Jump to content

Kumyk language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with the Kalmyk language.
Kumyk
къумукъ тил
qumuq til • قوموق تیل
Kumyk written in Cyrillic script, along with obsolete Latin and Perso-Arabic counterparts.
Native toNorth Caucasus
RegionDagestan, Chechnya, North Ossetia
EthnicityKumyks
Native speakers
400,000 (2020)
Turkic
Cyrillic, Latin, Arabic
Official status
Official language in
Dagestan (Russia)
Language codes
ISO 639-2kum
ISO 639-3kum
Glottologkumy1244
Share of the Kumyk population in areas of traditional residence in the Caucasus according to the 2010 census
Kumyk is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger[1]
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Linguistic map of the Caucasus region: Kumyk is spoken in the dark blue area, numbered "25."
External videos
YouTube logo
A series of videos about the similarities of languages
video icon Comparison of Kumyk and Tatar languages

Kumyk (къумукъ тил,[2] qumuq til,[3] قوموق تیل[4][5]) is a Turkic language spoken by about 400,000 people, mainly by the Kumyks, in the Dagestan, North Ossetia and Chechen republics of the Russian Federation.[6] Until the 20th century Kumyk was the lingua franca of the Northern Caucasus.

Classification

[edit]

Kumyk language belongs to the Kipchak-Cuman subfamily of the Kipchak family of the Turkic languages. It's a descendant of the Cuman language, with likely influence from the Khazar language,[7] and in addition contains words from the Bulghar and Oghuz substratum.[7] The closest languages to Kumyk are Karachay-Balkar, Crimean Tatar, and Karaim languages.[8]

Nikolay Baskakov, based on a 12th-century scripture named Codex Cumanicus, included modern Kumyk, Karachai-Balkar, Crimean Tatar, Karaim, and the language of Mamluk Kipchaks in the linguistic family of the Cuman-Kipchak language. Samoylovich also considered Cuman-Kipchak close to Kumyk and Karachai-Balkar.[9]

Amongst the dialects of the Kumyk there are Kaitag, Terek (Güçük-yurt and Braguny), Buynaksk (Temir-Khan-Shura) and Xasavyurt. The latter two became basis for the literary language.[10]

History

[edit]

Kumyk had been a lingua-franca of the bigger part of the Northern Caucasus, from Dagestan to Kabarda, until the 1930s[11][12][13] and was an official language of communication between the North-Eastern Caucasian nations and the Russian administration.[14] The language was known in Dagestan as simply Muslim language (Kumyk: бусурман тил, busurman til, بوسورمان تیل) due to its domniant role as the intertribal language of communication among various Muslim communities of the region.[15]

The historian Georgi Derluguian made the following analogy with regards to the role of Turkic languages ​​in the Caucasus and beyond:[16]

“... For almost a thousand years, the Turkic languages ​​that dominated the peoples of the steppe – Kumyk and Tatar – served, like Swahili in East Africa or French among the aristocracies of Europe, as a common lingua franca in the multinational North Caucasus...”

In 1848, a professor of the "Caucasian Tatar" (Kumyk) Timofey Makarov published the first ever grammatical book in the Russian language for one of the Northern Caucasian languages, which was international Kumyk. Makarov wrote:[17]

From the peoples speaking Tatar language I liked the most Kumyks, as for their language's distinction and precision, so for their closeness to the European civilization, but most importantly, I take in account that they live on the Left Flank of the Caucasian Front, where we're conducting military actions, and where all the peoples, apart from their own language, speak also Kumyk.

During the Soviet era, the role of Kumyk was consolidated when in 1923, it was declared to be the state language of Dagestan ASSR due to the fact that "the majority of the population of indigenous Dagestan speaks and understands the Turkic-Kumyk language... the experience of teaching the Turkic language in the schools of Mountainous Dagestan gave brilliant results... it was noted... that the “Turkic-Kumyk” language is the only language of communication of the citizens of indigenous Dagestan."[18]

Over the decades, this has changed, and Russian has displaced Kumyk as the language of education and inter-ethnic communication in Dagestan. Today, more than 90% of the Kumyks, according to 2010 census, also speak Russian, and those in Turkey and the Levant speak Turkish and Arabic.[citation needed]

Phonology

[edit]
Kumyk vowels
Front Back
Close i ⟨и⟩ y ⟨уь⟩ ɯ ⟨ы⟩ u ⟨у⟩
Mid e ⟨e⟩ ø ⟨оь⟩ o ⟨o⟩
Open æ ⟨ә⟩ a ⟨a⟩
Kumyk consonants
Labial Dental Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m ⟨м⟩ n ⟨н⟩ ŋ ⟨нг⟩ (ɴ) ⟨нг⟩
Plosive/
Affricate 		voiceless p ⟨п⟩ t ⟨т⟩ tʃ ⟨ч⟩ k ⟨к⟩ q ⟨къ⟩[a]
voiced b ⟨б⟩ d ⟨д⟩ dʒ ⟨дж⟩ ɡ ⟨г⟩ (ɢ) ⟨къ⟩[a]
Fricative voiceless f ⟨ф⟩ s ⟨c⟩ ʃ ⟨ш⟩ χ ⟨x⟩ h ⟨гь⟩
voiced β ⟨в⟩ z ⟨з⟩ ʒ ⟨ж⟩ ʁ ⟨гъ⟩
Liquid rhotic r ⟨p⟩
lateral l ⟨л⟩
Semivowel j ⟨й⟩
  1. ^ a b къ represents [ɢ] at the beginning of words, and [q] elsewhere (complementary distribution).[19]

Orthography

[edit]

Kumyk has been used as a lingua franca in Dagestan and Caucasus for some time.

The historic literary culture of Kumyks and the entire region of Dagestan, North Caucasus, and Southern Ukraine was the Cuman language. Kumyk is a direct descendant of Cuman, and its centuries-long literaray tradition was a direct continuation of Cuman.

The oldest record of Kumyk language being written in the Arabic script, goes back to the mid-17th century. From the begining of the 19th century, Kumyk literary language began to expand and grow, with an increase in the number of publications and books[20].

The orthography of Kumyk was derived from the Arabic script, although with minor modifications, only several additional letters, same as in Persian alphabet, to represent consonants. Vowels, of which there exists a relatively large number of them in Turkic languages, and in Kumyk in particular (8 or 9 vowels) were rarely and irregularly written in the Arabic script, with the use of matres lectionis, the three letters ʾalif ا, wāw و and yāʾ ي. This meant that, overall, this script was far from being adapted to Kumyk phonology.

In the beginning of the 20th century, parallel with other Turkic-Muslim minority ethnic groups within the Russian Empire, Kumyk speaking literaturists decided to undertake the task of standardization and improvement of the Arabic script. It was in this era that Kumyk literature flourished, and many poets, educators, and publishers rose. The first attempt at compiling an improved orthographic convention was done in 1915, by Abdulhalim Jengutaevsky" in the preface of his Kumyk translation of the poem Layla and Majnun, published in Temir-Khan-Shura.

In the following years, vowel representations were standardized, and Arabic letters that had the same pronounciation in Karachay-Balkar were dropped and consolidated (For example the letters ث and ص were dropped in favour of the letter س).[20]

Later, as part of a new state campaign of Latinisation, a Latin alphabet was developed for Kumyk, derived from Yañalif, being officially adopted in 1928.[20][21].

In the 1930s, the official Soviet policy was revised and the process of Cyrillization of Soviet languages was started. In 1938 the new alphabet based on Cyrillic letters was officially adopted, which remains the official alphabet for Kumyk up till today.[20]

With the fall of the Soviet Union, with an increased prospect in international connection among Turkic peoples, a project to develop Latin alphabet again, but derived from modern Turkish orthograhpy was undertaken. Several online publications, as well as many individuals using social media, have adopted this script as well.[22]

Modern Cyrillic Alphabet

[edit]

Below is the Kumyk Cyrillic alphabet, adopted in 1938, and ramining in use in its original composition up till today.

А а
[a] 		Б б
[b] 		В в
[β]/[v] 		Г г
[g] 		Гъ гъ
[ʁ]/[ɣ] 		Гь гь
[h] 		Д д
[d] 		Е е (1)
[je]/[e]
Ё ё (2)
[ø]/[jø]/[jo] 		Ж ж
[dʒ]/[ʒ] 		З з
[z] 		И и
[i] 		Й й
[j] 		К к
[k] 		Къ къ
[q]/[ɢ] 		Л л
[l]
М м
[m] 		Н н
[n] 		Нг нг
[ŋ] 		О о
[o] 		Оь оь (2)
[ø] 		П п
[p] 		Р р
[r] 		С с
[s]
Т т
[t] 		У у
[u]/[w] 		Уь уь (3)
[y] 		Ф ф
[f] 		Х х
[x]/[χ] 		Ц ц
[ts] 		Ч ч
[tʃ] 		Ш ш
[ʃ]
Щ щ
[ɕː] 		Ъ ъ
[ʔ] 		Ы ы
[ɯ] 		Ь ь
[◌ʲ] 		Э э (1)
[e] 		Ю ю (3)
[y]/[jy]/[ju] 		Я я
[ja]
Notes
  1. In native Kumyk words, as well as in Arabic and Persian loanwords, for words starting with vowel [e], the letter э is only used in word-initial position. In the middle of words, the letter е is used. If the letter е is used at the beginning of a word, it will have the sound [je].
  2. The letter ё:
    • if used at the beginning of a word, in which there are other front vowels, or either гor к, it will have a [jø] sound. In other cases, if in the begining of a word, it will have a [jo] sound.
    • To represent the vowel [ø] at the beginning of the word, the digraph оь is used.
    • if used in the middle or end of a word, and following a front vowel, it will also make a [jø] sound, if following a back vowel, it will make a [jo] sound.
    • if used in the middle of the word and following a consonant, it will have a [ø] sound.
  1. The letter ю:
    • if used at the beginning of a word, in which there are other front vowels, or either гor к, it will have a [jy] sound. In other cases, if in the begining of a word, it will have a [ju] sound.
    • To represent the vowel [y] at the beginning of the word, the digraph уь is used.
    • if used in the middle or end of a word, and following a front vowel, it will also make a [jy] sound, if following a back vowel, it will make a [ju] sound.
    • if used in the middle of the word and following a consonant, it will have a [y] sound.

Over the decades, proposals to further improve the Cyrillic script have been raised. For example, it was proposed to have the digraphs гъ, гь, къ, нг, оь/ё, and уь/ю with single letters ғ, һ, қ, ң, ө, and ү respectively; it was also to introduce a letter ў to represent the sound [β] and distinguish said sound with the sound [v] both written with the letter в; and to introduce a letter җ to represent the sound [dʒ] and distinguish said sound with the sound [ʒ] both written with the letter ж. None of these policies were adopted in Kumyk orthography.[20]


Latin based alphabet (1927–1937)

[edit]
Kumyk alphabet from newly introduced Latin school book (1935).
A a B b C c Ç ç D d E e F f G g
Ƣ ƣ H h I i J j K k L l M m N n
Ꞑ ꞑ O o Ɵ ɵ P p Q q R r S s Ꞩ ꞩ
T t U u V v X x Y y Z z Ƶ ƶ Ь ь

Comparison Chart

[edit]

Compiled from:[20][23]

Arabic
alphabet
1921—1928 		Latin
1928—1938 		Cyrillic
c 1938 		Latin
project 1991 		IPA
ا A a А а A a, Ä ä /a/, /æ/
ب B ʙ Б б B b /b/
و, ۋ V v В в V v, W w /v/, /w/
گ G g Г г G g /g/
غ Ƣ ƣ Гъ гъ Ğ ğ /ʁ/
ه H h Гь гь H h /h/
د D d Д д D d /d/
- Je je, e Е е Ye ye, E e
- Ө ө Ё ё Yo yo, Ö ö
ج, ژ Ƶ ƶ, Ç ç Ж ж C c, J j /d͡ʒ/, /ʒ/
ز Z z З з Z z /z/
ى I i И и İ i /i/
ى J j Й й Y y /j/
ک K k К к K k /k/
ق Q q Къ къ Q q /q/
ل L l Л л L l /l/
م M m М м M m /m/
ن N n Н н N n /n/
نگ,ڭ Ꞑ ꞑ Нг нг Ñ ñ /ŋ/
ۉ O o О о O o /o/
ۊ Ө ө Оь оь Ö ö /ø/
پ P p П п P p /p/
ر R r Р р R r /r/
س S s С с S s /s/
ت T t Т т T t /t/
و U u У у U u /u/
ۏ Y y Уь уь Ü ü /y/
ف F f Ф ф F f /f/
خ X x Х х X x /x/
تس S̷ s̷ Ц ц Ts ts
چ C c Ч ч Ç ç /t͡ʃ/
ش Ş ş Ш ш Ş ş /ʃ/
Щ щ Şç şç
ء ' Ъ ъ ' /ʔ/, /ʕ/
ى Ь ь Ы ы I ı /ɯ/
Ь ь
ه E e Э э E e /e/, /æ/
Ju ju Ю ю Yu yu, Ü ü
Ja ja Я я Ya ya, Ä ä /æ/

Literature and media

[edit]

Irchi Kazak (Ийрчы Къазакъ Yırçı Qazaq; born 1839) is usually considered to be the greatest poet of the Kumyk language. The first regular Kumyk newspapers and magazines appeared in 1917–18 under the editorship of Kumyk poet, writer, translator, and theatre figure Temirbolat Biybolatov (Temirbolat Biybolat). Currently, the newspaper Ёлдаш (Yoldash, "Companion"), the successor of the Soviet-era Ленин ёлу (Lenin yolu, "Lenin's Path"), prints around 5,000 copies 3 times a week.[citation needed]

The Kumyk language was learned by Russian classical authors such as Leo Tolstoy[24] and Mikhail Lermontov,[25] both of whom served in the Caucasus. The language is present in such works of Tolstoy as "The Raid",[26] Cossacks,[27] Hadji Murat, and Lermontov's - "A Hero of Our Time",[28][25] Bestuzhev-Marlinsky's - "Molla-nur" and "Ammalat-bek".

Language example

[edit]

Below is the translation of the Christian Lord's Prayer in Kumyk, in a variety of scripts.[29]

In Cyrillic Transliteration [30] Translation
Гьей кёклердеги Атабыз! Инсанлар Сени сыйлы атынгны гьюрметлесин дагъы. Сени гьакимлигинг токъташсын дагъы. Кёкде йимик, ерде де Сени айтгъанынг болсун дагъы. Бугюн бизге гюнлюк азыгъыбызны бер. Бизин гюнагьларыбыздан геч! Бизге яманлыкъ этгенлерден барындан да биз де гечебиз. Бизин артыкъ сынавлагъа салма, иблисден де бизин сакъла. Амин! Hej köklerdegi Atabyz! Insanlar Seni cyjly atyŋny hürmetlesin daǧy. Seni hakimligiŋ toqtašsyn daǧy. Kökde jimik, erde de seni ajtǧanyŋ bolsun daǧy. Bugün bizge günlük azyǧybyzny ber. Bizin günahlarybyzdan geč! Bizge jamanlyq etgenlerden baryndan da biz de gečbiz. Bizin artyq synawlarǧa salma, iblisden de bizin saqla. Amin! Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen!
Latin Project
(1991-) 		Latin Yañalif
(1928-1938) 		Arabic Alphabet (1921-1928)
Hey köklerdegi Atabız! İnsanlar Seni sıylı atıñnı hürmetlesin dağı. Seni hakimligiñ toqtaşsın dağı. Kökde yimik, erde de seni aytğanıñ bolsun dağı. Bugün bizge günlük azığıbıznı ber. Bizin günahlarıbızdan geç! Bizge yamanlıq etgenlerden barından da biz de geçebiz. Bizin artıq sınawlarğa salma, iblisden de bizin saqla. Amin! Hej kөklerdegi Atabьz! Insanlar seni sьjlь atьᶇnь hyrmetlesin daƣь. Seni hakimligiᶇ toqtaşsьn daƣь. Kөkde jimik, erde de seni aytƣanьᶇ bolsun daƣь. Bugyn bizge gynlyk azьƣьbьznь ber. Bizin gynahlarьbьzdan gec! Bizge yamanlьq etgenlerden barьndan da biz de gecebiz. Bizin artьq sьnavlaƣa salma, iblisden de bizin saqla. Amin! ھەی كۊكلەردەگی آتابیز! اینسانلار سەنی سییلی آتیڭنی ھۏرمەتلەسین داغی. سەنی ھاكیملیگیڭ توٓ‎قتاشسین داغی. كۊكدە ییمیك، اەردە دە سەنی آیتغانیڭ بوٓ‎لسون داغی. بوگۏن بیزگە گۏنلۏك آزیغیبیزنی بەر. بیزین گۏناھلاریبیزدان گەچ! بیزگە یامانلیق اەتگەنلەردەن بارندان دا بیز دە گەچەبیز. بیزین آرتیق سیناولارغا سالما، ایبلیسدەن ده بیزین ساقلا. آمین!‎

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Saodat Doniyorova and Toshtemirov Qahramonil. Parlons Koumyk. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2004. ISBN 2-7475-6447-9.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Kumyk in Russian Federation". UNESCO WAL. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  2. ^ L. S. Levitskaya, "Kumyk language", in Languages of the world. Turkic languages (1997). (in Russian)
  3. ^ Book review Retrieved 1 March 2023
  4. ^ Ногайские и Кумыкский тексты, 1883, М.-Э. Османов, СпБ
  5. ^ Татарская грамматика кавказского наречия / Сост. Т. Макаровым. - Тифлис : тип. Канцелярии наместника кавк., 1848
  6. ^ "Kumyksky yazyk | Malye yazyki Rossii" Кумыкский язык | Малые языки России [Kumyk language | Minor languages of Russia]. minlang.iling-ran.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  7. ^ a b Baskakov, N.A. (1969). Vvedenie v izuchenie tyurkskikh yazykov Введение в изучение тюркских языков [Introduction to the study of Turkic languages]. Moscow: Vyssh. shkola. p. 236. OCLC 642737.
  8. ^ Aliev, K.M.-C., ed. (2012). Kumyksky entsiklopedichesky slovar Кумыкский энциклопедический словарь [Kumyk encyclopedic dictionary] (in Russian). Makhachkala: Delta-press. p. 218. ISBN 9785903454679.
  9. ^ Абибуллаева С. "'Кодекс Куманикус' – ПАМЯТНИК ТЮРКСКИХ ЯЗЫКОВ КОНЦА XIII – НАЧАЛА XIV ВЕКОВ" (PDF) (in Russian).
  10. ^ Кумыкский язык // Большая советская энциклопедия : [в 30 т.] / гл. ред. А. М. Прохоров. — 3-е изд. — Москва: Советская энциклопедия, 1969—1978.
  11. ^ Pieter Muysken. (2008). Studies in language companion series. From linguistic areas to areal linguistics. Vol. 90. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 74. ISBN 9789027231000.
  12. ^ Nansen. Gjennem Kaukasus til Volga (Oslo: Jacob Dybwads Forlag, 1929).
  13. ^ Н.С.Трубецкой (1925). "О народах Кавказа" (статья ed.).
  14. ^ Ярцева В.Н. и др. (ред.) Языки Российской Федерации и соседних государств. Том 2. К-Р, стр. 183
  15. ^ D. M. Khangishiev (Хангишиев). Editor-in-chief V. P. Neroznak (1995). Государственные языки Российской Федерации [Государственные языки Российской Федерации]. Moscow: Academia (Академия). p. 129. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)

    "в пределах Дагестана кумыкский язык был известен также под названием «бумурман тил» "мусульманский язык", при этом данный лингвоним обозначал только кумыкский язык, в отличие от многочисленных народов, населявший горный Дагестан." ["within Dagestan, the Kumyk language was also known under the name "бумурман тил" - "Muslim language", and this linguonym denoted only the Kumyk language, in contrast to the numerous peoples who inhabited mountainous Dagestan."]
  16. ^ "Дерлугьян Г.М. Адепт Бурдье на Кавказе. Эскизы к биографии в миросистемной перспективе ; Издательство · Территория будущего, 2010 г." Archived from the original on 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  17. ^ "Kafkaz Lehçeni Tatar Grammatikası, Makarov 1848". caucasian.space (in Kumyk and Russian). Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-06-28.
  18. ^ Kumyk language (Кумыкский язык), Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] — 3rd ed — (1969—1978)
  19. ^ Levitskaïa. 1997.
  20. ^ a b c d e f З. З. Бамматов (1972). "К вопросу о письменности кумыков" (Вопросы совершенствования алфавитов тюркских языков СССР ed.). М.: «Наука»: 108–117. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  21. ^ З. З. Бамматов (1973). "Орфография кумыкского языка" (Орфографии тюркских литературных языков СССР ed.). М.: «Наука»: 160–169. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  22. ^ Qumuq görüş (18 oct. 2015) О кумыкском алфавите http://qumuq.ru/ru/2015/10/18/o-kumykskom-alfavite/
  23. ^ Milletlerarası Çağdaş Türk Alfabeleri Sempozyumu, 18-20 Kasım 1991. Istanbul. 1992. p. 67.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  24. ^ "Лев Толстой: Дневник 1847 — 1854 гг. Тетрадь Г. Март - май 1851 г." tolstoy.lit-info.ru. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  25. ^ a b Мугумова, Анна Львовна. "К проблеме ориентального лексического влияния на язык русской художественной литературы 20-30-х годов XIX в.: На материале произведений М. Ю. Лермонтова" (диссертация ed.).
  26. ^ "Набег (Толстой) — Викитека". ru.wikisource.org (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  27. ^ s:Казаки (Толстой)/XL
  28. ^ "Герой нашего времени (Лермонтов)/СО/Предисловие — Викитека". ru.wikisource.org (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  29. ^ Institute for Bible Translation. - къумукъ тил Scriptures. Matthew 6 https://ibtrussia.org/en/text?m=KUM&l=Matt.6.1.1&g=0
  30. ^ Transliteration of Non-Roman Scripts: Kumyk (KNAB) https://transliteration.eki.ee/pdf/Kumyk.pdf
[edit]
Kumyk language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kumyk_language&oldid=1256273139"