14. Language shift among the Mansi

This paper investigates the process of language shift in Mansi (Vogul, Uralic language family). The scope of the investigation is a period of approximately 100 years and analyzes two corpora of written texts to see what kinds of changes are manifested in various sub-systems of Mansi as a result of the intensive language shift going on in the language. Two aspects of the language are targeted: on the one hand, the grammatical system (and, within it, the use of the passive and the dual), in order to see what kinds of changes and simplification processes characteristic of language loss are happening; and, on the other hand, the lexicon and the Russian elements that can be found in it.

Published online: 15 April 2009
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.25.17bir