Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Ostyak language

Ostyak language

9.9
A language of western Siberia related to Hungarian and spoken by the Ostyak people
  • noun
  • Archaic
: idioma ostyak
  • Linguists have studied the Ostyak language for its relation to Hungarian and other Uralic tongues.

Examples

  • The grammar of the Ostyak language features vowel harmony and agglutination.

  • Few people outside Russia speak the Ostyak language today.

  • The Ostyak language is unique in its structure.

  • Many young people are learning the Ostyak language today.

  • Linguists have studied the Ostyak language for its relation to Hungarian and other Uralic tongues.

  • Few people outside Russia speak the Ostyak language today.

  • The grammar of the Ostyak language features vowel harmony and agglutination.

Synonyms

Khanty
vsOstyak language
1 9.9

A language spoken in western Siberia that is related to Hungarian

is the same language but expressed with another traditional name
Khanty language
vsOstyak language
9.9

A language spoken by the Khanty people in western Siberia, related to Hungarian and Mansi

is the same language but uses a different name form
Ostyak
vsOstyak language
  • Archaic
9.9

A language spoken by the Khanty people in western Siberia

is the same language but uses the alternate common name

Surface Forms

Ostyak language singular
Ostyak languages plural

Morphology

Ostyak + language

This is compositionally transparent: 'Ostyak' names the people/language and combining it with 'language' straightforwardly yields 'the language of the Ostyak (Khanty)'. The '[proper name] + language' construction is a common, cross-linguistic pattern, so a learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Ostyak language comes from the old Russian name Ostyak for the Khanty people, so it literally means the 'language of the Ostyak people'. That's why the term is used for the language spoken in western Siberia and is related to Hungarian.