Language shift: borrowing of Russian conjunctions in Evenki

This  paper  analyzes  of  borrowing  of  Russian  conjunctions  in  Evenki  speech,  as  a manifestation of ongoing language shift under the influence of the dominant language. The aim of the study is to identify patterns in the use of the Russian conjunctions i (‘and’), a (‘but’), ili (‘or’) and to assess their impact on Evenki syntax. The data come from recordings of oral speech of speakers of the Eastern dialect living in the village of Iengra, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The Iengrinskii Evenki National Nasleg (the smallest administrative unit in Yakutia) is the only place in the region where the Evenki language functions in daily informal settings; however, Russian has already become the language of primary communication here. Our research demonstrates that the Russian conjunctions  are  systematically  used  in  Evenki,  replacing  the  traditional  means  of coordination  and  partially  changing  basic  word  order. These  changes  are  indicative of an overall shift in the balance of language dominance. The results underscore the complicated nature of syntactic influence in bilingual contexts and highlight that the borrowing  of  functional  words,  like  conjunctions,  can  be  an  indication  of  language shift.  Our  study  provides  a  detailed  analysis  of  the  role  of  each  of  the borrowed conjunctions and of the influence of Russian syntax on other components of Evenki.

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