Ket language - WikiHQ

The Ket ( ), is the sole surviving language of the Yeniseian language family. It is spoken along the middle Yenisei basin by the Ket people.

The language is threatened with extinction—the number of ethnic Kets that are native speakers of the language dropped from 1,225 in 1926 to 537 in 1989. According to the latest reports from linguists, this number has since fallen to less than 30. A 2005 census reported 485 native speakers, but this number is suspected to be inflated. According to a local news source, the number of remaining Ket speakers is around 10 to 20. Another Yeniseian language, Yugh, became extinct in the 1970s.

History

Documentation

The earliest observations about the language were recorded by Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt in 1723, in a travel diary, where the oldest extant Ket vocabulary, belonging to the Eed-Šeš dialect, (, ) was recorded. During the 19th century, the Ket were mistaken for a tribe of the Finno-Ugric Khanty. A. Karger in 1934 published the first grammar ( ), as well as a Ket primer ( ), and a new treatment appeared in 1968, written by A. Kreinovich.

Decline and current use

Ket people were subjected to collectivization in the 1930s. In the 1950s and 1960s, according to the recollections of informants, they were sent to Russian-only boarding schools, which led to the ceasing of language transmission between generations. As of 2013, Ket is taught as a subject in some primary schools, but only older adults are fluent and few are raising their children with the language. Kellog, Russia, is the only place where Ket is still taught in schools. Special books are provided for grades second through fourth but after those grades there is only Russian literature to read that describes Ket culture. There are no known monolingual speakers as of 2006. A children's book, A Bit Lost by Chris Haughton, was translated into the language in 2013. Alexander Kotusov was a Ket folk singer and poet who died in 2019.

Only three localities, Kellog, Surgutikha and Maduika, retain a native Ket-speaking population in the present day. Other villages such as Serkovo and Pakulikha were destroyed in the second half of the 20th century, dispersing the local Ket population to nearby towns.

The three remaining Ket-majority localities natively speak different dialects. Southern Ket is spoken in Kellog, Central Ket in Surgutikha and Northern Ket in Maduika.

Phonology

Vowels

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center

! Front

! Central

! Back

! Close

| ~

! Mid

| ~

! Open

| colspan="3"|

Georg classifies , , and as marginal phonemes.

Consonants

Vajda analyses Ket as having only 12 consonant phonemes:

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center

!colspan=2|

! Bilabial

! Alveolar

! Palatal

! Velar

! Uvular

! Glottal

! colspan="2" |Nasal

! rowspan="2" |Plosive

!rowspan=2| Fricative

It is one of the few languages to lack both and , along with Arapaho, Una (Goliath), Obokuitai, Palauan, and Efik, as well as classical Arabic and some modern Arabic dialects.

There is much allophony, and the phonetic inventory of consonants is essentially as below. This is the level of description reflected by the Ket alphabet.

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center

!colspan=3|

! Bilabial

! Alveolar

! Palatal

! Velar

! Uvular

! Glottal

! colspan=3| Nasal

! colspan=2 rowspan=2| Plosive

!rowspan=3| Fricative

!rowspan=2|

| ()

! colspan=2|

! colspan=3| Flap

! colspan=3| Trill

Furthermore, all nasal consonants in Ket have voiceless allophones at the end of a monosyllabic word with a glottalized or descending tone (i.e. turn into ), likewise, becomes in the same situation. Alveolars are often pronounced laminal and possibly palatalized, though not in the vicinity of a uvular consonant. is normally pronounced with affrication, as .

Tone

Descriptions of Ket vary widely in the number of contrastive tones they report: as many as eight and as few as zero have been counted. Given this wide disagreement, whether or not Ket is a tonal language is debatable, although recent works by Ket specialists Edward Vajda and Stefan Georg defend the existence of tone.

In tonal descriptions, Ket does not employ a tone on every syllable but instead uses one tone per word. Following Stefan Georg's model of Southern Ket tone, which is also adapted by the more recent works on Ket and Yeniseian, the following can be inferred:

{| class="wikitable"

! Tone name

! First tone (even, half-long)

! Second tone (laryngealized)

! Third tone (rising-falling, long)

! Fourth tone (sharp falling)

! "Fifth tone" (First disyllabic contour)

! "Sixth tone" (Second disyllabic contour)

! Tone contour

| (or )

| (across two syllables)

! Example

| сюль (sūlʲ, “blood”)

| сюʼль (suˀlʲ, “Siberian white salmon (sp. Stenodus leucichytus)”)

| сюуль (súùlʲ, “snow sled”)

| сюль (sùlʲ, “cradle hook”)

| сюга (súka, “Northern shoveler (sp. Anas clypeata”)

| силюп (sìlub, “tuft, wisp, shock of hair”)

Orthography

In the 1930s a Latin-based alphabet was developed and used for a very brief window of time:

{| style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: none; font-family: Arial Unicode MS; font-size: 1.4em; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 239);"

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | A a

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ā ā

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Æ æ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | B ʙ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | C c

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | D d

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | E e

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ē ē

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ə ə

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | F f

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | G g

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | H h

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ꜧ ꜧ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | I i

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ī ī

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | J j

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | K k

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | L l

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ļ ļ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | M m

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | N n

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ņ ņ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ŋ ŋ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | O o

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ō ō

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | P p

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Q q

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | R r

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | S s

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ş ş

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | T t

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | U u

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ū ū

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | V v

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Z z

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" |Ƶ ƶ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ь ь

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" |

In the 1980s a new, Cyrillic-based, alphabet was created:

{| style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: none; font-family: Arial Unicode MS; font-size: 1.4em; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 239);"

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | А а

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Б б

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | В в

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Г г

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ӷ ӷ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Д д

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Е е

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ё ё

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ж ж

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | З з

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | И и

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Й й

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | К к

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ӄ ӄ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Л л

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | М м

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Н н

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ӈ ӈ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | О о

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ө ө

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | П п

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Р р

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | С с

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Т т

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | У у

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ф ф

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Х х

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ц ц

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ч ч

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ш ш

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Щ щ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ъ ъ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ә ә

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ы ы

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ь ь

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | ʼ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Э э

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ю ю

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Я я

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! Cyrillic

! IPA

|А а

|Б б

|В в

|Г г

| (~ )

|Ӷ ӷ

| (~ )

|Д д

|Е е

|Ё ё

|И и

|Й й

| (~ )

|К к

|Ӄ ӄ

|Л л

| (~ )

|М м

|Н н

|Ӈ ӈ

|О о

|Ө ө

|П п

|Р р

| (~ )

|С с

|Т т

|У у

|Х х

|Ъ ъ

|ʼ

|Ә ә

|Ы ы

|Ь ь

|Э э

|Ю ю

|Я я

Morphosyntax

Ket is classified as a synthetic language. Verbs use prefixes, while suffixes are rare outside nominal domain; incorporation is well-developed. The basic word order is subject–object–verb (SOV).

Nouns have nominative basic case (subjects and direct objects) and a system of secondary cases for spatial relations. The three noun classes are: masculine, feminine and inanimate.

Unlike the neighbouring Siberian languages, Ket makes use of verbal prefixes, classified based on the conjugation classes of the verbs that are not lexically transparent. Five such conjugation types exist, denoting various patterns verb prefixes can be appended to the verb-action nominal compound.

Ket makes significant use of incorporation. Incorporation is not limited to nouns, and can also include verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and bound morphemes found only in the role of incorporated elements. Incorporation also occurs as both a lexicalized process—the combination of verb and incorporate being treated as a distinct lexical element, with a meaning often based around the incorporated element—and a paradigmatic one, wherein the incorporation is performed spontaneously for particular semantic and pragmatic effect.

Forms of incorporation include:

Nominal incorporation, most commonly used to describe the instrumental part of an action, but sometimes used to describe patients instead. Instrumental incorporation does not affect the transitivity of the verb (though there are examples where this form of incorporation is used to describe agentless changes of state), while patient incorporation can make a transitive verb intransitive. Patient incorporation is usually used for patients that are wholly effected by an action (such as being brought into existence by it); more generally affected patients are typically incorporated only when significantly defocused or backgrounded.
Verbal incorporation, more specifically the incorporation of verbal infinitives (rather than roots) into the verb complex. This form of incorporation is used to signify aspect and form causatives. Incorporated infinitives may bring incorporated elements of their own into the verb as well.
Adjectival incorporation, with an incorporated adjective describing the target or final state of an action.
Adverbial incorporation, where a local adverb is used to describe the direction or path of a movement.

The division between morphemes is based on fusion. Sandhi are common as well. The name marking is of Ezāfe-type, the same as in predication.

Number

Ket has two grammatical numbers, the singular and plural. This is usually expressed by the presence or absence of (individuated plural) or (collective plural), the plural suffixes. The old singulative suffix is present on certain singular forms, however, like the stem 'stone' > 'stones'. Some shape-classifying suffixes have developed and are mildly productive.

Noun declension

{| class="wikitable"

|+hīk "man" (masculine noun)

!Case

!Singular

!Plural

!Nominative

|hīk-Ø

|hīk-en-Ø

!Genitive

|hīk-da

|hīk-en-na

!Dative

|hīk-daŋa

|hīk-en-naŋa

!Benefactive

|hīk-data

|hīk-en-nata

!Ablative

|hīk-daŋal

|hīk-en-naŋal

!Adessive

|hīk-daŋta

|hīk-en-naŋta

!Locative

| -

!Prosecutive

|hīk-bes

|hīk-en-bes

!Instrumental

|hīk-as

|hīk-en-as

!Abessive

|hīk-an

|hīk-en-an

!Translative

|hīk-esaŋ

|hīk-en-esaŋ

!Vocative

|hīk-ó

|hīk-en-ə́

{| class="wikitable"

|+qīm "woman" (feminine noun)

!Case

!Singular

!Plural

!Nominative

|qīm-Ø

|qīm-n-Ø

!Genitive

|qīm-di

|qīm-n-di

!Dative

|qīm-diŋa

|qīm-n-diŋa

!Benefactive

|qīm-dita

|qīm-n-dita

!Ablative

|qīm-diŋal

|qīm-n-diŋal

!Adessive

|qīm-diŋta

|qīm-n-diŋta

!Locative

| -

!Prosecutive

|qīm-bes

|qīm-n-bes

!Instrumental

|qīm-as

|qīm-n-as

!Abessive

|qīm-an

|qīm-n-an

!Translative

|qīm-esaŋ

|qīm-n-esaŋ

!Vocative

|qīm-ə́

|qīm-n-ə́

{| class="wikitable"

doˀn "knife" (neuter noun)

!Case

!Singular

!Plural

!Nominative

|doˀn-Ø

|dón-aŋ-Ø

!Genitive

|dón-di

|dón-aŋ-di

!Dative

|dón-diŋa

|dón-aŋ-diŋa

!Benefactive

|dón-dita

|dón-aŋ-dita

!Ablative

|dón-diŋal

|dón-aŋ-diŋal

!Adessive

|dón-diŋta

|dón-aŋ-diŋta

!Locative

|dón-ka

|dón-aŋ-ka

!Prosecutive

|dón-bes

|dón-aŋ-bes

!Instrumental

|dón-as

|dón-aŋ-as

!Abessive

|dón-an

|dón-aŋ-an

!Translative

|dón-esaŋ

|dón-aŋ-esaŋ

!Vocative

|<nowiki>-</nowiki>

Verb paradigm

Unlike other contemporary languages in Siberia, Ket employs a rigid and regular system of prefixes that can occupy prefix positions P8, P6, P4, P3, P1 and P-1; where prefix position P0 (or R) denotes the root of the verb and P7 is the action nominal (or the verb incorporate.) The function of the prefix slots can be summarized as follows:

P8 marks the subject person
P7 marks the lexical incorporate; where it can either be a noun or an action nominal (infinitive verb)
P6 marks the subject or the object person
P5 marks the lexical determiner (also called a theme marker)
P4 marks a wide variety of meanings depending on the verb, conjugation class and the verb template
P3 marks the neuter object person
P2 marks the tense marker, which itself denotes telicity
P1 marks the subject or the object person
P0 (R) marks the verb root
P-1 marks the plural subjects

All verb conjugations except the second mark P8, but in some deterministic circumstances where the prefix position P7 or P6 slots are filled with consonant-initial morphemes, subject person morpheme in the prefix in P8 except the third person feminine person (‘she’) is dropped.

Дусьӄадирий. (Dūsʲqadidij. «di⁸꞊ūsʲ⁷-q⁵-a⁴-di¹-dij⁰», “I get warm.”) but:
Боксьтэт. (Boksʲtet. «[di⁸꞊]boˀk⁷-sʲ⁴-tet⁰», “I strike fire.”)
Дабоксьтэт. (Daboksʲtet. «da⁸꞊boˀk⁷-sʲ⁴-tet⁰», “She strikes fire.”)

Whether or not a prefix slot will be filled can only be inferred from a verb's conjugation class, but general patterns exist that govern this process. Also notably, the morpheme -a in prefix slot P4 turns into phonetic [ɔ] in preterite and imperative functions of the verb, for which see examples below.

Example conjugations from each conjugation class can briefly be given as follows, adapted from Vajda-Zinn (2004):

Conjugation class I:
(а-бет, a⁴-[l²]-bed⁰)
Даббет. (Dábbet. «di⁸꞊a⁴-b³-bed⁰», “I wipe it [off.]” — b³ marks the neuter-class object ‘it’)
Добильбет. (Dóbilʲbet. «di⁸꞊a⁴-b³-l²-bed⁰», “I wiped it [off.]” — preterite, a⁴ turns into [ɔ].)

Conjugation class II:
(тугун-т-а-гит, tukun⁷-t⁵-a⁴-[l²]-kit⁰ — with verb incorporate тугун “comb, hairbrush.” + -кит “rubbing, moving along a surface”)
Тугунбатагит. (Túkunbatakit. «[ku⁸꞊]túkun⁷-ba⁶-t⁵-a⁴-kit⁰», “Thou combest my hair.”)
Тугункутольгит. (Túkunkutolʲkit.. «[di⁸꞊]túkun⁷-ku⁶-t⁵-a⁴-l²-kit⁰», “I combed thy hair.” — preterite, a⁴ turns into [ɔ].)
Датугунатагит. (Datúkunatakit. «da⁸꞊túkun⁷-a⁶-t⁵-a⁴-kit⁰», “She combs his hair.” — da⁸꞊ ‘She’, -a⁶ ‘him’)

Conjugation class III:
(да-сюлей-к-(с)я, da⁸꞊súlej⁷-k⁵-[s⁴]-[l²]-a⁰ — da⁸꞊ is a dummy pronoun.)
Дасюлеёкся. (Dasúlejoksa. «da⁸꞊súlej⁷-o⁶-k⁵-s⁴-a⁰», “He is blushing.”)
Дасюлеюкся. (Dasúlejuksa. «da⁸꞊súlej⁷-u⁶-k⁵-s⁴-a⁰», “She is blushing.”)

Conjugation class IV:
(к-а-гънь, k⁵-a⁴-[n²]-kən⁰)
Каригъънь. (Kadikəːnʲ. «[di⁸꞊]k⁵-a⁴-di¹-kən⁰», “I sit down.”)
Каягъънь. (Kajakəːnʲ. «[du⁸꞊]k⁵-a⁴-a¹-kən⁰», “He sits down.”)
Дакаягъънь. (Dakajakəːnʲ. «da⁸꞊k⁵-a⁴-a¹-kən⁰», “She sits down.”)
Даконагъънь. (Dakonakəːnʲ. «da⁸꞊k⁵-a⁴-n²-a¹-kən⁰», “She sat down.” — preterite, a⁴ turns into [ɔ].)

Conjugation class V:
(мяӷай-б-(ет)та, mákaj⁷-b³-[l²]-a¹-ta⁰)
Мяӷайбетта. (Mákajbetta. «[d⁸꞊]mákaj⁷-b³-a¹-ta⁰», “She meows, Her meowing is heard.” — ‘cat’ in Ket is a feminine-class noun.)
As a general rule, conjugation class V is mostly reserved for onomatopoeic verbs. Also unlike the conjugation classes I-IV, they use nominal possessive prefixes instead of verbal subject prefixes to yield ‘[Subject]'s (sound) is heard.’

Lexicon

Most of the Ket nominal lexicon is monosyllabic and derive from native Yeniseian stock. In recent times, there have been borrowings from Russian, while historically Ket is prone to borrowing lexical items from neighbouring Samoyedic, Uralic, Turkic and Tungusic (Evenki) languages.

Some of the core vocabulary, including verbs and fundamental nouns, shows remarkable similarities to the Athabascan languages of the North America, prompting some to claim a common linguistic phylum.

Sample text

{| class="wikitable"

|+Dotam, a Ket fairy tale

!Ket (Cyrillic sc., modern orthography)

!Ket (Phonemic, tone omitted)

!English translation

An old man and an old woman lived on.
They had a little son.
They went to hunt squirrels, leaving their son at home.
They came home in the evening, ate the heads of the squirrels themselves, leaving only the squirrel paws for their son.
Their son cried, for he did not eat squirrel paws.
His parents went to bed at night.
He cried the whole night.
The old woman Dotam came, cut her son's belly in half, pulled out the intestines, put them in the fire, and ate her son.
The parents got up in the morning.
There was no rustle of their son.
The old woman Dotam ate him.
The old man said: "Hey, old woman!
Take the spear home."
The old woman took the spear home.
The old man sharpened the spear.
He went to the old woman Dotam.
He struck the old woman Dotam with a spear.
He broke the old woman's head and returned home himself.
A little later, the old woman's daughter Dotam came to the old woman and said: "Give me some maramsanka [grass], my mother has a headache, my mother has passed away."
The old man got angry and killed the old woman's daughter with the spear of the old woman Dotam.
The old man went and killed the old woman Dotam completely.
The old man stayed with the old woman Dotam.
The old man said to the old woman Dotam: "Come with me to eat, then you can eat me."
The old man Dotet went into the forest with the old man.
He chopped some wood chips from a tree, put them in a cauldron, poured water, made a fire, and boiled the cauldron.
He said to the old man Dotet: "Uncle, look at how the cauldron is boiling!"
Old man Dotet looked on.
The old man took the cauldron and poured the hot cauldron on old man Dotet.
The fire consumed the old man Dotet.
The old man killed everyone [in vicinity.]
The old man stayed with his old woman.

Example sentences

Prefix positions in finite verbs are marked with superscript numerals for ease of inferring, where the superscript 0 marks the root morpheme and superscript 7 marks the verb incorporate position, as adapted from Vajda-Zinn (2004), Georg (2007) and Kotorova-Nefedov (2015). The following examples are adapted from Vajda-Zinn (2004):

(-den "Subject weeps.")
(Díden. , "I am weeping.")
(Də́den. , "She is weeping.")
(-tn "Subject goes (in a single direction.)")
(Bókotnʲ. , "I am going.")
(Úkotnʲ. , "She is going.")

The same verb root can be used in different configurations, using different verb incorporates for a variety of meanings:

(-qut "Subject assumes a new position.")
Adding preverbal elements to the root morpheme:
(Díkaqut. , "I am climbing uphill.")
(Də́kaqut. , "She is climbing uphill.")
Adding verb incorporates to the root morpheme: (аӈ (àŋ, "rope"))
(Áŋbaks[q]ut. , "I am tied up.")
(Áŋiks[q]ut. , "She is tied up.")

References

Literature

Kotorova, Elizaveta, and Andrey Nefedov (eds.) (2015). Comprehensive Ket Dictionary / Большой словарь кетского языка (2 vols). Languages of the World/Dictionaries (LW/D) 57. Munich: Lincom Europa.

External links

Ket Swadesh list
Endangered Languages of the Indigenous Peoples of Siberia – The Ket Language
Ket language vocabulary with loanwords (from the World Loanword Database)
Filtchenko, Andrei. 2001. Ket Language
Georg, Stefan. 2006. A Descriptive Grammar of Ket (Yenisei-Ostyak). Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental.
Kazakevich, Olga, et al. 2006?. Multimedia Database of Ket Language, Moscow State (Lomonosov) University
Lueders, Ulrich. Books: Language Description, Ket: Vajda. Publisher's announcement on LINGUIST List
Vajda, Edward J. 2000. Ket and other Yeneseic Peoples
Vajda, Edward J. 2006. The Ket People – Google Video
Table of contents and ordering information for The Dene–Yeniseian Connection.
Notices and news items on Dene–Yeniseian
Viikberg, Jüri. Kets. In The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire, NGO Red Book, (Wikipedia article)
Ket basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
Silent Extinction: Language Loss Reaches Crisis Levels

de:Jenisseische Sprachen#Das Ketische

History

Documentation

Decline and current use

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Tone

Orthography

Morphosyntax

Number

Noun declension

Verb paradigm

Lexicon

Sample text

Example sentences

References

Literature

Further reading

External links