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The Udege language (also Udihe language, Udekhe language, Udeghe language) is the language of the Udege people. It is a member of the Tungusic family. It is a moribund language, and classified as critically endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.
For the first time, a common ethnonym for the Udege people, Oroch people and Taz people was given by Jean-François de Laperouse by the common ethnonym Orochons () for the indigenous population living along the coast of the Tatar Strait and the Sea of Japan, namely in the Gulf of De-Kastri in 1787 in time of his round-the-world trip. This name was in use in literature until the beginning of the 20th century, when the Udege language received its modern name.
For the first time, the term удиhе (udihe) as a designation for the people was introduced by the Russian author S. N. Brailovsky () in his 1901 ethnographic report.Браиловский, Сергей Николаевич , Тазы или yguhэ: опыт этнографического исследования, 1902 This self-designation was worn by one of the groups of northern Udege. At the same time, he did not separate the Udege and Orochs. Brailovsky also began to use the term taz as a synonym for the term udihe. In the late 1920s, a campaign was launched in the country to change ethnonyms. The Orochons were divided into three groups and became Oroch people, Udege people or Taz people. For the first time, such a division can be found in the works of Arseniev V. K.
According to the latest censuses (1989, 2002 and 2010), the number of Udege is constantly decreasing from 1,902 in 1989 to 1,496 in 2010. In 2010, 620 people were registered in the Khabarosky krai; 793 people lived in Primorsky krai. An additional 83 Udege were registered outside of these territories, including 42 people in the JAO. The census data also reflect the steady decline of the language: according to the 1989 census, Udege was spoken by 462 people, in 2002 it was 227 people, and in 2010 it was only 103 people. The 2010 census shows a sharp drop in the Udihe competence in the Khabarovsky Krai (from 96 to 16 people!).
In the 1930s, the Udege were forcibly made sedentary: each areal group was settled in a specially built permanent settlement: Kukan (Kur-Urmi Udihe), Bira (Anyuy), Kun (Hungari), Agzu (Samarga), (Khor), Syain, Mitahheza and (Bikin), Sanchikheza (Iman). The less numerous sea-shore Udihe were dispersed. In the 1950s, a system of boarding schools for Udege children took shape, which finally broke the continuity of generations and oriented young people on speedy Russification. In the 1960s and 70s in the course of the “consolidation of villages” campaign, smaller Udihe villages were liquidated: Bira (Anyuy), Sanchiheza (Iman), Syain and Mitakheza (Bikin). The Bikin Udihe resettled in the new Udihe village of ; and Anyuy and Iman Udihe were resettled into neighboring Russian villages. As a result of this policy, there are no monoethnic Udege settlements.
The Udihe dialects can be classified as follows:
Northern group:
The southern dialects are also known as Kekar or Kyakala. The "Kyakala" of Russia is not to be confused with the Jurchenic "Kyakala" spoken in China, also called Chinese Kyakala in order to distinguish it from "Russian Kyakala" (i.e., Kekar, or southern Udegheic). Kyakala went extinct in the early 20th century.
In the 1930s, the Khor dialect on a Latin basis, created by Yevgeny Robertovich Schneider, was taken as the basis for the literary Udege language, which existed until 1937, when it was Great Purge, and all literature created in Latin was banned. Instead, the Cyrillic alphabet was formally introduced as part of a general campaign, but de facto the Udege language became unwritten until the 1980s.
In the late 80s, two literary languages began to form in the Udege language:
- one for the northern group based on the Khor dialect (Simonov-Kulyandziga alphabet; "Khabarovsk");
- the second for the southern group based on the Bikin dialect (the alphabet of Perekhvalskaya; "Leningrad" / "Petersburg").
| + General composition of vowels |
| + Vowels of northern group |
| + Vowels of southern group |
The nature of glottalized and aspirated vowels in Udege can be explained by the loss of some consonants in the position between two vowels. Experimental studies have shown that in the northern dialects glottalized vowels are interrupted by a bow, therefore they are called "discontinuous". With a more fluent pronunciation, the bow is replaced by a "creaky" phonation.
In the related Udege language, aspirated and discontinuous vowels correspond to three-phonemic combinations of vowels with consonants. In general, aspirated long vowels are formed from the combination V-s-V, and glottalized long vowels from the combination V-q-V.
| + Consonants |
| + 1931-1937 Alphabet | |||||||
| A a | Ā ā | B в | C c | D d | Ӡ ӡ | E e | Ē ē |
| Æ æ | F f | G g | H h | I i | Ī ī | J j | K k |
| L l | M m | N n | Ņ ņ | Ŋ ŋ | O o | Ō ō | Ө ө |
| P p | R r | S s | T t | U u | Ū ū | W w | X x |
| Y y | Z z | ’ |
Udege is currently written in two versions of the Cyrillic alphabet, known as the "Petersburg" and the "Khabarovsk" versions, which represent different dialects of Udege. The Khabarovsk version, for the Khor dialect, is used more often.
| + Cyrillic alphabet (Khabarovsk version) | |||||||
| А а | ʻА ʻа | А̄ а̄ | А̂ а̂ | Б б | В в | Г г | Ғ ғ |
| Д д | Ӡ ӡ | И и | Ӣ ӣ | И̂ и̂ | Й й | К к | Л л |
| М м | Н н | Њ њ | Ӈ ӈ | О о | ʻО ʻо | О̄ о̄ | О̂ о̂ |
| П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у | Ӯ ӯ | У̂ ŷ | Ф ф |
| Х х | Ч ч | ь | Э э | ʻЭ ʻэ | Э̄ э̄ | Э̂ э̂ |
A few older letters that were used in this language: Ж ж, З з, Lje љ, Ц ц, Ш ш, Щ щ, Ъ ъ, Ы ы, ‘Ы ‘ы, Ы̄ ы̄, Ы̂ ы̂, Ю ю, ‘Ю ‘ю, Ю̄ ю̄, Ю̂ ю̂, Я я, ‘Я ‘я, Я̄ я̄, Я̂ я̂
| + Cyrillic alphabet (Petersburg version) | |||||||
| А а | Б б | В в | (Ԝ ԝ) | Г г | Д д | Ә ә | Е е |
| Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | Ӡ ӡ | И и | Й й | К к | Л л |
| М м | Н н | Ӈ ӈ | Њ њ | О о | П п | Р р | С с |
| Т т | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ |
| Ъ ъ | Ч ч | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
| E. R. Snejder's (Schneider) alphabet | Omo jəgdig’ə bagdehæni, mam’asaxi-da. Mam’asani gə̄nʒi bisini. Tu bisiti. Bimi-də mam’asatigī digaŋkini: — Bi Sələməgə guniəiwəti isənəʒəmi, — guŋkini. |
| "Khabarovsk" Cyrillic alphabet (alphabet by M. D. Simonov and V. T. Kyalundzyuga) | Омо йэгдэғ’э багдиэ̂ни, мам’асахи-да. Мам’асани гэ̅нʒи бисини. Ту бисити. Бими-дэ мамас’атиғи̅ диғаңкини: — Би Сэлэмэгэ гунэивэти исэнэʒэми, — гуңкини. |
| "Leningrad" Cyrillic (alphabet by E. V. Perekhvalskaya) | Омо йəгдəг’ə багдиəни, мам’асахи-да. Мам’асани гə́нʒи бисини. Ту бисити. Бими-дə мамас’атигий диаңкини: — Би Сəлəмəгə гунəйwəти исəнəʒəми, — гуңкини. |
| A. A. Kanchuga's alphabet | Омо егдигэ багдиэни, мамасахида. Мамасани гээнди бисини. Ту бисити. Бимидэ мамасатиги диаңкини: — Би Сэлэмэгэ гунэивэти исэнэзэми, — гуңкини. |
| English translation | Once upon a time there was one fellow, he was married. The child's wife was expecting. It was. After a while, he says to his wife: — I'll go and take a look at this Selemege who is being talked about, — he said. |
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