Turkic languages

Turkic
Geographic
distribution:		 Originally from Western China to Siberia and Eastern Europe
Linguistic classification: Altaic (controversial)
  • Turkic
Proto-language: Proto-Turkic
Subdivisions:
Southwestern (Oghuz Turkic)
Northwestern (Kipchak Turkic)
Southeastern (Uyghur Turkic)
Northeastern (Siberian Turkic)
"Arghu" (also subsumed under Oghuz)
ISO 639-5: trk

Countries and autonomous subdivisions where a Turkic language has official status

The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five[1] languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.[2][3]

Turkic languages are spoken as a native language by some 165[4] to 200 million people;[5] and the total number of Turkic speakers is over 300 million, including speakers of a second language. The Turkic language with the greatest number of speakers is Turkish proper, or Anatolian [and Balkan] Turkish, the speakers of which account for about 40% of all Turkic speakers.[3]

Characteristic features of Turkish, such as vowel harmony, agglutination, and lack of grammatical gender, are universal within the Turkic family.[3] There is also a high degree of mutual intelligibility between the various Oghuz languages, which include Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz, and Balkan Gagauz Turkish.[6]

Contents

Characteristics

See also: Altaic languages

The characteristic features of the Turkic languages are vowel harmony, extensive agglutination by means of suffixes and other affixes, 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, Tungusic, and Korean language families, as well as (with the exception of vowel harmony) with Japonic, which are considered by some linguists to be genetically linked with the Turkic languages in an Altaic language family.[7][8]

History

See also: Proto-Turkic language, Turkic peoples, and Turkic migration

The geographical distribution of Turkic-speaking peoples across Eurasia ranges from the North-East of Siberia to Turkey in the West (see picture in the box on the right above).[9]

Early written records

The first established records of the Turkic languages are the eighth 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.[10]

The Codex Cumanicus (12th–13th centuries) concerning the Northwestern branch is another early linguistic manual, between the 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 the 13th–14th centuries.

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, Hindustani, Russian, Chinese and to a lesser extent, Arabic.[11]

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.[12] 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)[13] and are mainly based on the development of *d. However, there are still many questions for which ongoing research has not yet found an adequate solution.

The Turkic languages may be divided into six branches (Johanson 1998):[14]

  1. Southwestern (Oghuz Turkic)
  2. Northwestern (Kipchak Turkic)
  3. Southeastern (Uyghur Turkic)[15]
  4. Northeastern (Siberian Turkic)
  5. Oghur Turkic
  6. Arghu Turkic

In this classification, Oghur Turkic is also referred to as Lir-Turkic and the other branches are subsumed under the title of Shaz-Turkic or Common Turkic. It is not clear when these two major types of Turkic can be assumed to have actually diverged.[16]

With less certainty, the Southwestern, Northwestern, Southeastern and Oghur groups may further be summarized as West Turkic, the Northeastern, Kyrgyz-Kipchak and Arghu (Khalaj) groups as East Turkic.[17]

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

Schema

The following isoglosses are traditionally used in the classification of the Turkic languages:[14]

Additional isoglosses include:

isogloss Old Turkic Turkish Azeri Uzbek Uyghur Tatar Kazakh Kyrgyz Altay Western Yugur Fu-yü Gyrgys Khakas Tuvan Sakha/Yakut Khalaj Chuvash
z/r (nine) toquz dokuz doqquz toqqiz toqquz tuğız toğız toğuz toğus doğus toğıs tos toğus toqquz tăχăr
*h- (foot) adaq ayak ayaq oyoq ayaq ayaq ayaq ayaq azaq azıχ azaχ adaq ataχ hadaq ura
*VdV (foot) adaq ayak ayaq oyoq ayaq ayaq ayaq ayaq azaq azıχ azaχ adaq ataχ hadaq ura
*-g (mountain) tag dağ* dağ toğ tağ taw taw tō tū tağ daχ tağ dağ tıa tāğ tu
suffix *-g (mountainous) taglıg dağlık* dağlıq toğlık tağlıq tawlı tawlı tōlū tūlu
*-ń (melody) köy- kuy- köy-/küy- köy- küy- küy- küy- köy- kiěn-

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

Members

The following table is based upon the classification scheme presented by Lars Johanson (1998)[19]

Proto-Turkic Southwestern Common Turkic (Oghuz)  
West Oghuz
East Oghuz
South Oghuz
  • Afshar
  • Dialects of Iran such as Qashqai, Sonqori, Aynallu, etc.
(Arghu)  
Northwestern Common Turkic (Kipchak)  
West Kipchak
North Kipchak (Volga–Ural Turkic)
South Kipchak (Aralo-Caspian)
Southeastern Common Turkic (Uyghuric) West
East
Northeastern Common Turkic (Siberian) North Siberian
South Siberian Sayan Turkic
Yenisei Turkic
Chulym Turkic
Altai Turkic[27]
  • Altay Oirot and dialects such as Tuba, Qumanda, Qu, Teleut, Telengit
Oghur  

Vocabulary comparison

The following is a brief comparison of cognates among the basic vocabulary across the Turkic language family (about 60 words).

Empty cells do not necessarily imply that a particular language is lacking a word to describe the concept, but rather that the word for the concept in that language may be formed from another stem and is not a cognate with the other words in the row or that the equivalent was unknown to contributors to this article.

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

See also

References

  1. ^ Dybo A.V., "Chronology of Türkic languages and linguistic contacts of early Türks", Moskow, 2007, p. 766, [1] (In Russian)
  2. ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). "Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Language Family Trees – Altaic". http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90009. Retrieved 2007-03-18. 
  3. ^ a b c Katzner, Kenneth (March 2002). Languages of the World, Third Edition. Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd.. ISBN 978-0415250047. 
  4. ^ Turkic Peoples
  5. ^ Turkic Language family tree entries provide the information on the Turkic-speaking populations and regions.
  6. ^ "Language Materials Project: Turkish". UCLA International Institute, Center for World Languages. February 2007. http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=67&menu=004. Retrieved 2007-04-26. 
  7. ^ Lyle Campbell & Mauricio J. Mixco. 2007. A Glossary of Historical Linguistics. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. Pp. 7–8.
    Anatole V. Lyovin. 1997. An Introduction to the Languages of the World. Oxford University Press. Pp. 113–114.
  8. ^ Voegelin, C.F. & F.M. Voegelin. 1977. Classification and index of the World's languages. New York: Elsevier.
  9. ^ Turkic Language tree entries provide the information on the Turkic-speaking regions.
  10. ^ Soucek, Svat (March 2000). A History of Inner Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521651691. 
  11. ^ Findley, Carter V. (October 2004). The Turks in World History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517726-6. 
  12. ^ Johanson, Lars (2001) (PDF). Discoveries on the Turkic linguistic map. Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul. http://www.srii.org/admin/filer/Map.pdf. Retrieved 2007-03-18. 
  13. ^ Classification of Turkic languages
  14. ^ 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
  15. ^ This branch is also referred to as Uyghuric to distinguish the branch from one of its members, Uyghur.
  16. ^ See the main article on Lir-Turkic.
  17. ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). "Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Language Family Trees – Turkic". http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90010. Retrieved 2007-03-18.  The reliability 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.
  18. ^ Larry Clark, Chuvash. In Lars Johanson & Éva Ágnes Csató (eds), The Turkic Languages, London, New York: Routledge, 434-452, 2006.
  19. ^ Lars Johanson (1998) The History of Turkic. In Lars Johanson & Éva Ágnes Csató (eds) The Turkic Languages. London, New York: Routledge, 81-125. [2]
  20. ^ Khalaj is surrounded by Oghuz languages, but exhibits a number of features that classify it as non-Oghuz.
  21. ^ Crimean Tatar and Urum are historically Kipchak languages, but have been heavily influenced by Oghuz languages.
  22. ^ Tura, Baraba, Tomsk, Tümen, Ishim, Irtysh, Tobol, Tara, etc. are partly of different origin (Johanson 1998) [3]
  23. ^ Of Altai Turkic origin, but recently closer to Kazakh (Johanson 1998)
  24. ^ Deviating. Probably of South Siberian origin (Johanson 1998)
  25. ^ Deviating. Historically developed from Southwestern (Oghuz) (Johanson 1998) [4]
  26. ^ Aini contains a very large Persian vocabulary component, and is spoken exclusively by adult men, almost as a cryptolect.
  27. ^ Some dialects are close to Kirghiz (Johanson 1998)

Further reading

External links

Turkic · Mongolic · Tungusic · Korean1 · Japonic1
1 Not always recognized as Altaic languages. See also Buyeo languages.
Turkic languages
Italics indicate extinct languages
Oghur
Uyghuric
Old Turkic · Aini1 · Chagatai · Ili Turki · Lop · Uyghur · Uzbek
Kypchak
Oghuz
Arghu
Siberian
1 Mixed language.   2 Also Oghuz.   3 Classification disputed.
Turkic-speaking regions
Federal subjects of Russia shown in italics.