Turkic languages

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Turkic
Geographic
distribution:		 Originally from Western China to Siberia and Eastern Europe
Genetic
classification:		 Altaic[1] (controversial)
 Turkic
Subdivisions:
Southwestern (Oghuz Turkic)
Northwestern (Kypchak Turkic)
Southeastern (Uyghur Turkic)
Northeastern (Siberian Turkic)

Countries and autonomous subdivisions where a Turkic language has official status

The Turkic languages constitute a language family of some thirty languages, spoken across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are traditionally considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.[1][2]

Turkic languages are spoken by some 180 million people as a native language;[3] and the total number of Turkic speakers is about 200 million, including speakers as a second language. The Turkic language with the greatest number of speakers is Turkish proper, or Anatolian Turkish, the speakers of which account for about 40% of all Turkic speakers.[2]

Contents

[edit] Characteristics

See also: Altaic languages

The characteristic features of the Turkic languages are vowel harmony, extensive agglutination by means of suffixes, and lack of noun classes or grammatical gender. Subject Object Verb word order is universal within the family. All of these distinguishing characteristics are shared with the Mongolic and Tungusic language families, as well as with the Korean language, which are by some linguists considered to be genetically linked with the Turkic languages in the proposed Altaic language family, a language family rejected by some linguists though plainly accepted in the Voegelin & Voegelin classification (1977:18-19).[4]

[edit] History

The geographical distribution of Turkic-speaking peoples across Eurasia spreads from Turkey in the West to the North-East of Siberia (see picture in the box on the right above).[5]

Distribution of the Altaic languages across Eurasia. The inclusion of Japanese and Korean, and to a lesser degree the existence of a single Altaic language family, is controversial.
Distribution of the Altaic languages across Eurasia. The inclusion of Japanese and Korean, and to a lesser degree the existence of a single Altaic language family, is controversial.
See also: Proto-Turkic language, Turkic peoples, and Turkic migration

[edit] Early written records

The first established records of the Turkic languages are the 8th century Orkhon inscriptions by the Göktürks, recording the Old Turkic language, which were discovered in 1889 in the Orkhon Valley in Mongolia. The Compendium of the Turkic Dialects ( Divânü Lügati't-Türk), written during the 11th century by Kaşgarlı Mahmud of the Kara-Khanid Khanate, constitutes an early linguistic treatment of the family. The Compendium is the first comprehensive dictionary of the Turkic languages and also includes the first known map of the Turkic speakers' geographical distribution. It mainly pertains to the Southwestern branch of the family.[6]

The Codex Cumanicus (12th - 13th centuries) concerning the Northwestern branch is another early linguistic manual, between Kipchak language and Latin, used by the Catholic missionaries sent to the Western Cumans inhabiting a region corresponding to present-day Hungary and Romania. The earliest records of the language spoken by Volga Bulgars, the parent to today's Chuvash language, are dated to 13th - 14th centuries.

[edit] Geographical expansion and development

With the Turkic expansion during Early Middle Ages (c. 6th - 11th centuries), Turkic languages, in the course of just a few centuries, spread across Central Asia, stretching from Siberia (the Sakha Republic) to the Mediterranean (Seljuk Turks). Various elements from the Turkic languages have passed into Hungarian, Persian, Urdu, Russian, Chinese and to a lesser extent, Arabic.[7]

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[edit] Classification

For centuries, the Turkic speaking peoples have migrated extensively and intermingled continuously, and their languages have been influenced mutually and through contact with the surrounding languages, especially the Iranian, Slavic, and Mongolic languages.[8] This has obscured the historical developments within each language and/or language group, and as a result, there exist several systems to classify the Turkic languages. The modern genetic classification schemes for Turkic are still largely indebted to Samoilovich (1922)[9] and are mainly based on the development of *d. However, there are still many elements of questioning for which ongoing research has not yet found an adequate solution.

The Turkic languages may uncontroversially be divided into six branches (Johanson 1998):[10]

  1. Southwestern (Oghuz Turkic)
  2. Northwestern (Kypchak Turkic)
  3. Southeastern (Uyghur Turkic)[11]
  4. Northeastern (Siberian Turkic)
  5. Oghur Turkic
  6. Arghu Turkic

With less certainty, the Southwestern, Northwestern, Southeastern and Oghur groups may further be summarized as West Turkic, the Northeastern, Kyrgyz-Kypchak and Arghu (Khalaj) groups as East Turkic.[12]

Geographically and linguistically, the languages of Northwestern, and Southeastern subgroup belong to the central Turkic languages, while the Northeastern and Khalaj languages are the so-called peripheral languages.

[edit] Classification Schema

The following isoglosses are traditionally used in the classification of the Turkic languages:[10]

  • Rhoticisation, e.g. in the last consonant of the word for "nine" *toqqız. This separates the Oghur branch, which exhibits /r/, from the rest of Turkic, which exhibits /z/. In this case, rhoticisation refers to the development of *-/r/, *-/z/, and *-/d/ to /r/ in this branch.[13]
  • Intervocalic *d, e.g. in the second consonant in the word for "foot" *hadaq
  • Word-final -G, e.g. in the word for "mountain" *tāğ
  • Suffix-final -G, e.g. in the suffix *lIG, in e.g. *tāğlığ

Additional isoglosses include:

  • Preservation of word initial *h, e.g. in the word for "foot" *hadaq
    • This separates Khalaj as a peripheral language
isogloss Old Turkic Turkish Uzbek Uyghur Tatar Kazakh Kyrgyz Altay Western Yugur Fu-yü Gyrgys Khakas Tuvan Sakha/Yakut Khalaj Chuvash
z/r (nine) toquz dokuz toqqiz toqquz tuğız toğız toğuz toğus doğus toğıs tos toğus toqquz tăχăr
*h- (foot) adaq ayak åyåq ayaq ayaq ayaq ayaq azaq azıχ azaχ adaq ataχ hadaq ura
*VdV (foot) adaq ayak åyåq ayaq ayaq ayaq ayaq azaq azıχ azaχ adaq ataχ hadaq ura
*-g (mountain) tağ dağ* tåğ tağ taw taw tō tū tağ daχ tağ dağ tıa tāğ tu
suffix *-g (mountainous) tağlığ dağlı* tåğlıq tağlıq tawlı tawlı tōlū tūlu

*In the standard Istanbul dialect of Turkish, the ğ in dağ and dağlı is not realized as a consonant, but as a slight lengthening of the preceding vowel.

[edit] Members

The following table is based upon the classification scheme presented by Lars Johanson (1998)[14]

Proto-Turkic Southwestern Common Turkic (Oghuz)

 
West Oghuz
East Oghuz
South Oghuz
  • Afshar
  • Dialects of Iran such as Qashqai, Sonqori, Aynallu, etc.
Northwestern Common Turkic (Kipchak)

 
West Kipchak
North Kipchak (Volga-Ural)
South Kipchak (Aralo-Caspian)
Southeastern Common Turkic (Uyghur, Chagatai, Karluk) West
East
Northeastern Common Turkic (Siberian) North Siberian
South Siberian Sayan Turkic
Yenisei Turkic
Chulym Turkic
Altai Turkic[21]
  • Altay Oirot and dialects such as Tuba, Qumanda, Qu, Teleut, Telengit
Oghur  
Arghu  

[edit] Vocabulary comparison

The following is a brief comparison of cognates among the basic vocabulary across the Turkic language family (about 60 words). Note that empty cells do not imply that a particular language is lacking a word to describe the concept, but rather that the word for the concept in that language is formed from another stem and is not a cognate with the other words in the row. Also, there may be shifts in the meaning from one language to another, and so the "common meaning" given is only approximate. In some cases the form given is found only in some dialects of the language. Forms are given in native Latin orthographies unless otherwise noted.

common meaning Old Turkic Turkish Azeri Turkmen Tatar Kazakh Kyrgyz Uzbek Uyghur Sakha/Yakut Chuvash
Persons (Grand)father/Ancestor Ata Ata Ata Ata Ata Ata Ata Ota Ata Atte
Mother Ana Anne, Ana Ana Ene Ana Ana Ene Ona Ana Anne
Son O'gul Oğul Oğul Oğul Ul, uğıl Ul Uul O'gil Oghul Uol Yvăl, Ul
Man Er(kek) Erkek Kişi Erkek İr Er(kek) Erkek Erkak Er Er Ar
Girl Kyz Kız Qız Gyz Qız Qız Kız Qiz Qiz Ky:s Hĕr
Person Kişi Kişi Kişi Keşe Kisi Kishi Kishi Kishi Kihi
Bride Kelin Gelin Gəlin Geli:n Kilen Kelin Kelin Kelin Kelin Kylyn Kin
Mother-in-law Kaynana Qaynana Gayın ene Qayın ana Qayın ene Kaynene Qayın ona Qeyinana Hun'ama
Body parts Heart Yürek Yürek Ürək Ýürek Yöräk Jürek Jürök Yurak Yürek Süreq Čĕre
Blood Qan Kan Qan Ga:n Qan Qan Kan Qon Qan Qa:n Jun
Head Baš Baş Baş Baş Baş Bas Bash Bosh Baş Bas Puś
Hair Qıl Kıl Qıl Qyl Qıl Qıl Kıl Tuk Qil Kıl
Eye Köz Göz Göz Göz Küz Köz Köz Ko'z Köz Kos Kuś
Eyelash Kirpik Kirpik Kiprik Kirpik Kerfek Kirpik Kirpik Kiprik Kirpik Kirbi: Hărpăk
Ear Qulqaq Kulak Qulaq Gulak Qolaq Qulaq Kulak Quloq Qulaq Gulka:k Hălha
Nose Burun Burun Burun Burun Borın Murın Murun Burun Burun Murun
Arm Qol Kol Qol Gol Qul Qol Kol Qo'l Qol Hul, Hol
Hand El(ig) El Əl El Alaqan Alakan Ili: Ală
Finger Barmak Parmak Barmaq Barmak Barmaq Barmaq Barmak Barmoq Barmaq Pürne, Porn'a
Fingernail Tyrnaq Tırnak Dırnaq Dyrnaq Tırnaq Tırnaq Tyrmak Tirnoq Tirnaq Tynyraq Čĕrne
Knee Tiz Diz Diz Dy:z Tez Tize Tize Tizza Tiz Tüsäχ Čĕrpuśśi
Calf Baltyr Baldır Baldır Baldyr Baltır Baldır Baltyr Boldyr Baldir Ballyr
Foot Adaq Ayak Ayaq Aýaq Ayaq Ayaq Ayak Oyoq Ayaq Ataq Ura
Belly Qaryn Karın Qarın Garyn Qarın Qarın Karyn Qorin Qerin Qaryn Hyrăm
Animals Horse At At At At At At At Ot At At Ut
Cattle Siyir Sığır Sygyr Sıyır Sïır Sıyır Sigir Siyir
Dog Yt İt İt It Et Ït It It It Yt Jytă
Fish Balyq Balık Balıq Balyk Balıq Balıq Balık Baliq Beliq Balyk Pulă
Louse Bit Bit Bit Bit Bet Bït Bit Bit Pit Byt Pyjtă, Put'ă
Other nouns House Ev Ev Ev Öý Öy Üy Üy Uy Öy Av*
Tent Otag Otağ Otaq Otaw Otaq Otu:
Way Yol Yol Yol Yo:l Yul Jol Jol Yo'l Yol Suol Śul
Bridge Köprüq Köprü Körpü Köpri Küper Köpir Köpürö Ko'prik Kövrük Kürpe Kĕper
Arrow Oq Ok Ox Ok Uq Oq Ok O'q Oq Oχ Uhă
Fire Ot Od Od Ot Ut Ot Ot O't Ot Uot Vut, Vot
Ash Kül Kül Kül Kül Köl Kül Kül Kul Kül Kül Kĕl
Water Suv Su Su Suw Su Sw Suu Suv Su Ui Šyv, Šu
Ship, boat Kemi Gemi Gəmi Gämi Köymä Keme Keme Kema Keme Kimĕ
Lake Köl Göl Göl Köl Kül Köl Köl Ko'l Köl Küöl Külĕ
Sun/Day Küneš Gün(eş) Gün(əş) Gün Kön Kün Kün Kun Kün Kün Kun
Cloud Bulut Bulut Bulud Bulut Bolıt Bult Bulut Bulut Bulut Bylyt Pĕlĕt
Star Yulduz Yıldız Ulduz Ýyldyz Yoldız Juldız Jıldız Yulduz Yultuz Sulus Śăltăr
Earth Topraq Toprak Torpaq Toprak Tufraq Topıraq Topurak Tuproq Tupraq Toburaχ Tăpra
Hilltop Töpü Tepe Təpə Depe Tübä Töbe Töbö Tepa Töpe Töbö Tüpĕ
Tree Yağac Ağaç Ağac Agaç Ağaç Ağaş Jygach Jyvăś
God (Tengri) Tenri Tanrı Tanrı Taňry Täñre Täñiri Teñir Tangri Tengri Tanara Tură, Toră
Sky Kök Gök Göy Gök Kük Kök Kök Ko'k Kök Küöq Kăvak, Koak
Adjectives Long Uzun Uzun Uzun Uzyn Ozın Uzın Uzun Uzun Uzun Uhun Vărăm
New Yany Yeni Yeni Yany Yaña Jaña Jañı Yangi Yengi Sana Śĕnĕ
Fat Semiz Semiz Simez Semiz Semiz Semiz Semiz Emis Samăr
Full Tolu Dolu Dolu Do:ly Tulı Tolı Tolo To'la Toluq Toloru Tulli
White Aq Ak Ağ Ak Aq Aq Ak Oq Aq
Black Qara Kara Qara Gara Qara Qara Kara Qora Qara Xara Hura
Red Qyzyl Kızıl Qızıl Gyzyl Qızıl Qızıl Kızıl Qizil Qizil Kyhyl Hĕrlĕ
Numbers 1 Bir Bir Bir Bir Ber Bir Bir Bir Bir Bi:r Pĕrre
2 Eki İki İki Iki İke Eki Eki Ikki Ikki Ikki Ikkĕ
4 Tört Dört Dörd Dö:rt Dürt Tört Tört To'rt Töt Tüört Tăvattă
7 Yeti Yedi Yeddi Yedi Cide Jeti Jeti Yetti Yättä Sette Śiččĕ
10 On On On O:n Un On On O'n On Uon Vunnă, Vonnă
100 Yüz Yüz Yüz Yü:z Yöz Jüz Jüz Yuz Yüz Sü:s Śĕr
Old Turkic Turkish Azeri Turkmen Tatar Kazakh Kyrgyz Uzbek Uyghur Sakha/Yakut Chuvash

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Language Family Trees - Altaic (HTML). Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  2. ^ a b Katzner, Kenneth (March 2002). Languages of the World, Third Edition. Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd.. ISBN 978-0415250047. 
  3. ^ Turkic Language family tree entries provide the information on the Turkic-speaking populations and regions.
  4. ^ Voegelin, C.F. & F.M. Voegelin. 1977. Classification and index of the World's languages. New York: Elsevier.
  5. ^ Turkic Language tree entries provide the information on the Turkic-speaking regions.
  6. ^ Soucek, Svat (March 2000). A History of Inner Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521651691. 
  7. ^ Findley, Carter V. (October 2004). The Turks in World History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517726-6. 
  8. ^ Johanson, Lars (2001). "Discoveries on the Turkic linguistic map" (PDF). . Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  9. ^ Classification of Türkic languages
  10. ^ a b Lars Johanson, The History of Turkic. In Lars Johanson & Éva Ágnes Csató (eds), The Turkic Languages, London, New York: Routledge, 81-125, 1998.Classification of Turkic languages
  11. ^ This branch is also referred to as Uyghuric to distinguish the branch from one of its members, Uyghur.
  12. ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Language Family Trees - Turkic (HTML). Retrieved on 2007-03-18. The reliablity of Ethnologue lies mainly in its statistics whereas its framework for the internal classification of Turkic is still based largely on Baskakov (1962) and the collective work in Deny et al. (1959-1964). A more up to date alternative to classifying these languages on internal camparative grounds is to be found in the work of Johanson and his co-workers.
  13. ^ Larry Clark, Chuvash. In Lars Johanson & Éva Ágnes Csató (eds), The Turkic Languages, London, New York: Routledge, 434-452, 2006.
  14. ^ Lars Johanson (1998) The History of Turkic. In Lars Johanson & Éva Ágnes Csató (eds) The Turkic Languages. London, New York: Routledge, 81-125. [1]
  15. ^ Crimean Tatar and Urum are historically Kypchak languages, but have been heavily influenced by Oghuz languages.
  16. ^ Tura, Baraba, Tomsk, Tümen, Ishim, Irtysh, Tobol, Tara, etc. are partly of different origin (Johanson 1998) [2]
  17. ^ Of Altai Turkic origin, but recently closer to Kazakh (Johanson 1998) [3]
  18. ^ Deviating. Probably of South Siberian origin (Johanson 1998) [4]
  19. ^ Deviating. Historically developed from Southwestern (Oghuz) (Johanson 1998) [5]
  20. ^ Aini contains a very large Persian vocabulary component, and is spoken exclusively by adult men, almost as a cryptolect.
  21. ^ Some dialects are close to Kirghiz (Johanson 1998) [6]
  22. ^ Khalaj is surrounded by Oghuz languages, but exhibits a number of features that classify it as non-Oghuz.

[edit] Further reading

  • Baskakov, N.A. 1962, 1969. Introduction to the study of the Turkic languages. Moscow. (In Russian)
  • Boeschoten, Hendrik & Lars Johanson. 2006. Turkic languages in contact. Turcologica, Bd. 61. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3447052120
  • Clausen, Gerard. 1972. An etymological dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Deny, Jean et al. 1959-1964. Philologiae Turcicae Fundamenta. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
  • Johanson, Lars & Éva Agnes Csató (ed.). 1998. The Turkic languages. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-08200-5.
  • Johanson, Lars. 1998. "The history of Turkic." In: Johanson & Csató, pp. 81-125.[7]
  • Johanson, Lars. 1998. "Turkic languages." In: Encyclopaedia Britannica. CD 98. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, 5 sept. 2007.[8]
  • Menges, K. H. 1968. The Turkic languages and peoples: An introduction to Turkic studies. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
  • Öztopçu, Kurtuluş. 1996. Dictionary of the Turkic languages: English, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Uighur, Uzbek. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415141982
  • Samoilovich, A. N. 1922. Some additions to the classification of the Turkish languages. Petrograd.[9]
  • Schönig, Claus. 1997-1998. "A new attempt to classify the Turkic languages I-III." Turkic Languages 1:1.117–133, 1:2.262–277, 2:1.130–151.
  • Voegelin, C.F. & F.M. Voegelin. 1977. Classification and index of the World's languages. New York: Elsevier.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Altaic languages
Notes: *Japonic and Korean are not generally recognized as belonging to the Altaic language family. See also Buyeo languages.
v • d • e
Turkic languages
Oghur
Uyghur
Old Turkic†  · Aini²  · Chagatai†  · Ili Turki  · Lop  · Uyghur  · Uzbek
Kypchak
Altay  · Baraba  · Bashkir  · Crimean Tatar¹  · Cuman†  · Karachay-Balkar  · Karaim  · Karakalpak  · Kazakh  · Kipchak†  · Krymchak  · Kumyk  · Kyrgyz  · Nogai  · Old Tatar†  · Tatar  · Urum¹
Oghuz
Arghu
Northeastern
Chulym  · Dolgan  · Fuyü Gïrgïs  · Khakas  · Shor  · Tofa  · Tuvan  · Western Yugur  · Sakha/Yakut
Notes: ¹Listed in more than one group, ²Mixed language, ³Disputed, †Extinct
v • d • e
Turkic-speaking regions
Federal subjects of Russia shown in italics
1 Includes the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.    2 Recognized only by Turkey; see Cyprus dispute.