KYPCHAK LANGUAGES

The 'Kypchak languages' (also known as the Kipchak, Qypchaq, or Northeastern Turkic languages), are a major branch of the Turkic language family spoken by more than 12 million people in an area spanning from Lithuania to China.

Contents

Linguistic Features

Shared Features

Unique Features

Classification

See also

References

Linguistic Features

The Kypchak languages share a number of features that have led linguists to classify them together. Some of these features are shared with other Turkic languages; others are unique to the Kypchak language family.

Shared Features

★ Change of Proto-Turkic
★ d to /j/ (e.g.
★ ''hadaq'' > ''ajaq'' "foot")

★ Loss of initial
★ h sound (preserved only in Khalaj. See above example.)

Unique Features

★ Extensive labial vowel harmony (e.g. ''olor'' vs. ''olar'' "them")

★ Frequent affrication of initial
★ /j/ (e.g.
★ '' > '' "seven")

★ Diphthongs from syllable-final
★ /g/ and
★ /b/ (e.g.
★ '' > '' "mountain",
★ '' > '')

Classification

The Kypchak languages may be broken down into three groups, based on geography and shared features:

★ 'Kypchak-Bolgar' (Uralo-Caspian), including Bashkir and Tatar (including Siberian Tatar, Mishar Tatar, Astrakhan Tatar, Baraba Tatar, etc.)

★ 'Kypchak-Cuman' (Ponto-Caspian), including Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Karaim, Krymchak, and the extinct Cuman and Kipchak languages. Urum and Crimean Tatar appear to have a Kypchak-Cuman base, but have been heavily influenced by Oghuz languages.

★ 'Kazakh-Nogay', including Kazakh, Karakalpak, and Nogay
Literary Kyrgyz has been heavily influenced by the Kypchak languages, especially Kazakh, but it appears that it belongs in a separate family with Altay.
The Uzbek language's Kypchak dialect contains the remainder of Kypchak languages that were once spoken in Uzbekistan, and there is a dialect continuum between Uzbek and Kazakh.
The language of the Mamluks in Egypt appears to have been a Kypchak language, probably one belonging to the Kypchak-Cuman group.

See also

★ Kipchaks

References

★ The Turkic Languages, Johanson, Lars and Csató, Éva Ágnes, , , Routledge, 1998, ISBN 0-415-08200-5

★ The Turkic Languages and Peoples, Menges, Karl H., , , Harrassowitz, 1995, ISBN 3-447-03533-1