Kumyk language

Kumyk language belongs to the Kipchak-Cuman subfamily of the Kipchak family of the Turkic languages. It's a descendant of the Cuman language, with likely influence from the Khazar language, and in addition contains words from the Bulghar and Oghuz substratum. The closest languages to Kumyk are Karachay-Balkar, Crimean Tatar, and Karaim languages.{{Cite book |title=Kumyksky entsiklopedichesky slovar |publisher=Delta-press |year=2012 |isbn=9785903454679 |editor-last=Aliev |editor-first=K.M.-C. |location=Makhachkala |pages=218 |language=ru |script-title=ru:Кумыкский энциклопедический словарь |trans-title=Kumyk encyclopedic dictionary}}

Nikolay Baskakov, based on a 12th-century scripture named Codex Cumanicus, included modern Kumyk, Karachai-Balkar, Crimean Tatar, Karaim, and the language of Mamluk Kipchaks in the linguistic family of the Cuman-Kipchak language. Samoylovich also considered Cuman-Kipchak close to Kumyk and Karachai-Balkar.{{cite web|author=Абибуллаева С.|title='Кодекс Куманикус' – ПАМЯТНИК ТЮРКСКИХ ЯЗЫКОВ КОНЦА XIII – НАЧАЛА XIV ВЕКОВ|url=http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/36685/02-Abibullaeva.pdf?sequence=1|language=ru}}

Amongst the dialects of the Kumyk there are Kaitag, Terek (Güçük-yurt and Braguny), Buynaksk (Temir-Khan-Shura) and Xasavyurt. The latter two became basis for the literary language.Кумыкский язык // Большая советская энциклопедия : [в 30 т.] / гл. ред. А. М. Прохоров. — 3-е изд. — Москва: Советская энциклопедия, 1969—1978.

Kumyk had been a lingua-franca of the bigger part of the Northern Caucasus, from Dagestan to Kabarda, until the 1930s{{cite book|author=Pieter Muysken.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n9p4rl09ec0C&q=Azeri+language+Lingua+franca+in+Southern+Dagestan&pg=PA74|title=Studies in language companion series. From linguistic areas to areal linguistics|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|year=2008|isbn=9789027231000|volume=90|pages=74}}{{cite book|author=Nansen|title=Gjennem Kaukasus til Volga (Oslo: Jacob Dybwads Forlag, 1929)}}{{cite news|author=Н.С.Трубецкой|year=1925|title=О народах Кавказа|edition=статья}} and was an official language of communication between the North-Eastern Caucasian nations and the Russian administration.Ярцева В.Н. и др. (ред.) Языки Российской Федерации и соседних государств. Том 2. К-Р, стр. 183 The language was known in Dagestan as simply Muslim language ({{langx|kum|бусурман тил}}, busurman til, بوسورمان تیل) due to its dominant role as the intertribal language of communication among various Muslim communities of the region.{{cite book|author=D. M. Khangishiev (Хангишиев). Editor-in-chief V. P. Neroznak|title=Государственные языки Российской Федерации|trans-title=Государственные языки Российской Федерации|location=Moscow|date=1995|publisher=Academia (Академия)|pages=129}}{{Translated blockquote|language=ru|"в пределах Дагестана кумыкский язык был известен также под названием «бумурман тил» "мусульманский язык", при этом данный лингвоним обозначал только кумыкский язык, в отличие от многочисленных народов, населявший горный Дагестан."

|"within Dagestan, the Kumyk language was also known under the name "бумурман тил" - "Muslim language", and this linguonym denoted only the Kumyk language, in contrast to the numerous peoples who inhabited mountainous Dagestan."}}

The historian Georgi Derluguian made the following analogy with regards to the role of Turkic languages in the Caucasus and beyond:{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=meyiAAAAQBAJ&dq=%D0%BA%D1%83%D0%BC%D1%8B%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9+%D0%B8+%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9+%D1%81%D1%83%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8&pg=PT31 |title=Дерлугьян Г.М. Адепт Бурдье на Кавказе. Эскизы к биографии в миросистемной перспективе ; Издательство · Территория будущего, 2010 г. |isbn=978-5-457-06529-1 |access-date=2023-11-20 |archive-date=2023-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120182358/https://books.google.ru/books?id=meyiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT31&dq=%D0%BA%D1%83%D0%BC%D1%8B%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9+%D0%B8+%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9+%D1%81%D1%83%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8&hl=ru&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiD_O_xl9OCAxUaGRAIHXfxAIUQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=%D0%BA%D1%83%D0%BC%D1%8B%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9%20%D0%B8%20%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9%20%D1%81%D1%83%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8&f=false |url-status=live |last1=Дерлугьян |first1=Георгий |date=15 May 2022 |publisher=Litres }}

{{Blockquote|text=“... For almost a thousand years, the Turkic languages that dominated the peoples of the steppe – Kumyk and Tatar – served, like Swahili in East Africa or French among the aristocracies of Europe, as a common lingua franca in the multinational North Caucasus...”|sign=|source=}}

In 1848, a professor of the "Caucasian Tatar" (Kumyk) Timofey Makarov published the first ever grammatical book in the Russian language for one of the Northern Caucasian languages, which was international Kumyk. Makarov wrote:{{Cite web|title=Kafkaz Lehçeni Tatar Grammatikası, Makarov 1848|url=http://caucasian.space/qum/adabiyat_qumuq_posts/2016-12-28-qumuq-grammar-makarov.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107011252/http://caucasian.space/qum/adabiyat_qumuq_posts/2016-12-28-qumuq-grammar-makarov.html|archive-date=2017-11-07|access-date=2017-06-28|website=caucasian.space|language=kum, ru}}

{{Blockquote|text=From the peoples speaking Tatar language I liked the most Kumyks, as for their language's distinction and precision, so for their closeness to the European civilization, but most importantly, I take in account that they live on the Left Flank of the Caucasian Front, where we're conducting military actions, and where all the peoples, apart from their own language, speak also Kumyk.|sign=|source=}}

During the Soviet era, the role of Kumyk was consolidated when in 1923, it was declared to be the state language of Dagestan ASSR due to the fact that "the majority of the population of indigenous Dagestan speaks and understands the Turkic-Kumyk language... the experience of teaching the Turkic language in the schools of Mountainous Dagestan gave brilliant results... it was noted... that the “Turkic-Kumyk” language is the only language of communication of the citizens of indigenous Dagestan."Kumyk language (Кумыкский язык), Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] — 3rd ed — (1969—1978)

Over the decades, this has changed, and Russian has displaced Kumyk as the language of education and inter-ethnic communication in Dagestan. Today, more than 90% of the Kumyks, according to 2010 census, also speak Russian, and those in Turkey and the Levant speak Turkish and Arabic accordingly.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}

{{notelist}}

Kumyk has been used as a lingua franca in Dagestan and Caucasus for some time.

The historic literary culture of Kumyks and the entire region of Dagestan, North Caucasus, and Southern Ukraine was the Cuman language. Kumyk is a direct descendant of Cuman, and its centuries-long literaray tradition was a direct continuation of Cuman.

The oldest record of Kumyk language being written in the Arabic script, goes back to the mid-17th century. From the beginning of the 19th century, Kumyk literary language began to expand and grow, with an increase in the number of publications and books.{{Cite journal |author = З. З. Бамматов |editor= |format= |url= |title= К вопросу о письменности кумыков |type= |orig-year= | agency = |journal= Вопросы совершенствования алфавитов тюркских языков СССР |location= М. |date= 1972 |publisher= «Наука» |volume= |issue= |number= |pages = 108–117 |series= |issn = |doi = |bibcode = |arxiv = |pmid = |language= |quote= }}

The orthography of Kumyk was derived from the Arabic script, although with minor modifications, only several additional letters, same as in Persian alphabet, to represent consonants. Vowels, of which there exists a relatively large number of them in Turkic languages, and in Kumyk in particular (8 or 9 vowels) were rarely and irregularly written in the Arabic script, with the use of matres lectionis, the three letters ʾalif {{lang|ar|ا}}, wāw {{lang|ar|و}} and yāʾ {{lang|ar|ي}}. This meant that, overall, this script was far from being adapted to Kumyk phonology.

In the beginning of the 20th century, parallel with other Turkic-Muslim minority ethnic groups within the Russian Empire, Kumyk speaking literaturists decided to undertake the task of standardization and improvement of the Arabic script. It was in this era that Kumyk literature flourished, and many poets, educators, and publishers rose. The first attempt at compiling an improved orthographic convention was done in 1915, by "Abdulhalim Jengutaevsky" in the preface of his Kumyk translation of the poem Layla and Majnun, published in Temir-Khan-Shura.

In the following years, vowel representations were standardized, and Arabic letters that had the same pronunciation in Karachay-Balkar were dropped and consolidated (For example, the letters ث and ص were dropped in favour of the letter س).

Later, as part of a new state campaign of Latinisation, a Latin alphabet was developed for Kumyk, derived from Yañalif, being officially adopted in 1928.{{Cite journal |author = З. З. Бамматов |editor= |format= |url= |title= Орфография кумыкского языка |type= |orig-year= | agency = |journal= Орфографии тюркских литературных языков СССР |location= М. |date= 1973 |publisher= «Наука» |volume= |issue= |number= |pages = 160–169 |series= |issn = |doi = |bibcode = |arxiv = |pmid = |language= |quote= }}

In the 1930s, the official Soviet policy was revised and the process of Cyrillization of Soviet languages was started. In 1938 the new alphabet based on Cyrillic letters was officially adopted, which remains the official alphabet for Kumyk up till today.

With the fall of the Soviet Union, with an increased prospect in international connection among Turkic peoples, a project to develop Latin alphabet again, but derived from modern Turkish orthograhpy was undertaken. Several online publications, as well as many individuals using social media, have adopted this script as well.Qumuq görüş (18 oct. 2015) О кумыкском алфавите [http://qumuq.ru/ru/2015/10/18/o-kumykskom-alfavite/ http://qumuq.ru/ru/2015/10/18/o-kumykskom-alfavite/]

Below is the Kumyk Cyrillic alphabet, adopted in 1938, and remaining in use in its original composition up till today.

: Notes

1. In native Kumyk words, as well as in Arabic and Persian loanwords, for words starting with vowel [e], the letter э is only used in word-initial position. In the middle of words, the letter е is used. If the letter е is used at the beginning of a word, it will have the sound [je].
2. The letter ё:
3. * if used at the beginning of a word, in which there are other front vowels, or either гor к, it will have a [jø] sound. In other cases, if in the beginning of a word, it will have a [jo] sound.
4. * To represent the vowel [ø] at the beginning of the word, the digraph оь is used.
5. * if used in the middle or end of a word, and following a front vowel, it will also make a [jø] sound, if following a back vowel, it will make a [jo] sound.
6. * if used in the middle of the word and following a consonant, it will have a [ø] sound.

1. The letter ю:
2. * if used at the beginning of a word, in which there are other front vowels, or either гor к, it will have a [jy] sound. In other cases, if in the beginning of a word, it will have a [ju] sound.
3. * To represent the vowel [y] at the beginning of the word, the digraph уь is used.
4. * if used in the middle or end of a word, and following a front vowel, it will also make a [jy] sound, if following a back vowel, it will make a [ju] sound.
5. * if used in the middle of the word and following a consonant, it will have a [y] sound.

Over the decades, proposals to further improve the Cyrillic script have been raised. For example, it was proposed to have the digraphs гъ, гь, къ, нг, оь/ё, and уь/ю with single letters ғ, һ, қ, ң, ө, and ү respectively; it was also to introduce a letter ў to represent the sound {{IPAblink|β}} and distinguish said sound with the sound {{IPAblink|v}} both written with the letter в; and to introduce a letter җ to represent the sound {{IPAblink|dʒ}} and distinguish said sound with the sound {{IPAblink|ʒ}} both written with the letter ж. None of these policies were adopted in Kumyk orthography.

File:Kumyk alphabet 1935.JPG

Below table is the Latin alphabet for Kumyk, derived from Yañalif, and having an official status between 1928 and 1938.

Below table is the Latin alphabet developed for Kumyk since 1991, derived from modern Turkish orthography and the Common Turkic alphabet.

Below table is the last standard iteration of the Perso-Arabic alphabet for Kumyk language, being compiled in 1921, and being the official alphabet until 1928:Literary Encyclopedia (Литературная энциклопедия) (1929-1939) Articles starting with the letter "K" (part 14, "KRY"-"KUM") [http://niv.ru/doc/dictionary/literary-encyclopedia/fc/slovar-202-14.htm http://niv.ru/doc/dictionary/literary-encyclopedia/fc/slovar-202-14.htm]

: Notes

1. The letter و has been used for representing a variety of vowel and consonant sounds in Kumyk. With the orthographic reforms in Kumyk, by 1921, 3 unique new letters had been created with the use of dots or diacritics, each representing a different vowel. An unmarked letter و continued to be used as well, representing either the vowel [u], or the consonants [v]/[w]. The correct pronunciation can be determined from context. If the letter و is before or after a vowel letter (as all vowels were to be written as per the 1921 orthographic conventions), then the letter would be a consonant. Otherwise it would've been a vowel.
2. The letter ی has been used for representing a variety of vowel and consonant sounds in Kumyk. During the orthographic reforms in Kumyk, the letter ی was left unmarked in all cases. Thus, this single letter could represent either a consonant [j], or either the front or the back vowels [i] and [ɯ] respectively.
3. * If the letter ی is before or after a vowel letter (as all vowels were to be written as per the 1921 orthographic conventions), then the letter would be a consonant.
4. * Otherswise, the vowel pronunciation of the letter ی can be determined by having an understanding of the vowel harmony and palatal harmony rules that exist in Kumyk as typical of languages of the Turkic family. If the letter ی is in a word with front vowels اە ـە ە [e], اۏ / ۏ [y], or اۊ / ۊ [ø], or with the two corresponding consonants ك [k] or گ, the letter ی will be a front vowel and pronounced as [i].
5. * If the letter ی is in a word with back vowels آ / ـا [a], او / و [u], or اوٓ / وٓ‎‎ [o], or with the two corresponding consonants ق [ɢ~q] or غ [ʁ~ɣ], the letter ی' will be a back vowel and pronounced as [ɯ].

Compiled from:

Irchi Kazak (Ийрчы Къазакъ Yırçı Qazaq; born 1839) is usually considered to be the greatest poet of the Kumyk language. The first regular Kumyk newspapers and magazines appeared in 1917–18 under the editorship of Kumyk poet, writer, translator, and theatre figure Temirbolat Biybolatov (Temirbolat Biybolat). Currently, the newspaper Ёлдаш (Yoldash, "Companion"), the successor of the Soviet-era Ленин ёлу (Lenin yolu, "Lenin's Path"), prints around 5,000 copies 3 times a week.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}

The Kumyk language was learned by Russian classical authors such as Leo Tolstoy{{cite web|title=Лев Толстой: Дневник 1847 — 1854 гг. Тетрадь Г. Март - май 1851 г.|url=http://tolstoy.lit-info.ru/tolstoy/dnevniki/1847-1854/mart-maj-1851.htm|access-date=2017-03-10|publisher=tolstoy.lit-info.ru}} and Mikhail Lermontov, both of whom served in the Caucasus. The language is present in such works of Tolstoy as "The Raid",{{Cite web |title=Набег (Толстой) — Викитека |url=https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%B3_(%D0%A2%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B9) |access-date=2024-01-28 |website=ru.wikisource.org |language=ru}} Cossacks,[https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/Казаки%20(Толстой)/XL s:Казаки (Толстой)/XL] Hadji Murat, and Lermontov's - "A Hero of Our Time",{{Cite web |title=Герой нашего времени (Лермонтов)/СО/Предисловие — Викитека |url=https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8_(%D0%9B%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2)/%D0%A1%D0%9E/%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B5 |access-date=2024-01-28 |website=ru.wikisource.org |language=ru}} Bestuzhev-Marlinsky's - "Molla-nur" and "Ammalat-bek".

Below is the translation of the Christian Lord's Prayer in Kumyk, in a variety of scripts.Institute for Bible Translation. - къумукъ тил Scriptures. Matthew 6 [https://ibtrussia.org/en/text?m=KUM&l=Matt.6.1.1&g=0 https://ibtrussia.org/en/text?m=KUM&l=Matt.6.1.1&g=0]

• Saodat Doniyorova and Toshtemirov Qahramonil. Parlons Koumyk. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2004. {{ISBN|2-7475-6447-9}}.

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite book |location=Istanbul |pages=67 |title=Milletlerarası Çağdaş Türk Alfabeleri Sempozyumu, 18-20 Kasım 1991 |year=1992}}

{{cite book |last=Baskakov |first=N.A. |title=Vvedenie v izuchenie tyurkskikh yazykov |publisher=Vyssh. shkola |year=1969 |location=Moscow |pages=236 |script-title=ru:Введение в изучение тюркских языков |trans-title=Introduction to the study of Turkic languages |oclc=642737 |author-link=Nikolai Baskakov (linguist)}}

{{cite news|author=Мугумова, Анна Львовна|title=К проблеме ориентального лексического влияния на язык русской художественной литературы 20-30-х годов XIX в.: На материале произведений М. Ю. Лермонтова.|edition=диссертация}}

}}

{{Incubator|code = kum}}

• [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kumuk-Kumykskij-Kumuk/106633256048332?v=wall Kumyks video and music]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090923224719/http://yoldash.etnosmi.ru/ Kumyk language newspaper "Ёлдаш" published in Dagestan]
• [http://peoples.org.ru/kumyk.html Kumyk language on the website "Minority languages of Russia on the Net"]
• [http://k1urh.ru/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=k1urhrulab:dicts:russko-kumikskiy_slovar Russian-Kumyk dictionary (1960)]
• [https://archive.today/20130221181901/http://kumyk.net/en/kumyk-main Holy Scriptures in the Kumyk language]
• [http://www.kumukia.ru Kumyk information portal kumukia.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202050520/http://www.kumukia.ru/ |date=2022-02-02 }}

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