Bulgar language

Infobox Language
name=Bulgar
familycolor=Altaic
region=from Central Asia to the steppes North of the Caucasus, the Volga, and the Danube
extinct=between the 9th century on the Danube and the 14th century on the Volga
fam1=Altaic
fam2=Turkic
fam3=Oghur
iso3=xbo

Bulgar (also Bolğar and Proto-Bulgarian) was the language of the Bulgars, now extinct. Its classification is somewhat controversial but the most widely accepted theory places it among the "Lir"-type of Turkic languages referred to as Oghur-Turkic or Lir-Turkic,Encyclopaedia Britannica Online - [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-80003/Turkic-languages "Bolgar Turkic"] ] Campbell, George L. "Compendium of the World's Languages". Routledge, 2000. [http://books.google.com/books?id=jeX-i2Ve0CgC&pg=RA2-PA274&dq=bulgar+language+turkic+danube&sig=djDXx0auQm9scuJKrQAOcJkWL0s "page 274"] ] [Marcantonio, Angela. "The Uralic Language Family: Facts, Myths and Statistics". Blackwell Publishing Limited, 2002. [http://books.google.com/books?id=Cp-tB08yd2EC&pg=PA25&dq=%22three+parts%22+bulgar+language+turkic&sig=EsfSon0NiB5cHYPxjoHzkIrpL80 "page 25"] ] as opposed to "Shaz"-type of Common Turkic. [See the main article on Lir-Turkic.]

On the other hand, some Bulgarian historians accepted a new theory which links it to Iranian language group instead (more specifically, the Pamir languages are frequently mentioned). [Добрев, Петър, 1995. "Езикът на Аспаруховите и Куберовите българи" 1995] [Бакалов, Георги. Малко известни факти от историята на древните българи [http://www.protobulgarians.com/Statii%20ot%20drugi%20avtori/Bakalov-1.htm Част 1] [http://www.protobulgarians.com/Statii%20ot%20drugi%20avtori/Bakalov-2.htm част 2] ] [Димитров, Божидар, 2005. 12 мита в българската история] [Милчева, Христина. Българите са с древно-ирански произход. Научна конференция "Средновековна Рус, Волжка България и северното Черноморие в контекста на руските източни връзки", Казан, Русия, 15.10.2007] Other Bulgarian historians only point out certain signs of Iranian influence in the Turkic base, without drawing such conclusions from them [Бешевлиев, Веселин. Ирански елементи у първобългарите. Античное Общество, Труды Конференции по изучению проблем античности, стр. 237-247, Издательство "Наука", Москва 1967, АН СССР, Отделение Истории. ] (of the linguistic evidence only the Iranian origin of the name Asparukh seems to withstand scrutiny - see Schmitt 1985 for a critical assessment by an international Iranologist [Rüdiger Schmitt (Saarbrücken). IRANICA PROTOBULGARICA: Asparuch und Konsorten im Lichte der Iranischen Onomastik. Academie Bulgare des Sciences, Linguistique Balkanique, XXVIII (1985), l, 13-38] ). Still others assume an intermediate stance [Rasho Rashev. On the origin of the Proto-Bulgarians, p. 23-33 in: Studia protobulgarica et mediaevalia europensia. In honour of Prof. V. Beshevliev, Veliko Tarnovo, 1992.] or indeed actively oppose the "Iranian" theory. [Йорданов, Стефан. Славяни, тюрки и индо-иранци в ранното средновековие: езикови проблеми на българския етногенезис. В: Българистични проучвания. 8. Актуални проблеми на българистиката и славистиката. Седма международна научна сесия. Велико Търново, 22-23 август 2001 г. Велико Търново, 2002, 275-295.] Bulgar is assumed to have been used in Great Bulgaria, later in Volga Bulgaria, as well as in Danubian Bulgaria. The language became extinct in Danubian Bulgaria in the 9th century as the Bulgar nobility became gradually Slavicized through intermarriages with the Slavic majority there. In Volga Bulgaria, it persisted longer (according to the prevalent theory of its Turkic affiliation) and ultimately may have given rise to the modern Turkic Chuvash language,Campbell, George L. "Compendium of the World's Languages". Routledge, 2000. [http://books.google.com/books?id=jeX-i2Ve0CgC&pg=RA2-PA274&dq=bulgar+language+turkic+danube&sig=djDXx0auQm9scuJKrQAOcJkWL0s "page 274"] ] Формирование болгарской (древнечувашской) народности - [http://gov.cap.ru/hierarhy_cap.asp?page=./86/3743/1046/1053 "web page"] ] though the precise position of Chuvash within the Oghur family of languages, as seen by linguists, is a matter of dispute. Since the comparative material attributable to the extinct members of Oghuric (Hunnic, Turkic Avar, Khazar and Bulgar) is scant, little is known about any precise interrelation of these different languages and it is a matter of dispute whether Chuvash, the only "Lir"-type language with extant linguistic material, might be the daughter language of any of these or just a sister branch. [Johanson, Lars. 1998. "The history of Turkic." In: Johanson, Lars & Éva Agnes Csató (ed.). 1998. "The Turkic languages". London: Routledge, pp. 81-125. [http://www.turkiclanguages.com/www/classification.html] ; Johanson, Lars. 2007. Chuvash. "Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics". Oxford: Elsevier. See also the main article on Oghur.]

Danube Bulgar

The language of the Danube Bulgars (or "Danube Bulgar") is recorded in a small number of inscriptions, which are found in Pliska, the first capital of Danube Bulgaria and in the rock churches near the village of Murfatlar, Romania. Some of these inscriptions are written with Greek characters, others with runes similar to the Orkhon script. Most of them appear to have a private character (oaths, dedications, inscriptions on grave stones) and some were court inventories. Although attempts at decipherment have been made, none of them has gained wide acceptance. These inscriptions in Danube-Bulgar are found along with other official ones written in Greek. The rulers of the First Bulgarian Empire preserved Greek as the official state language until the 9th century when it was replaced by Old Bulgarian (Slavonic).

The language of the Danube Bulgars is also known from a small number of loanwords in the Old Bulgarian language, as well as terms occurring in Bulgar Greek-language inscriptions, contemporary Byzantine texts, and later Slavonic Old Bulgarian texts. Most of these words designate titles and other concepts concerning the affairs of state, including the official 12-year cyclic calendar (as used e.g. in the Nominalia of the Bulgarian Khans).

Volga Bulgar

The language spoken by the population of Volga Bulgaria is known as "Volga-Bulgar". There are a number of surviving inscriptions in Volga-Bulgar, some of which are written with Arabic characters, alongside the continuing use of Turkic runes. These are all largely decipherable. That language persisted until the 13th or the 14th century. It adopted a number of words and constructions from the Kipchak language and ultimately may have given rise to the Chuvash language. Chuvash is classified as the only surviving member of a separate "Oghur-Turkic" (or Lir-Turkic) branch of the Turkic languages, characterized by sound correspondences such as Oghuric "r" versus Common Turkic (or Shaz-Turkic) "z" and Oghuric "l" versus Common Turkic (Shaz-Turkic) "š".Формирование болгарской (древнечувашской) народности - [http://gov.cap.ru/hierarhy_cap.asp?page=./86/3743/1046/1053 "web page"] ] [See the main article on Lir-Turkic.] Likewise, the Old Tatar language, despite not belonging to the same branch as Chuvash and Bulgar, is believed to have absorbed elements of the Bulgar language; thus, the language spoken by the present-day Volga Tatars would represent a mixture of Kipchak and Bulgar.

As for the Oghur family of languages as seen by linguists, little is known about any precise interrelation of these different languages and it is a matter of dispute whether Chuvash might be the daughter language of any of these or just a sister branch. [Johanson, Lars. 1998. "The history of Turkic." In: Johanson, Lars & Éva Agnes Csató (ed.). 1998. "The Turkic languages". London: Routledge, pp. 81-125. [http://www.turkiclanguages.com/www/classification.html] ; Johanson, Lars. 2007. Chuvash. "Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics". Oxford: Elsevier. See also the main article on Oghur.]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-80003/Turkic-languages Britannica Online] - The article describes the position of Bulgar and Chuvash in the classification of the Turkic languages.
*PDFlink| [http://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/bulgar.pdf Sergei Starostin's "Tower of Babel"] - A Russian Turkologist's take on Danube Bulgar inscriptions and the Bulgar calendar, in Russian. The article contains a tentative decipherment of inscriptions based on the Turkic hypothesis.|350 KiB
* [http://www.kroraina.com/bulgar/rashev.html Rashev, Rasho. 1992. On the origin of the Proto-Bulgarians. p. 23-33 in: Studia protobulgarica et mediaevalia europensia. In honour of Prof. V. Beshevliev, Veliko Tarnovo] - A Bulgarian archeologist's proposal. The author concedes that the ruling elite of the Bulgars was Turkic-speaking as evidenced by the inscriptions etc., but stipulates that the bulk of the population was Iranian.