Mongun-Taiga Subdialect of the Western Tuvan Dialect: Words Denoting Tarbagan Marmots

Currently, an urgent task in Tuvan linguistics is the study of dialect vocabulary, description of its thematic groups. Since the early 2000s, monographs have investigated terms of kinship and in-law relations, vocabulary of livestock breeding, shamanism, and musical terminology. There are articles examining separate groups of words. The choice of the present topic is caused by that hunting vocabulary — both in the Tuvan language and its dialects — remains understudied. Goals. The paper primarily aims is to describe one lexical and semantic group within the hunting vocabulary of the Mongun-Taiga subdialect (western Tuvan dialect) — words denoting Tarbagan marmots. To facilitate this, the study seeks to collect and systematize Tarbagan-related onyms, identify a complete list of such words, classify them by some differentiated features, and explain origins of the dialectisms. Materials and Methods. The actual research materials were collected ‘in the field’ during research expeditions organized in 2015-2016 and funded by Russian Humanities Foundation, project name ‘Hunting and Fishing Vocabulary of the Tuvan Language in Comparison with Speech Patterns of Mongolia’s Ethnic Tuvans’. The work employs the comparative and descriptive methods; uses techniques of linguistic statistics, and includes various types of field activities. Results. For many years the indigenous population of Mongun-Taiginsky District of the Tyva Republic — along with livestock breeding — was economically engaged in commercial Tarbagan hunting. The article describes words denoting Tarbagan marmots used in speech patterns of the local population. The described lexical-thematic group includes a wide variety of names distinguished by sex and age, color, physical and ‘labor’ characteristics. The paper introduces into scientific circulation some previously unpublished materials that show the investigated dialect is abundant in ethnographic dialectisms. Nowadays, Tarbagan marmots are an endangered species listed in the Red Book of Russia. The established ban might result in that vocabulary associated with Tarbagan hunting gradually disappear. The research project shall further collect, systematize and analyze other Tarbagan-related lexical and semantic clusters for the compilation of dialectological and terminological dictionaries.

1. [Russian Red Data Book (Animals)]. Russian Academy of Sciences. V. Danilov-Danilyan et al. (eds.). Moscow: AST: Astrel, 2001. 862 p. (In Russ.)

2. [Tuvan-Russian Dictionary] E. Tenishev (ed.). Moscow: Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya, 1968. 646 p. (In Tuv. and Russ.)

3. Anikin A. E. [Etymological Dictionary of Russian Siberian Dialects: Borrowings from Uralic, Altaic and Paleo-Asiatic Languages]. Moscow; Novosibirsk: Nauka, 2000. 773 p. (In Russ.)

4. Babushkin G. F. Materials on the Mongun-Taiga subdialect. In: [Tuvan Research Institute of Language, Literature and History: Scholarly Notes]. Vol. IX. Kyzyl: Tuvan Research Institute of Language, Literature and History, 1961. 108 p. (In Russ.)

5. Bayarsaykhan B. Speech patterns of Tsengel Tuvans: words denoting animals, fish, birds and related hunting (fishing) instruments. In: Salchak V. S., Mongush B. B., Bayarsaykhan B. [Something of Tuvan Hunting Economy]. Kyzyl: Anyyak, 2010. Pp. 74–80. (In Tuv.)

6. Darzha V. K. [Traditional Tuvan Men’s Activities]. Vol. I: ‘Household Plot. Hunting. Fishing’. Kyzyl: Tuvan Book Publ., 2009. 592 p. (In Russ.)

7. Dyrtyk-ool A. O., Aiyzhy E. V. [Tuvans of Mongun-Tayginsky District: Common Traditional Culture]. Kyzyl: Anyyak, 2009. 100 p. (In Russ.)

8. Kuular E. M. Mogen-Buren’s chastushkas: linguistic peculiarities. In: [Scholarly Notes: Yearbook of Tuvan Language Department, Tuvan State University]. Vol. II. Kyzyl: Tyvan State University, 2008. 187 p. (In Tuv.)

9. Kuular E. M. Moңgun-Taiga subdialect: hunting vocabulary. In: [Scholarly Notes]. Vol. V. Kyzyl: Tyvan State University, 2012. Pp. 22–26. (In Tuv.)

10. Mongush M. V. At Tuvans of Tsengel. The New Research of Tuva. 2013. No. 2. Pp. 26–43. An Internet resource: https://www.tuva.asia/journal/issue_18/6240-mongush1.html#sel=3:1,3:3 (accessed: August 18, 2019). (In Russ.)

11. Salchak V. S., Mongush B. B., Bayarsaykhan B. [Something of Tuvan Hunting Economy]. Kyzyl: Anyyak, 2010. 83 p. (In Tuv.)

12. Sat Sh. Ch. [Tuvan Dialectology]. Kyzyl: Tuvan Book Publ., 1987. 229 p. (In Tuv.)

13. Sevortyan E. V. [Etymological Dictionary of Turkic Languages: Common and Inter-Turkic Stems Beginning With the Letters ‘В’, ‘Г’ and ‘Д’ (Vol. 3)]. USSR Academy of Sciences, Institute of Linguistics. N. Gadzhieva (ed.). Moscow: Nauka, 1980. 395 p. (In Russ.)

14. Tatarintsev B. I. [Etymological Dictionary of the Tuvan Language]. Vol. I: ‘A-Б’. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 2000. 341 p. (In Tuv. and Russ.)

15. Tatarintsev B. I. [Etymological Dictionary of the Tuvan Language]. Vol. II: ‘Д, Ё, И, Й’. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 2002. 388 p. (In Tuv. and Russ.)

16. Tatarintsev B. I. [Etymological Dictionary of the Tuvan Language]. Vol. III: ‘К, Л’. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 2004. 439 p. (In Tuv. and Russ.)

17. Tatarintsev B. I. [Etymological Dictionary of the Tuvan Language]. Vol. IV: ‘М, Н, О, Ѳ, П’. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 2008. 441 p. (In Tuv. and Russ.)

18. Tatarintsev B. I. [Tuvan Language: Semantic Ties and Relations of Words]. Moscow: Nauka, 1987. 197 p. (In Russ.)