First published in 1997. This is Volume I in the Uralic and Altaic Series. Up until the 1950s, Uralic and Altaic studies were virtually unknown in American academic circles. The somewhat arcane name of "Uralic and Altaic" conceals a field of study which, particularly in recent years, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, is receiving considerable, well- Series Introduction xi deserved and overdue attention. Expressed in contemporary, political terms they focus on the following, today independent, states: Finland, Estonia, Hungary, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kirghizstan, and Mongolia. To these should be added some republics that are within the Russian Federation such as those of the Bashkir, Tatars, and Chuvash in Europe and of the Yakuts in the northeast of Siberia.