Uralic and Altaic: The Neglected Area

More than a hundred million people speak Uralic and Altaic languages, but they are dispersed over a vast area stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, from the Arctic to the Mediterranean. Some of them are completely Westernized—like the Finns or the Hungarians; others—like the Koreans—belong to the cultural area of the Far East. Others again, like the Turks, numbering about 58 million, can be found from the Balkans, through the Middle East, and far into Siberia. The study of this heterogeneous group poses dif ficult problems, both on the scholarly and the administrative levels. Although the road to a better understanding of parts or the whole of the Uralic and Altaic field leads through the knowledge of at least one of the major Uralic and Altaic lan guages, Uralic and Altaic studies are basically area-oriented. Specialists trained in this field, by becoming experts in their own area, can render valuable services to various academic disci plines: linguistics, history, and the social sciences.