The Turkic Languages

by Lars Johanson (Editor), Éva Á. Csató (Editor)

Overview

The Turkic languages are spoken today in a vast geographical area stretching from southern Iran to the Arctic Ocean and from the Balkans to the great wall of China. There are currently 20 literary languages in the group, the most important among them being Turkish with over 70 million speakers; other major languages covered include Azeri, Bashkir, Chuvash, Gagauz, Karakalpak, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Noghay, Tatar, Turkmen, Uyghur, Uzbek, Yakut, Yellow Uyghur and languages of Iran and South Siberia.

The Turkic Languages is a reference book which brings together detailed discussions of the historical development and specialized linguistic structures and features of the languages in the Turkic family. Seen from a linguistic typology point of view, Turkic languages are particularly interesting because of their astonishing morphosyntactic regularity, their vast geographical distribution, and their great stability over time.

This volume builds upon a work which has already become a defining classic of Turkic language study. The present, thoroughly revised edition updates and augments those authoritative accounts and reflects recent and ongoing developments in the languages themselves, as well as our further enhanced understanding of the relations and patterns of influence between them. The result is the fruit of decades-long experience in the teaching of the Turkic languages, their philology and literature, and also of a wealth of new insights into the linguistic phenomena and cultural interactions defining their development and use, both historically and in the present day.

Each chapter combines modern linguistic analysis with traditional historical linguistics; a uniform structure allows for easy typological comparison between the individual languages. Written by an international team of experts, The Turkic Languages will be invaluable to students and researchers within linguistics, Turcology, and Near Eastern and Oriental Studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415738569
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/28/2021
Series:	Routledge Language Family Series
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lars Johanson, one of the world’s leading Turcologists, was born and educated at Uppsala University in Sweden. He is professor of Turcology at the University of Mainz, Germany. He has published widely on descriptive and historical linguistics, mostly focusing on the Turkic language family. His book Turkic (2021) presents his pioneering contributions to Turkic linguistics and language typology. He edits the journal Turkic Languages and the monograph series Turcologica.

Éva Á. Csató, born in Hungary, is professor emeritus in Turkic languages at Uppsala University, Sweden. She studied linguistics and Turcology at the University of Oslo. Her research interests include Turkic linguistics, syntactic typology, contact linguistics, documentation, and revitalization of endangered Turkic languages. She has published over 100 articles and edited more than 10 volumes on different Turkic linguistic topics. She is on the editorial board of the journal Turkic Languages.

Table of Contents

Contents

List of Tables and Figures

List of Contributors

Preface

A General Introduction to the Turkic Family

The Structure of the Volume

Changes

Limitations

Diversity and Harmonization

Acknowledgements

Transcription and Notations

Actants

Name Forms

Transcription

Vowels

Basic Vowels

Non-prime Vowels

Consonants

Suffix Notations

Parentheses

Other Signs

Abbreviations in Glosses

1 The Speakers of Turkic Languages Hendrik Boeschoten

2 The Turkic Peoples: A Historical Sketch Peter B. Golden

3 The Structure of Turkic Lars Johanson

4 The Reconstruction of Proto-Turkic and the Genealogical Question András Róna-Tas

5 Transeurasian Martine Robbeets

6 The History of Turkic Lars Johanson

7 Turkic Writing Systems András Róna-Tas

8 East Old Turkic Lars Johanson

9 West Old Turkic László Károly

10 Middle Kipchak Árpád Berta and Éva Á. Csató

11 Chaghatay Hendrik Boeschoten

12 Ottoman Turkish Celia Kerslake

13 Turkish Éva Á. Csató and Lars Johanson

14 Turkish Dialects Bernt Brendemoen

15 The Turkish Language Reform Bernt Brendemoen

16 Gagauz Astrid Menz

17 Azeri Elisabetta Ragagnin

18 Turkmen Birsel Karakoç

19 Turkic Languages of Iran Christiane Bulut

20 Tatar and Bashkir Árpád Berta

21 West Kipchak Languages Árpád Berta & Éva Á. Csató

22 Kazakh and Karakalpak Aynur Abish

23 Noghay Birsel Karakoç

24 Kirghiz Birsel Karakoç and Kenjegül Kalieva

25 Uzbek Hendrik Boeschoten

26 Uyghur Abdurishid Yakup

27 Yellow Uyghur and Salar Abdurishid Yakup

28 South Siberian Turkic Claus Schönig and Irina Nevskaya

29 Yakut Astrid Menz and Vladimir Monastyrev

30 Chuvash Klára Agyagási

Index