Login
Login

Kott language

{{Short description|Extinct Yeniseian language of Siberia}}

{{Expand language|topic=|langcode=ru|otherarticle=Коттский язык|date=March 2024}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Kott

| altname = Kot, Kottish,{{cite journal|last=Pulleyblank|first=Edwin George|author-link=Edwin G. Pulleyblank|title=The consonantal system of Old Chinese. Part II|journal=Asia Major|volume= 9|year=1963|pages=206–265|url=http://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1114AUnNESH.pdf|access-date=2011-02-06}} Kott–Assan

| nativename = {{lang|zko|kottuen}}

| states = Russia

| ethnicity = Kott, Asan

| extinct = 1850s

| ref =

| familycolor = Dené-Yeniseian

| fam2 = Yeniseian

| fam3 = Kottic

| dia1 = Kott A

| dia2 = Kott B

| dia3 = Kyshtym{{Cite book |last=Georg |first=Stefan |title=Introduction, phonology, morphology |last2=Georg |first2=Stefan |date=2007 |publisher=Global Oriental |isbn=978-1-901903-58-4 |series=A descriptive grammar of Ket (Yenisei-Ostyak) / Stefan Georg |location=Folkestone|url=https://theswissbay.ch/pdf/Books/Linguistics/Mega%20linguistics%20pack/Paleosiberian/Yeniseian/Ket%2C%20A%20Descriptive%20Grammar%20of%20-%20Part%201%20%28Georg%29.pdf}}

| iso3 = zko

| linglist = zko.html

| glotto = kott1239

| glottorefname = Kott-Assan

| dia4 = Assan (status unclear)

| map = File:Yeniseian_languages_map.svg

| mapcaption = Map of pre-contact Yeniseian languages.

| ancestor = Old Kott

| region = originally Kan and Biryusa rivers, {{ill|Agul (river)|lt=Agul|ru|Агул (река)}} in 19th century

| dia5 = Yastin{{Cite book |last=Fortescue |first=Michael D. |title=Mid-holocene language connections between Asia and North America |last2=Vajda |first2=Edward J. |date=2022 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-43681-7 |series=Brill's studies in the indigenous languages of the Americas |location=Leiden ; Boston |page=247}}

| dia6 = Yarin

| dia7 = Baikot

| map2 = Lang Status 01-EX.svg

| mapcaption2 = {{center|{{small|Kott is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2001)}}}}

}}

The Kott (Kot) language ({{langx|ru|Коттский язык}}) is an extinct Yeniseian language that was formerly spoken in central Siberia by the banks of the Mana River, a tributary of the Yenisei river. It became extinct in the 1850s. Kott was closely related to Ket, still spoken farther north along the Yenisei river. Assan, a close relative, is sometimes considered a dialect of Kott.{{Cite book |last=Werner |first=Heinrich |title=Abriß der kottischen Grammatik |date=1997 |publisher=Harrassowitz |isbn=3-447-03971-X |location=Wiesbaden |pages=13 |language=de |trans-title=Kott Grammar Outline}} The term kott may be derived from Buryat {{Langx|bua|qota|label=none}} 'town', applied to neighbouring non-pastoral peoples, including the last few Kotts.{{Citation |last=Vajda |first=Edward |title=8 The Yeniseian language family |date=2024-02-19 |work=The Languages and Linguistics of Northern Asia |pages=365–480 |editor-last=Vajda |editor-first=Edward |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110556216-008/html |access-date=2024-06-26 |publisher=De Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783110556216-008 |isbn=978-3-11-055621-6|url-access=subscription }}

Geographical distribution

Kott was spoken to the southeast of Krasnoyarsk, in the Biryusa and Kan river basins. However, hydronyms indicate a much wider area in the past, ranging from the Uda and Chuna rivers in the east to the Tom in the west.{{Cite web |title=КОТТСКИЙ ЯЗЫК • Большая российская энциклопедия - электронная версия |url=https://old.bigenc.ru/linguistics/text/2104056 |access-date=2024-06-30 |website=old.bigenc.ru}}

Documentation

One of the earliest written records of Kott is in 1791, with the publication of Peter Simon Pallas's {{Langx|ru|Сравнительный словарь всѣхъ языковъ и нарѣчій, по азбучному порядку расположенный|label=none}}, a comparative dictionary of various world languages and dialects. In 1858, Matthias Castrén published the grammar and dictionary (Versuch einer jenissei-ostjakischen und kottischen Sprachlehre), which included material on the Kott and Ket (Yenisei-Ostyak) languages, recording two different dialects of Kott in the 1840s. There also exists two books written by {{Ill|Heinrich Werner (linguist)|lt=Heinrich Werner|ru|Вернер,_Генрих_Каспарович|de|Heinrich Werner (Sprachwissenschaftler)}} about the Kott language, namely {{Langx|ru|Коттский язык|label=none}} (Kottskij jazyk), which includes a 110-page Russian-Kott glossary,{{Cite book |last=Verner |first=G. K. (Г. К. Вернер) |title=Kottsky yazyk |date=1990 |publisher=Izdatel'stvo rostovskogo universiteta |isbn=5-7507-0357-6 |location=Rostov-na-Donu |language=ru |script-title=ru:Коттский язык |trans-title=Kott Language}} and {{Langx|de|Abriß der kottischen Grammatik|label=none}}.

Phonology

= Vowels =

In multisyllabic words, vowel length is phonemic.

class="wikitable" border="1" style="text-align:center;"

|+Vowels in Kott

!

!Front

!Central

!Back

Close

|i {{IPAblink|i}}

|(ɨ {{IPAblink|ɨ}})1

|u {{IPAblink|u}}

Close-mid

|e {{IPAblink|e}}

|

|o {{IPAblink|o}}

Open-mid

|ɛ {{IPAblink|ɛ}}

|

|ɔ {{IPAblink|ɔ}}

Open

|ä {{IPAblink|æ}}

|a {{IPAblink|a}}

|

  1. {{IPAblink|ɨ}} is only attested in a few words dated to the 18th century, and can be considered an allophone of {{IPAblink|i}}.

Vajda 2024 gives a different vowel system for Kott, based on Castrén 1858.

class="wikitable" border="1" style="text-align:center;"

|+Vowels of 19th-century Kott

! rowspan="2" |

! colspan="2" |Front

! colspan="2" |Central

! colspan="2" |Back

short

!long

!short

!long

!short

!long

Close

|i {{IPAblink|i}}

|î {{IPAblink|iː}}

|

|

|u {{IPAblink|u}}

|û {{IPAblink|uː}}

Mid

|e {{IPAblink|e}}

|ê {{IPAblink|eː}}

|

|

|o {{IPAblink|o}}

|ô {{IPAblink|oː}}

Open

|

|

|a {{IPAblink|a}}

|â {{IPAblink|aː}}

|

|

= Consonants =

class="wikitable" border="1" style="text-align:center;"

|+Consonants according to Werner 1990

! colspan="2" |

!Labial

!Dental

!Palatal

!Velar

!Uvular

!Pharyngeal

!Laryngeal

rowspan="3" |Occlusive

!{{Small|plain}}

|p {{IPAblink|p}}

|t {{IPAblink|t}}

|tʼ {{IPAblink|tʲ}}

|k {{IPAblink|k}}

|q {{IPAblink|q}}

|

|? {{IPAblink|ʔ}}

aspirated

|pʰ {{IPAblink|pʰ}}

|tʰ {{IPAblink|tʰ}}

|

|

|

|

|

{{Small|voiced}}

|b {{IPAblink|b}}

|d {{IPAblink|d}}

|dʼ {{IPAblink|dʲ}}

|g {{IPAblink|g}}

|G {{IPAblink|ɢ}}

|

|

rowspan="2" |Fricative

!voiceless

|f {{IPAblink|f}}

|s {{IPAblink|s}} š {{IPAblink|ʃ}}

|

|x {{IPAblink|x}}

|X {{IPAblink|χ}}

|ħ {{IPAblink|ħ}}

|h {{IPAblink|h}}

voiced

|

|

|

|

|R {{IPAblink|ʀ}}

|

|

rowspan="2" |Affricate

!voiceless

|

|

|č {{IPAblink|t͡ʃ}}

|

|

|

|

voiced

|

|

|dž {{IPAblink|d͡ʒ}}

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Nasal

|m {{IPAblink|m}}

|n {{IPAblink|n}}

|nʼ {{IPAblink|nʲ}}

|ŋ {{IPAblink|ŋ}}

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Approximant

|

|

|j {{IPAblink|j}}

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Lateral

|

|l {{IPAblink|l}} lʼ {{IPAblink|lʲ}}

|

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Trill

|

|r {{IPAblink|r}}

|

|

|

|

|

class="wikitable" border="1" style="text-align:center;"

|+Consonants in Kott according to Werner 1997

! colspan="2" |

!Labial

!Dental

!Postalveolar

!Palatal

!Velar

!Uvular

!Laryngeal/
Pharyngeal

rowspan="3" |Plosive

!{{Small|plain}}

|p {{IPAblink|p}}

|t {{IPAblink|t}}

|

|tʼ {{IPAblink|tʲ}}

|k {{IPAblink|k}}

|q {{IPAblink|q}}

|ʔ {{IPAblink|ʔ}}

aspirated

|pʰ {{IPAblink|pʰ}}

|tʰ {{IPAblink|tʰ}}

|

|

|

|

|

{{Small|voiced}}

|b {{IPAblink|b}}

|d {{IPAblink|d}}

|

|dʼ {{IPAblink|dʲ}}

|g {{IPAblink|g}}

|G {{IPAblink|ɢ}}

|

rowspan="2" |Fricative

!voiceless

|f {{IPAblink|f}}

|s {{IPAblink|s}}

|š {{IPAblink|ʃ}}

|j {{IPAblink|j}}

|x {{IPAblink|x}}

|χ {{IPAblink|χ}}

|h {{IPAblink|h}}

voiced

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Affricate

|

|

|

|č {{IPAblink|t͡ʃ}}

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Lateral

|

|l {{IPAblink|l}}

|lʼ {{IPAblink|lʲ}}

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Trill

|

|r {{IPAblink|r}}

|

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Nasal

|m {{IPAblink|m}}

|n {{IPAblink|n}}

|

|nʼ {{IPAblink|nʲ}}

|ŋ {{IPAblink|ŋ}}

|

|

Consonants as recorded by Castren 1858 are presented below. Allophones are presented next to their grapheme.

class="wikitable" border="1" style="text-align:center;"

|+Consonants of 19th-century Kott

! colspan="2" |

!Labial

!Alveolar

!Palato-alveolar

!Palatal

!Velar

!Uvular

!Glottal

rowspan="3" |Plosive

!{{Small|plain}}

|p {{IPAblink|p}}

|t {{IPAblink|t}}

|

|tʼ {{IPAblink|tʲ}}

|k {{IPAblink|k}}/{{IPAblink|g}}

|q {{IPAblink|qχ|𐞥χ}}/{{IPAblink|χ|χ}}

|

aspirated

|

|tʰ {{IPAblink|tʰ}}/{{IPAblink|t}}

|

|

|

|

|

{{Small|voiced}}

|b {{IPAblink|b}}

|

|

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Fricative

|f {{IPAblink|f}}/{{IPAblink|p}}/{{IPAblink|pʰ}}

|s {{IPAblink|s}}

|š {{IPAblink|ʃ}}/{{IPAblink|t͡ʃ}}

|

|x {{IPAblink|x}}

|

|h {{IPAblink|h}}/{{IPAblink|g}}/{{IPAblink|k}}

colspan="2" |Affricate

|

|

|č {{IPAblink|t͡ʃ}}

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" rowspan="3" |Liquid

|

|l {{IPAblink|l}}/{{IPAblink|lʲ}}

|

|

|

|

|

|r {{IPAblink|r}}

|

|j {{IPAblink|j}}/{{IPAblink|dʲ}}

|

|

|ʔ {{IPAblink|ʔ}}

m {{IPAblink|m}}

|n {{IPAblink|n}}/{{IPAblink|nʲ}}

|

|

|ŋ {{IPAblink|ŋ}}

|

|

Grammar

Kott has special end markings to indicate that the noun being described is a hydronym which are {{lang|zko|-šet}}/{{lang|zko|-čet}}.

Kott is an agglutinative, polysynthetic language which typically uses SVO word order, but can vary depending on situation. It uses suffixes, prefixes and infixes in its verbal inflection, however suffixation is more common than infixation. Personal-subject verbal indicators are usually suffixed to the verb form, and personal-objective indicators are affixed.

= Case =

File:Падежи.jpegKott has 7 cases. The dative, ablative and locative cases developed from possesed nouns, similarly to Ket and Yugh.

class="wikitable"

|+Kott cases in Verner 1990

! rowspan="2" | 

! colspan="2" |singular

! colspan="2" |plural

feminine and

neuter

!masculine

!inanimate

!animate

Basic

| colspan="4" | {{lang|zko

∅}}
Genitive

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}i}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}aː}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}ŋ}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}i}}

Dative

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}iga}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}aːʔa}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}ŋa}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}iga}}

Locative

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}ihaːt}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}aːhaːt}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}ŋhaː ~ {{=}}ŋaːt}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}ihaːt}}

Ablative

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}ičaŋ}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}aːčaŋ}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}nčaŋ}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}ičaŋ}}

Instrumental

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}oː}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}oː}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}oː}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}oː}}

Comitative

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}oš ({{=}}aš)}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}oš ({{=}}aš)}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}oš ({{=}}aš)}}

|{{lang|zko|{{=}}oš ({{=}}aš)}}

Lexicon

Kott had been influenced by Turkic languages, and had borrowed some words from Turkic languages. For example Kott {{Lang|zko|baktîr-}} ‘to praise’ comes from Proto-Turkic *paktïr (based on phonetics, likely loaned from Kumandin or Shor), or Kott {{Lang|zko|kolá}} ‘copper, brass’ comes from Proto-Turkic *kola (of which the source is not phonetically identifiable).{{Cite journal |last=Khabtagaeva |first=Bayarma |date=2015 |title=Some Remarks on Turkic Elements of Mongolic Origin in Yeniseian |journal=Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia |language=en |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=111–126 |doi=10.4467/20843836SE.15.008.2794 |doi-access=free}} At the time of its extinction, it was also loaning words from Russian.

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\yen\yen&limit=-1 Kott basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]

{{Yeniseian languages}}

{{Paleosiberian languages}}

Category:Extinct languages of Asia

Category:Yeniseian languages

Category:Languages extinct in the 19th century

Category:Agglutinative languages

Category:Polysynthetic languages