Among the publications that I have at my disposal are the following. They seem to represent all the types of publication issued until now: school books, political propaganda, books for general education, and varia.
(A) School Books
1. G. M. Vasilevich, omakta okto* [New Path], 1933, Leningrad, in 8», 80 pp. with twelve tables, profusely illustrated. This is an ABC that contains a lot of political propaganda. [*Spelling in the original is «hokto»]
2. G. M. Vasilevich, tangin zarin dukuwun (second-year reader), 1934, Moscow, in 8», 96 pp. with some illustrations. It contains mixed materials concerning some natural subjects, folk stories, and, especially, political propaganda, as well as Communist Party advertising, a biography of Stalin, etc.
3. P. N. Zhulev, tangin zarin dukuwun (first-year reader), 1933, Moscow, in 8», 64 pp. The author apparently is a native (not a Tungus) who is somewhat better aware of the needs of native children. The political sections and spirit are apparently introduced by the editors and collaborators. The author's original has been translated into Tungus by Vasilevich and V. I. Cincius.
4. G. M. Vasilevich, tacilgat tangmi [«Let us learn how to count»], 1932, Moscow, in 8», 132 pp. The book is intended for use over three semesters. It may be noted that this book seems to be aimed at teaching feebleminded children, but still political propaganda is not forgotten.
5. N. S. Popova, aritmetika. tatigawun nonopti tatkit zarin [Arithmetic: A manual for primary school], 2nd part, 2nd year. Moscow, 1934. This is a translation into Tungus done by Vasilevich.
6. G. M. Vasilevich, evedi nimngakar [Tungus folk stories], 1934, Leningrad, illustrated, in 8», 16 pp. It contains five folk stories recorded by the author.
(B) Political Propaganda
This group consists of five pamphlets, all published in 1933 and varying in length from 12 to 40 pages. All of them are translations into Tungus done by G. M. Vasilevich or under her supervision. Subjects are clear from the titles :
«What Revolution Has Given the Northern Peoples», by J. P. Alkor;
«War Menace and Our Problems», by M. Kokin;
«Position of Women among the Progressive Peoples of the Soviets», by N. Hodzha;
«How the Workmen and Peasants Won Their Freedom»,by K. Schukin;
«The Party Leads», by I. Kulagin.
Every pamphlet contains a list of Russian terms explained or translated into Literary Tungus. In addition to the above-mentioned publications, other pamphlets with similar contents were published prior to 1935.
(C) Books for General Education
Pamphlets in this group are much briefer. Their origin and size are the same as those of group (B) above. In order to give a general idea of the publications, it will be sufficient to mention the titles, as I did above:
«What Is Industrialization?» by L. Walerstein;
«What Is Factory?» by the same author;
«How People Are Travelling», by L. Saveliev (industrial achievements).
In addition to these, there is a publication of special interest, in which the author (a certain Gr. Rahmanin) tries to persuade Tungus hunters to observe the agreements and seasons in their professional operations, giving them along the way instructions on how to deal with co-operative stores and the like.
(D) Varia
Here we may note only one publication of scientific value. It is Materials on Ewenkee [Evenki] (Tungus) Folklore (1st fasc., Leningrad, 1936, in 8, vi+290 pp.), which contains 120 stories recorded by Vasilevich among the Enissei Tungus, and 92 stories collected from other groups (every story is accompanied by a Russian translation and some explanations). In an Appendix (52 pages) are included two translations, of which one is G. Huth's article on his work among the Enissei Tungus, while the other is Madame E. Shirokogoroff's paper (originally in English) on Chinese folk music, in which are included some Tungus songs. The Appendix also includes translations into Russian, and just summaries, of Tungus stories recorded by V. N. Vasiliev, K. Rychkov, and others. Indeed, it is a valuable collection of Tungus folklore. As linguistic material, however, it must be used only with great caution because of the fact that it has been adjusted to the requirements («rules») of the Literary Tungus language, particularly levelled by the application of the «law of vocalic harmony”.
As regards the outer appearance of all these publications, it is of such poor quality that there are no publications in other countries to which they can be compared. The dirty-greyish paper used is usually for the poorest newspapers and wrapping. The illustrations are usually unsatisfactory, and the binding is primitive [40]. The whole collection would be the most miserable specimen of the printing art one could find in any library.
Besides the above-mentioned publications in Tungus, there were three more school books and nine political and educational pamphlets, according to the bibliographical list attached to the Manual of the Tungus Language of Vasilevich. I have no information on further publications. However, one can see from what has been reviewed that, if the language receives no further development, further enrichment of the literature is quite improbable if we exclude propaganda pamphlets.
40. The only two pamphlets that appear more or less decent are Vasilevich’s book with five folk stories and Saveliev's pamphlet on the means of communication.