The Evenks

[Ya Sam]

"Self-designation. The Evenks were formerly known as tungus. This 
designation was spread by the Russians, who acquired it from the Yakuts and 
the Siberian Tatars (in the Yakut language tongus) in the 17th century. The 
Evenks have several self-designations of which the best known is even, 
evenk. This became the official designation for the people in 1931. ...

Habitat. The Evenks inhabit a huge territory of the Siberian taiga from the 
River Ob in the west to the Okhotsk Sea in the east, and from the Arctic 
Ocean in the north, to Manchuria and Sakhalin in the south. The total area 
of their habitat is about 2.5 million square kilometres. In all of the 
Soviet Union only the Russians inhabit a larger territory. ...

Language. The Evenk language is the largest of the northern group of the 
Manchu-Tungus languages, a group which also includes the Even and Negidal 
languages. The basic vocabulary has much in common with the Mongolian and 
the Turkic languages, indicating a close relation. In certain areas the 
influences of the Yakut and the Buryat languages are strong. The influence 
of Russian is general and overwhelming (in 1979, 75.2 % of the Evenk were 
fluent in Russian). The Evenk language varies considerably and is divided 
into three large dialect groups: the northern, the southern and the eastern 
dialect. These are further divided into minor dialects. The written language 
was created in the late 1920s. ...

Writing. Evenk written language was created at the end of the 1920s, and in 
1933--34 Evenk was introduced into primary schools in the Evenk National 
Territory, and some other areas. The written language was created on the 
basis of one dialect (the Nepi dialect) which caused confusion among the 
speakers of other dialects. Hence, it was decided that the dialects spoken 
in the National Territory (the Podkamennaya Tunguska dialects) were to form 
the basis for the Evenk writing. The first book in Evenk was published in 
1931, followed by an assortment of various publications. "

http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/evenks.shtml

See also 'Shamanism Among the Peoples of Western and Eastern Siberia'

http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/changing/journey/shamanism.html

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