Altaic (Turkic language)

Altaic
Spoken in	Russia , Mongolia , People's Republic of China
speaker	57,000 (2010)
Linguistic ; classification	Altaic languages (controversial) Turkic languages Siberian Turkic languages Altaic ;
Official status
Official language in	Altai Republic
Language codes
ISO 639 -1	-
ISO 639 -2	tut (other Altaic languages); old (south);
ISO 639-3	atv (north); old (south);

The Altaic language belongs to the Siberian branch of the Turkic languages and is spoken by various indigenous peoples of Siberia , mainly in the Altai Republic . Until 1948, the official name of the language in the Soviet Union was Oirotish . Today it is divided into a northern and southern branch of the language, which are referred to as North and South Altai .

Distribution area

The range of this language are the mountain ranges of the Altai - mountain and Kemerovo in eastern Siberia . The northern dialects (North Maltese) have very strong references to Kyrgyz , while the southern dialects ( South Maltese) have to Uighur .

Together with Russian , Altaish forms the official languages of the Altai Republic . The official language is based on a southern dialect that was originally spoken by the Altaj-Kiži, but has gradually been adopted in other parts of the republic.

Number of speakers and dialects

The ethnic groups that speak varieties of Altai include Altaians, Telengites , Teleuts , Tubalars , Cumandians, and Chelkans (Lebedins). Although their dialects are often viewed as one language, there are severe communication difficulties between speakers of the southern and northern varieties.

Baskakov (1958) distinguishes between the following dialects

Southern Altaic
- High Altai (Altai-Kischi, Altaj-Kiži)
  - Maima
- Telengite
  - Tölös
  - Chuya
- Teleutic
Northern Altai
- Tubalaric (today also partly classified as a southern Altaic transitional form to the northern one)
- Cumandian
  - Turachak
  - Solton
  - Starobardian
- Chelkan (also known as Kuu, Lebedin)

Close relatives of the northern varieties are Shor and Chulym Tatar , which both use a -j- instead of the inter-vocal * d, whereas Mras Shor and Middle Chakass use a -z- and are generally more similar to Khakass .

Classification

Due to the geographical isolation in the Altai - Mountains and the blurred separation from the surrounding languages, the classification of the Altai is controversial within the Turkic still. The geographical proximity to the Shoric and Khakassic languages suggests a classification as a subgroup of the Siberian Turkic languages (also called northern or northeastern Turkic languages), and within this into a southern subgroup, which is sometimes differentiated from the northern Yakut / Sacha and Dolganic .

Certain similarities with the Kyrgyz language allow an assignment to the Kipchak languages . In a more recent classification, Tâlat Tekin even regards South Maltese as a separate subgroup within the Turkic languages, while he puts the North Maltese dialects in a group with the Chulym Tatar and the condom dialect of the Shores.

font

Altaisch has only been an independent written language since 1845 with a modernized Cyrillic script . In 1928 the new Turkic alphabet was introduced, but it was replaced by modified Cyrillic characters in 1938 and is still used today.

In 1938, four more letters were added to the regular 33 letters of the Cyrillic alphabet in order to correctly reproduce the Altaic language: Јј, Ҥҥ, Ӧӧ, Ӱӱ.

pronunciation

As with the classification, the pronunciation cannot be represented uniformly. Since the dialects are very different from one another, this representation refers to the official language of the Altai Republic.

Consonants

Consonants of the Alta language
	Bilabial		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal		Velar
Plosives	p	b	t	d			c	ɟ	k	ɡ
Nasals	m		n						ŋ
Fricative					s	z	ʃ	ʒ	x	ɣ
Flap					ɾ
Approximant							j
Lateral approximant					l

The voiced palatal plosive / ⁠ ɟ ⁠ / is - especially in the letters - used differently in each dialect. There are strong variations even within the same dialect. An example of the differences between the dialects is the word “no” јок : [coq] (Kuu dialect) and [joq] (Kumandi).

Vowels

Altaic distinguishes eight vowels, each of which can be pronounced long or short.

Vowels of the Altaic languages
		Short		Long
		Closed	Open	Closed	Open
Beginning of word	unrounded	i	e	iː	eː
Beginning of word	rounded	y	O	yː	O
End of word	unrounded	ɯ	a	ɯː	aː
End of word	rounded	u	O	uː	O

Morphology and syntax

pronoun

Altaic basically knows six personal pronouns:

Personal pronouns in the official language
Singular		Plural
Altaic (transcription)	German	Altaic (transcription)	German
мен (men)	I	бис (to)	We
сен (sen)	You (singular)	слер (sler)	You (plural, formal)
ол (ol)	He she it	олор (olor)	You (plural)

Depending on the dialect, the pronouns used differ greatly from one another. Use the Qumandin dialect as an example.

Personal pronouns in Qumandin
Singular		Plural
Altaic (transcription)	German	Altaic (transcription)	German
мен (men)	I	пис (pis)	We
сен (sen)	You (singular)	снер (sner)	You (plural, formal)
ол (ol)	He she it	анар (anar)	You (plural)

literature

George Campbell: Concise Compendium of the World's Languages . 1995, ISBN 0-415-11392-X , pp. 543-544

Web links

Database on Altaic inscriptions in the Altai Republic

Test Wikipedia in North Maltese

Test Wikipedia in South Maltese

Individual evidence

↑ North Altaisch at Ethnologue
^ South Altaic at Ethnologue
↑ NA Baskakov: La Classification of Dialectes de la Langue d'Turque Altaï . In: Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae . 8, 1958, ISSN 0001-6446 , pp. 9-15.
^ Ethnologue report for Northern Turkic . SIL International. 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
↑ Talat Tekin: A New Classification of the Chuvash Turkic Languages . In: Erdem . 5, No. 13, January 1989, ISSN 1010-867X , pp. 129-139.
↑ NA Baskakov: Диалект Лебединских Татар-Чалканцев (Куу-Кижи) ( ru ) (= Северные Диалекты Алалекты Алтайского) (Языгат) (Язоыгат). Издательство «Наука», Moscow 1985, ISBN 0-8285-3393-8 , OCLC 21048607 .
↑ NA Baskakov: Диалект Кумандынцев (Куманды-Кижи) ( ru ) (= Северные Диалекты Алтайского (Ойротского) Языка). Издательство «Наука», Moscow 1972, ISBN 0-8285-3393-8 , OCLC 38772803 .
↑ Ф.А. Сатлаев: Учитесь говорить по-кумандински, русско-кумандинский разговорник ( ru ). Горно-Алтайская типография,? ?.

[1] North Altaisch at Ethnologue

[2] South Altaic at Ethnologue

[3] NA Baskakov: La Classification of Dialectes de la Langue d'Turque Altaï . In: Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae . 8, 1958, ISSN 0001-6446 , pp. 9-15.

[4] Ethnologue report for Northern Turkic . SIL International. 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2014.

[5] Talat Tekin: A New Classification of the Chuvash Turkic Languages . In: Erdem . 5, No. 13, January 1989, ISSN 1010-867X , pp. 129-139.

[6] NA Baskakov: Диалект Лебединских Татар-Чалканцев (Куу-Кижи) ( ru ) (= Северные Диалекты Алалекты Алтайского) (Языгат) (Язоыгат). Издательство «Наука», Moscow 1985, ISBN 0-8285-3393-8 , OCLC 21048607 .

[7] NA Baskakov: Диалект Кумандынцев (Куманды-Кижи) ( ru ) (= Северные Диалекты Алтайского (Ойротского) Языка). Издательство «Наука», Moscow 1972, ISBN 0-8285-3393-8 , OCLC 38772803 .

[8] Ф.А. Сатлаев: Учитесь говорить по-кумандински, русско-кумандинский разговорник ( ru ). Горно-Алтайская типография,? ?.