Qashqai language

{{Infobox language

| name = Qashqai

| altname = Qashqay, Kashkai, Kashkay, Qashqayi

| nativename = {{lang|qxq|قشقايی ديلى}}, {{tlit|qxq|Qašqāyī dili}}

| states = Iran

| region = Fars, Isfahan, Bushehr, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Khuzestan

| ethnicity = {{sigfig|2.000000|2}} million Qashqai (2021)

| speakers = {{sigfig|1.020000|2}} million

| date = 2021

| ref = e26

| familycolor = Altaic

| fam1 = Turkic

| fam2 = Common Turkic

| fam3 = Oghuz

| fam4 = Southern Oghuz

| script = Persian alphabet

| iso3 = qxq

| lingua = Part of 44-AAB-a

| glotto = qash1240

| glottorefname = Qashqa'i

| notice = IPA

| image = 200px

| imagecaption = Qashqai dili written in Nastaliq script and Latin script

}}

Qashqai (قشقایی ديلى, Qašqāyī dili, pronounced in English as {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|æ|ʃ|k|aɪ}} {{respell|KASH|ky}}, and also spelled Qaşqay, Qashqayi, Kashkai, Kashkay, Qašqāʾī{{Iranica|qasqai-tribal-confederacy-ii-language|Qašqāʾī Tribal Confederacy II: Language}}, by Michael Knüppel{{Iranica|azerbaijan-viii|Azeri Turkish}}, by Gerhard Doerfer and Qashqa'i or Kaşkay) is an Oghuz Turkic language spoken by the Qashqai people, an ethnic group living mainly in the Fars province of Southern Iran. Encyclopædia Iranica regards Qashqai as an independent third group of dialects within the Southwestern Turkic language group.{{Iranica|qasqai-tribal-confederacy-ii-language|Qašqāʾi Tribal Confederacy II: Language}} It is known to speakers as Turki.{{Iranica|qasqayi-tribal-confederacy-ii-language|Qašqāʾi Tribal Confederacy II: Language}} Estimates of the number of Qashqai speakers vary. Ethnologue gave a figure of {{sigfig|1.020000|2}} million in 2021.

The Qashqai language is closely related to Azerbaijani. However, some Qashqai varieties namely the variety spoken in the Sheshbeyli tribe share features with Turkish.Dolatkhah Sohrab. 2016. Kashkai : langue turcique d'Iran. Independently Published (via Amazon).Caferoglu & Gerhard Doerfer, 1959 In a sociopolitical sense, though, Qashqai is considered a language in its own right.{{cite book|last1=Csató|first1=Éva|author-link1=Éva Csató|last2=Johanson|first2=Lars|author-link2=Lars Johanson|last3=Róna-Tas|first3=András|author-link3=András Róna-Tas|title=Turks and Iranians. Interactions in Language and History: The Gunnar Jarring Memorial Program at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3J5jwEACAAJ|year=2016|publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-10537-8|pages=101–20}}

Like other Turkic languages spoken in Iran, such as the Azerbaijani language, Qashqai uses a modified version of the Perso-Arabic script.

Phonology

= Consonants =

class="wikitable" style=text-align:center \|+Consonants of Qashqai
colspan="2" \| ! Labial ! Alveolar ! Palatal ! Velar ! Uvular ! Glottal
colspan="2" \|Nasal \| {{IPA link\|m}} \| {{IPA link\|n}} \| \| {{IPA link\|ŋ}} \| \|
rowspan="2" \|Plosive/ Affricate !voiceless \|{{IPA link\|p}} \|{{IPA link\|t̪\|t}} \|{{IPA link\|t͡ʃ}} \|{{IPA link\|k}} \|{{IPA link\|q}} \|({{IPA link\|ʔ}})
voiced \|{{IPA link\|b}} \|{{IPA link\|d̪\|d}} \|{{IPA link\|d͡ʒ}} \|{{IPA link\|ɡ}} \| \|
rowspan="2" \|Fricative !voiceless \|{{IPA link\|f}} \|{{IPA link\|s}} \|{{IPA link\|ʃ}} \| \|{{IPA link\|χ}} \|{{IPA link\|h}}
voiced \|rowspan="2"\|{{IPA link\|v}} ~ [{{IPA link\|w}}] \|{{IPA link\|z}} \|({{IPA link\|ʒ}}) \| \|{{IPA link\|ʁ}} \|
colspan="2" \|Approximant \|{{IPA link\|l}} \|{{IPA link\|j}} \| \| \|
colspan="2" \|Trill \| \|{{IPA link\|r}} \| \| \| \|

class="wikitable" style=text-align:center

|+Consonants of Qashqai

colspan="2" |

! Labial

! Alveolar

! Palatal

! Velar

! Uvular

! Glottal

colspan="2" |Nasal

| {{IPA link|m}}

| {{IPA link|n}}

| {{IPA link|ŋ}}

rowspan="2" |Plosive/
Affricate

!voiceless

|{{IPA link|p}}

|{{IPA link|t̪|t}}

|{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}

|{{IPA link|k}}

|{{IPA link|q}}

|({{IPA link|ʔ}})

voiced

|{{IPA link|b}}

|{{IPA link|d̪|d}}

|{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}

|{{IPA link|ɡ}}

rowspan="2" |Fricative

!voiceless

|{{IPA link|f}}

|{{IPA link|s}}

|{{IPA link|ʃ}}

|{{IPA link|χ}}

|{{IPA link|h}}

voiced

|rowspan="2"|{{IPA link|v}} ~
[{{IPA link|w}}]

|{{IPA link|z}}

|({{IPA link|ʒ}})

|{{IPA link|ʁ}}

colspan="2" |Approximant

|{{IPA link|l}}

|{{IPA link|j}}

colspan="2" |Trill

|{{IPA link|r}}

Sounds /{{IPA link|ʒ}}/ and /{{IPA link|ʔ}}/ only occur as loan consonants from Persian and Arabic.
Sounds /{{IPA link|p}}, {{IPA link|t̪|t}}, {{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}, {{IPA link|k}}/ mainly occur phonemically before consonants, but may occur as aspirated before vowels or in word-final position as [{{IPA|pʰ tʰ t͡ʃʰ kʰ}}].
Sounds /{{IPA link|z}}, {{IPA link|ŋ}}, {{IPA link|ʁ}}/ never occur in word-initial position, except in a few loan words.
[{{IPA link|w}}] only occurs as an intervocalic allophone of /{{IPA link|v}}/ when occurring between two rounded vowels. It may also occur in vowel diphthongs as [{{IPA|ow}}].
/{{IPA link|ŋ}}/ and /{{IPA link|ɡ}}/ can occur phonemically as [{{IPA link|ɲ}}] and [{{IPA link|ɟ}}] when preceding front vowels.
/{{IPA link|l}}/ may occur as two allophones; as [{{IPA|l̠ʲ}}] before front vowels, or as [{{IPA|ɫ}}] before back vowels.
/{{IPA link|r}}/ can have two allophones; as [{{IPA link|ɾ}}] in word-initial and word-medial positions, or as [{{IPA link|r̥}}] in word-final positions. In native words, /{{IPA link|r}}/ rarely occurs word-initially.

= Vowels =

class="wikitable" style=text-align:center \|+Vowels of Qashqai ! ! colspan="2" \|Front ! colspan="2" \|Back
Close \| {{IPA link\|i}} \| {{IPA link\|y}} \| {{IPA link\|ɯ}} \| {{IPA link\|u}}
rowspan="2" \|Mid \| colspan="2" \|{{IPA link\|e}} \| colspan="2" \|{{IPA link\|o}}
({{IPA link\|ɛ}}) \| {{IPA link\|œ}} \| colspan="2" \|
Open \| colspan="2" \|{{IPA link\|æ}} \|{{IPA link\|ɑ}} \|({{IPA link\|ɒ}})

class="wikitable" style=text-align:center

|+Vowels of Qashqai

! colspan="2" |Front

! colspan="2" |Back

| {{IPA link|i}}

| {{IPA link|y}}

| {{IPA link|ɯ}}

| {{IPA link|u}}

rowspan="2" |Mid

| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|e}}

| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|o}}

({{IPA link|ɛ}})

| {{IPA link|œ}}

| colspan="2" |

Open

| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|æ}}

|{{IPA link|ɑ}}

|({{IPA link|ɒ}})

Vowels /{{IPA link|y}}/ and /{{IPA link|œ}}/ are used rather infrequently.
/{{IPA link|ɛ}}/ only occurs as a word-final variant of /{{IPA link|æ}}/.
/{{IPA link|i}}/ is always realized in word-final position as [{{IPA link|ɪ}}].
/{{IPA link|ɯ}}/ can be realized as [{{IPA link|ɨ}}] in non-initial positions.
/{{IPA link|u}}/ mainly occurs as a centralized allophone [{{IPA link|ʉ}}] when preceding palatal consonants.
Vowel /{{IPA link|ɑ}}/ is in free variation with its rounded equivalent /{{IPA link|ɒ}}/, when occurring in front syllables.{{Cite book|last=Dolatkhah|first=Sohrab|title=Kashkai : langue turcique d'Iran|publisher=Independently Published|year=2016}}{{Cite book|title=Qashqai Turkic: A Comprehensive Corpus-based Grammar|last=Dolatkhah|first=Sohrab|publisher=Munich: LINCOM|year=2019}}

Syntax

Qashqai follows common Turkic syntax features: dependent marking, head-final within unmarked phrases, free word order with SOV preferred, agglutinative. Grammatical cases in Qashqai Turkic include: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, locative, ablative, terminative, equative and instrumental.{{cite book|title=Qashqai Turkic: A Comprehensive Corpus-Based Grammar|author=Sohrab Dolatkhah}}

References

External links

[http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20160817-the-last-nomads-of-iran The Last Nomads of Iran (BBC)]

Category:Agglutinative languages

Category:Languages of Iran

Category:Oghuz languages

Category:Turkic languages