Terra sebv s acta mvsei sabesiensi s

Terra Sebus: Acta Musei Sabesiensis, Special Issue, 2014, p. 505-513 

 

 

NOTIONS OF TIME AMONGST INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF 

THE RUSSIAN NORTH: THE PROBLEM OF SOCIAL AND 

CULTURAL INTERPRETATION

 

 

 

Yulia G. KHAZANKOVICH



 

 

 

The study of the vocabulary of indigenous peoples of northern Russia 

shows that the majority of indigenous peoples have mastered the category 

of time to a significantly lesser degree than the category of space. The 

purpose of this study is to identify and analyse the semantic features of the 

temporal vocabulary in the context of the ethnic culture and mentality of 

the Palaeoasiatic peoples, specifically the Yukagirs and Alyutors, as well as 

the Tungus-Manchurians (particularly Evens). The linguistic material used 

in this article primarily consists of conversations with native Even and 

Yukagir speakers, natives of Allaikhovskiy and Nizhekolymskiy districts of 

the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), as well as corresponding samples from 

root vocabulary dictionaries and authoritative research on folklore and 

language.  

Within the framework of this study, methods such as interviews and 

analyses of the meaning of representative words in national idiomatic 

expressions have been used, allowing some very interesting observations on 

notions of time amongst the minor nations of the North. “Small” folklore 

genres - riddles, proverbs and sayings - were also of a particular interest in 

this study. Previously published field data obtained by earlier researchers 

from informants in the field proved extremely relevant to this topic, as they 

reflected mental notions of time and space amongst the populations under 

consideration. 

Analysis of the vocabulary of Evens, Yukagirs and Alyutors indicated 

that vocabulary with spatial values prevails. At the same time, these spatial 

terms of the minor peoples of the Russian North are maximally objective.

1

 

Analysis conducted on significant lexical formations led to the conclusion 

that the majority of indigenous peoples of the North, whose culture is very 

                                                 



 North-Eastern Federal University named after M. K. Ammosov, Yakutsk, Russian 

Federation; e-mail: [e-mail]. 

1

 Denoting a case where a noun or pronoun serves as the object of a transitive verb or 

preposition. 

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Y. G. Khazankovich 

 

 

506

archaic, have mastered the category of time to a considerably lesser degree 

than the category of space. This is typical of almost all primary culture 

nations who retain traditional activities - herding, fishing, etc. - and adhere 

to traditional ways of life and pagan (including shamanistic) beliefs. 

Specialised research methods, including statistical ones, used to 

analyse the national lexicon revealed that in the Yukagir and Alyutor 

cultures the experience of time in frames habitual to modern man and the 

technological world (a second, a moment, a minute) is almost entirely 

absent. The ethno-semantic difference that exists between the temporal 

lexemes “period” and “time” is due to the fact that archetypal 

representatives of indigenous peoples of northern Russia were and are 

bearers of a cyclic consciousness. In the daily life of the indigenous peoples 

of the North, the corresponding archetypal orientation of the consciousness 

does not exclude the presence of the linear perception of time usual to 

modern man. But modern life itself posits the idea of memory of the past, 

generational change and a deep awareness of the linearity of human life 

from birth to death, and from this associates progressive movement with 

the natural solar and vegetative cycles of the earth. In the cultural paradigm 

of modern northerners, the idea of natural cycles, the infinite recurrence 

and repetition of events is combined with such characteristics of linear time 

as repeatability, uniqueness and the individuality of a life itself. 

There is a need for further research into the eclectic nature of notions 

of time amongst the indigenous peoples of the Russian North. This is of 

great importance because ethnic concepts of time are a component of the 

“language” of the ethnic culture, its code. The study of the ethno-semantics 

of the temporal and spatial vocabulary of Palaeoasiatic and Tungusic 

peoples, as well as other indigenous peoples of Russia, offers the prospect 

of understanding the mechanisms of adaptation of these cultures to the 

modern world. 

 

Introduction 

In our daily life, temporal factors play a significant role. The pace of life in a 

metropolis differs substantially from the regularity of provincial existence. 

Representatives of different cultures perceive the flow of time differently. 

But for minor indigenous peoples of the North, it is qualitatively different 

than for Europeans.

2

 The philosopher and cultural expert A. Y. Gurevich 

accurately stated: “Man is not born with a sense of time. His time concepts 

are always defined by the culture to which he belongs.”

3

 Yet time 

                                                 

2

 Abulkhanova-Slavskaya 1983, p. 20-31. 

3

 Gurevich 1972. Apud Andreev 1997, p. 39. 

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