{"id":"RUSIN-002","label":"Chukchi vyutkunen storm howler","people_or_site":"Chukchi","country_current":"Russia","historic_region":"Chukotka / northeastern Siberia","macroregion":"Siberia / Arctic Siberia","local_name":"выюткунэн / выюткунэнг / въюлгын","source_term":"storm or blizzard howler / rotating aerophone 412.22","source_language":"Russian","object_description":"A whirled instrument shaped like a bird's feather, with carved notches imitating the plumage.","function_summary":"Imitates blizzard sounds and its voice affects surrounding nature; worldview and weather context","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"SHEIKIN2019_CHUKCHI_VYUTKUNEN","source_type":"academic_pdf","source_url":"https://www.trad-culture.ru/sites/default/files/files_pdf/TK-2019-4-Sheikin_Dobzhanskaya_Ignateva_0.pdf","page_or_plate":"p. 15; figure 4 | Традиционная культура 2019, Т. 20, № 4, pp. 14-15","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Broad regional point for Chukotka and the Chukchi; the source does not tie this term to a single community.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"The Chukchi of northeastern Siberia name this whirled instrument from the word for a blizzard, выял-выял, and believe its drone imitates \"the sounds of the snowstorm.\" Because of that, its voice was held to act on the surrounding nature. The ethnomusicologists who recorded it stress that, unlike the related тэлитэл buzzer, which survived only as a children's toy, the howler never crossed over into the category of toys at all. It is linked to a hunting weapon, the эплыкытэт, a flat stone or bone on a cord that a hunter whirled overhead and flung at a flying bird; possibly from that origin in bird-hunting the howler keeps the shape of a bird's feather, with carved notches imitating the plumage. Across the Chukchi buzzers and howlers these things were cut from mammoth ivory, wood, thick hide, alder chips, the small bones of a bear's paw, baleen, and even pieces of dried fish. In the Chukchi understanding of sound, a buzzing in the air is the flying soul of a person or one of the кэлэт spirits.","pull_quote":"Гуделка выюткунэн ~ въюлгын (от слова выял-выял (вьюга, метель)) … в разряд игрушек так и не перешла. Согласно поверьям, она имитирует «звуки вьюги», и по этой причине ее голос влияет на «окружающую природу».","pull_quote_translation":"The vyutkunen ~ vyulgyn howler (from the word vyal-vyal, \"blizzard, snowstorm\") … never crossed over into the category of toys. According to belief, it imitates \"the sounds of the blizzard,\" and for this reason its voice affects \"the surrounding nature.\"","pull_quote_cite":"Sheikin, Dobzhanskaya & Ignatieva 2019:15, citing Bogoraz 1987:158 and Rultyneut 1989:121","term_gloss":"Chukchi name for the storm howler, from выял-выял (vyal-vyal), \"blizzard, snowstorm\"; въюлгын (vyulgyn) is a variant of the same term.","cls":"weather","class_label":"Weather / fertility magic","color":"#2F6FA3","is_candidate":false,"flags":["weather"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"etymology":"From выял-выял (vyal-vyal), \"blizzard, snowstorm\"; въюлгын (vyulgyn) is a variant of the same word.","literal_gloss":"variant of storm-howler term","semantic_cluster":"weather; storm","etymology_confidence":"high","sources":[{"citation":"Ю. И. Шейкин, О. Э. Добжанская и Т. И. Игнатьева, «Звуковые орудия и музыкальные инструменты чукчей: слой архаики», Традиционная культура 20(4) (2019): 10-23, pp. 14-15, fig. 4","url":"https://www.trad-culture.ru/sites/default/files/files_pdf/TK-2019-4-Sheikin_Dobzhanskaya_Ignateva_0.pdf","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20241123175612/https://www.trad-culture.ru/sites/default/files/files_pdf/TK-2019-4-Sheikin_Dobzhanskaya_Ignateva_0.pdf"},{"citation":"Bogoraz (1987), p. 158, cited in Sheikin, Dobzhanskaya and Ignatieva (2019), p. 15"},{"citation":"Rultyneut (1989), p. 121, cited in Sheikin, Dobzhanskaya and Ignatieva (2019), p. 15"}],"source_citations":"Ю. И. Шейкин, О. Э. Добжанская и Т. И. Игнатьева, «Звуковые орудия и музыкальные инструменты чукчей: слой архаики», Традиционная культура 20(4) (2019): 10-23, pp. 14-15, fig. 4; Bogoraz (1987), p. 158, cited in Sheikin, Dobzhanskaya and Ignatieva (2019), p. 15; Rultyneut (1989), p. 121, cited in Sheikin, Dobzhanskaya and Ignatieva (2019), p. 15","source_display":"Ю. И. Шейкин, О. Э. Добжанская и Т. И. Игнатьева, «Звуковые орудия и музыкальные инструменты чукчей: слой архаики», Традиционная культура 20(4) (2019): 10-23, pp. 14-15, fig. 4; Bogoraz (1987), p. 158, cited in Sheikin, Dobzhanskaya and Ignatieva (2019), p. 15; Rultyneut (1989), p. 121, cited in Sheikin, Dobzhanskaya and Ignatieva (2019), p. 15","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A whirled instrument shaped like a bird's feather, with carved notches imitating the plumage.","function_display":"Imitates blizzard sounds and its voice affects surrounding nature; worldview and weather context","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"chukchi","display_name":"Chukchi vyutkunen storm howler","image":{"full":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/sheikin2019_chukchi_vyutkunen_fig4.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/sheikin2019_chukchi_vyutkunen_fig4_thumb.jpg","alt":"Chukchi vyutkunen drawing: a feather-form blade with slanting marks along its edges and a looping cord joining it to a smaller narrow piece.","credit":"Sheikin, Dobzhanskaya & Ignateva, \"Звуковые орудия и музыкальные инструменты чукчей\", Традиционная культура 20:4 (2019), fig. 4","license":"In copyright — open-access journal figure, rehosted low-res for non-commercial research","source_page":"https://trad-culture.ru/","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"The Chukchi vyutkunen (выюткунэнг).","additional":[{"full":"assets/objects/RUSIN-002_mqb_71_1911_20_42_rig.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/RUSIN-002_mqb_71_1911_20_42_rig_thumb.jpg","alt":"Chukchi rig with serrated blade, sinew thread, and wooden handle.","credit":"© Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, 71.1911.20.42.1-2 (coll. Nikolai Gondatti, entered 1911)","license":"N/A","source_page":"https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/explore-collections/base/Work/action/show/notice/334184","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Chukchi rig with serrated blade, sinew thread, and wooden handle."}]},"slug":"rusin-002-chukchi"}