This paper investigates whether the Forest Nenets language, in particular the Khalyasavey village dialect, possesses a unique colloquial accent and determines whether it has prosodically emphasized vowels. In order to answer these questions, an analysis was conducted on the duration and intensity of vowels in the field recordings from the village of Khalyasavey in 2012. The analysis indicated that the duration and intensity occasionally distinguish syllables, suggesting the absence of classical stress in contemporary Forest Nenets. Nevertheless, the different marking of maximal intensity between long and short high Proto-Nenets vowels was established. Simultaneously, their function extends to indicating different syllables within separate pronunciations by the same speaker. Generally, the vowel in the initial syllable is characterized by the maximum intensity, with the exception of words containing a short ĭ in the first syllable and about half of the words containing a short ŭ. The maximum duration, however, often indicates the open vowel of the second syllable. It is noteworthy that M. K. Amelina describes an analogous prosodic system for the Gydan dialect of the Tundra Nenets language. A parallel phenomenon, namely the concentration of maximum intensity on the initial syllable in most word forms, is likewise evident in other languages of this area. The observed absence of phonological stress in Forest Nenets may be attributable to the areal process of intensity fixation on the first syllable.
Ackerman F., Salminen T. Nenets. In: Encyclopedia of language & linguistics. 2nd ed. Keith Brown (Ed.). Amsterdam, Elsevier, 2006, vol. 8, pp. 577–579.
Amelina M. K. Udarenie v neproizvodnykh imenakh s odnorodnym vokalicheskim sostavom v gydanskom dialekte tundrovogo nenetskogo yazyka. Chast’ I. Foneticheskie slova s glasnymi nizhnego i srednego pod”emov [Stress in underived nouns with
a homogeneous vocalic structure in the Gydan dialect of Tundra Nenets. Part I. Phonetic words with low and middle vowels]. Ural-Altaic Studies. 2017, no. 3 (26), pp. 7–116.
Amelina M. K. Udarenie v neproizvodnykh imenakh s odnorodnym vokalicheskim sostavom v gydanskom dialekte tundrovogo nenetskogo yazyka. Chast’ II. Foneticheskie slova s glasnymi verkhnego pod”ema [Stress in underived nouns with a homogeneous vocal composition in the Gydan dialect of the Tundra Nenets language. Part II. Phonetic words with high vowels]. Ural-Altaic Studies. 2018, no. 4 (31), pp. 7–78.
Burkova S. I. Nenets. In: The Oxford Guide to the Uralic languages. Bakró-Nagy M., Laakso J., Skribnik E. (Eds.). Oxford 2022, 1115 p.
Lehtisalo T. Juraksamojedisches Wörterbuch. Lexica Societatis Fenno-Ugricae XIII. Helsinki, 1956, 603 p.
Normanskaya Yu. V. Rekonstruktsiya praural’skogo raznomestnogo udareniya i ego vliyanie na razvitie sistem vokalizma. [Reconstruction of the Proto Uralic phonological accent and its influence on the vocal development]. Moscow, Yazyki narodov mira, 2018, 503 p.
Popova Ya. N. Nenetsko-russkiy slovar’. Lesnoe narechie [Nenets-Russian dictionary. Forest dialect]. Szeged, 1978, 152 p. (Studia Uralo-Altaica 12)
Salminen T. Notes on Forest Nenets phonology. In: Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 253. Helsinki, 2007, pp. 349–372.
Salminen T. Tundra Nenets inflection. In: Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 227. Helsinki, 1997, 155 p.
Sammallahti P. Material from Forest Nenets. Helsinki, 1974, 140 p. (Castrenianumin toimitteita, 2)
Verbov G. D. Dialekt lesnykh nentsev. [Dialect of Forest Nenets]. In: Samodiyskiy sbornik [Samoyedic collection]. Novosibirsk 1973, pp. 3–190.
// Сибирский филологический журнал. 2025. № 3. Pp. 183–210. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/92/13.