Udegei

(self-designation, Udee, Udekhe), a people living in Primor’e and Khabarovsk krais, RSFSR, along the Khungari and Aniui rivers, right tributaries of the Ussuri and Amur rivers. Population, 1,500 (1970 census). The Udegei speak the Udegei language. Their religion involves the worship of natural forces and animals, as well as shamanism. The Udegei evolved from the aboriginal population and the Tungus. Their chief traditional occupations are hunting, fishing, and the gathering of ginseng. The Udegei work in kolkhozes and hunting collectives and engage in agriculture and the raising of domestic livestock. A national intelligentsia has emerged among the Udegei.

the language of the Udegei, who live along the right tributaries of the Ussuri and Amur rivers in Khabarovsk and Primor’e krais, RSFSR. Udegei is spoken by approximately 1,500 people (1970 census); it belongs to the Amur branch of the Man-chu-Tungus languages. Major external differences from other Manchu-Tungus languages stem from phonetic reduction and other phonetic changes in the underlying Manchu-Tungus forms. These changes include the shift of *-k- to -x- and -’-, *pi- to si-, changes in consonant clusters, and the contraction of vowel clusters. Vowels are distinguished as short, long (from contraction), with a medial glottal stop, or aspirated. Some scholars regard the last three categories as combinations of phonemes. In grammar and lexicon Udegei is similar to Nanai and other related languages.