I spent nearly eight months (from 25/02/02 until 14/10/02) in the Republic Sakha (Yakutia) to gather material for my research. This included both collecting genetic samples and recording spoken texts from native speakers of Yakut. Since Yakut dialectal differences, even though they do not impair mutual understanding, may possibly be due at least in part to differential contact and/or substrate influences, I thought it most appropriate to gather both linguistic and genetic material from each of the four dialectal groups distinguished by Yakut dialectologists. These dialectal groups are: Central (comprised mainly of the districts lying along the mid-Lena, Aldan, and Amga river basins), Vilyuy (comprised of the districts lying along the Vilyuy river), Northwest (comprised of the districts lying to the west of the Lena river beyond the Vilyuy districts and reaching into the Taimyr peninsula and the Evenk Autonomous Region), and the Northeast. 
 
 

The genetic sampling was done in two separate approaches: in March and April I undertook three sampling expeditions to five districts in collaboration with the Institute of Health, Yakut Academy of Sciences, while later on I collected genetic samples on my own while I spent time in villages gathering my linguistic material. For the genetic sampling I aimed at obtaining samples from men with both paternal and maternal ancestry in the respective districts. During the genetic sampling trips undertaken jointly with the Institute of Health a doctor took blood samples, whereas during my later field trips I collected buccal swabs. 
 
 

Collecting samples in the Olenekskij district:  gathering genealogical information.	Collecting samples in the Olenekskij district: taking the buccal swab.

For the linguistic data I mainly collected spoken texts from older informants, preferably at least one man and one woman for each district. I chose older informants since these were less influenced by Russian – about half my informants practically didn’t know Russian at all, while the rest had only a rudimentary knowledge. These spoken texts were transcribed and translated with the help of informants fluent in Russian, mainly teachers of Russian from the village schools, but also some former medical or cultural workers. In addition, I elicited information on specific features of Yakut which I felt might show some Evenki substrate influence and collected lexical items from sex-specific domains from men and women. 
 
 

Transcribing texts in Khadan.	Translating texts in Olenek public library.

 
 

Verkhojanskij district 

From mid-April to mid-May I spent nearly five weeks in the Verkhojanskij district, which I chose to represent the northeastern dialect group on account of historical evidence indicating that Yakuts had settled there prior to Russian contact, and that this therefore reflected one of the original areas of settlement. Out of the five weeks spent in the district, I stayed three weeks in a remote village, Tabalaakh, and one week in Verkhojansk itself; nearly one week was spent on travelling. Tabalaakh has approximately 1,200 inhabitants; Verkhojansk, which has the status of a town, has approximately 2,500. In Tabalaakh, I worked with one main informant, a teacher of Russian who was born and raised in Tabalaakh. In Verkhojansk, I worked with a former medical worker who had spent all her life in the Verkhojanskij district.

 
 
 
 
 

Horses, which are bred mainly for their meat, roam free all year long, digging for grass under the snow in winter.	The main street of Verkhojansk.

 
 

Suntarskij district
 

The Suntarskij district was personally recommended to me as having retained Yakut cultural traditions, so I chose it to represent the Vilyuy dialectal group. I spent all of June in one village, Khadan, with a population of approximately 500 to 600 people. Here I worked with one main informant, a teacher at the local school, who was born and raised in Khadan, and checked a few questions with two more local teachers. 
 
 

 
 
 
 

The Vilyuy River near Khadan.	The opening ceremony at the Suntarskij Midsummer Festival ysyakh.

 

Olenekskij district

From the end of July till the end of August I spent five weeks in the Olenekskij district, which I chose because it is the more accessible of the two districts on the territory of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in which the northwestern dialect is spoken in an unmixed form. Here, I spent time in three out of the four villages belonging to this district. One week was spent in the village of Kharyalaakh, which has approximately 800 inhabitants, and two weeks each were spent in Zhilinda (900 inhabitants) and Olenek (the centre of the district with approximately 2,100 inhabitants). My informants here were a schoolgirl from tenth grade, teachers, and a retired cultural worker.

 
 
 
 

Zhilinda	Sorting through blueberries.

 
 

The Olenekskij district was very interesting from a sociological point of view: here, all inhabitants with local roots claimed to be Evenks, though none knew Evenki, as did neither their parents nor grand-parents. According to an ethnographic monograph, the data for which was collected in the 1940’s, the aboriginal inhabitants of Yakutia’s northwest are ethnic Yakuts who adopted Evenki reindeer breeding practices and Evenki culture; this was vehemently denied by some of my probands and informants. Genetic analyses should be able to shed some light on whether these are really Yakuts who adopted Evenki culture, Evenks who adopted the Yakut language, or an admixed group (which is most likely). 
 
 
 

Display in the Olenek Museum.	A reindeer herders' camp in the tundra.

 
 
 

Tattinskij district

In Septemer I stayed in two villages in the Tattinskij district, which I chose from among the central districts since a large number of Yakut authors had their roots in this district, and it is therefore often regarded as the heartland of Yakut literary traditions. Three days were spent in Kharbalaakh (1,200 inhabitants) on the Amga river, and over three weeks were spent in the remote village of Bayaga (approximately 1,100 inhabitants). In Bayaga, I worked with one main informant, a local teacher of Russian, checking a few items with a retired medical worker, who also helped with the transcription of texts.
 
 

 
 
 
 

The Amga River	Traditional Yakut dishes at the harvest festival in Ytyk-Kuol.

 
 
 

My sincere thanks to:

The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc. for generously supporting my fieldwork; the Institute of Humanitarian Studies, Yakut Academy of Sciences, and the Yakut Ministry of Foreign Contacts for taking care of the formal side of my stay in the Republic; the Institute of Health, Yakut Academy of Sciences, for genetic samples; the district hospitals for supporting the genetic sampling expeditions; the administration personnel in the Verkhojanskij, Suntarskij, Olenekskij, and Tattinskij districts for taking care of me during my field trips; all the men who gave their sample; plus
 
 
 

in Tabalaakh	Svetlana and Boris Borisovy Elizaveta Migalkina Kh.L.E and P.I.E
in Verkhojansk	Svetlana Aksenova Lidija Postnikova Petr Sivtsev
in Khadan	Egor Ivanov Margarita Ivanova Lidija and Oleg Arkhipovy Pelageja Ivanova Egor Ymychanov
in Kharyalaakh	Klara Kirillova Natalja Tipjanova Tatjana Khristoforova Nikolaj Vasil’ev Khristina Matveeva Eduard Semenov
in Zhilinda	Fedora and Valerij Semenovy Tatjana Nikolaeva Anzhela Semenova Marija Nikolaeva and Anna Anisimova Petr Lukinov
in Olenek	Stepanida Stepanova Marija Anisimova
in Kharbalaakh	Valentina and Egor Blakhirovy Praskov’ja Malysheva Anna Malysheva
in Bayaga	Elena Dedjukina Ol’ga Makarova Anastasija Rakhleeva Roman Khatylaev

 
 

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Curriculum vitae

Detailed Research Description

Department of Linguistics