TMCKyrgyz · Turkic-Mongolian Language Contact: The Case of Kyrgyz
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-10-01 → 2023-10-03
- EU contribution
- €174,806
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Turkic-Mongolian Language Contact: The Case of Kyrgyz
The Turkic and Mongolian languages have a great number of similarities in different levels of language. However, these similarities were found to be converging rather than diverging over the centuries, a fact which made many researchers doubt the existence of a genetic relationship between these two language groups and explain all the similarities through language contact. In order to solve this problem from the perspective of Turkic languages, it is considered the right approach to act from the data of a specific language that has a long and close contact with Mongolian languages. Kyrgyz is such a language. However, Mongolian elements in Kyrgyz have not been analyzed in detail so far. The aim of this project is to identify the Mongolian elements in Kyrgyz, the laws of adaptation of lexical copies, and the determining criteria for borrowings of different chronological layers. The history and chronology of the contacts of Turkic and Mongolian languages are illuminated through Mongolian borrowings and back-borrowings in Kyrgyz. The phonetic, morphological, semantic, etymological, and other criteria developed for Mongolian borrowings in Kyrgyz can also be used to detect Mongolian borrowings and back-borrowings in other Turkic languages, as well as to clarify which Mongolian language they were borrowed from, and in which period. The results of this project contribute to the accurate evaluation of the relationships between the linguistic groups of Central Asia, a long-standing area of scholarly debate. Since contact settings correlate with linguistics outcomes, it will also add greater precision to the chronology of interactions of the Central Asian peoples, and given the importance of the Central Asian peoples in medieval history, such precision will be valuable to historians. The linguistic conclusions of this project can be interpreted in a multidisciplinary context as well, integrating insights from the history and ethnography of Turkic and Mongolic nations. The result of the project has an impact on gaining a deeper understanding of the historical identity of Kyrgyzstan. It clearly evidenced that the Mongolian tribes have played a key role in the ethnogenesis of the Kyrgyz people, a role that until now has been underestimated.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Kyrgyz is a bridge language in terms of historical-comparative linguistics, the geographical territory of which is located between different groups of Turkic languages on the one side, and Turkic and Mongolian languages on the other. From the perspective of Turkic-Mongolian linguistic contacts, the Kyrgyz language is unique in that it has not only simple vocabulary transfers represented by lexical borrowings which in varying degrees can be seen in other Turkic languages, but it also shows influences from a Mongolian substrate. This substrate influence, usually defined with the terms “interference” or “imposition”, reveals itself not only in the phonological, morphological and syntactic levels of Kyrgyz but also in regional borrowings, something that is rarely the case in other Turkic languages. The question of the influence of Turkic-Mongolian language contacts on the formation of these two language groups has already been discussed in relevant linguistic and historical studies. However, the subject of borrowings and/or Mongolian-based contact-induced change in Kyrgyz has never been studied in detail, even though the existence of large-scale Mongolian influence on Kyrgyz vocabulary has sometimes been commented upon in certain studies. The project aims to determine the degree and depth of influence of the Mongolian languages on the formation of Kyrgyz owing to the age-long, intense linguistic contact among the Turkic- and Mongolian-speaking tribes that eventually formed the basis of Kyrgyz ethnicity. The project seeks to expand our knowledge about the nature, scope, and mechanisms of linguistic contacts in general and of Turkic and Mongolian languages in particular. These aims will be achieved by studying not only borrowings but also those features in Kyrgyz that appeared through the influence of the Mongolian substrate. The research will be mainly based on the comparative-historical, comparative-typological and etymological methods of linguistic analysis.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- JOHANNES GUTENBERG-UNIVERSITAT MAINZ · MainzCoordinatorGermany
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union