Altai languages
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Infobox language family
Altai or Altay<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (Template:Langx, Template:IPA) is a set of Turkic languages spoken officially in the Altai Republic, Russia. The standard vocabulary is based on the Southern Altai language, though it is also taught to and used by speakers of the Northern Altai language as well. Gorno–Altai refers to a subgroup of languages in the Altai Mountains. The languages were called Oyrot (ойрот) prior to 1948.<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Missing ISBN</ref>
Altai is spoken primarily in the Altai Republic. There is a small community of speakers in the neighbouring Altai Krai as well.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Classification
Due to its isolated position in the Altai Mountains and contact with surrounding languages, the exact classification of Altai within the Turkic languages has often been disputed. Because of its geographic proximity to the Shor and Khakas languages, some classifications place it in a Northern Turkic subgroup.<ref>Northern Turkic in Template:E25</ref> Due to certain similarities with Kyrgyz, it has been grouped as the Kyrgyz–Kipchak subgroup with the Kypchak languages which is within the Turkic language family.<ref name="Baskakov">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Kormushin">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> A classification by Talat Tekin places Southern Altai in its own subgroup within Turkic and groups the Northern Altai dialects with Lower Chulym and the Kondoma dialect of Shor.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Varieties
Though they are traditionally considered one language, Southern Altai is not fully mutually intelligible with the Northern varieties. According to modern classifications—at least since the middle of the 20th century—they are considered to be two separate languages.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Cn span In 2006, a Cyrillic alphabet was created for the Kumandy variety of Northern Altai for use in Altai Krai.<ref>В Алтайском крае издана азбука кумандинского языка. 2006</ref>
Dialects are as follows:<ref name="Baskakov" />
Closely related to the northern varieties are Kondoma Shor and Lower Chulym, which have -j- for proto-Turkic inter-vocalic *d, unlike Mras Shor and Middle Chulym, which have -z- and are closer to Khakas.
Official status
Altai is an official language of the Altai Republic, alongside Russian. The official Altai language is based on the Southern Altai language spoken by the group called the Altay-Kiži, however in the few years it has also spread to the Northern Altai Republic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Linguistic features
The following features refer to the outcome of commonly used Turkic isoglosses in Northern Altai.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- */ag/ — Proto-Turkic */ag/ is found in three variations throughout Northern Altai: /u/, /aw/, /aʁ/.
- */eb/ — Proto-Turkic */eb/ is found as either /yj/ or /yg/, depending on the variety.
- */VdV/ — With a few lexical exceptions (likely borrowings), proto-Turkic intervocalic */d/ results in /j/.
Phonology
The sounds of the Altai language vary among different dialects.
Consonants
The voiced palatal plosive Template:IPA varies greatly from dialect to dialect, especially in the initial position, and may be recognized as a voiced affricate Template:IPA. Forms of the word јок "no" include Template:IPA (Kuu dialect) and Template:IPA (Kumandy). Even within dialects, this phoneme varies greatly.<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Pn</ref><ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Pn</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Vowels
There are eight vowels in Altai. These vowels may be long or short.
Orthography
The language was written with the Latin script from 1928 to 1938, but has used Cyrillic (with the addition of 9 extra letters: Јј Template:IPA, Ҥҥ Template:IPA, Ӧӧ Template:IPA, Ӱӱ Template:IPA, Ғғ Template:IPA, Ққ Template:IPA, Һһ Template:IPA, Ҷҷ Template:IPA, Ii Template:IPA) since 1938.
The letter Ÿ is sometimes used instead of Ӱ.
Missionary's Cyrillic alphabet
The first writing system for Altai was invented by missionaries from the Altai Spiritual Mission in the 1840s; it was based on the Cyrillic alphabet and invented for the Teleut dialect and was used mostly for Church publications.<ref>V. N. Tadikin. Orthography of the Altai language (in Russian) || Orthography of the Turkic literary languages of the USSR. – Moscow: Nauka, 1973</ref> The first books were printed in Altai not long thereafter and in 1868, the first Altai alphabet was published. There was no stable form of this alphabet, and it changed from edition-to-edition.
With this in mind, this is an inventory of some of these letters:
| Аа | Бб | Гг | Дд | Jj | Ее | Жж | Зз |
| Ii | Йй | Кк | Template:Nowrap | Лл | Мм | Нн | Ҥҥ |
| Template:Nowrap | Oo | Ӧӧ | Пп | Рр | Сс | Тт | Уу |
| Ӱӱ | Чч | Шш | Ыы | ||||
First Cyrillic alphabet (1922–1928)
After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, publishing books into Altai was resumed in 1921,<ref>Basic Dates of Altai Book History.</ref> using a script similar to the Missionary's Alphabet. About this time, many post-revolution letters were adopted to better compose Russian words adopted into the language. As such, it took on this form (non-Russian letters bolded):
| Аа | Бб | Вв | Гг | Дд | Јј | Ее | Жж |
| Зз | Ии | Йй | Кк | Лл | Мм | Нн | Ҥҥ |
| Оо | Ӧӧ | Пп | Рр | Сс | Тт | Уу | Ӱӱ |
| Фф | Хх | Цц | Чч | Шш | Щщ | Ъъ | Ыы |
| Ьь | Ээ | Юю | Яя | ||||
Interestingly, in the same space, many considered adapting the old Mongolian script for use in writing Altai.<ref>М.S. Katashev. National-language construction in the Mountainous Altai in the 1920s–1930s: Experience, History, Problems.
Altai language and culture: modern trends in development. – Gorno-Altaisk, 2016. – pg. 109–116, 260, and 350 – Template:ISBN.Template:Vs</ref>
Latin alphabet (1928–1938)
The Latin alphabet was eventually adopted and was used from 1922 to 1928. The final version of this alphabet was published in 1931, taking this form:<ref>А. Тыбыкова. Об усовершенствовании и унификация алфавита алтайского языка (рус.) // Вопросы совершенствования алфавитов тюркских языков СССР. — М.: Наука, 1972. — С. 41–48.</ref>
| Aa | Bʙ | Cc | Çç | Dd | Ee | Ff | Gg |
| Ii | Jj | Kk | Ll | Mm | Nn | Ŋŋ | Oo |
| Ɵɵ | Pp | Rr | Ss | Şş | Tt | Uu | Vv |
| Xx | Yy | Zz | Ƶƶ | Ьь | |||
The Latin letters correspond as follows to the modern Cyrillic letters:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
| Latin (1922–1938) | Modern Cyrillic (after 1944) |
|---|---|
| Cc | Чч |
| Çç | Јj |
| Jj | Йй |
| Ŋŋ | Ҥҥ |
| Ɵө | Ӧö |
| Şş | Шш |
| Yy | Ӱÿ |
| Ƶƶ | Жж |
| Ьь | Ыы |
Second Cyrillic alphabet (1938–1944)
In 1938, the Central Research Institute of Language and Writing of the Peoples of the USSR began the project of designing a new alphabet for Altai, based on the Cyrillic script. Their new alphabet consisted of all 33 Russian letters, as well as the letter Template:Angbr, digraph Template:Angbr and the letter Template:Angbr, for the phonemes [ɪ], [d͡ʒ] and [ŋ] respectively. However, this was later rejected, because it could not accurately represent all of Altai's phonological inventory.
To amend for this, the Institute's first revised alphabet saw the graphemes Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr for Altai's vowels Template:IPA and Template:IPA fall out of use, and the addition of two digraphs and two letters: Template:Angbr for [d͡ʒ], Template:Angbr for [ŋ], Template:Angbr for [ø~œ], and Template:Angbr for [y]. In the second revision, however, Template:Angbr was replaced with Template:Angbr. Thus was created:
| Аа | Бб | Вв | Гг | Дд | Дь дь | Ее | Ёё |
| Жж | Зз | Ии | Іі | Йй | Кк | Лл | Мм |
| Нн | Ҥҥ | Оо | Ӧӧ | Пп | Рр | Сс | Тт |
| Уу | Ӱӱ | Фф | Хх | Цц | Чч | Шш | Щщ |
| Ъъ | Ыы | Ьь | Ээ | Юю | Яя | ||
Altai speakers accepted the first variant, but generally preferred Template:Angbr over Template:Angbr.
Modern Standard Altai alphabet
Their second Cyrillic alphabet had many shortcomings, thus begging for a reform, which was carried out in 1944. The usage of Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr Template:IPA and Template:IPA was dropped entirely, being replaced by the adoption of the Institute's second revision's usages of Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr, for native words. Template:Angbr was dropped in favour of Template:Angbr; for Template:Angbr, they finally accepted Template:Angbr.
The letters Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr are still used, though they are reserved for only non-native, Russian loan-words. So, in modern Standard Altai, the equivalent sounds are written as Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, for native words. So, words that were written as Template:Lang 'cliff, rock' and Template:Lang 'hare' are now written as Template:Lang and Template:Lang respectively.
| Аа | Бб | Вв | Гг | Дд | Јј | Ее | Ёё |
| Жж | Зз | Ии | Йй | Кк | Лл | Мм | Нн |
| Ҥҥ | Оо | Ӧӧ | Пп | Рр | Сс | Тт | Уу |
| Ӱӱ | Фф | Хх | Цц | Чч | Шш | Щщ | Ъъ |
| Ыы | Ьь | Ээ | Юю | Яя | |||
Morphology and syntax
Pronouns
Altai has six personal pronouns:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | Template:Fs interlinear | Template:Fs interlinear |
| 2nd person | Template:Fs interlinear | Template:Fs interlinear |
| 3rd person | Template:Fs interlinear | Template:Fs interlinear |
The declension of the pronouns is outlined in the following chart.
| Nom | мен | сен | ол | бис | слер | олор |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acc | мени | сени | оны | бисти | слерди | олорды |
| Gen | мениҥ | сениҥ | оныҥ | бистиҥ | слердиҥ | олордыҥ |
| Dat | меге | сеге | ого | биске | слерге | олорго |
| Loc | менде | сенде | ондо | бисте | слерде | олордо |
| Abl | менеҥ | сенеҥ | оноҥ | бистеҥ | слердеҥ | олордоҥ |
| Inst | мениле | сениле | оныла | бисле | слерле | олорло |
Pronouns in the various dialects vary considerably. For example, the pronouns in the Qumandin dialect follow.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | Template:Fs interlinear | Template:Fs interlinear |
| 2nd person | Template:Fs interlinear | Template:Fs interlinear |
| 3rd person | Template:Fs interlinear | Template:Fs interlinear |
Sample text
The Bible in Altai
| Cyrillic script<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Latin script |
|---|---|
| <poem>1. Иисус Христостыҥ ада-ӧбӧкӧлӧри. Ол Давид ле Авраамныҥ калдыгы.
2. Авраамнаҥ Исаак туулган, Исаактаҥ Иаков туулган, Иаковтоҥ Иуда ла оныҥ карындаштары туулган; 3. Иуданыҥ ӱйи болгон Фамарьдаҥ Фарес ле Зара туулган, Фарестеҥ Есром туулган, Есромноҥ Арам туулган; 4. Арамнаҥ Аминадав туулган, Аминадавтаҥ Наассон туулган, Наассонноҥ Салмон туулган; 5. Салмонныҥ ӱйинеҥ, Рахавтаҥ, Вооз туулган, Воозтыҥ эмеени Руфьтаҥ Овид туулган, Овидтеҥ Иессей туулган; 6. Иессейдеҥ Давид-каан туулган, Давид-кааннаҥ Соломон туулган, Соломонныҥ энези дезе Урияныҥ башкыдагы ӱйи болгон; 7. Соломонноҥ Ровоам туулган, Ровоамнаҥ Авия туулган, Авиядаҥ Асаф туулган; 8. Асафтаҥ Иосафат туулган, Иосафаттаҥ Иорам туулган, Иорамнаҥ Озия туулган; 9. Озиядаҥ Иоафам туулган, Иоафамнаҥ Ахаз туулган, Ахазтаҥ Езекия туулган; 10. Езекиядаҥ Манассия туулган, Манассиядаҥ Амон туулган, Амонноҥ Иосия туулган; 11. Иосиядаҥ Иоаким туулган, Вавилон јерине кӧчӱрердеҥ озо Иоакимнеҥ Иехония ла оныҥ карындаштары туулган; 12. Вавилонго кӧчӱрген соҥында Иехониядаҥ Салафиил туулган, Салафиилдеҥ Зоровавел туулган; 13. Зоровавелдеҥ Авиуд туулган, Авиудтаҥ Елиаким туулган, Елиакимнеҥ Азор туулган; 14. Азордоҥ Садок туулган, Садоктоҥ Ахим туулган, Ахимнеҥ Елиуд туулган; 15. Елиудтаҥ Елеазар туулган, Елеазардаҥ Матфан туулган, Матфаннаҥ Иаков туулган; 16. Иаковтоҥ Марияныҥ эш-нӧкӧри Иосиф туулган, Мариядаҥ Христос дейтен Иисус туулган. 17. Анайдарда, Авраамнаҥ ала Давидке јетире бастыразы он тӧрт ӱйе; Давидтеҥ ала Вавилонго кӧчӱргенине јетире база он тӧрт ӱйе; Вавилонго кӧчӱргенинеҥ ала Христоско јетире база он тӧрт ӱйе.</poem> |
<poem>1. Yisus Hristosıñ ada öbökölöri, ol David le Avraamnıñ kaldıgı
2. Avraamnañ İsaak tuulgan, İsaaktañ Yakov tuulgan, Yakovtoñ Yuda la onıñ karındaştarımı tuulgan 3. Yudanıñ üyi bolgon Famardañ Fares le Zara tuulgan, Faresteñ Yesrom Aram tuulgan 4. Aramnañ Aminadav tuulgan, Aminadavtañ Naasson tuulgan, Nassonnoñ Salmon tuulgan, 5. Salmonnıñ üyineñ, Rahavtañ, Vooz tuulgan, Vooztıñ emeeni Ruftañ Ovid tuulgan, Ovidteñ İyessey tuulgan, 6. İyesseydeñ David-kaan tuulgan, David-kaannañ Solomon tuulgan, Solomonnıñ enezi deze Uriyanıñ başkıdagı üyi bolgon 7. Solomonnıñ Rovoam tuulgan, Rovoamnañ Aviya tuulgan, Aviyadañ Asaf tuulgan 8. Asaftañ Yosafat tuulgan, Yosafattan Yoram tuulgan, Yoramnañ Oziya tuulgan 9. Oziyadañ Yoafam tuulgan, Yoafamnañ Ahaz tuulgan, Ahaztañ Yezekiya tuulgan 10. Yezekiyadan Manassiya tuulgan, Manassiyadañ Amon tuulgan, Amonnoñ Yosiya tuulgan 11. Yosiyadañ Yoakim tuulgan, Vavilon cerine köçürerdeñ ozo Yoakimneñ İyehoniya la onıñ karındaştarı tuulgan; 12. Vavilongo köçürgen soñında İyehoniyadañ Salafiil tuulgan, Salafiildeñ Zorovavel tuulgan; 13. Zorovaveldeñ Aviud tuulgan, Aviudtañ Yeliakim tuulgan, Yeliakimneñ Azor tuulgan; 14. Azordoñ Sadok tuulgan, Sadoktoñ Ahim tuulgan, Ahimneñ Yeliud tuulgan; 15. Yeliudtañ Yeleazar tuulgan, Yeleazardañ Matfan tuulgan, Matfannañ Yakov tuulgan; 16. Yakovtoñ Mariyanıñ eş-nököri Yosif tuulgan, Mariyadañ Hristos deyten Yisus tuulgan. 17. Anaydarga, Avraamnañ ala Davidke cetire bastırazı on tört üye; Davidteñ ana Vavilongo köçürgenine cetire baza on tört üye; Vavilongo köçürgenineñ ala Hristosko cetire baza on tört üye.</poem> |
See also
- Telengits, Teleuts (related ethnic groups)
- Turkic peoples
References
External links
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