Selkup language

Selkup is the group of languages of the Selkups, belonging to the Samoyedic group of the Uralic language family. It is spoken by some 1,570 people (1994 est.) in the region between the Ob and Yenisei Rivers (in Siberia). The language name Selkup comes from the Russian селькуп, based on the native name used in the Taz dialect, шӧльӄумыт әты (šöľqumyt əty lit. 'forest-man language'). Different dialects use different native names.

Selkup
чу́мэл шэ, тюйкуй келл, шё̄шӄуй шэ̄, сӱ̄ссыӷӯй сэ̄, шöйӄумый эты
Native to	Russia
Region	Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
Ethnicity	Selkup people
Native speakers	1,600 (2020 census)[1]
Language family	Uralic Samoyedic (core) Kamas–Selkup Selkup
Dialects	Northern Central–Southern Ket
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Russia Tomsk Oblast Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Krasnoyarsk Krai Turukhansky District
Language codes
ISO 639-2	sel
ISO 639-3	sel
Glottolog	selk1253
Traditional (a) and current (b) distribution of Selkup[2][3]
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Dialects

Selkup is fractured in an extensive dialect continuum whose ends are no longer mutually intelligible. The three main varieties are the Taz (Northern) dialect (тазовский диалект, tazovsky dialekt), which became the basis of the Selkup written language in the 1930s, Tym (Central) dialect (тымский диалект, tymsky dialekt), and Ket dialect (кетский диалект, ketsky dialekt). It is not related to the Ket language.

Some have proposed to split Selkup into two different languages, termed Northern Selkup and Southern Selkup.^[4][5] According to the Endangered Languages Project, the differences between dialects are "comparable to those between, for instance, Ket, Yug, and Pumpokol".^[6][7][8]

Grammar

Southern Selkup

Noun

маҗь 'forest', ӄуп 'person'^[9]

Case name		Ending	Meaning	Example	Meaning of the example
Nominative case		∅	subject	маҗь	forest (as a subject)
Accusative case		-п, -м (rare)	direct object	ма́җеп	forest (as an object)
Genitive case		-т, -н (rare)	possession	ма́җет	of a forest
Dative case	animate	-н	indirect object (animate)	ӄун, ӄумн	to the person
	inanimate	-нд	indirect object (inanimate)	маҗӧ́нд	to the forest
Inessive case	animate	-нан	the X has	ӄу́нан	the person has
	inanimate	-ӷэт/-ӄэт	in	маҗӧ́ӷэт	in the forest
Elative case		-эутэ/-утэ	out of, from, along	маҗӧ́утэ	out of the forest
Instrumental-comitative case		-ӽе/-хе, -э́ (with nouns denoting means of transport, always stressed)	with	маҗьӽе́	with the forest
Abessive case		-галк/-калк	without	маҗьга́лк	without the forest
Translative case		-тӄо	into	маҗетӄо́	[turn] into a forest
Exessive case[a]	animate	-ндо/-эндо	from	ку́ндо	from the person
	inanimate	-ӷэндо/-ӄэндо	from	маҗӧ́ӷэндо	from the forest

1. Almost out of use^{[citation needed]}