Orok / Uilta (уйльта / ульта)

Orok belongs to the Northern branch of the Manchu-Tungus (Tungusic) languages. It is spoken by about 64 people in the Poronaysky and Nogliksky Administrative Divisions of Sakhalin Island in the Russian Federation. There are also some Oroks who live on Hokkaido island in Japan and maybe three of them speak Orok.

Orok is used as an everyday language by some members of the older generation of Orok people, and is taught in one school on Sakhalin. Since 2007 Orok has been written with a version of the Cyrillic alphabet, and an Orok primer has been published. A Japanese linguist, Professor Jiro Ikegami, developed the written form of Orok.

Orok alphabet and pronunciation

Notes

г = [ɣ] between vowels
г = [ɢ], к = [q] and х = [χ] when adjacent to [α,ɔ,ʊ] e.g. амака [αmαqα] абгимбури [αb'ɢɪmbʊrɪ]
е = [(ʲ)e:] - can be palatalized after a consonant: бē [b(ʲ)e:]
э = [ɨ] can be used word-finally: хэрэ [xərə~xərɨ]
Vowel harmony: [α, ɪ, ɔ, ʊ] are hard; [i, ə, o, u] are soft, and [e:] is neutral: e.g. агдуманнē [αɢdʊmαnne:], нэудумэннē [nəudumənne:]

Sample text in Orok

Чипāли гуруннē балӡичи гэвумэ, омотто м нэ мөрөнӡи, м нэ доронӡи. Нōчи идэлу, иркалу, м нэ м нӡи нāдактаӈачи бūчи.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Information about Orok | Numbers in Orok

Links

Information about the Orok language and people
http://lingsib.iea.ras.ru/en/languages/uilta.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orok_language
http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/oroks.shtml

Southern Tungusic languages

Jurchen, Manchu, Nanai, Orok / Uilta, Ulch, Xibe

Other languages written with the Cyrillic alphabet

If you need to type in many different languages, the Q International Keyboard can help. It enables you to type almost any language that uses the Latin, Cyrillic or Greek alphabets, and is free.

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