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The internal classification of the Turkic
languages |
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Based on Mark Rosenfelder's outstanding database with some corrections and comments; colors indicate proximity (red is "closer to proto-form", green (brown) and blue are "more innovative"). Shows how complex language systems can be sorted out based solely on the phonological information from a limited number of basic lexemes (numbers). Also, a bird's-eye view on the Turkic languages.  |
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Links |
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| http://www.geocities.com/indo_european_geography/turkic_numbers.htm?200819 - this posting is a mirror | ||||||||||
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| Proto-Turkic | *pi:re | *î(S)ki | *üiS | *tüwört | *pileS | *alte | *Sehti | *sakhïR | *tokhïR | *üon |
| (0)
Bulgar-Khazar (Oghur) A highly deviant, archaic group apparently emerging from the rise of the Volgar Bulgarian Empire (7-13th cent.) along the Volga River, and the Khazar Empire (7-9th cent) near the Caspian Sea, the latter being famous for its Judaism. The Khazar and Bulgar languages are hardly attested in historical sources. |
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| Bulgar | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Chuvash | pêrre | ik | vis' | tâvat | pilêk | ult | s'ich, sizhe | sakâr | tâkhâr | vun |
| Modern Chuvash (1,3 million speakers) is still spoken in the Chuvash Republic (with the capital city of Cheboksary), and is believed to be the direct descendent of Volgar Bulgar. Can also be seen as the most significant Turkic language for the puposes of historical comparison. | ||||||||||
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(1)
Yakut (Sakha) |
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| Yakut (Sakha) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Yakut (Sakha) | biir | ikki | üs | tüört | bies | alta | sette | aGIs | toGus | uon |
| Spoken along the Lena River in the Sakha Republic. Historically, the northern Yakuts were largely hunters, fishermen and reindeer herders, while the southern Yakuts raised cattle and horses. Though looking large on the map, the region is hardly populated (c. 460 000 speakers), and most life is concentrated along the Lena. | ||||||||||
| Dolgan | biir | ikki | üs | tüört | bies | alta | hette | agis | togus | uon |
| Dolgan is the most northern offshoot of Sakha, spoken near Taymyr Peninsula and other scarcely populated regions of northern Russia. | ||||||||||
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(2)
Altaic Turkic |
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| Khakas | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Khakas | pir | iki | üs | tört | pes | alti | cheti | segis | toghis | on |
| Khakas is spoken in the Republic of Khakassia (near the Altai) with the administrative center of Abakan; c. 60.000 speakers, most of them bilingual in Russian. Chulym (40-100 speakers) and Shor (10.000) are closely related to Khakas. | ||||||||||
| Chulym | pir' | igi | üts | tört | pesh | alti | jedi | segis | toghus | on |
| Shor | pir | iygi, igi | üsh | tört | pesh | alti | chetti | segis | togus | on |
| Karagas | ||||||||||
| Karagas + | birä | ihi | üis, | tört | beis, | altè | t~edè | sehes | tohos | on |
| Tofalar | birä | ìhi | üysh | tört | beish | àlti | chedi | sèhes | tòhis | on |
| Karagas is sometimes thought to be extinct in the 19th century (Mator), yet Tofalar seems to be its continuation. Only 380 speakers (2002), reindeer and hunting before 1930s. | ||||||||||
| Tuvan | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Tuvan | bir | iyi | üsh | dört | besh | aldi | chedi | ses | tos | on |
| Tuvan is spoken in the Tuva Republic (in the Altai), with the capital city of Kyzyl, 200.000 speakers. It was an independent state between 1920 and 1944, when finally annexed by the USSR under obscure circumstances. Note such contractions as sehes > ses, ihi > ii, which seem to position Tuvan as an offspring of the early Karagas subgroup. | ||||||||||
| Fu-yü Gïrgïs | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Fu-yü Gïrgïs | bïr | igi | ush | durt | bish | altï | chiti | sigis | dog^us | on |
| A
very rare, and often omitted but strategically important Turkic language
in northeast China near Harbin spoken by about 700-400 passive speakers.
According to legends, left the Altai, travelled through the Khingan, and settled in China 300 years ago, which seems to be consistent with the phonology. |
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(3) Yughur A small but strategic group that apparently moved from Tuva and Mongolia into western China (Sunan Yugur Autonomous County near Zhangye city) circa 650-850 AD. This location could easily have been reached by travelling along the Chinese part of the Silk Road. The exact classification is unclear (often included into other "Altaic Turkic"), but phonological changes are drastic and peculiar, which arguably distinguishes Yughur as a special Turkic subgroup. About 4500 speakers remaining, The Oilyg are nomadic cattle breeders in the steppes, the Taglyg are in the mountains. The Shera-Yugur are the Monglized Yugurs, and the Yughu are the Chinized ones. |
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| Saryg-Yugur |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Western Yughur (Sary(g)-Yughur) |
byr pпr |
shigy shпkп |
ush | diort, dürt |
bes | ahldy | yidy, yeti zheta |
saghys | dohghys | on |
| Yellow Uighur | pêr per |
îshke пshqп |
ush wпsh |
tört t'цrt |
pes pes |
altI a'ltп |
yekhtî yпtп |
saqIs sa:qпs |
toqus toqпs |
on on |
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"Yellow
Uighur" is not mentioned in other sources as a separate language,
and its numbers rather correspond to what is known as Saryg (Yellow)-Yughur;
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| (4)
West (Mainstream)
Turkic A large group of languages that apparently formed due to the spread of the Gokturk Empire in Mongolia during the 6th-8th centuries. This group often constitutes what is known to be mainstream, or most politically important Turkic languages with a number of typical innovations. |
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| West (Mainstream) Turkic (Eastern) | ||||||||||
| Orkhon-Yenisei | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Old Turkic+ |
bir | iki | üch | tört | besh | altï | yeti | säkiz | toquz | on |
| Carved 8th century inscriptions from western Mongolia | ||||||||||
| Salar Poorly classified. According to legends, moved into western China (near the Yughur group) in the 14th century from Samarqand. Sometimes thought to be Oguz, but considerable phonological changes clearly contradict this grouping. |
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| Salar (West China) | byr, pyr, pir |
igi, ishky | uj | diot | besh | alty | yidy, yitti | sekis | doqus | on |
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West (Mainstream) Turkic (Western) |
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| Kyrghyz-Kazakh-Altay (South Kipchak) This subgroup preserves the word-initial alveolar *zh(*dj) where other mainstream languages have *y (*j). Normally, classified as South Kipchak |
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| Kyrghyz | bir | eki | üch | tört | besh | alty | zheti | segiz | tOguz | on |
| Altay (Oyrat) | bir | eki | üch | tört | besh | altI | yeti | segis | togus | on |
| Altay (Oyrat) seems to be split into several important dialects, its classification is ambigous | ||||||||||
| Kazakh | bir | yeki | ush | tort | bes | alti | zhetti | segiz | toghiz | on |
| Karakalpak | bir | eki | üsh | tört | bes | alti | zheti | segiz | toghiz | on |
| Karakalpak is basically, a dialect of Kazakh historically located near the southern coast of the Aral Sea | ||||||||||
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Karluk-Uyghur (Karakhanid) |
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| Chagatay+ (Chgatai
Khanate a 15th-19th cent. koine) |
bir | iki | üch | tört | besh | altï | yeti | sekiz | toquz | on |
| Originally, the language of the Chagatai Khanate, a widely used Central Asian koine during the 15th-19th century. | ||||||||||
| Uyghur | bir | ikki | üch | tört | bæsh | altæ | yættæ | sækkiz | toqquz | on |
| A language of several dialects located at the edges of the Taklamakan Desert (now East China) | ||||||||||
| Uzbek | bir | ikki | uch | to'rt | besh | olti | yetti | sakkiz | to'kkiz | o'n |
| Spoken in southern
Uzbekistan (including such important historical cities as Samarqand, Bukhara,
Tashkent), 24.7 million speakers. Strong Arabic and Persian influence. Often seen as a direct descendent of Chagatay. |
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| Khalaj | bi: | äkki, æk.ki | ü:ch, üsh | tö:rt | be:sh, biesh |
alta, al.ta | ye:tti, yætti | säkkiz sæk.kiz |
toqquz, toq.quz |
o:n, uon |
| Khalaj is a
poorly classified language in eastern Iran, which has long vowels; 42 000
sperakers. Previously, thought to be Oguz, but was proven not to be by Doerfer, although his own classification is far too exaggerated, as well. Herein, classified as one of the early offshoots of the Karakhanid migration , which is supported by the sonorization pattern and the presence of intervocalic -D- (as in "aDaq") in the Kharakhanid sources.. |
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| Main Kipchak (Tatar) The large spread of this subgroup seems to be connected with the Tatar-Mongol invasion of eastern Europe and western Sibera during the 13th century (or earlier?). Could be mnemonically renamed as "Tatar" subgroup. The group seems to be closely connected to South Kipchak, and it might have formed from their spread to the west. |
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| Tatar (Russia) | ber | ike | öch | dürt | bish | alti | yide, zhide | sigez | tugiz | un |
| Not
one, but many dialects or closely related languages scattered all over eastern
Europe and western Siberia.The most widely spoken language in Russia, outside
R. and Ukrainian. The initial *S- is preserved before i-, (hence zhir "earth", zhil "wind"), but changed to y- before back or low vowels (yafraq "leaf", yul "road", yïlan "snake", yörek "heart") |
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| Karachay-Balkar (N.Caucasus) | bireki | yuch | tyort | besh | alti | zheti | segiz | tOguz | on | |
| Kabardino-Balkaria Republic in North Caucasus consists of two ethnic groups, one predominantly of Kabardin (speakers of a North-West Caucasian language) and the other predominantly Balkars (speakers of a Turkic language). Karachay-Balkar consistently exhibits initial *S- >zh- before all vowels. | ||||||||||
| Bashkir (Russia) | ber | ike | øs | doert | bish | altI | yete | higedh | tughIdh | un |
| The highly deviant Bashkir phonology is normally explained by absorbtion of a Finno-Ugric substrate. | ||||||||||
| Baraba (Central Russia) | bir | iki | üts | tört | päsh | altti | yädi | säkiz | toGiz | on |
| Karaim (Lithuania) | bir | eki | its | dyert | bes | alti | yedi | segiz | tOguz | on |
| Kumyk (N. Caucasus) |
bir | eki | üch | dyert | besh | alti | yetti | segiz | tOguz | on |
| Nogai (Caspian Sea) | bir | eki | üsh | dört | bes | alti | yeti | segiz | togiz | on |
| Crimean
Tatar |
bir | eki | üch; us, | dürt, tört | bís, | alti | yedi | sigiz | tohuz | on |
| Crimean Khanate (1441-1783) was a state in Crimea formed by the Kipchaks during the 13-14th century invasion. Crimean Tatars area also famous for being persecuted by Stalin for being Nazi collaborators. Only northern and central Crimean dialects can be seen as Crimean Tatar proper, not to be confused with southern Crimean Turkish. | ||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| Oguz | ||||||||||
| The
Oguz languages
spread into Europe from southern Turkmenistan in the 9th century causing
the Crusades. Still very close to each other or even mutually intelligible for the most part. |
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| Eastern | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Turkmen | bir | iki | uch | dört | besh | alti | yedi | sekiz | dokuz | on |
| Western ("Ottoman Oguz") Result from the relatively recent spread of the Ottoman Empire during the 15th-19th century (mutually intelligible dialects or closely related languages) |
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| Crimean Turkish (South Crimean Tatar dialect) |
bir | eki | uch' | dyort | besh | alti | yedi | sekiz | dok`uz | on |
| An extensive Oguz migration to the Crimean Khanate led to the formation of this southern dialect of Crimean Tartar. | ||||||||||
| Qashqay (Southern Iran) |
bir | ikki | üch | dört | bä'sh | on | ||||
| Azerbaijani | bir | iki | üç | dörd | bes, | altI | yeddi | sekkiz | doqquz | on |
| Turkish | bir | iki | üç | dört | bes, | alti | yedi | sekiz | dokuz | on |
| Gagauz (Moldova) | bir | iki | üch | dört | besh | alti | yedi | sekiz | dokuz | on |