Proto-Turkic language

Proto-Turkic
Reconstruction ofTurkic languages
RegionProbably the eastern part of Central Asia, possibly including regions of East Asia and western Siberia
Erac. 3000 – c. 500 BCE
Lower-order reconstructions

Proto-Turkic is the linguistic reconstruction of the common ancestor of the Turkic languages that was spoken by the Proto-Turks before their divergence into the various Turkic peoples. Proto-Turkic separated into Oghur (western) and Common Turkic (eastern) branches. Candidates for the proto-Turkic homeland range from western Central Asia to Manchuria, with most scholars agreeing that it lay in the eastern part of the Central Asian steppe, while one author has postulated that Proto-Turkic originated 2,500 years ago in East Asia.

The oldest records of a Turkic language, the Old Turkic Orkhon inscriptions of the 7th century Göktürk khaganate, already shows characteristics of Eastern Common Turkic. For a long time, the reconstruction of Proto-Turkic relied on comparisons of Old Turkic with early sources of the Western Common Turkic branches, such as Oghuz and Kypchak, as well as the Western Oghur proper (Bulgar, Chuvash, Khazar). Because early attestation of these non-easternmost languages is much more sparse, reconstruction of Proto-Turkic still rests fundamentally on the easternmost Old Turkic of the Göktürks, however it now also includes a more comprehensive analysis of all written and spoken forms of the language.

The Proto-Turkic language shows evidence of influence from several neighboring language groups, including Eastern Iranian, Tocharian, and Old Chinese.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonant system had a two-way contrast of stop consonants (fortis vs. lenis), k, p, t vs. g, b, d. There was also an affricate consonant, ç; at least one sibilant s and sonorants m, n, ń, ŋ, r, l with a full series of nasal consonants. Some scholars additionally reconstruct the palatalized sounds ĺ and ŕ for the correspondence sets Oghuric /l/ ~ Common Turkic *š and Oghuric /r/ ~ Common Turkic *z. Most scholars, however, assume that these are the regular reflexes of Proto-Turkic *l and *r. Oghuric is thus sometimes referred to as Lir-Turkic and Common Turkic as Shaz-Turkic.

A glottochronological reconstruction based on analysis of isoglosses and Sinicisms points to the timing of the r/z split at around 56 BCE–48 CE. As Anna Dybo puts it, that may be associated with

the historical situation that can be seen in the history of the Huns' division onto the Northern and Southern [groups]: the first separation and withdrawal of the Northern Huns to the west has occurred, as was stated above, in 56 BC,... the second split of the (Eastern) Huns into the northern and southern groups happened in 48 AD.

Dybo suggests that during that period, the Northern branch steadily migrated from Western Mongolia through Southern Xinjiang into the north's Dzungaria and then finally into Kazakhstan's Zhetysu until the 5th century.

There was no fortis-lenis contrast in word-initial position: the initial stops were always *b, *t, *k, the affricate was always () and the sibilant was always *s. In addition, the nasals and the liquids did not occur in that position either.

Bilabial Dental or
alveolar
Palatal Velar
Plosive and
affricate
fortis *p *t /t͡ʃ/ *k
lenis *b *d *g
Sibilant *s
Nasal *m *n //
Liquid lateral *l (*ĺ //)
rhotic *r (*ŕ //)
Semivowel *j

Like in many modern Turkic languages, the velars /k/, /g/, and possibly /ŋ/ seem to have had back and front allophones ([k] and [q], [g] and [ɢ], [ŋ] and [ɴ]) according to their environments, with the velar allophones occurring in words with front vowels, and uvular allophones occurring in words with back vowels. The lenis stops /b/, /d/ and /g/~/ɢ/ may have tended towards fricatives intervocalically.

Vowels

Like most of its descendants, Proto-Turkic exhibited vowel harmony, distinguishing vowel qualities a, ï, o, u vs. ä, e, i, ö, ü, as well as two vowel quantities. Here, macrons represent long vowels. Some scholars (e.g. Gerhard Doerfer) additionally reconstruct a mid back unrounded based on cognate sets with Chuvash, Tuvan and Yakut ï corresponding to a in all other Turkic languages, although these correspondences can also be explained as deriving from *a which underwent subsequent sound changes in those three languages. The phonemicity of the distinction between the two close unrounded vowels, i.e. front *i and back , is also rejected by some.

front back
unrounded rounded unrounded rounded
high *i, *ī /i/ *ü, *ǖ /y/ *ï, *ï̄ /ɯ/ *u, *ū /u/
mid *e, *ē /e/ *ö, *ȫ /ø/~/œ/ (*ë, *ë̄ /ɤ/) *o, *ō /o/
low *ä, *ǟ /ɛ/ *a, *ā /a/

Morphology

Nouns

Plural of nouns are formed by the suffix *-lAr, however, the Chuvash plural -sem <-сем> seems to be a late replacement. Reconstructable possessive suffixes in Proto-Turkic includes 1sg *-m, 2sg *-ŋ, and 3sg *-(s)i, plurals of the possessors are formed by *-z in Common Turkic languages.

Verbs

The reconstructable suffixes for the verbs include:

  • Aorist: *-Vr
  • Past: *-dI
  • Negative suffix: *-mA
  • 1sg: *-m < *-män < *bän
  • 2sg: *-n < *sän
  • 3sg: *-∅ <
  • 1pl: *-mïz/*-bïz < *bïz
  • 2pl: *-sïz < *sïz

Proto-Turkic also involves derivation with grammatical voice suffixes, as in cooperative *körüš, middle *körün, passive *körül, and causative *körtkür.

Vocabulary

Pronouns

Proto-Turkic Turkish Azeri Turkmen Kazakh Chuvash Karakhanid Uzbek Uyghur Bashkir Kyrgyz Sakha (Yakut)
I *bë, *bän- ben, ban- mən men men, ma- e-pĕ, man- men, man- men men min men min
you *së, *sän- sen, san- sən sen sen, sa-, siz e-sĕ, san- sen, san- sen, siz sen, siz hin sen, siz en
he/she/it *an-, *o-l on-, o on-, o ol on-, o-l un-, văl an-, ol u u ul al kini, ol
we *bïŕ biz biz biz biz pir- biz biz biz beð biz bihigi
you (plural) *sïŕ siz siz siz sender, sizder sir- siz sizlar senler, siler, sizler heð siler, sizder ehigi
they *o-lar on-lar onlar olar olar vĕsem, vĕsen- olar ular ular ular alar kiniler, ollor

Numbers

Proto-Turkic Oghur Turkic Common Turkic
Volga Bulgar Chuvash Karakhanid Turkish Azeri Turkmen Kazakh Uzbek Uyghur Bashkir Kyrgyz Sakha (Yakut)
1 *bï̄r بىر (bīr) pĕr bīr bir bir bir bir bir bir ber bir biir
2 *ëkï اَكِ (eki) ikĕ ikkī iki iki iki eki ikki ikki ike eki ikki
3 *üç وج (več) viśĕ üč üç üç üç üş uch üch ös üč üs
4 *dȫrt تُوات (tüvet) tăvată tȫrt dört dörd dört tört to'rt tört dürt tört tüört
5 *bë̄ĺ(k) بيال (byel) pilĕk bḗš beş beş bäş bes besh besh biş beş bies
6 *altı اَلطِ (altï) ultă altï̄ altı altı alty altı olti alte altı altı alta
7 *jëtï جىَاتِ (čyeti) śičĕ yétī yedi yeddi ýedi jeti yetti yetti yete jeti sette
8 *säkïŕ ڛَكِڔ (sekir) sakăr sekiz sekiz səkkiz sekiz segiz sakkiz sekkiz higeð segiz аğıs
9 *tokuŕ طُخِڔ (tuxïr) tăhăr tokūz dokuz doqquz dokuz toğız to'qqiz toqquz tuğıð toguz toğus
10 *ōn وان (van) vun ōn on on on on o'n on un on uon
20 *jëgïrmï جِيِرم (čiyirim) śirĕm yegirmī yirmi iyirmi ýigrimi jıyırma yigirma yigrime yegerme jıyırma süürbe
30 *otuŕ وطر (vutur) văḍăr ottuz otuz otuz otuz otız o'ttiz ottuz utıð otuz otut
40 *kırk حرح (xïrïx) hĕrĕh kïrk kırk qırx kyrk qırıq qirq qiriq qırq kırk -
50 *ällïg اَلُّ (ellü) allă ellig elli əlli elli eliw ellik ellik ille elüü -
60 *ältmıĺ - utmăl altmïš altmış altmış altmyş alpıs oltmish atmish altmış altımış -
70 *jëtmïĺ - śitmĕl yetmiš yetmiş yetmiş ýetmiş jetpis yetmish etmish yetmeş jetimiş -
80 *säkïŕ ōn سكر وان (sekir van) sakărvun seksȫn seksen səksən segsen seksen sakson seksen hikhän seksen ağıs uon
90 *tokuŕ ōn طوخر وان (toxïr van) tăhărvun toksōn doksan doxsan dogsan toqsan to'qson toqsan tuqhan tokson toğus uon
100 *jǖŕ جُور (čǖr) śĕr yǖz yüz yüz ýüz jüz yuz yüz yöð jüz süüs
1000 *bıŋ - pin miŋ bin min müň mıñ ming ming meñ miñ muñ

This page was last updated at 2024-03-21 13:37 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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