Kamassian language
Not to be confused with the Koybal dialect of
Khakas.
Kamassian or Kamas is an extinct Samoyedic language, included by convention in the Southern group together with Mator, Koibal, and Selkup (although this does not constitute an actual subfamily). The last native speaker, Klavdiya Plotnikova, died in 1989. Kamassian was spoken in Russia, east of the Ural mountains, by Kamasins.
A historical name for Kamas is Koibal. This is the term for the Kamas people who shifted to the Turkic Khakas language; the modern Koibal people are mixed Samoyed–Khakas–Yeniseian.
Sources
- Britannica, 1984 Edition, Vol. 18, p. 1025
- Wixman, Ronald. The Peoples of the USSR. p. 109
External links