The Taz (Russian: Та́зы, romanizedTázy; Chinese: 塔兹; pinyin: Tǎzī) are a Tungusic and Sinitic people who primarily live in Russia. They formed in the 1890s, from intermarriages between Udege, Nanai and Han Chinese. The Taz speak Russian and Northeast Mandarin, with loanwords from Udege and Nanai.

Taz
Тазы
Traditional Taz clothing and artifacts in a Russian museum
Total population
274
Regions with significant populations
 Russia274[1]
Languages
Russian, Mandarin Chinese (Taz dialect)
Related ethnic groups
Udege, Han Chinese, Nanai

According to the Russian Census of 2002, the total Taz population numbered 276.[2] Among these:

  • 276 spoke Russian[3]
  • 131 were males (53 urban, 78 rural) and 145 females (57 urban, 88 rural)[2]
  • 110 were urban (53 males, 57 females) and 166 rural (78 males, 88 females)[2]

In Bashkortostan, four people identified themselves as Taz.[4]

In Khabarovsk Krai, three people identified themselves as Taz – one male and two females, all of them living in urban areas.[5]

In the 2010 Russian census the number of Taz in Russia dropped to 274.[1]

The Taz dialect is Northeastern Mandarin, with minor influence from local Tungusic languages such as Nanai and Udege. In the 1880s (?), there were a thousand speakers,[3] but today the overwhelming majority of fluent speakers are elderly and Russian is the primary language of the Taz people.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b Национальный состав населения Российской федерации (Table). Archived from the original (XLS) on April 24, 2012 – via perepis-2010.ru.
  2. ^ a b c Национальный состав населения (Table). Archived from the original (XLS) on 2006-03-31 – via perepis2002.ru.
  3. ^ a b [1] [dead link]
  4. ^ Краткие итоги всероссийской переписи населения 2002 года статистический бюллетень часть ii. bashstat.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on August 16, 2005. Retrieved December 21, 2006.
  5. ^ "Untitled". khabstat.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on June 26, 2007.
  6. ^ Shilonosova, Alena [Алёна Шилоносова] (11 October 2018). «Я понимаю, а сказать не могу»: Забытый язык народа тазов. Медиапроект «Заповедник» (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2019-11-02. Retrieved 2018-10-12.

Further reading

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