Everything about Kyrgyz Language totally explained
, قىرعىز ٴتىلى
|region=
Kyrgyzstan,
Afghanistan,
Pakistan,
Tajikistan,
Xinjiang (
China)
|speakers=3,136,733 (1993)
|familycolor=Altaic
|fam1=
Altaic (
controversial)
|fam2=
Turkic
|fam3=Eastern Turkic
|fam3=
Kyrgyz-Altay groupor
Kyrgyz-Kypchak group
|nation=
Kyrgyzstan
|iso1=ky|iso2=kir|iso3=kir}}
Kyrgyz or
Kirghiz (Кыргыз тили,
Kyrgyz tili, قىرعىز ٴتىلى) is a
Turkic language, and, together with
Russian, an official language of
Kyrgyzstan. It is most closely related to
Altay, and more distantly so to
Kazakh.
Kyrgyz is spoken by about 4 million people in
Kyrgyzstan,
China,
Afghanistan,
Kazakhstan,
Tajikistan,
Turkey (Asia),
Uzbekistan,
Pakistan (
Chitral) and
Russia. Kyrgyz is written in modified
Cyrillic (Kyrgyzstan) and modified
Arabic (
China) scripts. A
Latin script was used between
1928 and
1940 in Kyrgyzstan. After Kyrgyzstan gained independence in
1991, there was a popular idea among some of the Kyrgyz politicians to return Kyrgyz language back to the
Latin alphabet, but this plan has never been implemented.
History
Pre-historic roots
The first people known certainly by the name Kyrgyz are mentioned in early medieval Chinese sources as northern neighbors and sometime subjects of the Turkic steppe empire based in the area of Mongolia. The Kyrgyz were involved in the international trade route system popularly known as the
Silk Road no later than the late eighth century. By the time of their destruction of the Uighur Empire in
840 CE, they spoke a Turkic language little different from Old Turkic, and wrote it in the same runic script. After their victory over the Uyghurs the Kyrgyz didn't occupy the Mongolian steppe, and their history for several centuries after this period is little known, though they're mentioned in medieval geographical works as living not far from their present location.
The forebears of the present-day Kyrgyz are believed by some to have been either southern Samoyed or Yeniseyan tribes who came into contact with Turkic culture after they conquered the Uygurs and settled the Orkhon area, site of the oldest recorded Turkic language, in the
ninth century. The discovery of the
Pazyryk and
Tashtyk cultures show them as a blend of Turkic and Iranian nomadic tribes. Chinese and Muslim sources of the 7th–12th centuries AD describe the Kyrgyz as red-haired with fair complexion and green (blue) eyes.
The descent of the
Kyrgyz from the autochthonous
Siberian population is confirmed on the other hand by the recent genetic studies. Remarkably, 63% of the modern Kyrgyz men share
Haplogroup R1a1 (Y-DNA) with
Tajiks (64%),
Ukrainians (54%),
Poles (56%) and even
Icelanders (25%).
Haplogroup R1a1 (Y-DNA) is believed to be a marker of the
Proto-Indo-European language speakers. This might explain the reportedly fair complexion and green or blue eyes of early Kyrgyz.
If descended from the Samoyed tribes of
Siberia, the Kyrgyz would have spoken a language in the
Uralic linguistic subfamily when they arrived in the Orkhon region; if descended from Yeniseyan tribes, they'd have descended from a people of the same name who began to move into the area of present-day Kyrgyzstan from the
Yenisey River region of central Siberia in the
tenth century, after the Kyrgyz conquest of the Uygurs to the east in the preceding century. However, ethnographers dispute the Yeniseyan origin theory because of the very close cultural and linguistic connections between the Kyrgyz and the Kazaks. However, the earliest descriptions of the Kyrgyz in Chinese sources say they've 'red hair and green eyes', typical characteristics of caucasoid Indo-European speaking people of that time, many of whom still lived in Central Eurasia. Moreover, there doesn't seem to be any specifically linguistic reason to connect the Kyrgyz with either the Uralic or the Yeniseyan language families. It is uncertain if the Kyrgyz of modern times are actually the direct descendants of the early medieval Kyrgyz.
Colonisation
In the period of tsarist administration (1876-1917), the Kazaks and the Kyrgyz both were called Kyrgyz, with what are now the Kyrgyz subdenominated when necessary as Kara-Kyrgyz "black Kyrgyz" (Turkic groups often used colour terms to show division of the same group based on geography; black referred to southern groups). Although the Kyrgyz language is genetically part of the same branch as Altay and other languages to the northeast of Kyrgyzstan, due to convergence with Kazak in recent times the modern language is somewhat similar to Kazak and both are sometimes considered to be part of the
Nogai group of the
Kipchak division of the Turkic languages. Nevertheless, despite the Kazak influence, Kyrgyz remains much closer to Altay than to Kazak. The modern Kyrgyz language didn't have a standard written form until 1923, at which time an
Arabic-based alphabet was introduced. That was changed to a
Latin-based alphabet, developed by
Kasym Tynystanov in 1928 and to a
Cyrillic-based one in 1940. In the years immediately following independence, another change of alphabet was discussed, but the issue doesn't seem to generate the same passions in Kyrgyzstan that it does in other former
Soviet republics, perhaps because the Kyrgyz Cyrillic alphabet is relatively simple and is particularly well-suited to the language.
Post-Soviet dynamics
One important difference between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan is that the Kyrgyz people's mastery of their own language is almost universal, whereas the linguistic phase of national identity isn't as clear in the much larger area and population of Kazakhstan. As in Kazakhstan, mastery of the "titular" language among the resident Europeans of Kyrgyzstan is very rare. In the early 1990s, the
Akayev government pursued an aggressive policy of introducing Kyrgyz as the official language, forcing the remaining European population to use Kyrgyz in most public situations. Public pressure to enforce this change was sufficiently strong that a Russian member of President Akayev's staff created a public scandal in 1992 by threatening to resign to dramatize the pressure for "
Kyrgyzification" of the non-native population. A 1992 law called for the conduct of all public business to be converted fully to Kyrgyz by 1997. But in March 1996, Kyrgyzstan's parliament adopted a resolution making Russian an
official language alongside Kyrgyz and marking a reversal of earlier sentiment. Substantial pressure from Russia was a strong factor in this change, which was part of a general rapprochement with Russia urged by Akayev.
Phonology
Vowels
Consonants
Writing system
The Kyrgyz in
Kyrgyzstan use a modified Cyrillic alphabet which uses all the Russian letters as well as these additions: ң, ү, ө
| Letter |
Name |
IPA |
Letter |
Name |
IPA |
| А а |
а |
/a/ |
П п |
пe |
/p/ |
| Б б |
бе |
/b/ |
Р р |
эр |
/r/ |
| В в |
ве |
/v/ |
С с |
эс |
/s/ |
| Г г |
ге |
/g~ʁ/ |
Т т |
те |
/t/ |
| Д д |
де |
/d/ |
У у |
у |
/u/ |
| Е е |
e |
/je/, /e/ |
Ү ү |
ү |
/y/ |
| Ё ё |
ё |
/jo/ |
Ф ф |
эф |
/ɸ/ |
| Ж ж |
же |
/dʒ/ |
Х х |
ха |
/χ/ |
| З з |
зе |
// |
Ц ц |
це |
/ts/ |
| И и |
и |
/i/ |
Ч ч |
че |
/tʃ/ |
| Й й |
й |
/j/ |
Ш ш |
ша |
/ʃ/ |
| К к |
кa |
/k~q/ |
Щ щ |
ща |
/ʃtʃ/ |
| Л л |
эл |
/l/ |
Ъ ъ |
ажыратуу белгиси |
" |
| М м |
эм |
/n/ |
Ы ы |
ы |
/ɯ/ |
| Н н |
эн |
/n/ |
Ь ь |
ичкертүү белгиси |
' |
| Ң ң |
ың |
/ŋ/ |
Э э |
э |
/e/ |
| О о |
о |
/o/ |
Ю ю |
ю |
/ju/ |
| Ө ө |
ө |
/ø/ |
Я я |
я |
/ja/ |
In
Xinjiang, a modified
Arabic alphabet is used.
Morphology and Syntax
Case
Nouns in Kyrgyz take a number of
case endings that change based on vowel harmony and the sort of
consonant they follow (see
the section on phonology).
| Case |
Underlying form |
Possible forms |
"boat" |
air" |
bucket" |
hand" |
head" |
salt" |
eye" |
| Nominative | — |
кеме |
аба |
челек |
кол |
баш |
туз |
көз
|
| Genitive | -NIn |
-нын, -нин, -дын, -дин, -тын, -тин, -нун, -нүн, -дун, -дүн, -тун, -түн |
кеменин |
абанын |
челектин |
колдун |
баштын |
туздун |
көздүн
|
| Dative | -GA |
-га, -ка, -ге, -ке, -го, -ко, -гө, -кө |
кемеге |
абага |
челекке |
колго |
башка |
тузга |
көзгө
|
| Accusative | -NI |
-ны, -ни, -ды, -ди, -ты, -ти, -ну, -нү, -ду, -дү, -ту, -тү |
кемени |
абаны |
челекти |
колду |
башты |
тузду |
көздү
|
| Locative | -DA |
-да, -де, -та, -те, -до, -дө, -то, -тө |
кемеде |
абада |
челекте |
колдо |
башта |
тузда |
көздө
|
| Ablative | -DAn |
-дан, -ден, -тан, -тен, -дон, -дөн, -тон, -төн |
кемеден |
абадан |
челектен |
колдон |
баштан |
туздан |
көздөн
|
Normally the decision between the
velar ([g], [k]) and
uvular ([ʀ] and [q]) pronunciation of /г/ and /к/ is based on the backness of the following vowel—for example
back vowels imply a uvular rendering and
front vowels imply a velar rendering—and the vowel in suffixes is decided based on the preceding vowel in the word. However, with the dative suffix in Kyrgyz, the vowel is decided normally, but the decision between velars and uvulars can be decided based on a contacting consonant, for example банк /bank/ 'bank' + GA yields банкка /bankka/, not /bankqa/ as predicted by the following vowel.
Pronouns
Kyrgyz has eight personal pronouns:
| Singular |
Plural |
| Kyrgyz (transliteration) |
nglish |
yrgyz (transliteration) |
nglish |
| Мен (Men) |
I |
Биз (Biz) |
We |
| Сен (Sen) |
You (singular informal) |
Силер (Siler) |
You (plural informal) |
| Сиз (Siz) |
You (singular formal) |
Сиздер (Sizder) |
You (plural formal) |
| Ал (Al) |
He/She/It |
Алар (Alar) |
They |
The declension of the pronouns is outlined in the following chart. Singular pronouns (with the exception of сиз, which used to be plural) exhibit irregularities, while plural pronouns don't. Irregular forms are highlighted in bold.
|
Singular |
Plural |
|
st |
nd inf |
nd frm |
rd |
sg |
nd inf |
nd frm |
rd |
| Nom | мен |
сен |
сиз |
ал |
биз |
силер |
сиздер |
алар
|
| Acc | мени |
сени |
сизди |
аны |
бизди |
силерди |
сиздерди |
аларды
|
| Gen | менин |
сенин |
сиздин |
анын |
биздин |
силердин |
сиздердин |
алардын
|
| Dat | мага |
сага |
сизге |
ага |
бизге |
силерге |
сиздерге |
аларга
|
| Loc | менде |
сенде |
сизде |
анда |
бизде |
силерде |
сиздерде |
аларда
|
| Abl | менден |
сенден |
сизден |
андан |
бизден |
силерден |
сиздерден |
алардан
|
In addition to the pronouns, there are several more sets of morphemes dealing with person.
|
ronouns |
opulas |
resent tense |
ossessive endings |
ast/conditional |
mperative |
| 1st sg | мен |
-mIn |
-mIn |
-(I)m |
-(I)m |
-AyIN
|
| 2nd sg | сен |
-sIŋ |
-sIŋ |
-(I)ŋ |
-(I)ŋ |
—, -GIn
|
| 2nd formal sg | сиз |
-sIz |
-sIz |
-(I)ŋIz |
-(I)ŋIz |
-GIlA
|
| 3rd sg | ал |
— |
-t |
-(s)I(n) |
— |
-sIn
|
| 1st pl | биз |
-BIz |
-BIz |
-(I)bIz |
-(I)K |
-AyIK
|
| 2nd pl | силер |
-sIŋAr |
-sIŋAr |
-(I)ŋAr |
-(I)ŋAr |
|
| 2nd formal pl | сиздер |
-sIzdAr |
-sIzdAr |
-(I)ŋIzdAr |
-(I)nIzdAr |
|
| 3rd pl | алар |
— |
-(I)şAt |
-(s)I(n) |
— |
-sIn, -IşsIn
|
Further Information
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