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) Oghur Turkic Arghu 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. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Siberia (Сиби́рь Sibir) is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family Altaic, according to its proponents is a language family that includes 66 Languages ref> Altaic languages spoken by about 348 million people mostly in and around Altaic, according to its proponents is a language family that includes 66 Languages ref> Altaic languages spoken by about 348 million people mostly in and around The Oghuz languages, a major branch of the Turkic language family, are spoken by more than 110 million people in an area spanning from the Balkans to China The Kypchak languages (also known as the Kipchak Qypchaq or Northwestern Turkic languages are a major branch of the Turkic language family spoken by more than 12 million The Oghur languages (also known as Oghur, Oghuric, Oghur-Turkic, or Lir-Turkic) are a separate branch of the Turkic language family Khalaj is a Language spoken primarily in Iran and Afghanistan. List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. Siberia (Сиби́рь Sibir) is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Altaic, according to its proponents is a language family that includes 66 Languages ref> Altaic languages spoken by about 348 million people mostly in and around ^[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. A second language (L2 is any Language learned after the first language or mother tongue (L1 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. Turkish ( tr Türkçe IPA) is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Anatolia (Anadolu Ανατολία Anatolía) or Asia minor, comprising most of modern Turkey, is the geographic region bounded by the Black ^[2]

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. Altaic, according to its proponents is a language family that includes 66 Languages ref> Altaic languages spoken by about 348 million people mostly in and around Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance ( see below) assimilatory phonological process involving Vowels in some languages An agglutinative language is a Language that uses Agglutination extensively most Words are formed by joining Morphemes together In Grammar, a suffix (also postfix, ending) is an Affix which is placed at the end of a word In Linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing Nouns A noun may belong to a given class because of characteristic features of its Referent In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong Subject Object Verb word order is universal within the family. In Linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb (SOV is the type of languages in which the subject, object, and Verb of a sentence appear or usually 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). The Mongolic languages are a group of languages spoken in Central Asia. The Tungusic languages (also known as Manchu-Tungus Tungus are spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria. This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language See Hangul for details on the native Korean writing system Altaic, according to its proponents is a language family that includes 66 Languages ref> Altaic languages spoken by about 348 million people mostly in and around ^[4]

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). For the superstate in George Orwell 's novel see Nations of Nineteen Eighty-Four. Siberia (Сиби́рь Sibir) is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving ^[5]

Distribution of the Altaic languages across Eurasia. Altaic, according to its proponents is a language family that includes 66 Languages ref> Altaic languages spoken by about 348 million people mostly in and around For the superstate in George Orwell 's novel see Nations of Nineteen Eighty-Four. The inclusion of Japanese and Korean, and to a lesser degree the existence of a single Altaic language family, is controversial. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language See Hangul for details on the native Korean writing system Altaic, according to its proponents is a language family that includes 66 Languages ref> Altaic languages spoken by about 348 million people mostly in and around

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

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 Proto-Turkic language is the proto-language of the family of Turkic languages that predates the separation of the Turkic peoples in the course of the The Turkic peoples are Eurasian peoples residing in northern central and western Eurasia who speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family The Turkic migration as defined in this article was the expansion of the Turkic peoples across most of Central Asia into Europe and the Middle The 8th century is the period from 701 to 800 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. The Old Turkic script (also Göktürk script, Orkhon script, Orkhon-Yenisey script; Turkish: Orhun Yazıtları, 鄂爾渾文字 Göktürks ( Turkish: Gök Türkler) were a Turkic people of ancient Central Asia. Old Turkic (also East Old Turkic, Orkhon Turkic, Old Uyghur) is the earliest attested Turkic language, found in inscriptions by the Year 1889 ( MDCCCLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape sprawls along the banks of the Orkhon River in Central Mongolia, some 360 km west from the capital Ulaanbaatar. 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. Mahmud ibn Hussayn ibn Muhammad al-Kashgari (محمود بن الحسين بن محمد الكاشغري Kaşgarlı Mahmut Mehmud Qeshqeri born in 1005 in Kashgar was This article refers to the Turkic state Kara-Khanid Khanate (also designated as Qarakhanids 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. The Oghuz languages, a major branch of the Turkic language family, are spoken by more than 110 million people in an area spanning from the Balkans to China ^[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 Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic manual of the Middle Ages, presumably designed to help Catholic Missionaries to the Cumans The Kypchak languages (also known as the Kipchak Qypchaq or Northwestern Turkic languages are a major branch of the Turkic language family spoken by more than 12 million The Kipchak language (also spelled Qypchaq) is an extinct Turkic language of the Kipchak group Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. A missionary is a member of a Religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith someone who proselytizes. Cumans (Кумани Byzantine: Kuman or Cuman, Kunok Turkic: Kumanlar) were a nomadic Turkic people who inhabited a Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania The earliest records of the language spoken by Volga Bulgars, the parent to today's Chuvash language, are dated to 13th - 14th centuries. Volga Bulgaria or Volga-Kama Bolghar, is an historic state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of Chuvash (Chuvash Чӑвашла Čăvašla, ʨəʋaʂˈla also known as Chăvash, Chuwash, Chovash, Chavash, Çuvaş

Geographical expansion and development

With the Turkic expansion during Early Middle Ages (c. The Turkic migration as defined in this article was the expansion of the Turkic peoples across most of Central Asia into Europe and the Middle The Early Middle Ages is a period in the History of Europe following the fall of the Western Roman Empire spanning roughly five centuries from AD 500 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). The 6th century is the period from 501 to 600 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south Siberia (Сиби́рь Sibir) is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving The Sakha Republic (Yakutia (Респу́блика Саха́ (Яку́тия Саха Республиката is a federal subject of Russia (a Republic The Seljuq (also Seljuq Turks, Seldjuks, Seldjuqs, Seljuks; in Turkish Selçuklular; in Ṣaljūqīyān; in Various elements from the Turkic languages have passed into Hungarian, Persian, Urdu, Russian, Chinese and to a lesser extent, Arabic. Hungarian ( magyar nyelv) is a Uralic language (more specifically a Ugric language) unrelated to most other languages in Europe. Urdu ( ur '''{{Nastaliq اردو}}''' trans Urdū, historically spelled Ordu) is a Central Indo-Aryan language Urdu is a standardised Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language ^[7]

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. Language contact occurs when speakers of distinct speech varieties interact The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily Indo-Iranian. The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) a group of closely related Languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages The Mongolic languages are a group of languages spoken in Central Asia. ^[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. The Oghuz languages, a major branch of the Turkic language family, are spoken by more than 110 million people in an area spanning from the Balkans to China The Kypchak languages (also known as the Kipchak Qypchaq or Northwestern Turkic languages are a major branch of the Turkic language family spoken by more than 12 million The Oghur languages (also known as Oghur, Oghuric, Oghur-Turkic, or Lir-Turkic) are a separate branch of the Turkic language family Khalaj is a Language spoken primarily in Iran and Afghanistan. ^[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.

Classification Schema

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

• Rhoticisation, e. An isogloss is the geographical boundary or delineation of a certain linguistic feature e In Phonetics, vocalic r refers to the phenomenon of a Rhotic segment such as or occurring as the Syllable nucleus. 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

*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. Old Turkic (also East Old Turkic, Orkhon Turkic, Old Uyghur) is the earliest attested Turkic language, found in inscriptions by the Turkish ( tr Türkçe IPA) is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Uzbek ( O‘zbek tili or O'zbekcha in Latin script, Ўзбек тили in Cyrillic script; أۇزبېك ﺗﻴﻠی in Arabic Uyghur (/ ug-Latn Uyƣurqə/ug-Cyrl Уйғурчә, or / ug-Latn Uyƣur tili/ug-Cyrl Уйғур The Tatar language (,, Татар теле, Татарча) is a Turkic Language spoken by the Tatars. Kazakh (also Qazaq and variants natively kk Qazaq tili, kk Қазақ тілі; pronounced tˈlə is a Turkic language closely related to Kyrgyz or Kirghiz (Кыргыз тили Kyrgyz tili, قىرعىز ٴتىلى is a Turkic language, and together with Russian, an official Altay is a language of the Turkic group of languages It is an official language of Altai Republic, Russia. Fuyü Gïrgïs or Fu-Yu Kirgiz is the easternmost Turkic language Khakas is a Turkic language spoken by the Khakas people who mainly live in the southern Siberian Khakas Republic or Khakassia, in Russia Tuvan (Tuvan Тыва дыл Tyva dyl) also known as Tuvinian, Tyvan, or Tuvin, is one of the Turkic languages. Sakha, or Yakut, is a Turkic language with around 460000 speakers spoken in the Sakha Republic in the Russian Federation by the Sakha Khalaj is a Language spoken primarily in Iran and Afghanistan. Chuvash (Chuvash Чӑвашла Čăvašla, ʨəʋaʂˈla also known as Chăvash, Chuwash, Chovash, Chavash, Çuvaş Ğ, or ğ, is a letter known as g- Breve in English, used in the Turkish, Azerbaijani, Berber, Crimean

Members

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

Vocabulary comparison

The following is a brief comparison of cognates among the basic vocabulary across the Turkic language family (about 60 words). Salar is a Turkic language spoken by the Salar people who mainly live in the provinces of Qinghai and Gansu in China; some also Old Turkic (also East Old Turkic, Orkhon Turkic, Old Uyghur) is the earliest attested Turkic language, found in inscriptions by the The Chagatai language ( جغتای - Jaĝatāy; Uyghur: چاغاتاي Chaghatay; Uzbek: ﭼﯩﻐﻪتاي Äynu is a Turkic language spoken in western China known in various spelling as Aini Aynu Ainu Eyni or by the Uyghur Abdal (ئابدال in Russian sources Ili Turki is a Language spoken primarily in China. It belongs to the Turkic family of languages. Sakha, or Yakut, is a Turkic language with around 460000 speakers spoken in the Sakha Republic in the Russian Federation by the Sakha The Dolgan language is a Turkic language with around 5000 speakers spoken in the Taymyr Peninsula in Russia. Tuvan (Tuvan Тыва дыл Tyva dyl) also known as Tuvinian, Tyvan, or Tuvin, is one of the Turkic languages. Tofa, also known as Tofalar or Karagas, is one of the Turkic languages. Khakas is a Turkic language spoken by the Khakas people who mainly live in the southern Siberian Khakas Republic or Khakassia, in Russia Fuyü Gïrgïs or Fu-Yu Kirgiz is the easternmost Turkic language The Shor language (Shor Шор тили, Russian: Шорский язык) is one of the Turkic languages. Chulym (Russian Чулымский язык also known as Chulim, Chulym-Turkic, Küerik, Chulym Tatar or Melets Tatar (not Altay is a language of the Turkic group of languages It is an official language of Altai Republic, Russia. The Oghur languages (also known as Oghur, Oghuric, Oghur-Turkic, or Lir-Turkic) are a separate branch of the Turkic language family Chuvash (Chuvash Чӑвашла Čăvašla, ʨəʋaʂˈla also known as Chăvash, Chuwash, Chovash, Chavash, Çuvaş Khazar was the language spoken by the medieval Khazar tribe a semi- Nomadic Turkic people from Central Asia The Caucasian Avars are a modern people of Caucasus, mainly of Dagestan. Bulgar (also Bolğar and Proto-Bulgarian) was the language of the Bulgars, now extinct The Hunnic language is an extinct Language of the Huns. The records for this language are sparse Khalaj is a Language spoken primarily in Iran and Afghanistan. Khalaj is a Language spoken primarily in Iran and Afghanistan. Cognates in Linguistics are words that have a common origin They may occur within a language such as shirt and skirt as two English words descended from 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.

References

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.

See also

• Altaic languages
• Proto-Turkic language
• Old Turkic
• Middle Turkic
• Orkhon script

External links

• Turkic Languages: Resources - University of Michigan
• Map of Turkic languages
• Classification of Turkic Languages
• Online Uyghur-English Dictionary
• Turkic languages at the Open Directory Project
• Turkic language vocabulary comparison tool / dictionary