Yakut language
![]() | show This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Russian. (April 2020) Click [show] for important translation instructions. |
Yakut | |
---|---|
Sakha tyla | |
саха тыла, saqa tıla | |
Pronunciation | [saxa tɯla] |
Native to | Russia |
Region | Yakutia |
Ethnicity | Yakuts (2010 census) |
Native speakers | 450,000 [1] (2010 census) |
Turkic
| |
Cyrillic | |
Official status | |
Official language in | ![]()
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | sah |
ISO 639-3 | sah |
Glottolog | yaku1245 |
ELP | Yakut |
![]() | |
Yakut,[2][3] also known as Yakutian, Sakha, Saqa or Saxa, is a Turkic language with around 450,000 native speakers spoken in Sakha (Yakutia), a federal republic in the Russian Federation, by the Yakuts.
The Yakut language differs from all other Turkic languages in the presence of a layer of vocabulary of unclear origin (possibly Paleo-Siberian). There are also a large number of words of Mongolian origin related to ancient borrowings, as well as numerous recent borrowings from Russian. Like other Turkic languages and their ancestor Proto-Turkic, Yakut is an agglutinative language and employs vowel harmony.
Classification[]
Yakut is a member of the Northeastern Common Turkic family of languages, which includes Shor, Tuvan and Dolgan in addition to Yakut. Like most Turkic languages, Yakut has vowel harmony, is agglutinative and has no grammatical gender. Word order is usually subject–object–verb. Yakut has been influenced by Tungusic and Mongolian languages.[4]
Geographic distribution[]
Yakut is spoken mainly in the Sakha Republic. It is also used by ethnic Yakuts in Khabarovsk Region and a small diaspora in other parts of the Russian Federation, Turkey, and other parts of the world. Dolgan, a close relative of Yakut, considered by some[who?] a dialect, is spoken by Dolgans in Krasnoyarsk Region. Yakut is widely used as a lingua franca by other ethnic minorities in the Sakha Republic – more Dolgans, Evenks, Evens and Yukagirs speak Yakut than their own languages. About 8% of the people of other ethnicities than Yakut living in Sakha claimed knowledge of the Yakut language during the 2002 census.[5]
Phonology[]
One characteristic feature of Yakut is vowel harmony. For example, if the first vowel of a Yakut word is a front vowel, the second and other vowels of the same word are usually the same vowel or another front vowel: кэлин (kelin) "back": э (e) is open unrounded front, и (i) is close unrounded front. Yakut initial s- corresponds to initial h- in Dolgan and played an important operative rule in the development of proto-Yakut, ultimately resulting in initial Ø- < *h- < *s- (example: Dolgan huoq and Yakut suox, both meaning "not"). The hypothetical change of *s > h (debuccalization) is a common sound-change across the world's languages, being characteristic of such languages as Greek and Indo-Iranian in their development from Proto-Indo-European, as well as such Turkic languages as Bashkir, e.g. höt 'milk' < *süt.[6] Debuccalization of /s/ to /h/ is also found as a diachronic change from Proto-Celtic to Brittonic, and has actually become a synchronic grammaticalised feature called lenition in the related Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish, and Manx).
Consonants[]
Bilabial | Dental/ alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Plosive / affricate |
voiceless | p | t | c͡ç | k | |
voiced | b | d | ɟ͡ʝ | ɡ | ||
Fricative | voiceless | s | x | h | ||
voiced | ɣ | |||||
Approximant | plain | l | j | |||
nasalized | ȷ̃ | |||||
Flap | ɾ |
- /n, t, d/ are laminal denti-alveolar [n̪, t̪, d̪], whereas /s, l, ɾ/ are alveolar [s, l, ɾ].
- /k, x, ɣ/ vary between velar [k, x, ɣ] and uvular [q, χ, ʁ].
The Sakha language (except the Dolgan language) is the only Turkic language without hushing sibilants. Also, Sakha and Khorasani Turkic are the only known Turkic languages with voiced palatal nasal /ɲ/.
Vowels[]
Front | Back | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | ||
Close | short | i | y | ɯ | u |
long | iː | yː | ɯː | uː | |
Diphthong | ie̯ | y̑ø | ɯa̯ | u̯o | |
Open | short | e | ø | a | ɔ |
long | eː | øː | aː | ɔː |
Orthography[]
Yakut is written using the Cyrillic script: the modern Yakut alphabet, established in 1939 by the Soviet Union, consists of the usual Russian characters but with five additional letters: Ҕҕ, Ҥҥ, Өө, Һһ, Үү.
Yakut alphabet (Saxalıı suruk-biçik):
Letter | Name | IPA | Note | Latin translit.[citation needed] |
---|---|---|---|---|
А а | а | /a/ | A a | |
Б б | бэ | /b/ | B b | |
В в | вэ | /v/ | found only in Russian loanwords [7] | V v |
Г г | гэ | /ɡ/ | G g | |
Ҕ ҕ | ҕэ | /ɣ, ʁ/ | Ğ ğ | |
Д д | дэ | /d/ | D d | |
Дь дь | дьэ | /ɟ͡ʝ/ | C c | |
Е е | е | /e, je/ | found only in Russian loanwords | Ye ye or e |
Ё ё | ё | /jo/ | found only in Russian loanwords | Yo yo |
Ж ж | жэ | /ʒ/ | found only in Russian loanwords | J j |
З з | зэ | /z/ | found only in Russian loanwords | Z z |
И и | и | /i/ | İ i | |
Й й | ый | /j, ȷ̃/ | Nasalization of the glide is not indicated in the orthography | Y y |
К к | кы | /k/ | K k | |
Л л | эл | /l/ | L l | |
М м | эм | /m/ | M m | |
Н н | эн | /n/ | N n | |
Ҥ ҥ | ҥэ | /ŋ/ | Ñ ñ | |
Нь нь | ньэ | /ɲ/ | Ny ny | |
О о | о | /ɔ/ | O o | |
Ө ө | ө | /ø/ | Ö ö | |
П п | пэ | /p/ | P p | |
Р р | эр | /ɾ/ | R r | |
С с | эс | /s/ | S s | |
Һ һ | һэ | /h/ | H h | |
Т т | тэ | /t/ | T t | |
У у | у | /u/ | U u | |
Ү ү | ү | /y/ | Ü ü | |
Ф ф | эф | /f/ | found only in Russian loanwords | F f |
Х х | хэ | /x, q~χ/ | Q q | |
Ц ц | цэ | /ts/ | found only in Russian loanwords | Ts ts |
Ч ч | че | /c͡ç/ | Ç ç | |
Ш ш | ша | /ʃ/ | found only in Russian loanwords | Ş ş |
Щ щ | ща | /ɕː/ | found only in Russian loanwords | Şç şç |
Ъ ъ | кытаанах бэлиэ | /◌.j/ | found only in Russian loanwords | " |
Ы ы | ы | /ɯ/ | I ı | |
Ь ь | сымнатар бэлиэ | /◌ʲ/ | natively in дь and нь (see above); otherwise only in Russian loanwords | ' |
Э э | э | /e/ | E e | |
Ю ю | ю | /ju/ | found only in Russian loanwords | Yu yu |
Я я | я | /ja/ | found only in Russian loanwords | Ya ya |
Grammar[]
Syntax[]
The typical word order can be summarized as subject – adverb – object – verb; possessor – possessed; noun – adjective.
Nouns[]
Nouns have plural and singular forms. The plural is formed with the suffix /-LAr/, which may surface as -лар (-lar), -лэр (-ler), -лөр (-lör), -лор (-lor), -тар (-tar), -тэр (-ter), -төр (-tör), -тор (-tor), -дар (-dar), -дэр (-der), -дөр (-dör), -дор (-dor), -нар (-nar), -нэр (-ner), -нөр (-nör), or -нор (-nor), depending on the preceding consonants and vowels. The plural is used only when referring to a number of things collectively, not when specifying an amount. Nouns have no gender.
Final sound basics | Plural affix options | Examples |
---|---|---|
Vowels, л | -лар, -лэр, -лор, -лөр | Кыыллар (beasts), эһэлэр (bears), оҕолор (children), бөрөлөр (wolves) |
к, п, с, т, х | -тар, -тэр, -тор, -төр | Аттар (horses), күлүктэр (shadows), оттор (herbs), бөлөхтөр (groups) |
й, р | -дар, -дэр, -дор, -дөр | Баайдар (rich people)*, эдэрдэр (young people)*, хотойдор (eagles), көтөрдөр (birds) |
м, н, ҥ | -нар, -нэр, -нор, -нөр | Кыымнар (sparks), илимнэр (fishing nets), ороннор (beds), бөдөҥнөр (they're large)* |
Notes[]
* Adjectives can also be nouns. So, for example, улахан is big (something/someone) and улаханнар is bigs (something/someones) or correctly they are big.
There are exceptions: уол (boy) — уолаттар (boys) and кыыс (girl) — кыргыттар (girls).
Pronouns[]
Personal pronouns in Yakut distinguish between first, second, and third persons and singular and plural number.
Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|
1st person | мин (min) | биһиги (bihigi) | |
2nd person | эн (en) | эһиги (ehigi) | |
3rd person | human | кини (kini) | кинилэр (kiniler) |
non-human | ол (ol) | олор (olor) |
Although nouns have no gender, the pronoun system distinguishes between human and non-human in the third person, using кини (kini, 'he/she') to refer to human beings and ол (ol, 'it') to refer to all other things.[8]
Questions[]
Question words in Yakut remain in-situ; they do not move to the front of the sentence. Sample question words include: туох (tuox) "what", ким (kim) "who", хайдах (xaydax) "how", хас (xas) "how much", ханна (xanna) "where", and ханнык (xannık) "which".
Vocabulary[]
Yakut (Cyrillic) | Yakut (Latin) | Turkish | Azerbaijani | English | Mongolian (Cyrillic)
/Mongolian (Latin) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
��ччыктааһын | aççıktahin | açlık | aclıq | hunger | өлсгөлөн / ölsgölön |
аччык | aççık | aç | ac | hungry | өлссөн / ölssön |
аат | aat | ad | ad | name | нэр / ner |
балык | balık | balık | balıq | fish | загас / zagas |
балыксыт | balıksıt | balıkçı | balıqçı | fisherman | загасчин / zagaschin |
yy | uu | su | su | water | ус /us |
тимир | timir | demir | dəmir | iron | төмөр /tömör |
күөл | küöl | göl | göl | lake | нуур /nuur |
атах | atax | ayak | ayaq | foot | |
мурун | murun | burun | burun | nose | |
баттах | battax | saç | saç | hair | үс /üs |
илии | ilii | el | əl | hand | |
күн | kün | gün | gün | day, sun | |
муус | muus | buz | buz | ice | мөс /mös |
ыт | ıt | it | it | dog | |
сүрэх | sürex | yürek | ürək | heart | зүрх /zürx |
сарсын | sarsın | yarın | sabah | tomorrow | |
бүгүн | bügün | bugün | bugün | today | |
былыт | bılıt | bulut | bulud | cloud | |
хаар | xaar | kar | qar | snow | |
хаан | xaan | kan | qan | blood | |
эт | et | et | ət | meat | |
тиис | tiis | diş | diş | tooth | |
ат | at | at | at | horse | |
таас | taas | taş | daş | stone | |
үүт | üüt | süt | süd | milk | сүү /süü |
ынах | ınax | inek | inək | cow | үнээ /ünee |
хара | xara | kara | qara | black | хар / xar |
сыттык | sıttık | yastık | yastıq | pillow | |
быһах | bıhax | bıçak | bıçaq | knife | |
бытык | bıtık | bıyık | bığ | mustache | |
кыс, кыһын | kıs, kıhın | kış, kışın | qış, qışın | winter | |
туус | tuus | tuz | duz | salt | |
тыл | tıl | dil | dil | tongue, language | хэл /xel |
cаха тылa | saxa tıla | saha dili, sahaca | saxa dili, saxaca | Yakut language | Якут хэл / Yakut khel |
кыыс | kııs | kız | qız | girl, daughter | |
уол | uol | oğul, oğlan | oğul, oğlan | son, boy | |
үөрэтээччи | üöreteeççi | öğretici, öğretmen | müəllim | teacher | |
үөрэнээччи | üöreneeççi | öğrenci,talebe | şagird, tələbə | student | |
уһун | uhun | uzun | uzun | long, tall | |
кулгаах | kulgaax | kulak | qulaq | ear | |
сыл | sıl | yıl | il | year | жил /jil |
киһи | kihi | kişi | insan, kişi | human, man | хүн /hün |
суол | suol | yol | yol | road, way | |
асчыт | asçıt | aşçı | aşbaz | cook | |
тараах | taraax | tarak | daraq | comb | |
орто | orto | orta | orta | middle | |
күн ортото | kün ortoto | gün ortası | günorta | midday, noon | |
күл | kül | gülmek | gülmək | to laugh | |
өл | öl | ölmek | ölmək | to die | |
ис | is | içmek | içmək | to drink | |
бил | bil | bilmek | bilmək | to know | |
көр | kör | görmek | görmək | to see | хар /xar |
үөрэн | üören | öğrenmek | öyrənmək | to learn | |
үөрэт | üöret | öğretmek | öyrətmək | to teach | |
ытыр | ıtır | ısırmak | dişləmək | to bite | |
хас | xas | kazmak | qazmaq | to dig | |
тик | tik | dikiş dikmek, dikmek | tikiş, tikmək | to sew | |
кэл | kel | gelmek | gəlmək | to come | |
салаа | salaa | yalamak | yalamaq | to lick | |
тараа | taraa | taramak | daramaq | to comb | |
биэр | bier | vermek | vermək | to give | |
бул | bul | bulmak | tapmaq | to find | |
диэ | die | demek | demək | to say | |
киир | kiir | girmek | girmək | to enter | |
иһит | ihit | işitmek | eşitmək | to hear | |
ас | as | açmak | açmaq | to open | |
тут | tut | tutmak | tutmaq | to hold |
Numbers[]
In this table, the Yakut numbers are written in Latin transcription (see Writing system).
Old Turkic | Azerbaijani | Turkish | Yakut | English |
---|---|---|---|---|
bir | bir | bir | biir | one |
eki | iki | iki | ikki | two |
üç | üç | üç | üs | three |
tört | dörd | dört | tüört | four |
beş | beş | beş | bies | five |
altı | altı | altı | alta | six |
yeti | yeddi | yedi | sette | seven |
sekiz | səkkiz | sekiz | ağis | eight |
tokuz | doqquz | dokuz | toğus | nine |
on | on | on | uon | ten |
Literature[]
The first printing in Yakut was a part of a book by Nicolaas Witsen published in 1692 in Amsterdam.[9]
In 2005, Marianne Beerle-Moor, director of the Institute for Bible Translation, Russia/CIS, was awarded the Order of Civil Valour by the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) for the translation of the New Testament into Yakut.[10]
Oral traditions[]
The Yakut have a tradition of oral epic in their language called "Olonkho", traditionally performed by skilled performers. Only a very few older performers of this Olonkho tradition are still alive. They have begun a program to teach young people to sing this in their language and revive it, though in a modified form.[11]
Examples[]
Article 1 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Novgorodov's alphabet 1920–1929. (Latin alphabet/IPA) | зɔn barɯta beje s![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() barɯ ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() tɯlga ki:riniges bɯhɯ:lara dɔʃɔrdɔhu: tɯ:nna:q b ![]() ![]() |
Latin alphabet 1929—1939. (Yañalif) | Çon вarьta вeje suoltatьgar uonna вьraaвьgar teꞑ вuolan tɵryyller. Kiniler вarь ɵrkɵn ɵjdɵɵq, suoвastaaq вuolan tɵryyller, uonna вeje вejeleriger tьlga kiiriniges вьhььlara doƣordohuu tььnnaaq вuoluoqtaaq. |
Modern Cyrillic 1939—present. | Дьон барыта бэйэ суолтатыгар уонна быраабыгар тэҥ буолан төрүүллэр. Кинилэр бары өркөн өйдөөх, суобастаах буолан төрүүллэр, уонна бэйэ бэйэлэригэр тылга кииринигэс быһыылара доҕордоһуу тыыннаах буолуохтаах. |
English | All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. |
See also[]
- Yakuts
- Dolgan language
- Semyon Novgorodov – the inventor of the first IPA-based Yakut alphabet
References[]
- ^ [1], Russian census 2010
- ^ [2], Yakut language, Omniglot
- ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forke, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2020). "Sakha". Glottolog 4.3.
- ^ Forsyth, James (1994). A History of the Peoples of Siberia: Russia's North Asian Colony 1581-1990. Cambridge University Press. p. 56. ISBN 9780521477710.
Their language...Turkic in its vocabulary and grammar, shows the influence of both Tungus and Mongolian
- ^ Russian Census 2002. 6. Владение языками (кроме русского) населением отдельных национальностей по республикам, автономной области и автономным округам Российской Федерации (Knowledge of languages other than Russian by the population of republics, autonomous oblast and autonomous districts) (in Russian)
- ^ Ubrjatova, E. I. 1960 Opyt sravnitel'nogo izuc˙enija fonetic˙eskix osobennostej naselenija nekotoryx rajonov Jakutskoj ASSR. Moscow. 1985. Jazyk noril'skix dolgan. Novosibirsk: "Nauka" SO. In Tungusic Languages 2 (2): 1–32. Historical Aspects of Yakut (Saxa) Phonology. Gregory D. S. Anderson. University of Chicago.
- ^ Krueger, John R. (1962). Yakut Manual. Bloomington: Indiana U Press.
- ^ Kirişçioğlu, M. Fatih (1999). Saha (Yakut) Türkçesi Grameri. Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu. ISBN 975-16-0587-3.
- ^ "Предпосылки возникновения якутской книги". Память Якутии. Retrieved 2014-10-29.
- ^ "People". Institute for Bible Translation, Russia/CIS. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
- ^ Robin Harris. 2012. Sitting "under the mouth": decline and revitalization in the Skha epic tradition "Olonkho". Doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia.
External links[]
![]() |
Sakha edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
![]() |
Yakut language test of Wiktionary at Wikimedia Incubator |
![]() |
Sakha edition of Wikisource, the free library |
![]() |
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Sakha phrasebook. |
[]
- Yakut Vocabulary List (from the World Loanword Database)
- Yakut thematic vocabulary lists
- [3]
- Comparison of Yakut and Mongolian vocabulary
- Yakut texts with Russian translations in the Internet Archive – heroic poetry, fairy tales, legends, proverbs, etc.
- Sakhalyy suruk – Yakut Unicode fonts and Keyboard Layouts for PC
- Sakhatyla.ru – On-line Yakut–Russian, Russian–Yakut dictionary
- Yakut–English Dictionary
- BGN/PCGN romanization tool for Yakut
- Sakha Open World Archived 2006-06-19 at the Wayback Machine – mp3's of Sakha Radio
Content in Yakut[]
- Sakha Open World – Орто Дойду Archived 2017-09-22 at the Wayback Machine – A platform to promote the Yakut Language on the web; News, Lyrics, Music, Fonts, Forum, VideoNews (in Yakut, Unicode)
- Baayaga village website – news and stories about and by the people of Baayaga (in Yakut)
- Kyym.ru – site of Yakut newspaper
- Sakha language
- Agglutinative languages
- Vowel-harmony languages
- Languages of Russia
- Turkic languages