Wikipedia

Altai languages

Not to be confused with Altaic languages.
Altai
Gorno–Altai
(ethnically defined)
Geographic
distribution		Altai Republic, Altai Krai, Kemerovo Oblast
EthnicityAltai, including Chelkans, Telengits, Tubalars
Native speakers
125,700 (Total of Southern and Northern Altai speakers)[1][2]
Linguistic classificationTurkic
Subdivisions
Language codes
ISO 639-2 / 5alt
GlottologNone
alta1276  (code retired)
Map of Altai varieties

Altai or Altay[5][6] (Altay: Алтай тил, romanized: Altay til, IPA: [ɐɫtʰɐ́ɪ̯ tʰɪ̆l]) 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.[7]

Altai is spoken primarily in the Altai Republic. A small community of speakers lives in the neighbouring Altai Krai as well.[8]

Classification

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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.[9] 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.[3][4] 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.[10]

Varieties

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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.[11]

Written Altai is based on Southern Altai, and according to Ethnologue is rejected by Northern Altai children.[citation needed] In 2006, a Cyrillic alphabet was created for the Kumandy variety of Northern Altai for use in Altai Krai.[12]

Dmitry speaking Southern Altai.

Dialects are as follows:[3]

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

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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.[13]

Linguistic features

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The following features refer to the outcome of commonly used Turkic isoglosses in Northern Altai.[14][15][16]

  • */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

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The sounds of the Altai language vary among different dialects.

Consonants

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Consonant phonemes of Altai
Labial Alveolar Palato-
alveolar 		Palatal Velar
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive p b t d c ɟ k ɡ
Affricate tʃ dʒ
Fricative s z ʃ ʒ x ɣ
Approximant l j
Rhotic ɾ~r

The voiced palatal plosive /ɟ/ varies greatly from dialect to dialect, especially in the initial position, and may be recognized as a voiced affricate /d͡z/. Forms of the word јок "no" include [coq] (Kuu dialect) and [joq] (Kumandy). Even within dialects, this phoneme varies greatly.[17][18][19]

Vowels

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Altai has eight vowels, which may be long or short.

Vowel phonemes of Altai
Front Back
short long short long
Close unrounded i iː ɯ ɯː
rounded y yː u uː
Open unrounded e eː a aː
rounded ø øː o oː

Orthography

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The language was written with the Latin script from 1928 to 1938, but has used Cyrillic (with the addition of 9 extra letters: Јј [d͡z~ɟ], Ҥҥ [ŋ], Ӧӧ [ø~œ], Ӱӱ [y~ʏ], Ғғ [ʁ], Ққ [q], Һһ [h], Ҷҷ [d͡ʑ], Ii [ɪ]) since 1938.

The letter Ÿ is sometimes used instead of Ӱ.

Missionary's Cyrillic alphabet

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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.[20] 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 К̄к̄ Лл Мм Нн Ҥҥ
Н̄н̄ Oo Ӧӧ Пп Рр Сс Тт Уу
Ӱӱ Чч Шш Ыы

First Cyrillic alphabet (1922–1928)

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After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, publishing books into Altai was resumed in 1921,[21] 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.[22]

Latin alphabet (1928–1938)

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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:[23]

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:[24]

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)

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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. Its new alphabet consisted of all 33 Russian letters, as well as the letter ⟨Іі⟩, digraph ⟨Дь дь⟩ and the letter ⟨Ҥҥ⟩, for the phonemes [ɪ], [d͡ʒ] and [ŋ] respectively. However, this proposal was later rejected, because it could not accurately represent all of Altai's phonological inventory.

To amend for this deficiency, the Institute's first revised alphabet saw the graphemes ⟨Ёё⟩ and ⟨Юю⟩ for Altai's vowels [ø~œ] and [y] fall out of use, and the addition of two digraphs and two letters: ⟨Дь дь⟩ for [d͡ʒ], ⟨Нъ нъ⟩ for [ŋ], ⟨Ӧӧ⟩ for [ø~œ], and ⟨Ӱӱ⟩ for [y]. In the second revision, however, ⟨Нъ нъ⟩ was replaced with ⟨Ҥҥ⟩. 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 ⟨Н' н'⟩ over ⟨Ҥҥ⟩.

Modern Standard Altai alphabet

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The Institute's second Cyrillic alphabet had many shortcomings, thus begging for a reform, which was carried out in 1944. The usage of ⟨Ёё⟩ and ⟨Юю⟩ [ø~œ] and [y] was dropped entirely, being replaced by the adoption of the Institute's second revision's usages of ⟨Ӧӧ⟩, and ⟨Ӱӱ⟩, for native words. ⟨Дь дь⟩ was dropped in favour of ⟨Јј⟩; for ⟨Н' н'⟩, they finally accepted ⟨Ҥҥ⟩.

The letters ⟨Ёё⟩, ⟨Юю⟩, and ⟨Яя⟩ are still used, though they are reserved for only non-native, Russian loan-words; in modern Standard Altai, the equivalent sounds are written as ⟨йа⟩, ⟨йо⟩ and ⟨йу⟩, for native words. Words that were written as кая "cliff, rock" and коён "hare" are now written as кайа and койон 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

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Pronouns

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Altai has six personal pronouns:

Personal pronouns in Standard/Southern dialect
Singular Plural
1st person

мен

men

мен

men

I

бис

bis

бис

bis

we

2nd person

сен

sen

сен

sen

you (singular)

слер

sler

слер

sler

you (plural, formal)

3rd person

ол

ol

ол

ol

he/she/it

олор

olor

олор

olor

they

The declension of the pronouns is outlined in the following chart.

Declension of pronouns in Standard/Southern dialect
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.[25]

Personal pronouns in Qumandin
Singular Plural
1st person

мен

men

мен

men

I

пис

pis

пис

pis

we

2nd person

сен

sen

сен

sen

you (singular)

снер

sner

снер

sner

you (plural, formal)

3rd person

ол

ol

ол

ol

he/she/it

анар

anar

анар

anar

they

Sample text

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The Bible in Altai

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Cyrillic script[26] Latin script

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.

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.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Southern Altai". Ethnologue (Free All).
  2. ^ "Northern Altai". Ethnologue (Free All).
  3. ^ a b c Baskakov, N. A. (1958). "La Classification Des Dialectes De La Langue Turque D'altaï" [Classification of dialects of the Altai Turkic language]. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae (in French). 8 (1): 9–15. JSTOR 23682215.
  4. ^ a b Kormushin, I. V. (2018). "Алтайский язык" [Altai language]. Большая российская энциклопедия/Great Russian Encyclopedia Online (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2021-07-27. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  5. ^ "Altay language, alphabet and pronunciation". www.omniglot.com. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  6. ^ Uzel, Bilge (2018). The Phonology of Altay Language: As Reflected in the Spelling: Phonological Facts and Phonetic Explanations, with a Focus on Segmental Reduction in Connected Speech. Hiperlink.
  7. ^ Johanson, Lars; Csató, Éva Ágnes (2022). The Turkic Languages (2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 9.[ISBN missing]
  8. ^ Johanson, L. (2006). "Altaic Languages". Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics. pp. 170–172. doi:10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/02093-9. ISBN 978-0-08-044854-1. The Altaic languages include Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic, and sometimes also Korean and Japanese. Common typological features are an agglutinative suffixing word structure, sound harmony, verb-final word order, and the use of numerous nonfinite verb constructions.
  9. ^ Northern Turkic in Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2022). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (25th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
  10. ^ Teki̇n, Talat (January 1989). "A new Classifıcation of the Chuvash-Turkic Languages". Erdem (13): 129–140. doi:10.32704/erdem.1989.13.129.
  11. ^ Baskakov, Nikolay (1958). Алтайский язык [The Altai language] (in Russian). Moscow: Nauka.
  12. ^ В Алтайском крае издана азбука кумандинского языка. 2006
  13. ^ "Notes from the Altai Republic". CREECA. 2015-11-16. Retrieved 2025-03-05.
  14. ^ Баскаков, Николай Александрович (1966). Диалект Черневых Татар (Туба-Кижи): грамматический очерк и словарь. Москва: Наука.
  15. ^ Баскаков, Николай Александрович (1972). Диалект Кумандинцев (Куманды-Кижи): грамматический очерк, тексты, переводы и словарь. Москва: Наука.
  16. ^ Баскаков, Николай Александрович (1985). Диалект Лебединских Татар-Чалканцев (Куу-Кижи). Москва: Наука.
  17. ^ Baskakov, N.A. (1985). A History of Afghanistan Диалект Лебединских Татар-Чалканцев (Куу-Кижи). Северные Диалекты Алтайского (Ойротского) Языка (in Russian). Moscow: Издательство «Наука». ISBN 0-8285-3393-8. OCLC 21048607.[page needed]
  18. ^ Baskakov, N.A. (1972). A History of Afghanistan Диалект Кумандынцев (Куманды-Кижи). Северные Диалекты Алтайского (Ойротского) Языка (in Russian). Moscow: Издательство «Наука». ISBN 0-8285-3393-8. OCLC 38772803.[page needed]
  19. ^ Баскаков, Николай Александрович (1997). Алтайский язык. Москва.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  20. ^ V. N. Tadikin. Orthography of the Altai language (in Russian) || Orthography of the Turkic literary languages of the USSR. – Moscow: Nauka, 1973
  21. ^ Basic Dates of Altai Book History.
  22. ^ 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 – ISBN 978-5-903693-32-0.[verification needed]
  23. ^ А. Тыбыкова. Об усовершенствовании и унификация алфавита алтайского языка (рус.) // Вопросы совершенствования алфавитов тюркских языков СССР. — М.: Наука, 1972. — С. 41–48.
  24. ^ Баскаков, Н.А.; Тощакова, Т.М. (1947). Ойротско-русский словарь. Москва: ОГИЗ. pp. 224–225.
  25. ^ Сатлаев, Ф.А. (n.d.). Учитесь говорить по-кумандински, русско-кумандинский разговорник (in Russian). ?: Горно-Алтайская типография.
  26. ^ "Иисус Христостыҥ ада-ӧбӧкӧлӧри". Institute for Bible Translation. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
[edit]
South Altai language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
North Altai language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator