Khorasani Turkic
Khorasani Turkic or Khorasani Turkish is an Oghuz Turkic language spoken in the North Khorasan Province and the Razavi Khorasan Province in Iran. Nearly all Khorasani Turkic speakers are also bilingual in Persian.[2]
Khorasani Turkic | |
---|---|
Native to | Iran |
Region | Greater Khorasan |
Ethnicity | Khorasani Turks |
Native speakers | 400,000–900,000 (2015–2019)[1][2] |
Turkic
| |
Persian alphabet | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | kmz |
Glottolog | khor1269 |
Khorasani Turkic is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Geographic distribution
Khorasani Turkic is spoken in the Iranian provinces of North Khorasan near Bojnord and Razavi Khorasan near Sabzevar, Quchan. The Oghuz dialect spoken in Western Uzbekistan is sometimes considered a dialect of Khorasani Turkic.
Dialects
Khorasani Turkic is split into North, South and West dialects. The northern dialect is spoken in North Khorasan near Quchan; the southern in Soltanabad, near Sabzevar; the western, around Bojnord.
Classification and related languages
Khorasani Turkic belongs to the Oghuz group of Turkic languages, which also includes Turkish, Azerbaijani, Gagauz, Balkan Gagauz Turkish, Turkmen and Salar.
Khorasani Turkic was first classified as a separate dialect by Iranian Azerbaijani linguist Javad Heyat in the book Tārikh-e zabān o lahcayā-ye Türki (History of the Turkic dialects).[3] According to some linguists, it should be considered intermediate linguistically between Azerbaijani and Turkmen, although it is sufficiently distinct not to be considered a dialect of either.[3] It is considered by Turkic scholars to be most closely related to the other Oghuz varieties spoken in Iran, and a close relationship with Turkmen has been disputed on the basis of the comparisons of the core set of agglutinating morphemes.[4]
Phonology
Consonants
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | q | |
voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | ɡ | |||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | x | h | |
voiced | v | z | ʒ | ɣ | |||
Flap | ɾ | ||||||
Approximant | l | j |
Vowels
Front | Back | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | |
Close | i | y | ɯ | u |
Mid | e | ø | o | |
Open | æ | ɑ | ɒ |
The open back vowel is rounded when followed by /u/ or /i/: muxabbat love /muxɒbbɑt/, insan human /insɒn/, but yoldaşlık friendship /joldɑʃlɯk/. It can also be rounded by a following long /o/. This may not happen for all speakers, and plurals never have any rounding.
Morphology
Pluralization
Pluralization is marked on nouns with the suffix /-lar/, which has the two forms /-lar/ and /-lær/, depending on vowel harmony. Plural /ɑ/ is never rounded, even when it follows /u/ or /i/.
Case
Nouns in Khorasani Turkic take a number of case endings that change based on vowel harmony and whether they follow a vowel or a consonant:
After Vowels | After Consonants | |
---|---|---|
Nominative | No Ending | |
Genitive | niŋ/nin | iŋ/in |
Dative | ja/jæ | a/æ |
Accusative | ni/nɯ | i/ɯ |
Locative | da/dæ | |
Ablative | dan/dæn | |
Instrumental | nan/næn |
Possession
Possession is marked with a suffix on the possessed noun.
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
1st Person | (I)m | (I)mIz |
2nd Person | (I)ŋ | (I)ŋIz |
3rd Person | (s)I | lArI |
Pronouns
Khorasani Turkic has six personal pronouns. Occasionally, personal pronouns take different case endings from regular nouns.
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
1st Person | mæn | bɯz |
2nd Person | sæn | siz |
3rd Person | o | olar |
Verbs
Verbs are declined for tense, aspect, mood, person, and number. The infinitive form of the verb ends in -max.
Examples
- Excerpt from Tulu (1989) p. 90
Translation | IPA | Romanization | Arabic script (Iran) |
---|---|---|---|
Thus, there was a padishah named Ziyad. | ɑl ɣæssa bir zijæːd pæːdiʃæːhiː bæːɾɨdɨ | Al ğässa bir Ziyäd pädişähi bärıdı | .ال غسا بیر زياد پدیشهی بـهریدی |
Almighty God had given him no son. | xodɒːʷændi æːlæm ona hit͡ʃ ɔɣul ataː elæmɑmiʃdi | Xodavändi äläm ona hiç oğul ata elämamişdi. | .خوداوندی آلم اونا هیچ اوغول اتا ایلهمامیشدی |
Then, he spoke to his vizier: "O Vizier, I have no son. What shall I do about it?" | bæːdæn vaziːɾæ dədi, ej vaziːɾ, mændæ ki ɔɣul joxdɨ, mæn næ t͡ʃaːɾæ ejlem | Bädän vazirä dedi: "Ey vazir, mändä ki oğul yoxdı. Män nä çarä eylem?" | بدن وازیره دهدی: «ای وازیر, منده کی اوغول یوخدی. من نه چاره ایولیم»؟ |
The vizier said: "Ruler of the whole world, what will you do with this possession?" | vaziːɾ dedi, pɒːdiʃaː-i ɢɨblæ-ji ɒːlæm, sæn bu mɒːlɨ-æmwɒːlɨ næjlijæsæn | Vazir dedi: "Padişai qıbläyi aläm, sän bu malıämvalı näyliyäsän?" | وازیر دهدی: «پادیشای قیبلنهیی آلم, سن بو مالیموالی نیلیسن»؟ |
Writing system
Khorasani Turkic is not often written, but it may be with the Persian alphabet in the Perso-Arabic script.[5]
Letter | Romanization | IPA |
---|---|---|
ا | a | /ɑ/, /æ/, /o/, /Ø/ |
ب | b | /b/ |
پ | p | /p/ |
ت | t | /t/ |
ث | (s) | /s/ |
ج | x | /d͡ʒ/ |
چ | č | /t͡ʃ/ |
ح | (h) | /h/ |
خ | x | /x/ |
د | d | /d/ |
ذ | (z) | /z/ |
ر | r | /r/ |
ز | z | /z/ |
ژ | ž | /ʒ/ |
س | s | /s/ |
ش | ş | /ʃ/ |
ص | (s) | /s/ |
ض | (d) | /d/ |
ط | (t) | /t/ |
ظ | (z) | /z/ |
ع | ə, ‘ | /æ/, /Ø/ |
غ | ǧ | /ɣ/ |
ف | f | /f/ |
ق | q | /q/ |
ک | k | /k/ |
گ | g | /ɡ/ |
ل | l | /l/ |
م | m | /m/ |
ن | n | /n~ŋ/ |
و | w | /v~w/, /o/, /ø/, /u/, /y/ |
ه | h | /h/ |
ی | y, ı, i, e | /j/, /ɯ/, /i/, /e/ |
ء | ʿ | /ʔ/ |
نگ | ng | /ŋ(g)/ |
References
- The Turkic Languages, By Lars Johanson, Éva Ágnes Csató Johanson, page 13, Routledge, 2015
- Khorasani Turkic at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- Sultan Tulu (1994). "Horasan Türkçesi ne İlgili Folklor Çalışmaları". Journal of Turkish Research Institute (in Turkish). 1: 48–51. ISSN 1300-9052. Wikidata Q122840179.
- Christiane Bulut (4 November 2021), Turkic Languages of Iran, pp. 287–302, doi:10.4324/9781003243809-19, Wikidata Q122750094
- "Khorasani Turkic alphabet, pronunciation and language".
Tulu, Sultan (1989). Chorasantürkische Materialien aus Kalāt bei Esfarāyen. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag. ISBN 3-922968-88-0.
Doerfer, Gerhard; Hesche, Wolfram (1993). Chorasantürkisch: Wörterlisten, Kurzgrammatiken, Indices. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-03320-7.
Additional resources
- (Persian) Qolizadeh Marzaji, Jalal (جلال قلی زاده مرزجی) (2011). Getting acquainted with the Khorasani Turkish language (آشنایی با زبان ترکی خراسانی). Mashhad, Iran: Damineh. ISBN 978-964-5805-91-1. (Downloadable from: https://turuz.com/storage/Language/2015/0861-_Dil_Ashnayi_Ba_Zabane_Turki_Xorasani_Celal_Qulizade_Merzeci.pdf / Archive)