Southern Altai language
{{Short description|Kipchak Turkic language of the Altai Republic, Russia}}
{{Expand Russian|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Southern Altai
| altname = Oirot, Oyrot (before 1948), Altai-Kizhi
| nativename = {{lang|alt-Cyrl|тÿштÿк алтай тил}}, {{tlit|alt|tüştük altay til}}
{{lang|alt-Cyrl|ойрот тил}} (before 1948)
| states = Russia
| region = Altai Republic
| speakers = 68,700
| date = 2020
| ref = {{Cite web|url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/Tom5_tab6_VPN-2020.xlsx|title=Информационные материалы об окончательных итогах Всероссийской переписи населения 2010 года|date=2010|publisher=Russian Federal State Statistics Service|access-date=23 July 2018}}
| familycolor = Altaic
| fam1 = Turkic
| fam2 = Common Turkic
| fam3 = Kipchak
| fam4 = Kyrgyz–Kipchak{{cite journal | last = Tekin | first = Tâlat |date=January 1989 | title = A New Classification of the Chuvash-Turkic Languages | journal = Erdem | volume = 5 | issue = 13 | pages = 129–139 | doi = 10.32704/erdem.1989.13.129 | s2cid = 64344619 | issn = 1010-867X| url = https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/erdem/issue/44535/552413 }}
| iso2 = alt
| iso3 = alt
| glotto = sout2694
| glottorefname = Southern Altai
| script = Cyrillic
| image = Southern Altai language.png
| imagecaption = Southern Altai written in Cyrillic and Latin scripts
| dia1 = Southern Altai proper
| dia2 = Telengit
| dia3 = Teleut
| map = File:Altay.svg
| mapcaption = {{legend|#ffff00|Southern Altai}}
| map2 = Lang Status 60-DE.svg
| mapcaption2 = {{center|{{small|Southern Altay is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger{{cite report |title=Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger |publisher=UNESCO |edition=3rd |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000187026 |date=2010 |page=49}}}}}}
| ethnicity = Altai-Kizhi
}}
Southern Altai (also known as Oirot, Oyrot, Altai and Altai proper) is a Turkic language spoken in the Altai Republic, a federal subject of Russia located in Southern Siberia on the border with Mongolia and China. The language has some mutual intelligibility with the Northern Altai language, leading to the two being traditionally considered as a single language. According to modern classifications—at least since the middle of the 20th century—they are considered to be two separate languages.{{Cite book|title=The Altai language|last=Nikolay Baskakov|author-link=Nikolai Baskakov (linguist)|publisher=Nauka|year=1958|location=Moscow}}
File:WIKITONGUES- Dmitry speaking Altai.webm
Written Altai is based on Southern Altai. According to some reports, however, it is rejected by Northern Altai children. Dialects include Altai Proper and Talangit.Raymond G. Gordon, Jr, ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Classification
Southern Altai is a member of the Turkic language family. Within this family, there have been various attempts to classify Altai, and not all of them agree as to its position as it has a number of ambiguous characteristics.{{Cite journal |last=Schönig |first=Claus |author-link=Claus Schönig |date=1997 |title=A new attempt to classify the Turkic languages (1) |journal=Turkic Languages |volume=1 |pages=117–133}} Due to certain similarities with Kyrgyz, some scholars group Altai with the Kyrgyz–Kipchak subgroup of the Kipchak languages.{{cite journal |last=Baskakov |first=N. A. |author-link=Nikolai Baskakov (linguist) |year=1958 |title=La Classification des Dialectes de la Langue Turque d'Altaï |journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |language=fr |volume=8 |pages=9–15 |issn=0001-6446}}{{cite encyclopedia |title=Алтайский язык |encyclopedia=Большая российская энциклопедия/Great Russian Encyclopedia Online |url=https://bigenc.ru/linguistics/text/5199785 |date=2018 |lang=ru |trans-title=Altai language |author=Kormushin, I. V.}}{{Cite journal |last=Schönig |first=Claus |author-link=Claus Schönig |date=2007 |title=Some notes on Modern Kipchak Turkic (Part 1) |journal=Ural-altaische Jahrbücher |volume=21 |pages=170–202}}
Geographic distribution
Southern Altai is primarily spoken in the Altai Republic, where it has official status alongside Russian.
= Dialects =
Baskakov identifies three dialects of Southern Altai, some of which have distinctive sub-varieties:
Some sources consider Telengit and Teleut to be distinct languages.{{Cite web |title=Telengitsky yazyk {{!}} Malye yazyki Rossii |script-title=ru:Теленгитский язык {{!}} Малые языки России |trans-title=Telengit language {{!}} Minor languages of Russia |url=https://minlang.iling-ran.ru/lang/telengitskiy-yazyk |access-date=2023-05-23 |website=minlang.iling-ran.ru}}{{Cite web |title=Teleutsky yazyk {{!}} Malye yazyki Rossii |script-title=ru:Телеутский язык {{!}} Малые языки России |trans-title=Teleut language {{!}} Minor languages of Russia |url=https://minlang.iling-ran.ru/lang/teleutskiy-yazyk |access-date=2023-05-23 |website=minlang.iling-ran.ru}}
Phonology
Southern Altai has 8 vowels, which may be long or short, and 20 consonants, plus marginal consonants that occur only in loan words.{{Cite book |last=Baskakov |first=N.A. |title=Tyurkskie yazyki |date=1997 |publisher=Kyrgyzstan |isbn=978-5-655-01214-1 |series=Jazyki mira / Rossijskaja Akademija Nauk, Institut Jazykoznanija. [Glav. red. koll.: V. N. Jarceva (otv. red.) ...] |location=Biškek |script-title=ru:Языки мира: тюркские языки |trans-title=Languages of the world: Turkic languages |chapter=Altaysky yazyk |script-chapter=ru:Алтайский язык |trans-chapter=Altai language |oclc=42579926 |editor=Institut Jazykoznanija}}
= Vowels =
= Consonants =
| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Southern Altai consonants ! |
| Plosive
|{{IPAlink|p}} {{IPAlink|b}} |{{IPAlink|t}} {{IPAlink|d}} | rowspan="2" |{{IPAlink|tʃ}} {{IPAlink|ɟ}} |{{IPAlink|k}} {{IPAlink|ɡ}} |{{IPAlink|q}} |
|---|
| Affricate
| |({{IPAlink|ts}}) | | |
| Fricative
|{{IPAlink|f}} {{IPAlink|v}} |{{IPAlink|s}} {{IPAlink|z}} |{{IPAlink|ʃ}} {{IPAlink|ʒ}} | colspan="2" |({{IPAlink|x}}) {{IPAlink|ɣ}} |
| Nasal
|{{IPAlink|m}} |{{IPAlink|n}} | | colspan="2" |{{IPAlink|ŋ}} |
| Trill
| |{{IPAlink|r}} | | | |
| Approximant
| |{{IPAlink|l}} |{{IPAlink|j}} | | |
Phonemes in parentheses occur only in Russian loanwords.
Writing system
{{Main|Altai languages#Orthography}}
Southern Altai employs a version of the Cyrillic alphabet with additional characters to represent sounds not found in Russian.{{Cite book |title=Russko-altaysky slovar. Tom 1: A-O |date=2015 |publisher=Nauchno-issledovatelsky institut altaistiki im. S.S. Surazakova |isbn=978-5-903693-23-8 |location=Gorno-Altaysk |script-title=ru:Русско-алтайский словарь. Том I: А – О |trans-title=Russian-Altai dictionary. Book I: A-O}}
| style="font-family:Arial Unicode MS; font-size:1.4em; border-color:#000000; border-width:1px; border-style:solid; border-collapse:collapse; background-color:#F8F8EF"
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | А а | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Б б | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | В в | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Г г | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Д д | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ј ј | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Е е |
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ё ё
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ж ж | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | З з | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | И и | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Й й | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | К к | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Л л |
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | М м
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Н н | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ҥ ҥ | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | О о | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ӧ ӧ | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | П п | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Р р |
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | С с
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Т т | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | У у | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ӱ ӱ | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ф ф | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Х х | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ц ц |
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ч ч
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ш ш | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Щ щ | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ъ ъ | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ы ы | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ь ь | style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Э э |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{InterWiki|code = alt}}
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=alt Ethnologue entry for Southern Altai]
{{Turkic languages}}
{{Languages of Russia}}
Category:Indigenous languages of Siberia
Category:Languages written in Cyrillic script
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{{Russia-culture-stub}}