The Udege language (also Udihe language, Udekhe language, Udeghe language) is the language of the Udege people. It is a member of the Tungusic family. It is a moribund language, and classified as critically endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.
Ethnonyms
Until the beginning of the 20th century, neither the Orochs, nor the Udeges, nor the Tazes, who were considered one ethnic group, had a common self-name, each group had its own territorial name. Ethnic identity was present rather "implicitly", i.e. when local autochthonous inhabitants were opposed to alien peoples (Chinese, Manchus, Koreans, etc.).
For the first time, a common ethnonym for the Udeges, Orochs and Taz was given by Jean-François de Laperouse by the common ethnonym Orochons () for the indigenous population living along the coast of the Tatar Strait and the Sea of Japan, namely in the Gulf of De-Kastri in 1787 in time of his round-the-world trip. This name was in use in literature until the beginning of the 20th century, when the Udege language received its modern name.
For the first time, the term удиhе (udihe) as a self-designation for the people was introduced by the Russian ethnographer Brailovsky S. N. at the turn of the 20th century. This self-designation was worn by one of the groups of northern Udege. At the same time, he did not separate the Udege and Orochs. Brailovsky also began to use the term taz as a synonym for the term udihe. In the late 1920s, a campaign was launched in the country to change ethnonyms. The Orochons were divided into three groups and became Orochs, Udeges or Tazes. For the first time, such a division can be found in the works of Arseniev V. K.
Geographic distribution
Udege is a highly endangered Manchu-Tungusic language spoken in the southern part of Russian Far East. The Udege live in Khabarovsk Krai (districts: Imeni Lazo, Nanaisky) and Primorsky krai (districts: Terneyskiy, Pozharsky, Krasnoarmeysky), and also in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO).
According to the latest censuses (1989, 2002 and 2010), the number of Udege is constantly decreasing from 1,902 in 1989 to 1,496 in 2010. In 2010, 620 people were registered in the Khabarosky krai; 793 people lived in Primorsky krai. An additional 83 Udege were registered outside of these territories, including 42 people in the JAO. The census data also reflect the steady decline of the language: according to the 1989 census, Udege was spoken by 462 people, in 2002 it was 227 people, and in 2010 it was only 103 people. The 2010 census shows a sharp drop in the Udihe competence in the Khabarovsky Krai (from 96 to 16 people!).
In the 1930s, the Udege were forcibly made sedentary: each areal group was settled in a specially built permanent settlement: Kukan (Kur-Urmi Udihe), Bira (Anyuy), Kun (Hungari), Agzu (Samarga), (Khor), Syain, Mitahheza and (Bikin), Sanchikheza (Iman). The less numerous sea-shore Udihe were dispersed. In the 1950s, a system of boarding schools for Udege children took shape, which finally broke the continuity of generations and oriented young people on speedy Russification. In the 1960s and 70s in the course of the “consolidation of villages” campaign, smaller Udihe villages were liquidated: Bira (Anyuy), Sanchiheza (Iman), Syain and Mitakheza (Bikin). The Bikin Udihe resettled in the new Udihe village of ; and Anyuy and Iman Udihe were resettled into neighboring Russian villages. As a result of this policy, there are no monoethnic Udege settlements.
Dialects
Traditionaly, the udihe were semi-nomads, moving within a limited territory, each along a particular river and its tributaries, thereby forming territotial groups which usually consisted of several families. The territorial groups are mostly named after the corresponding rivers: (1) Kur-Urmi, (2) Samarga, (3) Anyuy, (4) Khungari, (5) Khor, (6) Bikin, (7) Iman, and (8) Sea shore (Namunka). From a linguistic point of view, the dialects of the Udege language, as well as the Oroch language, form a common continuum. Actually, the Udege continuum is divided along the “north-south” line, relating to all levels: phonetics and phonology, morphology and vocabulary, syntax. There are no sufficient materials on the Kur-Urmi dialect.
The Udihe dialects can be classified as follows:
Kur-Urmi
Northern group: khor (udg. хуӈка) anyuy (udg. униӈка) samarga (udg. самаргиӈка) khungari (udg. хуӈгаке) † Southern group: bikin (udg. бикиӈка) iman (udg. имаӈка) primorskiy (sea shore) (udg. намуӈка) †