Oghur languages

Oghur
Geographic
distribution:
Chuvashia
Linguistic classification: Turkic
  • Oghur
Subdivisions:
Hunnic (Disputed)

The Oghur or Bulgar (also spelled Ogur, Oghur, Oguric; Bulghar, Bolgar, and variants; also known as Lir-Turkic), are a separate branch of the Turkic language family. It was historically spoken in Volga Bulgaria. Its only extant member is the Chuvash language.

It was thus presumably the language spoken in the historical Onogurs tribal confederation, including the Bulgars, the Khazars and the Eurasian Avars, but it is uncertain whether Chuvash is directly descended from any of these, or a separate branch within this dialect group (Johanson 1998).

The Oghur group is characterized by the sound correspondences Oghuric l vs. Common Turkic (i.e. non-Oghur-Turkic) š and Oghuric r vs. Common Turkic z, for which reason it is also known as "Lir-Turkic", or "r-Turkic". The name oghur itself is an example of the r/z isogloss, being cognate with oghuz in Common Turkic. "dj-Turkic" is also used for Oghur, in reference to a sound change from i- to dj-.

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