Learning About Siberian Languages

 

Hello! For this post, I have chosen to watch another video by NativLang titled “The Languages of Siberia.” This video intrigued me because I know little about Siberia except that it is far North and faces intense temperatures below zero.

                                                           (Picture from Nativlang 3:14-3:19)

The video begins by giving a geographical picture of Siberia, bordering the Arctic and Pacific Oceans; you can find Siberia neighboring Russia. Siberia is also a tiny populated area; you would find few people inhabiting the area that is popular for its extreme weather. NativLang quotes one linguist in the video that mentions, “On the map of the 6,909 living languages listed in the Ethnologue database… it is the least linguistically diverse place in the world” (3:00-3:05). This is A harsh statement indeed, it was interesting to learn that Siberia is home to 40 different languages from at least ten other language families. NativLang explains how one of the significant language families present in the area is Siberian Russia which has a specific dialect adapted from northern Russia. Another large family is Siberian Turkic. Fun fact: one of the earliest writings from the Mongols is in Siberian Turkic. Another exciting language spoken by many is one centered around Lake Baikal: Buryat. Within these popular Siberian languages are Paleo-Siberian languages spoken by the Native people of Siberia. These languages depend on the few people who speak the language to keep it alive. NativLang gave multiple examples of how diverse Siberia’s languages are, and hearing how he pronounced the words gave me a better picture of how complex these languages are.

 

R. Joshua. “The Languages of Siberia.” Youtube, uploaded by Nativlang, 22 May 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alla2Fqopag. Accessed 28 April 2023.