Ancient Kyrgyz Language: Morphology and Phonetics

Historical Grammar of the Kyrgyz Language. Phonetics

One of the arguments in favor of the hypothesis of Central Asian origin of the Kyrgyz and their language lies in the linguistic material.

The languages of the Yenisei Kyrgyz and the modern Tian Shan Kyrgyz are in a position of distant kinship within the Turkic language family.

However, if it is possible to demonstrate their sequential connection, then, obviously, one can also show an ethnic connection. The modern Kyrgyz language (both literary and dialectal types) is well-known enough, which, naturally, cannot be said about the language of the Yenisei Kyrgyz, as their folk (dialectal type) language disappeared along with the ethnic group from the arena of history. The only way left is to restore the vanished language.

In linguistics, experience in reconstructing languages that no longer exist has already been accumulated. There are two possible directions for this linguistic work: the restoration of individual features of the language and the reconstruction of entire blocks in phonetics and paradigmatic series in morphology (i.e., the reconstruction of “the whole language”).

The difference between the two paths is purely quantitative. The methodology is the same. Everything depends on the state of the sources. If the sources preserve only some relic phenomena, it is possible to restore only individual features of the language. However, if the sources contain entire structures, it is possible to recreate extensive language fragments with their help.

In the second case, by operating with mutually related units, the linguist can use the rule of correlation of phenomena, which increases the accuracy and reliability of reconstructions. The reconstruction of the main structural links of the now non-existent language of the ancient Kyrgyz follows the second direction. The literary (more precisely: ritual) language of the ancient Kyrgyz (VIII—XII centuries) is known from monuments of runic writing in the Yenisei basin. By classification criteria, it was a 5-language (adaq ‘foot’ and kod- ‘to put’).

The theory of literary languages asserts that the literary language is not always identical to the colloquial (dialectal type): it may be a language of the same system as the colloquial one, but not of close kinship, or it may be a language of a completely different system.

There are grounds to believe that among the ancient Kyrgyz, the literary and colloquial languages did not coincide but occupied positions of distant kinship: if the literary language was a 5-language, then the colloquial language was a z-language (azak ‘foot’, koz- ‘to put’). What did the colloquial language of the ancient Kyrgyz represent? In 1952, while publishing Yenisei texts, S. E. Malov wrote that none of the Turkologists had ever expressed thoughts about the relationship between the folk and written language of the ancient Kyrgyz; there is no material for this.

I believe that such material already exists at present. This is primarily the language of the Kyrgyz of the Fuyuy province (China), descendants of the ancient Kyrgyz (who migrated here from the Khakas Altai), which serves as the main source for reconstruction. Additional sources include the language of the Saryg-Yugurs, who undoubtedly adopted the language of the ancient Kyrgyz, and the related languages of the Khakas, Shors, and Chulym Turks.

There is quite enough material to obtain a clear understanding of the colloquial language of the ancient Kyrgyz, who were the dominant ethnic group in their state (VII—VIII centuries) and subsequently became part of several Turkic-speaking peoples: Khakas, Tuvans, Kyrgyz, and others.

The following tasks arise:
1 — to restore the main links of the phonetic and morphological structure of the ancient Kyrgyz language;
2 — to trace the development of the ancient Kyrgyz language into the Middle Kyrgyz language and the connection of these languages with the modern Kyrgyz language;
3 — to answer the question of the possibility of the ancient Kyrgyz ethnic group participating as a main component in the process of forming the ethnic group of modern Kyrgyz based on language data.

The ancient Kyrgyz language of the dialectal type was characterized by a set of the following structural features.

In the area of phonetics:

1. Long vowels a, ы, o, u, ё, i, в, u. Long vowels are found in the language of the Kyrgyz of Fuyuy: аас ‘mouth’, жцит ‘young man’, муус ‘horn’. This type of length (derivative) exists in Saryg-Yugur, Khakas, and Shor languages.

2. Consecutive palatal harmony and the beginnings of strong labial harmony (labialization of broad non-labials). This state of vowel harmony has been preserved in the language of the Fuyuy Kyrgyz. The same can be seen in the language of the Saryg-Yugurs. In the Khakas language, palatal harmony of vowels manifests itself both in the root and in the word form, while labial harmony is limited to narrow u, u and acts only within the root. The same state is characteristic of the Shor language: consecutive palatal harmony and limited labial harmony (only narrow labials and syllable boundaries).

3. At the beginning of words before narrow and broad vowels, there was a voiced affricate ж. The language of the Fuyuy Kyrgyz: щир ‘land’, жуп- ‘to wash’, жеерин ‘gazelle, джейран’, щаан ‘elephant’ (exceptions are rare). For the Saryg-Yugur language, an initial й is characteristic, and as an exception, ж appears only before front vowels (жицне ‘needle’), — in this case, Saryg-Yugur preserved й from the ancient Uyghur language. In the Khakas language, at the beginning of words, there is an affricate ч, which is a stage of the voicing of ж; in the Shor language, at the beginning of words, there is also an affricate ч, which sometimes (in the dialect of the Shors of the Kondoma River) alternates with the plosive т’ (т’ок/чок ‘no’).

4. Before broad vowels (of the back row?), there was a sonant н. Initial н is found in the language of the Fuyuy Kyrgyz: номуртга ‘egg’, намур ‘rain’, нан- ‘to return’. In the Saryg-Yugur language, this feature is absent, which was also characteristic of the ancient Uyghur language (й instead of к). Initial н is found in the Khakas and Shor languages in the same group of words as in the language of the Fuyuy Kyrgyz.

5. In the middle of names, a voiced з occurred. In this position, з is present in Fuyuy-Kyrgyz: гозын ‘hare’, азах ‘foot’, in Saryg-Yugur: азгыр ‘stallion’, пезык ‘big’, езер ‘saddle’, the same in Khakas, Shor, and Chulym-Turkic languages.

6. Voiced г in the middle of words (between vowels) fell out, causing secondary length. The medial г has been preserved only in Saryg-Yugur, apparently as a contribution from the ancient Uyghur substratum: агыр ‘heavy’, ахыс ‘mouth’.

7. At the end of verbal stems, a voiced з should be allowed. Final з in verbal stems is found in the language of the Fuyuy Kyrgyz: гиз ‘to dress’, in Saryg-Yugur: к,оз- ‘to pour’, кез- ‘to dress’, in Shor — кес- ‘to dress’.

8. In the final position of words, there was a voiced г. Voiced г at the end of words is found in the language of the Fuyuy Kyrgyz: дах~даг ‘mountain’, in Saryg-Yugur: йаг ‘oil’, таг ‘mountain’, in Shor: таг ‘mountain’, улуг ‘big’, in Chulym-Turkic: чазаг ‘on foot’.