OB-UGRIC LANGUAGES

division of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family, comprising the Mansi (Vogul) and Khanty (Ostyak) languages; they are most closely related to Hungarian, with which they make up the Ugric branch of Finno-Ugric. The Ob-Ugric languages are spoken in the region of the Ob and Irtysh rivers in central Russia. They had no written tradition or literary language until 1930; since 1937 they have been written in a modified Cyrillic alphabet but have developed no important literature and are little used in government or education. See also Finno-Ugric languages.