Descriptive and typological study of Siberian minority languages

Project Title

Descriptive and typological study of Siberian minority languages

Full-time researcher

EBATA Fuyuki  Professor/Faculty of Humanities

Overview

Various languages with different genetic and typological background are spoken in Siberia, directly north of Japan. Many of them are minority and endangered languages spoken by only a small number of people. As a subject of research, however, these “small” languages have an equal value to major languages, such as English or Chinese. They also have their own unique, elaborate structure and contain clues for gaining an understanding of their earlier stages.

This project targets the under-documented languages of Siberia, focusing in particular on their historical change and typological diversity. The first aim of this project is to investigate the historical process of how Siberian languages have developed their linguistic characteristics, partly due to language contact with different neighboring languages. The second aim is to make an important contribution to linguistic typology through a descriptive study of Siberian languages in the present and past.

This research project is collaborating with the Grant-in-aid for Scientific Research (A) “A Comprehensive Study of Minority Languages in Siberia: Focusing on the Typological Diversity in the Early Stages.”

Project Members

Name Title/Department Area of Specialization
EBATA Fuyuki Professor/Niigata University Sakha, Tyvan
Baek Sangyub

Muroran Institute of Technology

Tungusic
Arzhaana Syuryun

Research Fellow/Institute for Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow)

Tyvan, Tofa
AN Yingji Yunnan Minzu University Middle Korean
WU Jinxing Inner Mongolia University Inner Mongolian
Jakshylyk Akmatalieva Project Research Fellow/University of Tokyo Kyrgyz, Altay

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