The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire. Margus Kolga
km by sea. Nobody asked the opinion of the local inhabitants when Moscow decided to set up a mine, a prison camp or a new settlement. The mining and export of the mineral resources has also proceeded according to Moscow’s plans, taking no heed of the environmental conditions or pollution. The Eskimos realized long ago that there is no way to resist this superior power. In 1958 and 1971 a part of the Eskimos were deported inland to ease the work of frontier forces. Now their settlements and local authorities are dominated by immigrants, Russian prevails at school, in hospitals, shops and offices. The Eskimo are tired of being Eskimos. Old customs are forgotten, the young people are passing over to Russian. Finding no suitable jobs they subsist on state emergency aid and are consoled by alcohol.
The overall degeneration and alcoholism are especially conspicuous among the Eskimo. In addition, the effects of the nuclear tests carried out in the region’s airspace in the 1950—60s are making themselves felt. The impairment of the immune system by radiation has brought about explosive propagation of chronic ailments (hypertension, parasitic illnesses, tuberculosis, cancer of various organs, etc.). The average life expectancy of the Eskimo is only 45 years. The Eskimo language and culture are disappearing from the Asian mainland and even the physical existence of the people is endangered. (Cf. Chukchi)
Writing. The Eskimo have a centuries-long tradition of pictography. Their walrus tusks all covered with drawings can be read like books. Preconditions for their own spelling system were created in the 1930s when a unified alphabet was developed for the Nordic peoples. The Eskimo literary standard was worked out in 1932 on the basis of the Latin alphabet and the Ungasiki or Chaplin dialect. Yelena Orlova with the help of two students, Bychkov and Leita from the Khabarovsk Technical School for the Northern Peoples, published an ABC-book called Hwangkuta Ihaput ‘Our Book’. This was followed by a few schoolbooks for primary school and some translations of political texts from Russian. Yet in 1937 the Cyrillic alphabet replaced the Latin one.
In the 1950s the Eskimo language was used in the first and second form, but then the direction changed towards all classes being conducted in Russian. The pretext was found in the dialectal differences being too big for normal acquisition and use of the literary standard. The sharing o f the written language of the American Eskimo was made impossible by the closed border.
In the 1980s some efforts towards reviving the lost written language were made. L. Ainana, G. Nakazik and M. Siginulik are the authors of the first form reader and the ABC-book Anhak ‘Sparkle’.
The research of the Eskimo people started in the 18th century. In 1785—93 ethnographic and linguistic material on the “sedentary Chukchi” was collected by G. Saryev and I. Billings and published in 1811. In the second half of the 19th century the Eskimo language was studied by N. Gondatti who is also the author of the first division of the linguistic area into three dialects. From his material the phonological structure of the language was studied by V. Miller who is also the author of a survey of the Eskimos of the Anadyr region, published in 1987. In the 20th century the collecting of data and research was siren fresh impetus owing to the activities of V. Bogoraz. In 1909 he published a survey on the habitat of the Eskimos, the dialectal division of the Eskimo language and its contacts with the Chukchi. In 1934 he published the first separate study on the language of the Siberian Eskimo. V. Bogoraz was also the central figure in the compilation of the ABC-book, and other schoolbooks and dictionaries. In the post-war period G. Menovshchikov has been notably prolific. He has published a monograph on the Eskimo language (1960), an academic study of the language in two volumes (1962—1967), an Eskimo-Russian Dictionary (1954) and a separate monograph on each of the three Eskimo languages (Sireniki 1964, Naukan 1975, Ungasiki or Chaplin 1980). A Russian-Eskimo Dictionary has already been published by E. Rubtsova (1941). Later, separate collections of linguistic and folklore examples were published by E. Rubtsova and G. Menovshchikov (1987, 1988).
THE BAGULALS
Self-designation. They call themselves bagval, and their language bagvalazul mitshitshi. The Bagulal language belongs to the Andi subgroup of the northwestern group (Avar-AndoDido) of the Dagestan languages. Grammatically, Bagulal is similar to two other languages belonging to the Andi subgroup: Chamal and Tindi. There is a striking similarity especially with Tindi and at one time they were even considered to be different dialects of the same language. The vocabulary of the Bagulal language is well preserved in spite of numerous borrowings from Arabic, Turkish and Avar. Since World War II the borrowing of neologisms from Russian, through the Avar language, has become common. The Bagulals do not have a written language, and instead use Avar which is widely spoken among the Bagulals. Little research has been done into Bagulal. It is first mentioned in the works of R. Eckert and A. Dirr in the 19th century. Of the Soviet linguists, Z. Magomedbekova has conducted some research into Bagulal.
The Bagulals live in inaccessible small villages on the right bank of the River Andi-Koisu and the surrounding hills, in the northwestern part of the Dagestan mountain region. There are all together six settlements, four of which are situated in Tsumanda and two in the Akhvakh district of Dagestan. The villages are called Kvanada (Khvanch in Bagulal), Tlondoda (Gijnduch), Hushtada (Gyussach), Gemerso (Gyemesi), Tlissi (Ljissi) and Tlibisho (Gijbishi). Each Bagulal village exhibits variants in their language. The dialects are called after the villages: Kvanada- Gemerso, Tlondoda-Hushtada and Tlissi-Tlibisso. The Bagulal territory is bordered to the north by Andis, to the northeast by Karatas, to the east by Akhvakhs, to the southeast and south by Tindis, to the southwest by Chamalals and to the northwest by Godoberis.
Population. Similarly to other Ando-Dido peoples the Bagulals were counted as a separate nation in the Soviet Union only in 1926. In all censuses since they have been considered as Avars. The data for 1958 and 1967 is from academic studies.
| native speakers | ||
| 1926 | 3,054 | |
| 1958 | 4,500 | |
| 1967 | 4,000 | (T. Gudava) |
Anthropologically the Bagulals belong to the Caucasian type of the Balkano-Caucasian race, which is characterized by a comparatively dark pigmentation, a massive broad face and a round skull and large stature. The Bagulals also exhibit some features typical of the Caspian type.
Religion. The Bagulals are all Muslims (Sunnites). Islam began to spread in Mountain Dagestan following the Arab invasions of the 8th century. The period between the 9th and 14th centuries was a time of constant struggle between two rival religions: Islam, centered in the Islamized part of Transcaucasia and expanding north, and Christianity, spreading east from Georgia. After the disintegration of
Georgia, Islam prevailed and by the 16th century it was established everywhere in Avaria, including amongst the Bagulals.
Ethnologically the Bagulals and the Avars both originate from the ProtoAvar tribes. Their intellectual and material culture is similar. They only differ in details (e.g. clothing). The same is also true in regard to history. For centuries foreign forces have shown an interest in Bagulal territory, however, there have been no direct invasions due to the inaccessible encircling mountains. In the 16—18th centuries the Bagulal villages were nominally dependent on the Avar khanate. In the 17th century an independent political unit was formed, the ‘free community’. During the 17th and 18th centuries there were conflicts with neighbouring tribes, over the possession of pasture lands. Constant quarrels and the danger of war resulted in the founding of a military organization, KyokiAbi (Union of Warriors): all single men between 18 and 40 took part in spring battle drills. Warfare was very popular in Bagulal society. An original shelter (haly) was developed: a quadrangular two-storeyed thick walled building provided with a water pipe.
Economy. The characteristics of the Bagulal’s economy were set by the environment. Owing to the existence of good mountain pastures the Bagulals concentrated on developing seasonal livestock breeding. The conditions were especially favourable for sheep and goats. Because of the shortage of farming land and poor equipment agriculture was not very well developed. Only a form of terrace cultivation was employed. The main crops were wheat, rye, flax, later also potatoes and other vegetables. Villages in the valley of the Andi-Koisu river had better conditions for tilling and there were even some orchards.
The primary