The Ulch language, or Olcha, is a Tungusic language spoken by the Ulch people in the Russian Far East. The language is moribund, with only 150 speakers (2010 census).

Ulch
Нāнʼи хэсэни
Native toRussia
RegionKhabarovskiy Kray
Ethnicity2,800 Ulch (2010 census)[1]
Native speakers
150 (2010 census)[1]
Tungusic
Cyrillic
Language codes
ISO 639-3ulc
Glottologulch1241
ELPUlch
Ulch is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Phonology

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Vowels

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Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid ɪ ~ e ə ʊ ~ o
Open a
  • Vowel length is also distributed.

Consonants

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Labial Alveolar Alveolo-
palatal
Velar Uvular
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate
voiceless p t t͡ɕ k (q)
voiced b d d͡ʑ ɡ
Fricative voiceless (f) s x (χ)
voiced β (ɣ)
Lateral l
Rhotic r
Approximant (w) j
  • [f] is a rare sound in native words.
  • /β ɡ/ have allophones of [w ɣ].
  • /k x/ can become uvularized as [q χ] before vowels /a o/.[2]

Alphabet

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А а (а̄) Б б В в Г г Д д Дʼ дʼ Е е
(е̄) Ё ё (ё̄) Ж ж З з И и (ӣ) Й й
К к Л л М м Н н Нʼ нʼ Ӈ ӈ О о (о̄)
П п Р р С с Т т У у (ӯ) Ф ф Х х
Ц ц Ч ч Ш ш Щ щ ъ Ы ы ь Э э
(э̄) Ю ю (ю̄) Я я (я̄)

In brackets are letters that are used in writing, though not officially included in the alphabet.

References

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  1. ^ a b Ulch at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Sunik, 1985

Bibliography

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  • Bitkeeva, A.N.; V.Y. Gusev; O.A. Povoroznyuk; D.A. Funk; N.V. Khokhlov; K.G. Shakhovtsov (2005). "Endangered Languages of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia". UNESCO Moscow Office. Archived from the original on 28 July 2009. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
  • Sunik, O. P. (1985). Ul'chskij jazyk: issledovanija i materially. Leningrad: Nauka, Leningradskoe Otdelenie. 262pp.
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