Old Turkic
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (June 2011) |
Old Turkic | |
---|---|
East Old Turkic | |
Region | East Asia, Central Asia and parts of Eastern Europe |
Era | 8th–13th centuries |
Turkic
| |
Dialects | |
Old Turkic script, Old Uyghur alphabet | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Either:otk – Old Turkishoui – Old Uyghur |
otk Old Turkish | |
oui Old Uyghur | |
Glottolog | oldu1238 |
Old Turkic (more exactly East Old Turkic, in order to distinguish from West Old Turkic) is the earliest attested form of the
Old Turkic is attested in a number of scripts, including the Old Turkic script, the Old Uyghur alphabet, the Brahmi script, and the Manichaean script. The Turkic runiform alphabet of Orkhon Turkic was deciphered by Vilhelm Thomsen in 1893.
Old Turkic often refers not to a single language, but collectively to the closely related and
Sources
In stark contrast to
- The 8th to 10th century Orkhon inscriptions in Mongolia and the Yenisey basin (Orkhon Turkic).
- 9th to 13th century Uyghur manuscripts from Gansu and Xinjiang (Old Uyghur), in various scripts including Brahmi, Tibetan, Syriac, and Sogdian alphabets, treating religious (Buddhist, Manichaean, and Church of the East), legal, literary, folkloric and astrological material, as well as personal correspondence.
- (According to Marcel Erdal) Middle Turkic, thus providing a rich resource for the study of both Old and Middle Turkic.
Writing systems
The Old Turkic script (also known variously as Göktürk script, Orkhon script, Orkhon-Yenisey script) is the alphabet used by the Göktürks and other early Turkic khanates during the 8th to 10th centuries to record the Old Turkic language.[12]
The script is named after the Orkhon Valley in Mongolia where early 8th-century inscriptions were discovered in an 1889 expedition by Nikolai Yadrintsev.[13]
This writing system was later used within the
Phonology
Front | Back | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Unr.
|
Rnd.
|
Unr. | Rnd. | |
Close | i | y | ɯ | u |
Mid | e | ø | o | |
Open | ɑ |
Vowel roundness is assimilated through the word through vowel harmony. Some vowels were considered to occur only in the initial syllable, but they were later found to be in suffixes.[14] Length is distinctive for all vowels; while most of its daughter languages have lost the distinction, many of these preserve it in the case of /e/ with a height distinction, where the long phoneme developed into a more closed vowel than the short counterpart.
Labial | Dental | Post- alveolar |
Velar | Uvular | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n
|
ɲ | ŋ | ||||||
Stop
|
p | b | t |
d
|
tʃ | k | g | q | ɢ | |
Fricative
|
s | z | ʃ | |||||||
Tap/Flap
|
ɾ | |||||||||
Approximant
|
ɫ |
l
|
j |
Old Turkic is highly restrictive in which consonants words can begin with: words can begin with /b/, /t/, /tʃ/, /k/, /q/, /s/, /ɫ/ and /j/, but they do not usually begin with /p/, /d/, /g/, /ɢ/, /l/, /ɾ/, /n/, /ɲ/, /ŋ/, /m/, /ʃ/, or /z/. The only exceptions are 𐰤𐰀 (ne, "what, which") and its derivatives, and some early assimilations of word-initial /b/ to /m/ preceding a nasal in a word such as 𐰢𐰤 (men, "I").
Grammar
Cases
There are approximately 12
Case Suffixes | Examples | Translation | |
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | ∅ (unmarked) | köŋül∅ | heart |
Genitive | -nIŋ | Tämürniŋ | Tämür’s |
Accusative I (Pronominal Accusative) | -nI | bunï | this |
Accusative II (Nominal Accusative) | -Ig/-Ug[a] | kïzlarïg, Karlukug | girls, Karluk |
Accusative III[16] | -(I)n | oglïmïn | my son’s |
Dative | -ka[b] | ordoka | to palace |
Directive / Allative[c] | -gArU[d] | ävgärü | towards home |
Locative | -tA/-dA | ävdä, suvlukta | in house, in vessel |
Directive-Locative / Partitive-Locative | -rA | asra[e], bašra[f] | below, at/towards/on head |
Ablative | -dIn/-tIn -dAn | kaŋtïn | from father |
Equative-Lative | -čA[g] [h] | tükägüčä | up to/till end |
Instrumental | -In/-Un | okun | with arrow |
Comitative[i] | -lXgU[j] -lUgUn[k] | iniligü | together with young brother |
Similative | -lAyU | yultuzlayu | like star(s) |
- ^ This Old Turkic accusative suffix is retained in Modern Turkish in the form of -jXg.[15] Karakhanid also employs this suffix.
- ^ Khalaj is the only modern Turkic language to have retained this archaic case suffix, which fact has led Mahmud al-Kashgari to regard the suffix as a distinctive marker of Arghu language (i.e. Khalaj). Most of the remaining Turkic languages usually have -GA.[17]
- ^ Old Turkic possessed an opposition between dative -ka and allative -gArU/-kArU cases, the latter perhaps derived secondarily from the former at the pre-Old Turkic stage. The dative case has been preserved intact in all the modern Siberian Turkic languages. On the other hand, the old allative has lost its case function, being preserved in a lexicalized manner in only a small number of adverbial expressions - for example, Uzbek ichkari ‘towards inside’. However, Tuvan and Khakas have reintroduced the formal opposition into their respective case systems.
- ^ Rare in Buddhist Uyghur and Karakhanid.[18]
- ^ In directive-locative sense.
- ^ In partitive-locative sense.
- ^ Today this Old Turkic suffix is preserved as a case form in Altay and Shor.
- ^ Though Khalaj retains this suffix as a case form (like Altay and Shor), it denotes locative case; which, at first glance, is aberrant.[19]
- Sakha(i.e. Yakut).
- ^ In Orkhon Turkic. This ancient suffix is already rare by the time of Orkhon Turkic and the usage of this case with pronouns is not attested in the whole of Old Turkic. [20].
- ^ In Manichaean Uyghur
Grammatical Number
Old Turkic (like Modern Turkic) had 2 grammatical numbers: singular and plural. However, Old Turkic also formed collective nouns (a category related to plurals) by a separate suffix -(A)gU(n) e.g. tayagunuŋuz ‘your colts’.[21] Unlike Modern Turkic, Old Turkic had 3 types of suffixes to denote plural:[22]
- -(X)t
- -An
- -lAr
Today, all Modern Turkic languages (except for Chuvash) use exclusively the suffix of the -lAr type for plural.
Verb
Finite verb forms in Old Turkic (i.e. verbs to which a tense suffix is added) always conjugate for person and number of the subject by corresponding suffixes save for the 3rd person, in which case person suffix is absent. This grammatical configuration is preserved in the majority of Modern Turkic languages, except for some such as Yellow Uyghur in which verbs no longer agree with the person of the subject.
Tense
Old Turkic had a complex system of tenses,[23] which could be divided into six simple[24] and derived tenses, the latter formed by adding special (auxiliary) verbs to the simple tenses.
Tense | Positive | Negative |
---|---|---|
Imperfect Aorist | -Ur | -mAz |
Preterite (Simple Past) | -dI | |
Perfect Participle | -mIš | -mAdOk |
Future | -dAčI | -mAčI |
Vivid Past | -yOk | -mAyOk |
Imminent Future | -gAlIr |
Hapax Legomena
Some suffixes are attested as being attached to only one word and no other instance of attachment is to be found. Similarly, some words are attested only once in the entire extant Old Turkic corpus.
Denominal
The following have been classified by Gerard Clauson as denominal noun suffixes.
Suffix | Usages | Translation |
---|---|---|
-ča | anča | at least one |
-ke | sigirke yipke |
sinew string/thread |
-la/-le | ayla tünle körkle |
thus, like that yesterday, night, north beautiful |
-suq/-sük | bağïrsuq | liver, entrails |
-ra/-re | içre | inside, within |
-ya/-ye | bérye yırya |
here north |
-čïl/-čil | igčil | sickly |
-ğïl/-gil | üçgil qïrğïl |
triangular grey haired |
-nti | ékkinti | second |
-dam/-dem | tegridem | god-like |
tïrtï:/-türti | ičtirti |
inside, within |
-qı:/-ki | ašnuki üzeki ebdeki |
former on or above in the house |
-an/-en/-un | oğlan eren |
children men, gentlemen |
-ğu:/-gü | enčgü tuzğu buğrağu |
tranquil, at peace food given to a traveller as a gift woodwork |
-a:ğu:/-e:gü: | üčegü ičegü |
three together inside human body |
-dan/-dun | otun izden |
firewood track, trace |
-ar/-er | birer azar |
one each a few |
-layu:/-leyü | börileyü | like a wolf |
-daš/-deš | qarïndaš yerdeš |
kinsman compatriot |
-mïš/-miš | altmïš yetmiš |
sixty seventy |
-gey | küçgey | violent |
-çaq/-çek and -çuq/-çük | ïğïrčaq | spindle-whorl |
-q/-k (after vowels and -r) -aq/-ek (the normal forms) -ïq/-ik/-uq/-ük (rare forms) |
ortuq | middle partner |
-daq/-dek and(?) -duq/-dük | bağırdaq beligdek burunduq |
wrap terrifying nose ring |
-ğuq/-gük | çamğuq | objectionable |
-maq/-mek | kögüzmek | breastplate |
-muq/-a:muq | solamuk | left-handed (pejorative?) |
-naq | baqanaq | "frog in a horse's hoof" (from baqa frog) |
-duruq/-dürük | boyunduruq | yoke |
Deverbal
The following have been classified by Gerard Clauson as deverbal suffixes.
Suffix | Usages | Translation |
---|---|---|
-a/-e/-ı:/-i/-u/-ü | oprı adrı keçe egri köni ötrü |
hollow,valley branched,forked evening, night crooked straight, upright, lawful then, so |
-ğa/-ge | kısğa öge bilge kölige tilge |
short wise wise shadow slice |
-ğma/-gme | tanığma | riddle |
-çı/-çi | otaçı: okıçı |
healer priest |
-ğuçı/-güçi | ayğuçı bitigüçi |
councilor scribe |
-dı/-di | üdründi ögdi alkadı sökti |
chosen,parted,separated,scattered customs praised bran |
-tı/-ti | arıtı uzatı tüketi |
completely, clean lengthily completely |
-du | eğdu umdul süktü |
curved knife desire, covetousness campaigning |
-ğu:/-gü | bilegü kedgü oğlağü |
whetstone clothing gently nurtured |
-ingü | bilingü etingü yeringü salingü |
be in the know be prepared disgusted be moving violently |
-ğa:ç/-geç | kışgaç | pincers |
-ğuç/-güç | bıçgüç | scissors |
-maç/-meç | tutmaç | "saved" noodle dish |
-ğut/-güt | alpağut bayağut |
warrior merchant |
Literary works
- Yenisei Inscriptions (8-10th centuries CE) - a group of texts in Old Turkic from Yenisei River basin.
- Uyuk-Tarlak inscription (date unknown) by an unknown writer (in Yenisei Kyrgyz)
- Elegest inscription (date unknown) by an unknown writer (in Yenisei Kyrgyz)
- Orkhon Inscriptions (732 and 735) by Yollıg Khagan(in Orkhon Turkic)
- Bain Tsokto inscriptions(716) by an unknown writer (in Orkhon Turkic)
- Ongin inscription (between 716 and 735) by an unknown writer (in Orkhon Turkic)
- Kul-chur inscription (between 723 and 725) a writer called "Ebizter" (in Orkhon Turkic)
- Altyn Tamgan Tarhan inscription (724) by an unknown writer (in Orkhon Turkic)
- Tariat inscriptions (between 753 and 760) by an unknown writer (in Old Uyghur)
- Choiti-Tamir inscriptions (between 753 and 756) by an unknown writer (in Old Uyghur)
- Sükhbaatar inscriptions (8th century) by an unknown writer (in Old Uyghur)
- Bombogor inscription (8th century) by an unknown writer (in Old Uyghur)
- Book of Divination (9th century) by an unknown writer (in Old Uyghur)
See also
- Old Turkic script
- Proto-Turkic
- Orkhon Turkic
- Old Uyghur
- Karakhanid language
References
- ISBN 9789004188891.
- ISBN 9789004188891.
- ISBN 9789047403968.
- ISBN 978-0-19-880462-8.
- ^ The Oxford Guide to the Transeurasian Languages. p. 413.
- ISBN 978-0-19-880462-8.
- S2CID 218924277.
- ISBN 9781136825279.
- ISBN 9783447040914.
- ISBN 9789004448568.
- ISBN 9780520920897.
- ISBN 978-3-933847-00-3.
- ^ Sinor, Denis (2002). "Old Turkic". History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. 4. Paris: UNESCO. pp. 331–333.
- OCLC 73959547.
- ISBN 9783447040914.
- ^ Irregularities in Turkic Languages. p. 228.
- ISBN 978-0-19-880462-8.
- ^ A Grammar of Old Turkic. p. 177.
- ^ Heritage and Identity in the Turkic World. p. 42.
- ^ A Grammar of Old Turkic. p. 180.
- ^ A Grammar of Old Turkic. p. 160.
- ^ A Grammar of Old Turkic. p. 158.
- ^ Micro-change and Macro-change in Diachronic Syntax. p. 64.
- ^ A Grammar of Old Turkic. p. 272.
Further reading
- Noten zu den alttürkischen Inschriften der Mongolei und Sibiriens (1898)
- Ö.D. Baatar, Old Turkic Script, Ulan-Baator (2008), ISBN 0-415-08200-5
- M. Erdal, Old Turkic word formation: A functional approach to the lexicon, Turcologica, Harassowitz (1991), ISBN 3-447-03084-4.
- M. Erdal, Old Turkic, in: The Turkic Languages, eds. L. Johanson & E.A. Csato, Routledge, London (1998), ISBN 978-99929-944-0-5
- M. Erdal, A Grammar of Old Turkic, Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section 8 Uralic & Central Asia, Brill, Leiden (2004), ISBN 90-04-10294-9.
- Erdal, Marcel (1 January 2004). A Grammar Of Old Turkic. BRILL. ISBN 90-04-10294-9.
- L. Johanson, A History of Turkic, in: The Turkic Languages, eds. L. Johanson & E.A. Csato, Routledge, London (1998), ISBN 0-415-08200-5
- Talat Tekin, A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic, Uralic and Altaic Series Vol. 69, Indiana University Publications, Mouton and Co. (1968). (review: ISBN 0-7007-0869-3.
External links
- Old Turkic inscriptions (with translations into English), reading lessons and tutorials
- Turkic Inscriptions of Orkhon Valley (with translations into Turkish)
- VATEC, pre-Islamic Old Turkic electronic corpus at uni-frankfurt.de.
- A Grammar of Old Turkic by Marcel Erdal
- Old Turkic (8th century) funerary inscription (W. Schulze)
- Kuli Chor inscription complete text
- Tonyukuk inscription complete text
- Kul Tigin inscription complete text
- Bilge Qaghan inscription complete text
- Eletmiš Yabgu (Ongin) inscription complete text
- Bayanchur Khan inscription complete text
- Ongin inscriptions by Gerard Clauson
- Timeline of Turkic Languages (Turkish)