Abstract
Hezhen is one of the Tungus-Manchu languages, spoken in China along the Amur river. It has been thought to be a dialect of Nanay. But as seen below, in some phonetic correspondences, Hezhen shows the same characteristics as Tungus-Manchu languages which belong to Ikegami's group II (This grouping is according to Ikegami 1974: Ewen, Ewenki, Solon, and Negidal belong to group I, Udehe and Orochi belong to group II, Nanay, Ulcha, and Uilta belong to group III, Manchu and Jurchen belong to group IV. This article is not referred to Hezhen). The last two correspondences show the unique character of Hezhen compared to all the other Tungus-Manchu languages.
Hezhen Ewenki Orochi Nanay
(group I) (group II) (group III)
xakin xakin xakin paa (*p-) “liver”
adi adii adi xado (*x-) “how many”
inaki _??_nakin inaki inda (*-nd-) “dog”
ti_??_n ti_??_n ti_??_n tu_??_g_??_n (*-_??_g-) “breast”
giamsa giramna giamsa girmaksa (*-ms-) “bone”
nasa nanna nasa nanta (*-ns-) “skin”
xulsa xulla xukta polta (*-ls-) “quilt”
x_??_r_??_n x_??_n_??_n xe_??_n p_??_i_??_n (*-r_??_-) “knee”
