Ospangazieva N.B.

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and Institute of linguistics                   named after A.Baitursynuly, Kazakhstan

                                                                                                                         HISTORY OF PHONOLOGY OF THE TURKIC-SPEAKING PEOPLE

        The Turkic languages are spoken over a large geographical area in Europe and Asia. How we know, it is spoken in the Azeri, the Türkmen, the Tartar, the Uzbek, the Baskurti, the Nogay, the Kyrgyz, the Kazakh, the Yakuti, the Cuvas and other dialects. Turkic languages are distributed over a vast territory ranging from eastern Europe to east Siberia and China. Their core area is in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Xinjiang in China) from where they spread west to northern Iran and the South Caucasus, Turkey and part of the Balkans, and to the north into European and Asiatic Russia straddling the Volga, Ob and Yenisei rivers reaching northeast Siberia and the Arctic Ocean.

http://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Turkic_files/Turkic%20languages%20distribution%20map.jpg

The total number of Turkic speakers is close to 164 million. Linguists distinguish four main groups among Turkic languages:

North Western (Kipchak), South Western (Oghuz), South Eastern (Karluk) and North Eastern (Siberian), the latter being a special case. As a matter of fact,the northwestern, or Kipchak, branch comprises three groups. The South Kipchak group (NWs) consists of Kazakh (spoken in Kazakhstan, Xinjiang, and so on), its close relative Karakalpak (mainly Karakalpakstan), Nogay (Circassia, Dagestan), and Kyrgyz (Kyrgyzstan, China). The North Kipchak group (NWn) consists of Tatar (Tatarstan, Russia; China; Romania; Bulgaria; and so on), Bashkir (Bashkortostan, Russia), and West Siberian dialects (Tepter, Tobol, Irtysh, and so on). The West Kipchak group (NWw) today consists of small, partly endangered languages, Kumyk (Dagestan), Karachay and Balkar (North Caucasus), Crimean Tatar, and Karaim. The Karachay and Balkars and Crimean Tatars were deported during World War II; the latter were allowed to resettle in Crimea only after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Karaim is preserved in Lithuania and Ukraine. The languages of the Pechenegs and the Kuman are antecedents of modern West Kipchak.  The southeastern, or Uighur-Chagatai, branch comprises two groups. The western group (SEw) consists of Uzbek (spoken in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Xinjiang, Karakalpakstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan). An eastern group (SEe) comprises Uighur and Eastern Turki dialects (Xinjiang, China; Uzbekistan; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan). Eastern Turki oasis dialects are spoken in the Chinese cities of Kashgar, Yarkand, Ho-T’ien (Khotan), A-k’o-su (Aksu), Turfan, and so on; Taranchi in the Ili valley. Yellow Uighur (spoken in Kansu, China) and Salar (mainly Tsinghai), the latter of Oghuz origin, are small and deviant languages. Old Uighur and Chagatai are antecedents of the modern SE branch.

The northeastern, or Siberian, branch comprises two groups. The North Siberian group (NEn) consists of Sakha and Dolgan (spoken in Sakha republic [Yakutia]), differing considerably from mainstream Turkic owing to long geographic isolation. The heterogeneous South Siberian group - comprises three types. One is represented by Khakas and Shor (both written) and dialects such as Sagay, Kacha, Koybal, Kyzyl, Küerik, and Chulym (spoken in the Abakan River area). The second type is represented by Tyvan (Tuvan; spoken in Tyva [Tuva] republic of Russia and in western Mongolia) and Tofa (northern Sayan region), both written languages. The third type includes dialects such as Altay (a written language), Kumanda, Lebed, Tuba, Teleut, Teleng, Tölös, and others (northern Altai, Baraba Steppe), some being rather similar to Kyrgyz.

The Turkic languages are clearly interrelated, showing close similarities in phonology, morphology, and syntax. According this we can say that they have differences in their phonology. -Syllable structure. Most syllables have a (C)V(C) structure i.e. they contain a vowel that may be preceded by an initial consonant and/or followed by a final consonant. Initial consonant clusters are avoided as well as vowel hiatus (two adjacent vowels in different syllables). Many Turkic languages (Turkish among them) have a completely symmetrical vowel system regarding height (4 high and 4 low vowels), frontness (4 front and 4 back), and roundness (4 unrounded and 4 rounded):


                        

http://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Turkic_files/droppedImage.jpg

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·         The symbols are those current in writing, when they differ from those of the International Phonetic Alphabet the latter are indicated between brackets.          Most Turkic languages have a contrast between voiceless and voiced stops and fricatives, though a few others. The most general type is intrasyllabic affecting the vowel and consonant(s) of a given syllable. The whole syllable is classified as front or back; in front syllables only front vowels and front consonants are allowed; in back syllables the opposite is true. There is also an intersyllabic type of harmony in which words tend to consist of syllables produced with either a back or a front tongue position. In some languages, like Kazakh and Kirghiz, harmony may be extended to vowel roundness. I want to show you one example according the phonology. The word “A bear” in a different Turkic language:
​ Azeri: ayı

·         Ancient Türk: ayıg

·         Gagauz: ayı

·         Kazak: àþ (ayu)

·         Crimean Tatar: ayuv

·         Uzbek: ayiq

·         Tatar: ayu

·         Türkmen: aýy

·         Uygur: ئېيىق (ayıq)

As a Kazakh, I can read Kyrgyz news from internet but I can only understand like 20 percent when my Kyrgyz friend speaks. The main difference is in pronunciation rather than grammar and writing  as I observe. Summarize all of this I can say with a little practice, most Turkic languages could be intelligible.