Turkic languages. Turkic group of languages: peoples

TURKIC LANGUAGES, i.e. the system of Turkic (Turkic Tatar or Turkish Tatar) languages, occupy a very vast territory in the USSR (from Yakutia to the Crimea and the Caucasus) and much smaller territory abroad (the languages ​​of the Anatolian-Balkan Turks, Gagauz and ... ... Literary encyclopedia

A group of closely related languages. Presumably, it is part of the hypothetical Altaic macrofamily of languages. It is divided into western (Western Xiongnu) and eastern (Eastern Xiongnu) branches. The Western branch includes: Bulgar group Bulgar... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

OR TURANIAN common name languages ​​of different nationalities of the north. Asia and Europe, the original homeland of the cat. Altai; therefore they are also called Altai. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Pavlenkov F., 1907 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

TURKIC LANGUAGES, see Tatar language. Lermontov Encyclopedia / USSR Academy of Sciences. In t rus. lit. (Pushkin. House); Scientific ed. council of publishing house Sov. Encycl. ; Ch. ed. Manuilov V. A., Editorial Board: Andronikov I. L., Bazanov V. G., Bushmin A. S., Vatsuro V. E., Zhdanov V ... Lermontov Encyclopedia

A group of closely related languages. Presumably included in the hypothetical Altaic macrofamily of languages. It is divided into western (Western Xiongnu) and eastern (Eastern Xiongnu) branches. The Western branch includes: Bulgar group Bulgar (ancient ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (outdated names: Turkic-Tatar, Turkish, Turkish-Tatar languages) languages ​​of numerous peoples and nationalities of the USSR and Turkey, as well as some of the population of Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia, China, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia and... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

An extensive group (family) of languages ​​spoken in the territories of Russia, Ukraine, and other countries Central Asia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia, China, Turkey, as well as Romania, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia, Albania. Belongs to an Altai family.… … Handbook of Etymology and Historical Lexicology

Turkic languages- Turkic languages ​​are a family of languages ​​spoken by numerous peoples and nationalities of the USSR, Turkey, part of the population of Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia, China, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania. The question of the genetic relationship of these languages ​​to Altai... Linguistic encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Turkic family of languages). Languages ​​that form a number of groups, which include the languages ​​Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Uzbek, Kara-Kalpak, Uyghur, Tatar, Bashkir, Chuvash, Balkar, Karachay,... ... Dictionary of linguistic terms

Turkic languages- (Turkic languages), see Altai languages... Peoples and cultures

Books

  • Languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR. In 5 volumes (set), . The collective work LANGUAGES OF THE PEOPLES OF THE USSR is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. This work summarizes the main results of the study (in a synchronous manner)…
  • Turkic conversions and serialization. Syntax, semantics, grammaticalization, Pavel Valerievich Grashchenkov. The monograph is devoted to converbs starting with -p and their place in the grammatical system Turkic languages. The question is raised about the nature of the connection (coordinating, subordinating) between parts of complex predications with...

Genealogical classification is the most developed classification of the world's languages. It is based on kinship relationships. Based on these relationships, languages ​​are united into so-called language families, each of which consists of linguistic branches or groups, in turn they are divided either into individual languages ​​or into subgroups of closely related languages. The following families of languages ​​are usually distinguished: Turkic, Indo-European, Semitic, Finno-Ugric, Ibero-Caucasian, Paleo-Asian, etc. There are languages ​​that are not part of language families. These are single languages. Such a language is, for example, the Basque language.

Indo-European languages ​​include such large associations / families / as the Slavic family of languages, Indian, Romance, Germanic, Celtic, Iranian, Baltic, etc. In addition, to Indo-European languages include Armenian, Albanian, Greek.

In turn, individual families of Indo-European languages ​​may have their own division into subgroups. So, Slavic The group of languages ​​is divided into three subgroups - East Slavic, South Slavic, West Slavic. The East Slavic group of languages ​​includes Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, the West Slavic group includes Polish, Czech, Slovak, etc., the South Slavic group includes Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, Old Slavic / dead language /.

Indian The family of languages ​​includes a language that dates back to ancient times. Ritual texts, the texts of the Veda, were written in this language. This language is called Vedic. Sanskrit is one of the oldest Indian languages. This is the language of the epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata. Modern Indian languages ​​include Bengali, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, etc.

Germanic languages ​​are divided into East Germanic, West Germanic and Scandinavian / or North Germanic / groups. The northern group includes Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese. The Western group is English, German, Dutch, Luxembourgish, Afrikaans, Yiddish. The eastern group consists of dead languages ​​- Gothic, Burgunian, etc. Among the Germanic languages, the newest languages ​​stand out - Yiddish and Afrikaans. Yiddish was formed in the 10th – 14th centuries on the basis of High German elements. Afrikaans arose in the 12th century on the basis of Dutch dialects with the inclusion of elements from French, German, English, Portuguese and some African languages.

Romanskaya the language family unites languages ​​such as French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, etc. This group of languages ​​is related by a common origin from Latin language. More than 10 creoles arose from individual Romance languages.

Iranian the group is Persian, Dari, Ossetian, Tajik, Kurdish, Afghan / Pashto / and other languages ​​that make up the group of Pamir languages.

Baltic languages ​​are represented by Latvian and Lithuanian.

Another large family of languages, spread over large areas of Asia and parts of Europe, are the Turkic languages. There are several classification schemes in Turkology. The generally accepted scheme is the classification of A.N. Samoilovich.

All Turkic The languages ​​are divided into 6 groups: Bulgar, Uyghur, Kipchak, Chagatai, Kipchak-Turkmen, Oguz. The Bulgar group includes the Chuvash language, the Uyghur group includes Old Uyghur, Tuvan, Yakut, Khakass; the Kipchak group consists of Tatar, Bashkir, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Altai languages; the Chagatai group covers modern Uyghur, Uzbek, etc.; Kipchak-Turkmen group - intermediate dialects (Khiva-Uzbek, Khiva-Sart); The Oghuz group includes Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen and some others.

Among all language families, Indo-European languages ​​occupy a special place, since the Indo-European family was the first language family that was distinguished on the basis of genetic/kinship/ connections, therefore the identification of other language families was guided by the experience of studying Indo-European languages. This determines the role of research in the field of Indo-European languages ​​for the historical study of other languages.

conclusions

Genealogical classification is based on kinship relationships. Kinship relations are associated with common origin.

The common origin is manifested in a single source of related words - in the proto-language.

There is a hierarchy of proto-languages.

Linguistic relationship can be direct/immediate/ and indirect.

Genealogical classification is based on taking into account both direct and indirect types of relationship between languages.

Relationships of kinship are manifested in the material identity of sounds, morphemes, and words.

Reliable data is provided by a comparison of the words that make up the oldest fund.

When comparing vocabulary, it is necessary to take into account the presence of borrowings. Material similarity of grammatical indicators is one of the most reliable evidence of kinship.

Phonetic identity is manifested in the presence of phonetic / sound / correspondence.

Phonetic correspondences do not reflect complete articulatory and acoustic similarities between the sounds of related languages. Sound correspondences are the result of ancient phonetic processes.

Phonetic correspondences are found not in one isolated fact, but in a whole series of similar examples. In the historical study of languages, comparative historical analysis is used.

The comparative historical method is based on comparison of related languages.

The comparison is carried out with the aim of reconstructing the oldest prototype and the original form.

The reconstructed phenomena are classified as hypothetical. Not only individual fragments are recreated, but also proto-languages. The comparative historical method was developed by both foreign and domestic linguists.

About 90% Turkic peoples former USSR belong to the Islamic faith. Most of them inhabit Kazakhstan and Central Asia. The rest of the Muslim Turks live in the Volga region and the Caucasus. Of the Turkic peoples, only the Gagauz and Chuvash living in Europe, as well as the Yakuts and Tuvans living in Asia, were not affected by Islam. General physical features The Turks do not, and they are united only by language.

The Volga Turks - Tatars, Chuvash, Bashkirs - were under the long-term influence of Slavic settlers, and now their ethnic areas do not have clear boundaries. The Turkmen and Uzbeks were influenced by Persian culture, and the Kyrgyz were influenced by the Mongols for a long time. Some nomadic Turkic peoples suffered significant losses during the period of collectivization, which forcibly attached them to the land.

IN Russian Federation The peoples of this linguistic group constitute the second largest “bloc”. All Turkic languages ​​are very close to each other, although they usually include several branches: Kipchak, Oguz, Bulgar, Karluk, etc.

Tatars (5522 thousand people) are concentrated mainly in Tataria (1765.4 thousand people), Bashkiria (1120.7 thousand people),

Udmurtia (110.5 thousand people), Mordovia (47.3 thousand people), Chuvashia (35.7 thousand people), Mari-El (43.8 thousand people), but live dispersedly in all regions of European Russia, as well as in Siberia and Far East. The Tatar population is divided into three main ethno-territorial groups: Volga-Ural, Siberian and Astrakhan Tatars. The Tatar literary language was formed on the basis of the middle one, but with the noticeable participation of the Western dialect. A special group is allocated Crimean Tatars(21.3 thousand people; in Ukraine, mainly in Crimea, about 270 thousand people) speaking a special, Crimean Tatar language.

Bashkirs (1345.3 thousand people) live in Bashkiria, as well as in the Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Perm, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Tyumen regions and in Central Asia. Outside Bashkiria, 40.4% of the Bashkir population lives in the Russian Federation, and in Bashkiria itself this titular people constitutes the third largest ethnic group, after the Tatars and Russians.

The Chuvash (1,773.6 thousand people) linguistically represent a special, Bulgarian, branch of the Turkic languages. In Chuvashia the titular population is 907 thousand people, in Tataria - 134.2 thousand people, in Bashkiria - 118.6 thousand people, in the Samara region - 117.8

thousand people, in the Ulyanovsk region - 116.5 thousand people. However, currently the Chuvash people have a relatively high degree of consolidation.

Kazakhs (636 thousand people, the total number in the world is more than 9 million people) were divided into three territorial nomadic associations: Semirechye - Elder Zhuz (Uly Zhuz), Central Kazakhstan- Middle Zhuz (orta zhuz), Western Kazakhstan - Younger Zhuz (kishi zhuz). The zhuz structure of the Kazakhs has been preserved to this day.

Azerbaijanis (in the Russian Federation 335.9 thousand people, in Azerbaijan 5805 thousand people, in Iran about 10 million people, in total about 17 million people in the world) speak the language of the Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages. The Azerbaijani language is divided into eastern, western, northern and southern dialect groups. For the most part, Azerbaijanis profess Shiite Islam, and only in the north of Azerbaijan is Sunnism widespread.

The Gagauz (10.1 thousand people in the Russian Federation) live in the Tyumen region, Khabarovsk Territory, Moscow, St. Petersburg; the majority of Gagauz people live in Moldova (153.5 thousand people) and Ukraine (31.9 thousand people); separate groups- in Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Canada and Brazil. The Gagauz language belongs to the Oguz branch of the Turkic languages. 87.4% of Gagauz people consider the Gagauz language to be their native language. The Gagauz people are Orthodox by religion.

Meskhetian Turks (9.9 thousand people in the Russian Federation) also live in Uzbekistan (106 thousand people), Kazakhstan (49.6 thousand people), Kyrgyzstan (21.3 thousand people), Azerbaijan ( 17.7 thousand people). The total number in the former USSR is 207.5 thousand.

People speak Turkish.

Khakass (78.5 thousand people) - the indigenous population of the Republic of Khakassia (62.9 thousand people), also live in Tuva (2.3 thousand people), Krasnoyarsk Territory (5.2 thousand people) .

Tuvans (206.2 thousand people, of which 198.4 thousand people are in Tuva). They also live in Mongolia (25 thousand people), China (3 thousand people). The total number of Tuvans is 235 thousand people. They are divided into western (mountain-steppe regions of western, central and southern Tuva) and eastern, or Tuvan-Todzha (mountain-taiga part of northeastern and southeastern Tuva).

Altaians (self-name Altai-Kizhi) are the indigenous population of the Altai Republic. 69.4 thousand people live in the Russian Federation, including 59.1 thousand people in the Altai Republic. Their total number is 70.8 thousand people. There are ethnographic groups of northern and southern Altaians. The Altai language is divided into northern (Tuba, Kumandin, Cheskan) and southern (Altai-Kizhi, Telengit) dialects. Most of the Altai believers are Orthodox, there are Baptists and others. At the beginning of the 20th century. Burkhanism, a type of Lamaism with elements of shamanism, spread among the southern Altaians. During the 1989 census, 89.3% of Altaians called their language their native language, and 77.7% indicated Fluency in Russian.

Teleuts are currently identified as a separate people. They speak one of the southern dialects of the Altai language. Their number is 3 thousand people, with the majority (about 2.5 thousand people) living in rural areas and cities Kemerovo region. The bulk of Teleut believers are Orthodox, but traditional religious beliefs are also common among them.

Chulym people (Chulym Turks) live in the Tomsk region and Krasnoyarsk Territory in the river basin. Chulym and its tributaries Yaya and Kii. Number of people - 0.75 thousand people. The Chulym believers are Orthodox Christians.

Uzbeks (126.9 thousand people) live in diaspora in Moscow and the Moscow region, in St. Petersburg and in the regions of Siberia. The total number of Uzbeks in the world reaches 18.5 million people.

The Kyrgyz (about 41.7 thousand people in the Russian Federation) are the main population of Kyrgyzstan (2229.7 thousand people). They also live in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Xinjiang (PRC), and Mongolia. The total Kyrgyz population of the world exceeds 2.5 million people.

Karakalpaks (6.2 thousand people) in the Russian Federation live mainly in cities (73.7%), although in Central Asia they constitute a predominantly rural population. The total number of Karakalpaks exceeds 423.5

thousand people, of which 411.9 live in Uzbekistan

Karachais (150.3 thousand people) are the indigenous population of Karachay (in Karachay-Cherkessia), where most of them live (over 129.4 thousand people). Karachais also live in Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Turkey, Syria, and the USA. They speak the Karachay-Balkar language.

Balkars (78.3 thousand people) are the indigenous population of Kabardino-Balkaria (70.8 thousand people). They also live in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Their total number reaches 85.1

thousand people Balkars and related Karachais are Sunni Muslims.

Kumyks (277.2 thousand people, of which in Dagestan - 231.8 thousand people, in Checheno-Ingushetia - 9.9 thousand people, in North Ossetia - 9.5 thousand people; total number - 282.2

thousand people) - the indigenous population of the Kumyk plain and the foothills of Dagestan. For the most part (97.4%) they retained native language- Kumyk.

The Nogais (73.7 thousand people) are settled within Dagestan (28.3 thousand people), Chechnya (6.9 thousand people) and the Stavropol Territory. They also live in Turkey, Romania and some other countries. The Nogai language is divided into Karanogai and Kuban dialects. Believing Nogais are Sunni Muslims.

The Shors (the self-name of the Shors) reach a population of 15.7 thousand people. The Shors are the indigenous population of the Kemerovo region (Mountain Shoria); they also live in Khakassia and the Altai Republic. Believing Shors are Orthodox Christians.

They are distributed over a vast territory of our planet, from the cold Kolyma basin to the southwestern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Turks do not belong to any specific racial type; even among one people there are both Caucasians and Mongoloids. They are mostly Muslim, but there are peoples who profess Christianity, traditional beliefs, and shamanism. The only thing that connects almost 170 million people is the common origin of the group of languages ​​now spoken by the Turks. Yakut and Turk all speak related dialects.

Strong branch of the Altai tree

Among some scientists, disputes still persist over which language family the Turkic language group belongs to. Some linguists identified it as a separate large group. However, the most generally accepted hypothesis today is that these related languages ​​belong to the large Altai family.

The development of genetics has made a major contribution to these studies, thanks to which it has become possible to trace the history of entire nations in the traces of individual fragments of the human genome.

Once upon a time, a group of tribes in Central Asia spoke the same language - the ancestor of modern Turkic dialects, but in the 3rd century. BC e. a separate Bulgarian branch separated from the large trunk. The only people who speak languages ​​of the Bulgar group today are the Chuvash. Their dialect is noticeably different from other related ones and stands out as a special subgroup.

Some researchers even propose placing the Chuvash language into a separate genus of the large Altai macrofamily.

Classification of the southeast direction

Other representatives of the Turkic group of languages ​​are usually divided into 4 large subgroups. There are differences in details, but for simplicity we can take the most common method.

Oguz, or southwestern, languages, which include Azerbaijani, Turkish, Turkmen, Crimean Tatar, Gagauz. Representatives of these peoples speak very similarly and can easily understand each other without a translator. Hence the enormous influence of strong Turkey in Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, whose residents perceive Turkish as their native language.

The Turkic group of the Altai family of languages ​​also includes the Kipchak, or northwestern, languages, which are spoken mainly on the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as representatives of the peoples of Central Asia with nomadic ancestors. Tatars, Bashkirs, Karachais, Balkars, such peoples of Dagestan as the Nogais and Kumyks, as well as Kazakhs and Kyrgyz - they all speak related dialects of the Kipchak subgroup.

The southeastern, or Karluk, languages ​​are solidly represented by the languages ​​of two large peoples - the Uzbeks and the Uyghurs. However, for almost a thousand years they developed separately from each other. If the Uzbek language has experienced enormous influence from Farsi, Arabic, then the Uighurs, residents of East Turkestan, brought over many years great amount Chinese borrowings into their dialect.

Northern Turkic languages

The geography of the Turkic group of languages ​​is wide and varied. Yakuts, Altaians, in general, some indigenous peoples of northeastern Eurasia, also unite in separate branch large Turkic tree. Northeastern languages ​​are quite heterogeneous and are divided into several separate genera.

The Yakut and Dolgan languages ​​separated from the single Turkic dialect, and this happened in the 3rd century. n. e.

The Sayan group of languages ​​of the Turkic family includes Tuvan and Tofalar languages. Khakassians and residents of Mountain Shoria speak languages ​​of the Khakass group.

Altai is the cradle of Turkic civilization; to this day, the indigenous inhabitants of these places speak Oirot, Teleut, Lebedin, Kumandin languages ​​of the Altai subgroup.

Incidents in a harmonious classification

However, not everything is so simple in this conditional division. The process of national-territorial demarcation that took place on the territory of the Central Asian republics of the USSR in the twenties of the last century also affected such a subtle matter as language.

All residents of the Uzbek SSR were called Uzbeks, and a single version of the literary Uzbek language was adopted, based on the dialects of the Kokand Khanate. However, even today the Uzbek language is characterized by pronounced dialectism. Some dialects of Khorezm, the westernmost part of Uzbekistan, are closer to the languages ​​of the Oghuz group and closer to Turkmen than to the literary Uzbek language.

Some areas speak dialects that belong to the Nogai subgroup of the Kipchak languages, hence there are often situations when a Ferghana resident has difficulty understanding a native of Kashkadarya, who, in his opinion, shamelessly distorts his native language.

The situation is approximately the same among other representatives of the peoples of the Turkic group of languages ​​- the Crimean Tatars. The language of the inhabitants of the coastal strip is almost identical to Turkish, but the natural steppe inhabitants speak a dialect closer to Kipchak.

Ancient history

The Turks first entered the world historical arena during the era of the Great Migration of Peoples. In the genetic memory of Europeans there is still a shudder before the invasion of the Huns by Attila in the 4th century. n. e. The steppe empire was a motley formation of numerous tribes and peoples, but the Turkic element was still predominant.

There are many versions of the origin of these peoples, but most researchers place the ancestral home of today's Uzbeks and Turks in northwestern part Central Asian plateau, in the area between Altai and the Khingar range. This version is also adhered to by the Kyrgyz, who consider themselves direct heirs great empire and are still nostalgic about it.

The neighbors of the Turks were the Mongols, the ancestors of today's Indo-European peoples, the Ural and Yenisei tribes, and the Manchus. The Turkic group of the Altai family of languages ​​began to take shape in close interaction with similar peoples.

Confusion with Tatars and Bulgarians

In the first century AD e. individual tribes begin to migrate towards Southern Kazakhstan. The famous Huns invaded Europe in the 4th century. It was then that the Bulgar branch separated from the Turkic tree and a vast confederation was formed, which was divided into the Danube and Volga. Today's Bulgarians in the Balkans now speak a Slavic language and have lost their Turkic roots.

The opposite situation occurred with the Volga Bulgars. They still speak Turkic languages, but after the Mongol invasion they call themselves Tatars. The conquered Turkic tribes living in the steppes of the Volga took the name of the Tatars - a legendary tribe with which Genghis Khan began his campaigns that had long disappeared in the wars. They also called their language, which they had previously called Bulgarian, Tatar.

The only living dialect of the Bulgarian branch of the Turkic group of languages ​​is Chuvash. The Tatars, another descendant of the Bulgars, actually speak a variant of the later Kipchak dialects.

From Kolyma to the Mediterranean

The peoples of the Turkic linguistic group include the inhabitants of the harsh regions of the famous Kolyma basin, the resort beaches of the Mediterranean, the Altai mountains and the table-flat steppes of Kazakhstan. The ancestors of today's Turks were nomads who traveled the length and breadth of the Eurasian continent. For two thousand years they interacted with their neighbors, who were Iranians, Arabs, Russians, and Chinese. During this time, an unimaginable mixture of cultures and blood occurred.

Today it is even impossible to determine the race to which the Turks belong. Residents of Turkey, Azerbaijanis, Gagauz belong to the Mediterranean group Caucasian, there are practically no guys with slanted eyes and yellowish skin here. However, the Yakuts, Altaians, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz - they all bear a pronounced Mongoloid element in their appearance.

Racial diversity is observed even among peoples who speak the same language. Among the Tatars of Kazan you can find blue-eyed blonds and black-haired people with slanted eyes. The same thing is observed in Uzbekistan, where it is impossible to deduce the appearance of a typical Uzbek.

Faith

Most Turks are Muslims, professing the Sunni branch of this religion. Only in Azerbaijan do they adhere to Shiism. However, some peoples either retained ancient beliefs or became adherents of other great religions. Most Chuvash and Gagauz people profess Christianity in its Orthodox form.

In the northeast of Eurasia, individual peoples continue to adhere to the faith of their ancestors; among the Yakuts, Altaians, and Tuvans, traditional beliefs and shamanism continue to be popular.

During the time of the Khazar Kaganate, the inhabitants of this empire professed Judaism, which today's Karaites, fragments of that mighty Turkic power, continue to perceive as the only true religion.

Vocabulary

Together with world civilization, Turkic languages ​​also developed, absorbing the vocabulary of neighboring peoples and generously endowing them with their own words. It is difficult to count the number of borrowed Turkic words in East Slavic languages. It all started with the Bulgars, from whom the words “drip” were borrowed, from which “kapishche”, “suvart” arose, transformed into “serum”. Later, instead of “whey” they began to use the common Turkic “yogurt”.

The exchange of vocabulary became especially lively during the Golden Horde and the late Middle Ages, during active trade with Turkic countries. A huge number of new words came into use: donkey, cap, sash, raisin, shoe, chest and others. Later, only the names of specific terms began to be borrowed, for example, snow leopard, elm, dung, kishlak.

TURKIC LANGUAGES, a language family distributed from Turkey in the west to Xinjiang in the east and from the coast of the East Siberian Sea in the north to Khorasan in the south. Speakers of these languages ​​live compactly in the CIS countries (Azerbaijanis - in Azerbaijan, Turkmen - in Turkmenistan, Kazakhs - in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz - in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbeks - in Uzbekistan; Kumyks, Karachais, Balkars, Chuvash, Tatars, Bashkirs, Nogais, Yakuts, Tuvinians, Khakassians, Altai Mountains - in Russia; Gagauzians - in the Transnistrian Republic) and beyond - in Turkey (Turks) and China (Uyghurs). Currently, the total number of speakers of Turkic languages ​​is about 120 million. The Turkic family of languages ​​is part of the Altai macrofamily.

The very first (3rd century BC, according to glottochronology) the Bulgar group separated from the Proto-Turkic community (according to another terminology - R-languages). The only living representative of this group is the Chuvash language. Individual glosses are known in written monuments and borrowings in neighboring languages ​​from the medieval languages ​​of the Volga and Danube Bulgars. The remaining Turkic languages ​​(“common Turkic” or “Z-languages”) are usually classified into 4 groups: “southwestern” or “Oghuz” languages ​​(main representatives: Turkish, Gagauz, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Afshar, coastal Crimean Tatar) , “northwestern” or “Kypchak” languages ​​(Karaite, Crimean Tatar, Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Tatar, Bashkir, Nogai, Karakalpak, Kazakh, Kyrgyz), “southeastern” or “Karluk” languages ​​(Uzbek, Uyghur), "north-eastern" languages ​​- a genetically heterogeneous group, including: a) the Yakut subgroup (Yakut and Dolgan languages), which separated from the common Turkic, according to glottochronological data, before its final collapse, in the 3rd century. AD; b) Sayan group (Tuvan and Tofalar languages); c) Khakass group (Khakass, Shor, Chulym, Saryg-Yugur); d) Gorno-Altai group (Oirot, Teleut, Tuba, Lebedin, Kumandin). The southern dialects of the Gorno-Altai group are close in a number of parameters to the Kyrgyz language, together with it constituting the “Central-Eastern group” of Turkic languages; some dialects of the Uzbek language clearly belong to the Nogai subgroup of the Kipchak group; Khorezm dialects of the Uzbek language belong to the Oghuz group; part of Siberian dialects Tatar language comes close to Chulym-Turkic.

The earliest deciphered written monuments of the Turks date back to the 7th century. AD (steles written in runic script, found on the Orkhon River in northern Mongolia). Throughout their history, the Turks used the Turkic runic (apparently dating back to the Sogdian script), Uyghur script (later passed from them to the Mongols), Brahmi, Manichaean script, and Arabic script. Currently, writing systems based on the Arabic, Latin and Cyrillic alphabet are common.

According to historical sources, information about the Turkic peoples first surfaces in connection with the appearance of the Huns in the historical arena. The steppe empire of the Huns, like all known formations of this kind, was not monoethnic; judging by the linguistic material that has reached us, there was a Turkic element in it. Moreover, the dating of the initial information about the Huns (in Chinese historical sources) is 4–3 centuries. BC. – coincides with the glottochronological determination of the time of separation of the Bulgar group. Therefore, a number of scientists directly connect the beginning of the movement of the Huns with the separation and departure of the Bulgars to the west. The ancestral home of the Turks is placed in the northwestern part of the Central Asian Plateau, between the Altai Mountains and the northern part of the Khingan Range. From the south-eastern side they were in contact with the Mongol tribes, from the west their neighbors were the Indo-European peoples of the Tarim basin, from the north-west - the Ural and Yenisei peoples, from the north - the Tungus-Manchus.

By the 1st century. BC. separate tribal groups of the Huns moved to the territory of modern Southern Kazakhstan in the 4th century. AD The Huns' invasion of Europe begins at the end of the 5th century. in Byzantine sources the ethnonym “Bulgars” appears, denoting a confederation of tribes of Hunnic origin that occupied the steppe between the Volga and Danube basins. Subsequently, the Bulgar confederation is divided into the Volga-Bulgar and Danube-Bulgar parts.

After the breakaway of the “Bulgars,” the remaining Turks continued to remain in the territory close to their ancestral home until the 6th century. AD, when, after the victory over the Ruan-Rhuan confederation (part of the Xianbi, presumably the proto-Mongols, who defeated and ousted the Huns at one time), they formed the Turkic confederation, which dominated from the mid-6th to the mid-7th century. over a vast territory from the Amur to the Irtysh. Historical sources do not provide information about the moment of the split from the Turkic community of the ancestors of the Yakuts. The only way to connect the ancestors of the Yakuts with some historical reports is to identify them with the Kurykans of the Orkhon inscriptions, who belonged to the Teles confederation, absorbed by the Turkuts. They were localized at this time, apparently, to the east of Lake Baikal. Judging by the mentions in the Yakut epic, the main advance of the Yakuts to the north is associated with a much later time - the expansion of the empire of Genghis Khan.

In 583, the Turkic confederation was divided into western (with a center in Talas) and eastern Turkuts (otherwise known as “blue Turks”), the center of which remained the former center of the Turkic empire Kara-Balgasun on the Orkhon. Apparently, the collapse of the Turkic languages ​​into the western (Oghuz, Kipchaks) and eastern (Siberia; Kyrgyz; Karluks) macrogroups is associated with this event. In 745, the eastern Turkuts were defeated by the Uyghurs (localized southwest of Lake Baikal and presumably at first non-Turkic, but by that time already Turkified). Both the Eastern Turkic and Uyghur states experienced strong cultural influence from China, but they were no less influenced by the Eastern Iranians, primarily Sogdian merchants and missionaries; in 762 Manichaeism became the state religion of the Uyghur empire.

In 840, the Uyghur state centered on the Orkhon was destroyed by the Kyrgyz (from the upper reaches of the Yenisei; presumably also initially non-Turkic, but by this time a Turkic people), the Uyghurs fled to East Turkestan, where in 847 they founded a state with the capital Kocho (in the Turfan oasis). From here the main monuments of the ancient Uighur language and culture have reached us. Another group of fugitives settled in what is now the Chinese province of Gansu; their descendants may be the Saryg-Yugurs. The entire northeastern group of Turks, except the Yakuts, can also go back to the Uyghur conglomerate - as part of the Turkic population of the former Uyghur Kaganate, which moved north, deeper into the taiga, already during the Mongol expansion.

In 924, the Kyrgyz were forced out of the Orkhon state by the Khitans (presumably Mongols by language) and partially returned to the upper reaches of the Yenisei, partially moved west, to the southern spurs of Altai. Apparently, the formation of the Central-Eastern group of Turkic languages ​​can be traced back to this South Altai migration.

The Turfan state of the Uyghurs existed for a long time next to another Turkic state, which was dominated by the Karluks - a Turkic tribe that originally lived to the east of the Uyghurs, but by 766 moved west and subjugated the state of the Western Turkuts, whose tribal groups spread to the steppes of Turan (Ili-Talas region , Sogdiana, Khorasan and Khorezm; while Iranians lived in the cities). At the end of the 8th century. Karluk Khan Yabgu converted to Islam. The Karluks gradually assimilated the Uyghurs living to the east, and the Uyghur literary language served as the basis for the literary language of the Karluk (Karakhanid) state.

Part of the tribes of the Western Turkic Kaganate were Oghuz. Of these, the Seljuk confederation stood out, which at the turn of the 1st millennium AD. migrated west through Khorasan to Asia Minor. Apparently, the linguistic consequence of this movement was the formation of the southwestern group of Turkic languages. Around the same time (and, apparently, in connection with these events) there was a mass migration to the Volga-Ural steppes and Eastern Europe of tribes that represented the ethnic basis of the current Kipchak languages.

The phonological systems of the Turkic languages ​​are characterized by a number of general properties. In the field of consonantism, restrictions on the occurrence of phonemes in the position of the beginning of a word, a tendency to weaken in the initial position, and restrictions on the compatibility of phonemes are common. At the beginning of the original Turkic words do not occur l,r,n, š ,z. Noisy plosives are usually contrasted by strength/weakness (Eastern Siberia) or by dullness/voice. At the beginning of a word, the opposition of consonants in terms of deafness/voicedness (strength/weakness) is found only in the Oguz and Sayan groups; in most other languages, at the beginning of words, labials are voiced, dental and back-lingual ones are voiceless. Uvulars in most Turkic languages ​​are allophones of velars with back vowels. The following types of historical changes in the consonant system are classified as significant. a) In the Bulgarian group, in most positions there is a voiceless fricative lateral l coincided with l in sound in l; r And r V r. In other Turkic languages l gave š , r gave z, l And r preserved. In relation to this process, all Turkologists are divided into two camps: some call it rotacism-lambdaism, others - zetacism-sigmatism, and their non-recognition or recognition of the Altai kinship of languages ​​is statistically connected with this, respectively. b) Intervocalic d(pronounced as an interdental fricative ð) gives r in Chuvash t in Yakut, d in the Sayan languages ​​and Khalaj (an isolated Turkic language in Iran), z in the Khakass group and j in other languages; accordingly, they talk about r-,t-,d-,z- And j- languages.

The vocalism of most Turkic languages ​​is characterized by synharmonism (similarity of vowels within one word) in row and roundness; The synharmonic system is also being reconstructed for Proto-Turkic. Synharmonism disappeared in the Karluk group (as a result of which the opposition of velars and uvulars was phonologized there). In the New Uyghur language, a certain semblance of synharmonism is again being built - the so-called “Uyghur umlaut”, the preemption of wide unrounded vowels before the next i(which goes back to both the front *i, and to the rear * ï ). In Chuvash, the entire vowel system has changed greatly, and the old synharmonicism has disappeared (its trace is the opposition k from velar in anterior word and x from the uvular in a back-row word), but then a new synharmonism was built along the row, taking into account the current phonetic characteristics of vowels. The long/short opposition of vowels that existed in Proto-Turkic was preserved in the Yakut and Turkmen languages ​​(and in residual form in other Oguz languages, where voiceless consonants were voiced after the old long vowels, as well as in Sayan, where short vowels before voiceless consonants receive the sign of “pharyngealization”) ; in other Turkic languages ​​it disappeared, but in many languages ​​long vowels reappeared after the loss of intervocalic voiced ones (Tuvinsk. "tub"< *sagu and under.). In Yakut, the primary wide long vowels turned into rising diphthongs.

In all modern Turkic languages ​​there is a force stress, which is morphonologically fixed. In addition, for Siberian languages, tonal and phonation contrasts were noted, although not fully described.

From the point of view of morphological typology, Turkic languages ​​belong to the agglutinative, suffixal type. Moreover, if the Western Turkic languages ​​are a classic example of agglutinative ones and have almost no fusion, then the eastern ones, like the Mongolian languages, develop a powerful fusion.

Grammatical categories of names in Turkic languages ​​– number, belonging, case. The order of affixes is: stem + aff. numbers + aff. accessories + case aff. Plural form h. is usually formed by adding an affix to the stem -lar(in Chuvash -sem). In all Turkic languages ​​the plural form is h. is marked, unit form. h. – unmarked. In particular, in the generic meaning and with numerals the singular form is used. numbers (Kumyk. men at gördüm " I (actually) saw horses."

Case systems include: a) nominative (or main) case with a zero indicator; the form with a zero case indicator is used not only as a subject and a nominal predicate, but also as an indefinite direct object, an applicative definition and with many postpositions; b) accusative case (aff. *- (ï )g) – case of a definite direct object; c) genitive case (aff.) – the case of a concrete referential adjectival definition; d) dative-directive (aff. *-a/*-ka); e) local (aff. *-ta); e) ablative (aff. *-tïn). The Yakut language rebuilt its case system according to the model of the Tungus-Manchu languages. Usually there are two types of declension: nominal and possessive-nominal (declension of words with aff. affiliation of the 3rd person; case affixes take a slightly different form in this case).

An adjective in Turkic languages ​​differs from a noun in the absence of inflectional categories. Having received the syntactic function of a subject or object, the adjective also acquires all the inflectional categories of the noun.

Pronouns change by case. Personal pronouns are available for 1st and 2nd persons (* bi/ben"I", * si/sen"You", * Bir"We", *sir"you"), in the third person are used demonstrative pronouns. Demonstrative pronouns in most languages ​​have three degrees of range, e.g. bu"this", šu"this remote" (or "this" when indicated by hand), ol"That". Interrogative pronouns distinguish between animate and inanimate ( kim"who" and ne"What").

In a verb, the order of affixes is as follows: verb stem (+ aff. voice) (+ aff. negation (- ma-)) + aff. mood/aspect-temporal + aff. conjugations for persons and numbers (in brackets are affixes that are not necessarily present in the word form).

Voices of the Turkic verb: active (without indicators), passive (*- ïl), return ( *-ïn-), mutual ( * -ïš- ) and causative ( *-t-,*-ïr-,*-tïr- and some etc.). These indicators can be combined with each other (cum. gur-yush-"see", ger-yush-dir-"to make you see each other" yaz-holes-"make you write" tongue-hole-yl-"to be forced to write").

The conjugated forms of the verb are divided into proper verbal and non-verbal. The first ones have personal indicators that go back to the affixes of belonging (except for 1 l. plural and 3 l. plural). These include the past categorical tense (aorist) in the indicative mood: verb stem + indicator - d- + personal indicators: bar-d-ïm"I went" oqu-d-u-lar"they read"; means a completed action, the fact of which is beyond doubt. This also includes the conditional mood (verb stem + -sa-+ personal indicators); desired mood (verb stem + -aj- + personal indicators: Proto-Turkic. * bar-aj-ïm"let me go" * bar-aj-ïk"let's go"); imperative mood ( clean base verb in 2 l. units parts and base + in 2 l. pl. h.).

Non-proper verb forms - historically gerunds and participles in the function of a predicate, formalized by the same indicators of predicability as nominal predicates, namely postpositive personal pronouns. For example: ancient Turkic. ( ben)beg ben"I am bek" ben anca tir ben"I say so", lit. “I say so-I.” There are different gerunds of the present tense (or simultaneity) (stem + -a), uncertain-future (base + -Vr, Where V– vowel various quality), precedence (base + -ip), desired mood (stem + -g aj); perfect participle (stem + -g an), postocular, or descriptive (stem + -mïš), definite-future tense (base +) and many more. etc. The affixes of gerunds and participles do not carry voice oppositions. Participles with predicate affixes, as well as gerunds with auxiliary verbs in proper and improper verbal forms (numerous existential, phase, modal verbs, verbs of motion, verbs “take” and “give” act as auxiliaries) express a variety of fulfillment, modal, directional and accommodation values, cf. Kumyk bara bolgayman"looks like I'm going" ( go- deepr. simultaneity become- deepr. desirable -I), Ishley Goremen"I am going to work" ( work- deepr. simultaneity look- deepr. simultaneity -I), language"write it down (for yourself)" ( write- deepr. precedence take it). Various verbal names of action are used as infinitives in various Turkic languages.

From the point of view of syntactic typology, Turkic languages ​​belong to the languages ​​of the nominative structure with the predominant word order “subject - object - predicate”, preposition of definition, preference for postpositions over prepositions. There is an isafet design with the membership indicator for the word being defined ( at baš-ï"horse head", lit. "horse head-her") In a coordinating phrase, usually all grammatical indicators are attached to the last word.

The general rules for the formation of subordinating phrases (including sentences) are cyclical: any subordinating combination can be inserted as one of the members into any other, and the connection indicators are attached to the main member of the built-in combination (the verb form in this case turns into the corresponding participle or gerund). Wed: Kumyk. ak saqal"white beard" ak sakal-ly gishi"white bearded man" booth-la-ny ara-son-yes"between the booths" booth-la-ny ara-son-da-gyy el-well orta-son-da"in the middle of the path passing between the booths" sen ok atgyang"you shot an arrow" Sep ok atgyanyng-ny gördyum“I saw you shoot the arrow” (“you shot the arrow – 2 liters singular – vin. case – I saw”). When a predicative combination is inserted in this way, they often speak of the “Altai type of complex sentence”; indeed, Turkic and other Altaic languages ​​show a clear preference for such absolute constructions with the verb in the non-finite form over subordinate clauses. The latter, however, are also used; for communication in complex sentences, allied words are used - interrogative pronouns (in subordinate clauses) and correlative words - demonstrative pronouns (in main sentences).

The main part of the vocabulary of the Turkic languages ​​is native, often having parallels in other Altai languages. A comparison of the general vocabulary of the Turkic languages ​​allows us to get an idea of ​​the world in which the Turks lived during the collapse of the Proto-Turkic community: the landscape, fauna and flora of the southern taiga in Eastern Siberia, on the border with the steppe; metallurgy of the early Iron Age; economic structure of the same period; transhumance based on horse breeding (using horse meat for food) and sheep breeding; agriculture in an auxiliary function; the great role of developed hunting; two types of housing - winter stationary and summer portable; fairly developed social division on a tribal basis; appears to be a somewhat codified system legal relations during active trading; a set of religious and mythological concepts characteristic of shamanism. In addition, of course, such “basic” vocabulary as names of body parts, verbs of movement, sensory perception, etc. is restored.

In addition to the original Turkic vocabulary, modern Turkic languages ​​use a large number of borrowings from languages ​​with whose speakers the Turks have ever been in contact. These are primarily Mongolian borrowings (in Mongolian languages ​​there are many borrowings from Turkic languages; there are also cases when a word was borrowed first from Turkic languages ​​into Mongolian languages, and then back, from Mongolian languages in Turkic, cf. ancient Uyghur. irbii, Tuvinsk irbiš"leopard" > Mong. irbis > Kyrgyzstan irbis). In the Yakut language there are many Tungus-Manchu borrowings, in Chuvash and Tatar they are borrowed from the Finno-Ugric languages ​​of the Volga region (as well as vice versa). A significant part of the “cultural” vocabulary has been borrowed: in ancient Uyghur there are many borrowings from Sanskrit and Tibetan, primarily from Buddhist terminology; in the languages ​​of Muslim Turkic peoples there are many Arabisms and Persianisms; in the languages ​​of the Turkic peoples that were part of Russian Empire and the USSR, many Russian borrowings, including internationalisms like communism,tractor,political economy. On the other hand, there are many Turkic borrowings in the Russian language. The earliest are borrowings from the Danube-Bulgarian language into Old Church Slavonic ( book, drip"idol" - in the word temple“pagan temple” and so on), from there they came to Russian; there are also borrowings from Bulgarian into Old Russian (as well as into other Slavic languages): serum(common Turkic) *jogurt, bulg. *suvart), bursa“Persian silk fabric” (Chuvash. porzin< *bariun< Middle-Persian *aparešum; trade between pre-Mongol Rus' and Persia went along the Volga through the Great Bulgar). A large number of cultural vocabulary borrowed into Russian from late medieval Turkic languages ​​in the 14th–17th centuries. (during the time of the Golden Horde and even more later, during times of brisk trade with the surrounding Turkic states: ass, pencil, raisin,shoe, iron,Altyn,arshin,coachman,Armenian,ditch,dried apricots and many more etc.). In later times, the Russian language borrowed from Turkic only words denoting local Turkic realities ( snow leopard,ayran,kobyz,sultanas,village,elm). Contrary to popular belief, there are no Turkic borrowings among Russian obscene (obscene) vocabulary; almost all of these words are Slavic in origin.