game. Frequently the Nganasans cooperated with the Enets in stalking and
chasing game. Reindeer meat and fish were the basic food of the Nganasans,
providing them with all necessary vitamins and minerals. A few domesticated
reindeer were used as beasts of draught, however, the main draught animal
was the dog. Conical tents (named chums), made by covering a frame of poles
with skins, served for shelter and an open fire provided light and warmth.
No European clothing or footwear was yet used.

Political missionary work in the land of the Nganasan was set under way
in the 1930s. In 1931 the idea of "red chums" was proposed, that is, special
tents for ideological instruction. For all nomadic peoples such as the
Nenets, these tents and their fittings were to be transportable. In 1934,
in the all-Union paper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, there appeared an appeal
for Young Communists to go and help the northern peoples build a communist
society. While in 1933 and 1936 the Nganasans were fortunate enough to
avoid the red commissars, in 1937 they fell prey to a metalworker from
Moscow, named Amalia Khazanovich. She knew nothing of the language or customs
of the Nganasans, nevertheless she set upon an unrestrained attack on their
way of life and tiraded against institutions such as shamanism. Her intrusive
ignorance and pompous recklessness fully qualified her as a worthy representative
of Soviet power. In the 1930s the campaign for the abolition of illiteracy
(i.e. the teaching of Russian) also reached Taymyr, and the children were
forcibly placed into boarding schools.

Major changes have continued since the 1950s. Reindeer and pastures are
now the property of collective farms and the Nganasans have settled down
into villages. Free hunting of reindeer is prohibited. For his own needs
a man is allowed to shoot only one animal per year. However, due to the
massive slaughters conducted annually from helicopters the number of reindeer
has been greatly depleted; an average of 50,000 are shot every season.
As a consequence the animals have changed their traditional paths and are
more difficult to find. The lifestyle of the Nganasans has gradually approached
the Soviet norm; they have come to prefer ready-made clothing and food
from the foodstore. The prestige of the few remaining shamans has been
erroded and they have few true believers left.

The changes have had their price. Many among the Nganasans cannot adapt
themselves to the altered demands of life. Large numbers of Nganasans are
employed as unskilled labour and many are unemployed. The 1980s saw decrees
which prescribed employment for ethnic minorities in industry, construction
and like fields. Discrimination at work is common. Alcohol-abuse is a universal
plight. This is a major factor in the high incidence of mixed marriages
since Nganasan women prefer fertile Russian males to their heavily-drinking
countrymen. Military service has come to be a mark of privilege since,
on grounds of defective health or a poor level of education, many Nganasans
are pronounced unfit. The Russian language and milieu enjoy a high reputation
amongst the Nganasans, but unfortunately, this milieu does not accept the
Nganasans as equal human beings. Russians (resp. Europeans), who dare to
associate with the natives are often themselves ostracized. (See also THE
NENETS).

Writing. The Nganasans have never had a written language. While Nenets
has performed the functions of a regional second or common language, a
lingua franca, Russian alone has served as the literary medium at school
and in social life. A 1980 decree by the Central Committee of the CPSU
and the Council of Ministers, concerning the promotion of economic and
social welfare among the northern peoples yielded in 1988 a Nganasan literary
language. N. Tereshchenko compiled the 41-letter alphabet based on Russian
characters but unfortunately no data exists of its actual use. The initiative
was extrinsic and not guided by practical needs.

The research of the Nganasans has for a long time been part of Samoyedic
studies in general. While linguistic material has been scant and difficult
to obtain, the study of the geographical distribution and dialects of the
Samoyedic languages has advanced consistently. The first word lists and
commentaries appeared as early as 1787--89 in a comparative dictionary by
P. S. Pallas (Linguarum totius orbis vocabularia comparativa). The first
treatise on grammar was published in 1854 by the Finnish scholar M. A. Castrén
(Grammatik der samojedischen Sprachen, 1855). A separate treatise on the
Nganasan language was written in 1937 by G. Prokofiev. A later academic
outline appeared written by N. Tereshchenko (1966, revised edition, 1979).
No separate dictionary of the language exists though some lexical material
is to be found in A. J. Joki's dictionary of the Northern Samoyedic languages
(Kleinere Wörterverzeichnisse aus dem Jurak-, Jenissei- und Tawgy-Samojedischen,
1956). From an ethnological standpoint the origin and history of the Nganasans
have been discussed by A. Popov (1948 and 1956), B. Dolgikh (1952) and B.
Dolgikh with L. Fainberg (1960).

REFERENCES

1. A. Künnap, P. Palmeos, T. Seilenthal, Põhja ja itta. Lehekülgi meie sugulaskeelte uurimisloost, Tallinn 1974
   


2. A. Th. von Middendorff, Reis Taimõrile, Tallinn 1987
   


3. V. Uibopuu, Meie ja meie hõimud. Peatükke soomeugrilaste minevikust ja olevikust, Lund 1984
   


4. Нганасаны. -- Народы Сибири, Москва -- Ленинград 1956
   


5. Н. М. Терещенко, Нганасанский язык. -- Языки народов СССР. Т. I, Москва 1966
   


6. А. М. Хазанович, Друзья мои нганасаны. Из таймырских дневников, Красноярск 1983
   


7. П. Хайду, Нганасанский язык. -- Уральские языки и народы, Москва 1985
   

JV

nenets | nganasans | nivkhs