Siberian Turkic languages

Siberian Turkic languages
Name	Siberian Turkic
Region	Siberia, Mongolia, Xinjiang
Familycolor	Altaic
Fam1	Turkic languages
Child1	Northern Altai
Child2	Southern Altai
Child3	Chulym
Child4	Dolgan
Child5	Khakas
Child6	Shor
Child7	Siberian Tatar
Child8	Tofa
Child9	Tuvan
Child10	Yakut
Iso5	tut
Glotto	nort2688
Glottorefname	North Siberian Turkic

Siberian Turkic languages. They constitute a primary branch of the Turkic languages spoken across the vast expanses of North Asia. These languages are traditionally spoken by indigenous communities in Southern Siberia, parts of the Russian Far East, and into Northeast China and Mongolia. Their development has been significantly shaped by prolonged contact with neighboring Uralic languages, Mongolic languages, and Tungusic languages.

Classification and Subgroups

The Siberian Turkic branch is commonly divided into two major subgroups. The **Northern** or **Siberian Proper** subgroup includes languages such as Yakut, Dolgan, and the Sayan Turkic languages like Tuvan and Tofa. The **Southern** or **Yenisei** subgroup encompasses languages like Khakas, Shor, and Chulym. Some classifications also place Altai languages, divided into Northern and Southern varieties, within this branch, though their position is sometimes debated. The distinct Siberian Tatar dialects also show affiliations with this group, particularly through interaction with Kipchak languages.

Geographical Distribution

These languages are dispersed across the Russian Federation, primarily within specific republics and oblasts. Yakut, the most widely spoken, is the state language of the Sakha Republic. Tuvan is official in the Tuva Republic, while Khakas holds official status in the Republic of Khakassia. Smaller languages like Shor are concentrated in Kemerovo Oblast, and Tofa speakers reside near the shores of Lake Baikal in Irkutsk Oblast. Outside Russia, related dialects are found among the Altai people in Mongolia and the Fuyu Kyrgyz in Heilongjiang province, China.

Historical Development

The proto-language of this branch is believed to have diverged from Common Turkic following migrations north and east from the Altai Mountains region. The history of the Yakuts involves a notable northward expansion into the Lena River basin, where they absorbed influences from Evenks and other Paleosiberian languages. The Sayan region, encompassing Tuva and northern Mongolia, has been a historical crossroads, with languages like Tuvan absorbing substantial lexical and phonological influence from Mongolic languages. The establishment of the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union brought profound demographic and linguistic shifts, including Russification policies and the introduction of Cyrillic script.

Phonological Features

Several phonological traits distinguish these languages from other Turkic branches. Many exhibit vowel harmony, though it is simplified or lost in some, like in Chulym. A notable feature is the development of an initial **h-** sound from proto-Turkic ***s-** in certain words, observable in Tuvan and Tofa. Consonantism often includes specific developments, such as Yakut's distinctive palatalized consonants and the preservation of intervocalic **-s-**, which becomes **-z-** in most other Turkic languages. Contact with Samoyedic languages and Tungusic languages has also contributed to unique phonetic inventories in several languages.

Grammatical Characteristics

Grammatically, they retain core Turkic agglutinative structure but with innovations. Case systems are generally elaborate; Yakut, for instance, has a rich set of spatial cases. The verb system features complex paradigms for tense, aspect, mood, and evidentiality, with Tuvan notably developing a distinct set of evidential endings. Possession is marked by suffixes on nouns, and predicate adjectives often take personal markers. Syntactically, they are predominantly subject–object–verb languages, though contact with Russian has introduced alternative constructions in modern speech.

Current Status and Vitality

Vitality varies dramatically across the branch. Yakut, with over 450,000 speakers, is relatively vigorous and used in media, literature, and education within the Sakha Republic. Tuvan also maintains strong community transmission. In contrast, languages like Tofa and Chulym are critically endangered, with only a handful of elderly fluent speakers remaining. Revitalization efforts are underway, often supported by local institutions like the Institute for Humanities Research and Indigenous Studies of the North and activists promoting education and cultural documentation, but they face challenges from the dominant Russian language.

Category:Turkic languages Category:Languages of Russia Category:Languages of Siberia