The Khanty Alphabet

Q: What is the Khanty language?

Khanty (historically called Ostyak, ISO 639-3: kca) is an Ob-Ugric Uralic language [1] spoken by the Khanty people of Western Siberia, chiefly in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug of Russia along the Ob and Irtysh rivers. It is one of the two Ob-Ugric languages, the other being Mansi (Vogul). Khanty has several markedly different dialect groups — northern, southern and eastern — which vary enough that some scholars treat them almost as separate languages. The Institute for Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences [1] and UiT The Arctic University [2] document these varieties.

Q: What alphabet does Khanty use?

Khanty is written in an extended Cyrillic alphabet [1] based on the Russian letters, with special characters such as Ӈ (velar nasal) and Ӧ (O with diaeresis). Because of the wide dialectal variation, several orthographies exist, and dialect-specific letters like Ԓ appear in some of them. The Institute for Linguistic Studies (RAS) [1] documents these orthographies, and ELAR [3] archives materials illustrating how the Cyrillic system is applied across the Khanty dialect areas .

Q: Is Khanty related to Hungarian?

Yes. Khanty belongs to the Ob-Ugric branch of Uralic [1] , which together with Hungarian makes up the Ugric group. This makes Khanty — along with Mansi — one of the closest linguistic relatives of Hungarian, even though Khanty is spoken in Siberia and Hungarian in Central Europe. The relationship is genetic and deep: it does not make the languages mutually intelligible, but it is reflected in shared basic vocabulary and grammatical structure. UiT The Arctic University [2] and the Institute for Linguistic Studies (RAS) [1] study these Ugric connections .

Q: Why is Khanty also called Ostyak?

Ostyak is the older Russian name for Khanty [3] . It was widely used in earlier literature but can be confusing, because the similar name "Ostyak-Samoyed" refers to Selkup, an unrelated Samoyedic language. Modern usage prefers "Khanty", the self-designation, to avoid this ambiguity.

Q: Where is Khanty spoken?

Khanty is spoken in Western Siberia [1] , principally in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug (Yugra) of Russia, along the Ob and Irtysh rivers and their tributaries. Smaller numbers of speakers live in the neighbouring Yamalo-Nenets and Tomsk regions.

Q: What is the special letter Ӈ in Khanty?

The letter Ӈ (N with descender) represents the velar nasal — the "ng" sound in English "sing" [3] . It is a distinct phoneme in Khanty, so it needs its own letter. The same character is used across many Uralic Cyrillic writing systems, including Mansi, Nganasan, Enets and Selkup.

Q: How many people speak Khanty?

Khanty has on the order of 9,000 to 10,000 speakers [3] , a number that has declined as Russian has become dominant. The language is considered endangered, with transmission to younger generations weakening in many communities. The Institute for Linguistic Studies (RAS) [1] , UiT The Arctic University [2] and ELAR [3] all contribute to documenting Khanty, supporting both research and potential revitalisation of the language .

Q: What is the ISO code for Khanty?

The ISO 639-3 code for Khanty is kca [1] . It covers the Khanty language as a whole, including its several dialects. The historical name "Ostyak" refers to the same language and the same ISO code.

Q: How is Khanty being documented and preserved?

Khanty is documented by several institutions: the Institute for Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences [1] (dialect and orthography research), UiT The Arctic University of Norway [2] (Ob-Ugric typology), and the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) [3] (field recordings). Because Khanty has diverse dialects and declining speaker numbers, documentation across all its varieties is a priority. These institutions together preserve the Khanty Cyrillic writing system and the spoken language for research and for the Khanty community itself .

Khanty Alphabet at a Glance

Khanty (also historically called Ostyak, ISO 639-3: kca) is an Ob-Ugric Uralic language ^[1] spoken by the Khanty people of Western Siberia, chiefly in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug of Russia along the Ob and Irtysh rivers. It is one of the two Ob-Ugric languages, the other being Mansi
The Khanty alphabet is based on Cyrillic, extended with special characters including Ӈ (velar nasal) and Ӧ (O with diaeresis). Because Khanty has several quite different dialects, the writing system has varied over time, and dialect-specific letters such as Ԓ appear in some orthographies ^[3]
The Institute for Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences ^[1] researches the Ob-Ugric languages, documenting Khanty dialects, phonology and the Cyrillic orthographies used across the Khanty-speaking area
UiT The Arctic University of Norway ^[2] studies the languages of northern Eurasia, including Khanty, contributing to the typological understanding of the Ob-Ugric branch and the language ecology of Western Siberian indigenous communities
The Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) ^[3] at SOAS University of London holds Khanty documentation, including field recordings and transcribed texts illustrating the spoken language and its Cyrillic writing across several dialects
Khanty belongs to the Ob-Ugric branch of Uralic ^[1], which together with Hungarian forms the Ugric group. This means Khanty is, surprisingly, one of the closest linguistic relatives of Hungarian, despite being spoken thousands of kilometres away in Siberia

Khanty Vowels

Khanty has 10 vowel letters: А, Е, Ё, И, О, У, Ы, Э, Ю, Я, with the additional front rounded vowel Ӧ. Vowel systems differ considerably between Khanty dialects, and some orthographies use extra vowel marks to capture length and quality ^[1].

The Institute for Linguistic Studies (RAS) ^[1] documents the varied Khanty vowel systems across dialects. UiT The Arctic University ^[2] studies these vowels in the context of Ob-Ugric and wider northern Eurasian language typology.

[AH]

[YEH]

[YO]

[EE]

[OH]

[OO]

[IH]

[EH]

[YOO]

[YAH]

[AH]

as in "father"

[YEH]

as in "yet"

[YO]

as in "yore"

[EE]

as in "see"

[OH]

as in "more"

[OO]

as in "moon"

[IH]

back unrounded vowel, like a dark "i"

[EH]

as in "bed"

[YOO]

as in "you"

[YAH]

as in "yard"

Khanty Consonants

Khanty consonant letters include the distinctive Ӈ (velar nasal). Khanty dialects vary in their consonant inventories; some western dialects have lateral fricatives written with special letters such as Ԓ, while others do not ^[3].

The Institute for Linguistic Studies (RAS) ^[1] documents these dialectal differences, and UiT The Arctic University ^[2] studies Khanty consonants within Ob-Ugric typology, mapping how the writing system adapts to each dialect area.

[B]

[V]

[G]

[D]

[Y]

[K]

[L]

[M]

[N]

[NG]

[P]

[R]

[S]

[T]

[KH]

[CH]

[SH]

[B]

as in "bat"

[V]

as in "van"

[G]

as in "go"

[D]

as in "dog"

[Y]

as in "yes"

[K]

as in "key"

[L]

as in "lamp"

[M]

as in "man"

[N]

as in "not"

[NG]

velar nasal, as in "sing" — shared across the Uralic Cyrillic tradition

[P]

as in "pen"

[R]

rolled r

[S]

as in "sun"

[T]

as in "top"

[KH]

as in Scottish "loch"

[CH]

as in "church"

[SH]

as in "ship"

[NG]

[lh]

[OE]

Khanty Digits

Khanty uses Arabic numerals (0–9). Approximate Khanty number words: нулы (0), ыв (1), катн (2), хурэм (3), нила (4), вэт (5), хут (6), тапэт (7), нявэт (8), ярсэн (9). Exact forms vary between dialects.

Khanty numerals such as хурэм (3) show Ob-Ugric roots that can be compared with Mansi forms, evidence of the shared ancestry documented by the Institute for Linguistic Studies (RAS) ^[1] and UiT The Arctic University ^[2] in their Ob-Ugric comparative studies.

[нулы]

[ыв]

[катн]

[хурэм]

[нила]

[вэт]

[хут]

[тапэт]

[нявэт]

[ярсэн]

[нулы]

Khanty: нулы

[ыв]

Khanty: ыв

[катн]

Khanty: катн

[хурэм]

Khanty: хурэм

[нила]

Khanty: нила

[вэт]

Khanty: вэт

[хут]

Khanty: хут

[тапэт]

Khanty: тапэт

[нявэт]

Khanty: нявэт

[ярсэн]

Khanty: ярсэн

[AH]

[B]

[V]

[G]

[D]

[YEH]

[YO]

[EE]

[Y]

[K]

[L]

[M]

[N]

[NG]

[OH]

[OE]

[P]

[R]

[S]

[T]

[OO]

[KH]

[CH]

[SH]

[IH]

[EH]

[YOO]

[YAH]

Expand All Collapse All

What is the Khanty language?

What alphabet does Khanty use?

Is Khanty related to Hungarian?

Why is Khanty also called Ostyak?

Where is Khanty spoken?

What is the special letter Ӈ in Khanty?

How many people speak Khanty?

What is the ISO code for Khanty?

How is Khanty being documented and preserved?

References:

[1] Institute for Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences (ILS RAS), St Petersburg. "Ob-Ugric Languages Research — Khanty" — the institute researches the Ob-Ugric branch of Uralic (Khanty and Mansi), analysing their dialects, phonology and Cyrillic orthographies. Retrieved from Institute for Linguistic Studies, RAS
[2] UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Department of Language and Culture. "Northern Eurasian Language Documentation — Khanty" — UiT conducts research on the Ob-Ugric languages of Western Siberia, including Khanty, contributing to the typological understanding of the Uralic language family and the language ecology of Siberian indigenous communities. Retrieved from UiT The Arctic University of Norway
[3] Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR), SOAS University of London. "Khanty Language Documentation" — ELAR holds documentation of Khanty (Ostyak, ISO 639-3: kca), an Ob-Ugric Uralic language of Western Siberia, Russia, including field recordings and transcribed texts of its several dialects written in Cyrillic. Retrieved from Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR)