Arman (also known as Armanskij) is an extinct language or dialect of Even that was around the Arman river in Magadan Oblast, Russia. Arman is known as a transitory variety of Evenki and Even. Arman went extinct in the 1970s.
Classification Arman has been classified as a Ewenic language in the Tungusic language family.
The classification of Arman as a language or dialect of Even is more controversial. Initially, L. D. Rišes and V. I. Cincius stated Arman as a dialect of Evenki. E. A. Kreĭnovich agreed with them, stating that Arman is a linguistic autonomous system of Even. Japanese scholars such as Jiro Ikegami have so far ignored the topic.
Gerhard Doerfer was the first person to argue for Arman being a separate language from Even, which Klavdiya Novikova and José Andrés Alonso de la Fuente has also echoed among other scholars. Glottolog has also classified Arman as a separate language from Even under their Ewenic languages. Natalia Aralova stated that the question if Arman was a language or dialect cannot be answered.
Features Arman has archaic features also found in Evenki such as the word-initial consonants of s-, l-, n- and j-.
Glossary The separation between Arman and Even can be shown with the Arman word boro-n’či(horsehair), which in Even is mura-nra. Malchukov also presents different words such as ewne (Ewen) and ŋees (nose).
The following is a list of Arman compared to Even dialects and other Tungusic languages from José Andrés Alonso de la Fuente.
EnglishArmanLiterary EwenEast EwenkiWest EwenkiLiterary EwenkiProto-TungusicNorthern Tungusicsun ɥoolteŋ yultän ~ ñultän ~ dilacaa ñööltin ~ ñuëltin ñööltən dilacaa ~ siguun small; little, less abla *abul.ĭ *abŏlnet adla adӛl adal adol *adŏl/*adul.ĭlittle; less abaltï/ablajï abӛlӛc abalac/*abŏl abolot tumor aval **avla evening sisäätnä hiisäcin sea nam lam Arman ääwnä äwən swan üüsï xüüsï shaman samaan hamaan fish ol’cï olrӛ all kupsä kubəc to kill waa- maa- *waa-
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