Russian   
ABOUT THE PROJECT STATE CULTURE AND ART HISTORY GEOGRAPHY AND NATURE PEARLS OF RUSSIA TOURISM GUEST BOOK  
 Russia State   Nations of Russia
 :: Articles
The Russians
The Aguls
The Akhvakhs
The Aleuts
The Altaians
The Andians nations
The Andins
The Archins
The Armenians
The Aserbaijanians
The Assyrians
The Avars
The Baghulals
The Balkarians
The Baraba Tatars
The Bashkirs
The Besermians
The Bezhtians
The Botlikhs
The Bulgarians
The Buryats
The Byelorussians
The Chamalals
The Chechens
The Cherkess
The Chukchis
The Chuvashs
The Cossacks
The Crimean Tatars
The Dargins
The Didos
The Dolgans
The Enets
The Eskimos
The Estonians
The Evenks
The Evens
The Finns
The Gagauz
The Georgians
The Germans
The Ginukhs
The Godoberins
The Greeks
The Gypsies
The Hunzibs
The Ingush
The Itelmens
The Izhorians
The Jews
The Kabards
The Kalmyks
The Karachay
The Karatas
The Karelians
The Kazakhs
The Kets
The Khakass
The Khants
The Khvarshis
The Komi-Permyaks
The Komis
The Koreans
The Koryaks
The Kumuks
The Kyrgyz
The Laks
The Latvians
The Lezgins
The Lithuanians
The Mansis
The Maris
The Moldovans
The Mordvins
The Mountain Jews
The Nanais
The Negidals
The Nenets
The Nganasans
The Nivkhs
The Nogays
The Orochis
The Oroks
The Ossetians
The Permyak Komis
The Poles
The Adygy
The Rutuls
The Saams
The Selkups
The Shors
The Small Nations of North
The Tabasarans
The Tajiks
The Tatars
The Tats
The Teleuts
The Tofalars
The Tsakhurs
The Turkmens
The Tyva
The Udeghes
The Udmurts
The Ukranians
The Ulchis
The Uzbeks
The Veps
The Vods
The Yakuts
The Yukaghirs
 :: Search
Search in articles
Search in current section
 :: Constructor
 :: Game server
 :: Test

The Nivkhs

The Nivkhs live in Fhabarovsky Krai, forming continental group (4673 p.).
The self-designation of the people living on the River Amur is Nivh and on Sakhalin Island it is N'ivhgn-N'igvn, which means 'man'. In older literature they are known as Gilyak, the name given them by their neighbours, the Manchus (Gilyami-Gileke). Various Nivkh tribes have also named themselves according to the area they are settled in, for example Chombing - 'the people on the River Chom' and Mybing - 'the people on the River My'. Since the 1930s, when the Soviet national policy took to calling ethnic groups by their self-designations, the name Nivkh has been officially adopted in Russian.
The earliest historical data concerning the Nivkhs dates back to a 12th century Chinese chronicle. The people called Tszi-lya-mi on the Lower Amur mentioned in the chronicle are evidently Nivkhs. In the 17th century, the Nivkhs are referred to in the reports written by the Russian Cossacks (Vasily Poyarkov 1643--46, Yerofey Khabarov, etc).
The Nivkhs live in the Far East, on the Lower Amur, on the coast of the Ohkotskoe Sea on the river's estuary, and on Sakhalin Island (Yh-mif in the Nivkh language). In the administrative sense, they belong to the Khabarovsk district of the Russian Federation (the districts of Takhatin and Lower Amur), and Sakhalin region (the districts of Rybinov, Kirov, Alexandrov and Shirokopad). In the past, their habitation was more extensive. The Nivkh population is not compact and they mostly live side by side with the Russians or the Negidal people.
A monsoon climate prevails on the lowlands of the Lower Amur. There is abundant snow in winter but the summers are warm and humid. The average temperature in July is 12 to 16 ?C and in January - 15 to 25 ?C.
Anthropologically the Nivkhs belong to the Sakhalin-Amur subgroup of the Mongoloid racial type. They are of short stature (men approx. 160 cm). They have a broad flat face, a snub nose and thick lips. Unlike other Mongoloid peoples, they have a relatively dark skin, and dark eyes and hair. They have remarkably dense beards, a supposed influence of the Ainu.
The Nivkh language belongs to the Paleo-Asian languages as a separate unit, unconnected to any other group or subgroup. It is connected to the Chukchi-Kamchatkan and Altai languages by typological similarities and, in the opinion of several academics, also to North American Indian languages. The neighbours of the Nivkhs speak widely different Manchu languages (Ulchi, Orochi, Nanai). Three different dialects can be distinguished within the Nivkh language: a) Amur, b) East Sakhalin and c) North Sakhalin.
The Amur and the East Sakhalin dialects contain notable differences in phonetics, grammar and vocabulary. They have even been presumed to be two different languages. The North Sakhalin dialect is placed somewhere in between the other two. The dialects, in their turn, can be subdivided into local vernaculars.
In the areas of life central to the Nivkhs' existence (nature, the sea, weather, fishing, hunting) the language is remarkably rich in its native stock of words. There are only a few loans from the Manchu-Tungus or Paleo-Asian languages. However, vocabulary connected with newer occupations (e.g. agriculture, cattle-breeding, horticulture), is pervaded with loans from the Russian language.
The Nivkhs have always interacted and traded with all their neighbouring peoples. An important Chinese and Manchu influence (e.g. in architecture, clothing, food) is manifest in Nivkh folk culture and, to a lesser degree, some Ainu and Japanese influence (mainly on Sakhalin Island). In the 20th century, the influence of Russian culture has considerably increased.
Of all Nivkh traditions the most enduring are fishing and hunting. The importance of fish is best illustrated by the name once given to the Nivkhs of fish-eaters. For the coastal-dwelling Nivkhs, an additional occupation was the hunting of sea animals, especially seals. Dog breeding (for draught animals and for food) was also widespread. Traditional clothing and food, and also women's handicrafts, have to some extent been preserved. Changes in the structure of settlements have had a detrimental impact on traditional architecture.
In the 1880s, a Nivkh-Nanai primer was compiled by a missionary, Protodyakonov, but its use was limited. The activity of local primary schools was of a short duration (from 1895 to 1905). Under the Soviet regime, a Nivkh alphabet based on the Latin alphabet (1931) and a written language based on the Amur dialect were created. Utilizing these, a primer, Cuz-dif (New Word), a few primary school textbooks and 11 issues of a newspaper Nivhgn Mykyr Klaj-dif (The Nivkh Truth) were published. In 1953, the transition to the Russian alphabet was completed and a new primer published. At that point, unfortunately, the Nivkh written language was dissolved. The spoken language remained in the educational sphere a little longer, used in nursery classes, but soon it was banished from there on the pretext that, all children could speak Russian anyway and consequently there was no need for schooling in their mother tongue. With the abolition of native language schools, an ethnic mix of schoolchildren became additional justification for using Russian in schooling. The trend toward bilingualism begun in the 1930s, soon gained momentum: by 1959 the figure was 23 %. Russian is now by far the predominant language, and the Nivkhs are on their way from bilingualism back to monolingualism but this time with the Russian language. In the 1980s Ch. Taksami and M. Pukhta compiled a primer in the Amur dialect, V. Sangi published a primer and a reader in the East Sakhalin dialect.





Copyright © RIN 2001-. Russia Russia site map Feedback