Tuvan language

language
name=Tuvan
nativename=Тыва дыл "Tyva dyl"
familycolor=Altaic
states=Russia, Mongolia, China
region=Tuva
speakers=200,000
fam1=Altaic (controversial)
fam2=Turkic
fam3=Northeastern (Siberian)
nation=Tuva (federal subject of Russia)
iso1=|iso2=tyv|iso3=tyv

Tuvan (Tuvan: Тыва дыл "Tyva dyl"), also known as Tuvinian, Tyvan, or Tuvin, is one of the Turkic languages. It is spoken by around 200,000 people in the Republic of Tuva in south-central Siberia in Russia. The language borrows a great number of roots from the Mongolian language and more recently from the Russian language. There are small diaspora groups of Tuvan people that speak distinct dialects of Tuvan in the People's Republic of China and in Mongolia.

Classification

Tuvan is linguistically classified as a Northeastern or Siberian Turkic language, closely related to several other Siberian Turkic languages including Khakas and Altai languages.

Dialects

Tuvan, as spoken in Tuva, is divided into four dialect groups. These are Western, Central, Northeastern, and Southeastern.

Central

The Central dialect forms the basis of the literary language and includes Ovyur and Bii-Khem subdialects.

Western

The Western dialect can be found spoken mostly around the upper course of the Khemchik river. It is influenced by interaction with the Altai language.

Northeastern

The Northeastern dialect, also known as the Todzhi dialect, is spoken around the upper course of the Bii-Khem river. The speakers of this dialect utilize nasalization. It contains a large vocabulary related to hunting and reindeer breeding not found in the other dialects.

outheastern

The Southeastern dialect shows the most influence from Mongolian.

Other

Other dialects include the language spoken by the Dzungar Tuvans, the Tsengel Tuvans, and the Dukha, but these are little studied.

ounds

Consonants

Tuvan has 19 native consonant phonemes. Additionally, /f/ and /IPA|ʦ/ are found in some Russian loanwords. The distinction between initial bilabial and alveolar stops is based on aspiration for most speakers and voicing for others.

Verbs in Tuvan take a number of endings to mark tense, mood, and aspect. Auxiliary verbs are also used to modify the verb. For a detailed scholarly study of auxiliary verbs in Tuvan and related languages, see Anderson 2004.

yntax

Tuvan employs SOV word order. For example [teve sigen tIPA|ʃipken] (camel hay eat-PAST) "The camel ate the hay"

Vocabulary

Tuvan vocabulary is largely Turkic in origin but marked by a large number of Mongolian loanwords. The language has also borrowed several Mongolian suffixes. In addition, there exist Ketic and Samoyedic substrata.

Writing system

Latin-based

The original Tuvan writing system was a Latin-based alphabet devised in 1930 by a Tuvan Buddhist monk, Mongush Lopsang-Chinmit. Prior to it, all writing was in the Mongolian language. A few books and newspapers, including primers intended to teach adults to read, were printed using this writing system. Lopsang-Chinmit was later executed in Stalinist purges on December 31, 1941. [cite book|last =Mänchen-Helfen|first =Otto|title =Journey to Tuva|publisher =Ethnographics Press University of Southern California|date =1992 |location = Los Angeles|pages =133n |isbn = 187898604X]

A B C D E F G Ƣ I J K L M N Ņ O Ɵ P R S Ş T U V X Y Z Ƶ Ь

a в c d e f g ƣ i j k l m n ņ o ө p r s ş t u v x y z ƶ ь

"Example": Pirgi tьвa dьldьņ yƶykteri (бирги тыва дылдың үжүктери) - First Tuvan language alphabet

By September 1943, this Latin-based alphabet was replaced by a Cyrillic-based one, which is still in use to the present day. In the post-Soviet era, Tuvan and other scholars have taken a renewed interest in the history of Tuvan letters.

Cyrillic-based

The current Tuvan alphabet is modified version of the Russian alphabet, with three additional letters: unicode|ң (Latin "ng" or International Phonetic Alphabet IPA| [ŋ] ), unicode|Өө (Latin "ö", IPA2|ø), unicode|Үү (Latin "ü", IPA IPA| [y] ). The sequence of the alphabet follows Russian exactly, with unicode|ң located after Russian Н, unicode|Ө after О, and unicode|Ү after У.

А Б В Г Д Е Ё Ж З И Й К Л М Н Ң О Ө П Р С Т У Ү Ф Х Ц Ч Ш Щ Ъ Ы Ь Э Ю Я

а б в г д е ё ж з и й к л м н ң о ө п р с т у ү ф х ц ч ш щ ъ ы ь э ю я

The letters Е and Э are used in a special way. Э is used for the short /e/ sound at the beginning of words while Е is used for the same sound in the middle and at the end of words. Е is used at the beginning of words, mostly of Russian origin, to reflect the standard Russian pronunciation of that letter, /je/. Additionally, ЭЭ is used in the middle and at the end of words for the long /e/ sound.

Transliteration

There is no official transliteration standard for transforming the Cyrillic-based Tuvan alphabet into Latin. Common schemes in use by various media sources rely upon international standards for transliterating other Cyrillic languages such as Russian while scholars of Turkology generally rely upon common Turkic-styled spelling.

Notes

References

* Anderson, Gregory D. S. (2004). "Auxiliary Verb Constructions in Altai-Sayan Turkic". Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 3447046368
*
* Harrison, K. David. (2001). "Topics in the Phonology and Morphology of Tuvan," Doctoral Dissertation, Yale University. (OCLC catalog #51541112)
* Harrison, K. David. (2005). "A Tuvan hero tale, with commentary, morphemic analysis and translation". "Journal of the American Oriental Society" 125(1)1-30. ISSN 0003-0279
*cite book |last=Krueger |first=John R. |editor=John R. Krueger |others=Editor Emeritus: Thomas A. Sebeok |title=Tuvan Manual |series=Uralic and Altaic Series Volume 126|year=1977 |publisher=Indiana University Publications |isbn=0877502145
*
* Mawkanuli, Talant. 1999. "The phonology and morphology of Jungar Tuva," Indiana University PhD dissertation.
* Taube, Erika. (1978). "Tuwinische Volksmärchen". Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. LCCN: 83-853915
* Taube, Erika. (1994). "Skazki i predaniia altaiskikh tuvintsev". Moskva : Vostochnaia literatura. ISBN 5020172367

External links

* [http://tuvan.swarthmore.edu/ English-Tuvan, Tuvan-English online talking dictionary]
* [http://tyvanet.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=7 Тыва дыл кырында форум (An online forum in and about the Tyvan language)]
* [http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/dharris2/ Tuvan language and folklore materials]
*
* [http://www.tarbagan.net/fotj/TuvanLang.htm Tuvan Alphabet]
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=tyv Ethnologue: Tuvin]