Soyot language

Soyot (or Soyot–Tsaatan) is an extinct and revitalizing Turkic language of the Siberian Sayan branch similar to the Dukhan language and closely related to the Tofa language.[1] Two dialects/languages are spoken in Russia and Mongolia: Soyot in the Okinsky District of the Republic of Buryatia (Russia) and Tsaatan (Uriankhai Uyghur) in the Darkhad valley of Mongolia.

Soyot
сойыт тыл
Native toRussia, Mongolia
RegionBuryatia, Khövsgöl Province
EthnicitySoyots
ExtinctSecond half of 20th century (partly revitalized)[1][2]
Turkic
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
Glottologsoyo1234  Soyot
ELPSoyot

The language is revitalizing in primary schools.[1] In 2002, V. I. Rassadin published a Soyot–Buryat–Russian dictionary.[1][4] In 2020, he published a children's book in the Soyot language, along with Russian, Mongolian, and English translations.[5]

Classification

Soyot belongs to the Turkic family of languages. Within this family, it is placed in the Sayan Turkic branch. According to some researchers, the Sayan Turkic branch has five languages:[6][7]

According to Glottolog, the Soyot is a dialect of the Taiga and Sayan languages:[8]

Ragagnin similarly divides the Sayan languages into two branches: Steppe and Taiga, but makes certain distinctions not made by Glottlog:[9]

  • Taiga
    • Dukha
    • Tofa
    • Toju
    • Tuvan dialects of Tere-Khöl
    • Soyot
  • Steppe
    • Standard Tuvan
    • Altay-Sayan varieties of China and Mongolia
    • Tuha

Geographic distribution

Soyot has no official recognition in any of the countries where it is spoken. Until 1993, they were counted as part of the Buryat nationality in Russia. At this point, they were acknowledged as a separate nationality by the People's Khural of the Republic of Buryatia. After applying to the Russian Duma for official recognition, they were acknowledged as an ethnic minority in 2001. Most Soyots in Russia live in Buryatia's Okinsky District.[10]

Phonology

Rassadin reports that the Soyot and Tsaatan dialects, have very similar phonological systems.[10] Information here is from Soyot.

Consonants
Consonant phonemes of Soyot
Labial Dental/
Alveolar		 Post-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t ʧ k q
voiced b d ʤ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ x h
voiced v z ʒ ɣ
Approximant l j
Trill or Tap r

Vowels
Vowels of Soyot
Front Back
unroundedrounded unroundedrounded
Close i y ɯ u
Mid e ø o
Open æ a

Vowels may be short, long, or short pharyngealized, e.g. /ɯt/ "send", /ɯˁt/ "dog", /ɯːt/ "sound, voice".

Soyot exhibits vowel harmony, that is, words containing front vowels take only suffixes containing front vowels, whereas words with back vowels take only suffixes with back vowels.

Writing system

Soyot is not commonly written. Rassadin employs a Cyrillic-based writing system to represent Soyot in his dictionaries and grammars. Certain letters are only found in Russian loanwords.

Soyot alphabet
Letter Value Letter Value Letter Value
Аа /a/ Һһ /h/ Хх /x/
Бб /b/ Лл /l/ Цц /t͡s/
Вв /v/ Мм /m/ Чч /t͡ʃ/
Ғғ /ɣ/ Нн /n/ Ҷҷ /d͡ʒ/
Дд /d/ Ңң /ŋ/ Шш /ʃ/
Ее /e, ʲe/[11] Оо /o/ Щщ /ɕ/
Ёё /ʲo, jo/ Өө /ø/ Ъъ /◌ˤ/[12]
Жж /ʒ/ Пп /p/ Ыы /ɯ/
Зз /z/ Рр /r/ Ьь /◌ʲ/[13]
Ии /i/[14] Сс /s/ Ээ /e/[15]
Іі /i/[14] Тт /t/ Әә /æ/
Йй /j/ Уу /u/ Юю /ʲu, ju/
Кк /k/ Үү /y/ Яя /ʲa, ja/
Ққ /q/ Фф /f/

Grammar

Nouns

Nouns have singular and plural forms. The plural is formed with the suffix /-LAr/, which has six possible surface variations depending on vowel harmony and the preceding sound.

Soyot plural forms
Front vowel Back vowel
Nasal consonant -nær: hem-nær "rivers" -nar: oyɯn-nar "games"
Voiceless consonant -tær: eʃ-tær "friends" -tar: baˁʃ-tar "heads"
Vowel or voiced consonant -lær: øɣ-lær "houses" -lar: barva-lar "saddle bags"

Possession is indicated by adding a suffix to the possessed noun, e.g. ava-m "my mother", ava-ŋ "your mother". The possessive suffixes vary based on vowel harmony and whether the word they are attached to ends in a vowel or a consonant:

Soyot possessive markers
Singular Plural
1st person -(I)m -(I)vIs
2nd person -(I)ŋ -(I)ŋAr
3rd person -(s)I -(s)I

Case is indicated by adding suffixes after the plural and possessive markers, if they are present. There are seven cases in Soyot . The nominative case is not marked. The six cases that are indicated by suffixes are shown below. These vary based on vowel harmony and the final sound of the word they are attached to.

Soyot case markers
Accusative -nɯ, -ni, -tɯ, -ti
Genitive -nɯŋ, -niŋ, -tɯŋ, -tiŋ
Dative -ɣa, -gæ, -qa, -kæ
Locative -da, -dæ, -ta, -tæ
Ablative -dan, -dæn, -tan, -tæn
Directive -ɣɯdɯ, -gidi, -qɯdɯ, -kidi

Adjectives

Certain adjectives may be intensified via reduplication. The involves taking the first syllable plus /p/ and adding it to the front of the word, e.g. qap-qara "very black", sap-sarɯɣ "very yellow". Other adjectives are intensified using the adverb tuŋ "very", e.g. tuŋ ulɯɣ "very big".

Numerals

Soyot employs a base-10 counting system.

Soyot numerals
1 biræː 10 on
2 iˁhi 20 t͡ʃeːrbi, t͡ʃeːrvi
3 yʃ 30 yd͡ʒøn
4 dørt 40 dørtøn
5 beʃ 50 bed͡ʒøn
6 aˁltɯ 60 aˁlton
7 t͡ʃedi 70 t͡ʃedon
8 ses 80 ses on
9 tos 90 tos on
100 t͡ʃys 1000 mɯŋ

Complex numerals are created much as in English, e.g. yʃ mɯŋ tos t͡ʃys tos on tos "three thousand nine hundred ninety-nine".

Ordinal numerals are formed by adding the word duɣaːr to the cardinal numeral, e.g. iˁhi duɣaːr "second".

See also

References
  1. Rassadin, V.I. "The Soyot Language". Endangered Languages of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia. UNESCO. Retrieved 2021-07-18.
  2. "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  3. Elisabetta Ragagnin (2011), Dukhan, a Turkic Variety of Northern Mongolia, Description and Analysis, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden
  4. Rassadin, V.I. (2002). Soyotsko-Buryatsko-Russky Slovar Сойотско-Бурятско-Русский Словарь [Soyot-Buryat-Russian Dictionary] (in Russian). Ulan-Ude. Archived from the original on 12 March 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. Rassadin, V.I. (2020). Kartinsky Slovar Soyotskogo Yazyka Картинский Словарь Сойотского Языка [Picture Dictionary of the Soyot Language] (PDF). Ulan-Ude: Respublikanskaya Tipografiya. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  6. Ragagnin, Elisabetta (2012). "Duhalari 'Kayip Olmayan' Türkofon Bi̇r Halk" [The Dukhas of Mongolia a 'Not Lost' Turcophone People]. Tehlikedeki Diller Dergisi / Journal of Endangered Languages. 1 (1): 85–101. Retrieved 2 January 2021. ...Dukhan language, it belongs to the taiga subgroup of Sayan Turkic, which itself is a member of the Siberian branch of the Turkic languages. The other Taiga Sayan Turkic languages are Tofan, which is spoken in the Irkutsk Oblast', with varieties spoken in the Toja and Tere-Khöl regions of the Tuvan republic, and the Soyot language spoken in the Oka region of the Buryat republic.
  7. de Mol-van Valen, Tessa (2017). A Comparative Study on The Sayan Languages (Turkic; Russia and Mongolia) (Research Master thesis). Leiden University. hdl:1887/52611.
  8. "Sayan". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  9. Ragagnin, Elisabetta (2011). Dukhan, a Turkic Variety of Northern Mongolia: Description and Analysis. Wiesbaden, Germany. ISBN 978-3-447-19067-1. OCLC 900888155.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. Rassadin, V. I.; Рассадин, В. И. (2010). Soyotica. Béla Kempf. Szeged: University of Szeged, Dept. of Altaic Studies. ISBN 978-963-306-027-8. OCLC 760289448.
  11. Not used at the beginning of words.
  12. Indicates that the preceding consonant is pharyngealized.
  13. Indicates that the preceding consonant is palatalized.
  14. Ии and Іі both represent the same sound /i/. Ии indicates that the previous consonant is palatalized; Іі indicates that it is not.
  15. Used at the beginning of words or after vowels.
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