Yakut language
Introduction '''Yakut'''  , also known as '''Yakutian''', '''Sakha''', '''Saqa''' or '''Saxa''' (), is a Turkic language belonging to Siberian Turkic branch and spoken by around 450,000 native speakers, primarily the ethnic Yakuts and one of the official languages of Sakha (Yakutia), a federal republic in the Russian Federation.The Yakut language differs from all other Turkic languages in the presence of a layer of vocabulary of unclear origin (possibly Paleo-Siberian). There is also a large number of words of Mongolian origin related to ancient borrowings, as well as numerous recent borrowings from Russian. Like other Turkic languages and their ancestor Proto-Turkic, Yakut is an agglutinative language and features vowel harmony.
Classification Yakut is a member of the Northeastern Common Turkic family of languages, which also includes Shor, Tuvan and Dolgan. Like most Turkic languages, Yakut has vowel harmony, is agglutinative and has no grammatical gender. Word order is usually subject–object–verb. Yakut has been influenced by Tungusic and Mongolian languages.Historically, Yakut left the community of Common Turkic speakers relatively early. Due to this, it diverges in many ways from other Turkic languages and mutual intelligibility between Yakut and other Turkic languages is low. Nevertheless, Yakut contains many features which are important for the reconstruction of Proto-Turkic, such as the preservation of long vowels.
Geographic distribution Yakut is spoken mainly in the Sakha Republic. It is also used by ethnic Yakuts in Khabarovsk Region and a small diaspora in other parts of the Russian Federation, Turkey, and other parts of the world. Dolgan, a close relative of Yakut, which formerly was considered by some a dialect of Yakut, is spoken by Dolgans in Krasnoyarsk Region. Yakut is widely used as a lingua franca by other ethnic minorities in the Sakha Republic – more Dolgans, Evenks, Evens and Yukagirs speak Yakut than their own languages. About 8% of the people of other ethnicities than Yakut living in Sakha claimed knowledge of the Yakut language during the 2002 census.
Phonology ===Consonants===Yakut has the following consonants phonemes, where the IPA value is provided in slashes '//' and the native script value is provided in bold followed by the romanization in parentheses.+ Consonant phonemes of Yakut Bilabial Dental/alveolar Palatal Velar/uvular Glottal Nasal  '''м''' (''m'')  '''н''' (''n'')  '''нь''' (''ń'')  '''ҥ''' (''ŋ'') Plosive /Affricate   '''п''' (''p'')   '''т''' (''t'')    '''ч''' (''č'')   '''к''' (''k'')    '''б''' (''b'')   '''д''' (''d'')    '''дь''' (''ǰ'')  '''г''' (''g'') Fricative    '''с''' (''s'')   '''х''' (''x'')   '''һ''' (''h'')    '''ҕ''' (''ɣ'') Approximant   '''л''' (''l'')   '''й''' (''y'')    '''й''' (''ỹ'') Flap   '''р''' (''r'')*  are laminal denti-alveolar , whereas  are alveolar . * The nasal glide  is not distinguished from  in the orthography, where both are written as . Thus '''айыы''' can be ''ayïï''  'deed, creation, work' or ''aỹïï''  'sin, transgression.' The nasal glide  has a very restricted distribution, appearing in very few words. *  is pronounced as a flap  between vowels, e.g. '''орон''' (''oron'')   'place', and as a trill at the end of words, e.g. '''тур''' (''tur'')  'stand'. **  does not occur at the beginning of words in native Yakut words; borrowed Russian words with onset  are usually rendered with an epenthetic vowel, e.g. Russian '''рама''' (''rama'') > Yakut '''араама''' (''araama'') 'frame'.Yakut is in many ways phonologically unique among the Turkic languages. Yakut and the closely related Dolgan language are the only Turkic languages without hushing sibilants. Additionally, no known Turkic languages other than Yakut and Khorasani Turkic have the palatal nasal .==== Consonant assimilation ====Consonants at morpheme boundaries undergo extensive assimilation, both progressive and regressive. All suffixes possess numerous allomorphs. For suffixes which begin with a consonant, the surface form of the consonant is conditioned on the stem-final segment. There are four such archiphonemic consonants: ''G'', ''B'', ''T'', and ''L''. Examples of each are provided in the following table for the suffixes ''-GIt'' (second-person plural possessive suffix, ''oɣoɣut'' 'your pl. child'), ''-BIt'' (first-person plural possessive suffix, ''oɣobut'', 'our child'), ''-TA'' (partitive case suffix, '''' 'some teeth'), ''-LARA'' (third-person plural possessive suffix, ''oɣoloro'' 'their child'). Note that the alternation in the vowels is governed by vowel harmony (see the main article and the below section).+ Yakut consonant assimilation in suffixesConsonantarchiphoneme Immediately preceding sound (example) High vowel i, u, ï, ü(''kihi'') Low vowel a, e, o, ö(''oɣo'')  (''uol'') (''kötör'') Voiceless  consonants (''tiis'') (''ïnaχ'') Nasal(''oron'') G''-GIt'' ''kihigit'' ''oɣoɣut'' ''uolgut'' ''kötörgüt'' ''tiiskit'' ''ïnaχχït'' ''oroŋŋut'' B''-BIt'' ''kihibit'' ''oɣobut'' ''uolbut'' ''kötörbüt'' ''tiispit'' ''ïnaχpït'' ''orommut'' T''-TA'' ''kihite'' ''oɣoto'' ''uolla'' ''kötördö'' ''tiiste'' ''ïnaχta'' ''oronnut'' L''-LArA'' ''kihilere'' ''oɣoloro'' ''uollara'' ''kötördörö'' ''tiistere'' ''ïnaχtara'' ''oronnoro'' 'person' 'child' 'boy' 'bird' 'tooth' 'cow' 'bed' There is an additional regular morphophonological pattern for -final stems: they assimilate in place of articulation with an immediately following labial or velar. For example ''at'' 'horse' > ''akkït'' 'your pl. horse', > ''appït'' 'our horse'.==== Debuccalization ====Yakut initial '''s-''' corresponds to initial '''h-''' in Dolgan and played an important operative rule in the development of proto-Yakut, ultimately resulting in initial '''Ø-'''  ''h'', known as debuccalization, is a common sound-change across the world's languages, being characteristic of such languages as Greek and Indo-Iranian in their development from Proto-Indo-European, as well as such Turkic languages as Bashkir, e.g. '''höt''' 'milk'  '''и''' (''i'') '''ү''' (''ü'') '''ы''' (''ï'') '''у''' (''u'') '''ии ''' (''ii'') '''үү''' (''üü'') '''ыы''' (''ïï'') '''уу''' (''uu'') Diphthong '''иэ ''' (''ie'') '''үө''' (''üö'') '''ыа''' (''ïa'') '''уо''' (''uo'') Open '''э''' (''e'') '''ө''' (''ö'') '''а''' (''a'') '''о''' (''o'') '''ээ''' (''ee'') '''өө''' (''öö'') '''аа''' (''aa'') '''оо''' (''oo'')==== Vowel harmony ====Like other Turkic languages, a characteristic feature of Yakut is progressive vowel harmony. Most root words obey vowel harmony, for example in '''кэлин''' (''kelin'') 'back', all the vowels are front and unrounded. Yakut's vowel harmony in suffixes is the most complex system in the Turkic family. Vowel harmony is an assimilation process where vowels in one syllable take on certain features of vowels in the preceding syllable. In Yakut, subsequent vowels all take on frontness and all non-low vowels take on lip rounding of preceding syllables' vowels. There are two main rules of vowel harmony:# Frontness/backness harmony:##  Front vowels are always followed by front vowels.##  Back vowels are always followed by back vowels.# Rounding harmony:## Unrounded vowels are always followed by unrounded vowels.## Close rounded vowels always occur after close rounded vowels. ## Open unrounded vowels '''do not''' assimilate in rounding with close rounded vowels.The quality of the diphthongs /ie, ïa, uo, üö/ for the purposes of vowel harmony is determined by the first segment in the diphthong. Taken together, these rules mean that the pattern of subsequent syllables in Yakut is entirely predictable, and all words will follow the following pattern:  Like the consonant assimilation rules above, suffixes display numerous allomorphs determined by the stem they attach to. There are two archiphoneme vowels ''I'' (an underlyingly high vowel) and ''A'' (an underlyingly low vowel).+ Yakut vowel harmony Category Final vowel  in stem Suffix vowels Unrounded, back a, aa, ï, ïï, ïa a, aa, ï, ïï, ïa Unrounded, front e, ee, i, ii, ie e, ee, i, ii, ie Rounded back u, uu, uo a, aa, u, uu, uo Rounded, front, close ü, üü, üö e, ee, ü, üü, üö Rounded, back o, oo o, oo, u, uu, uo Rounded, open, low ö, öö  ö, öö, ü, üü, üö+ Vowel harmony of archiphonemic vowelsArchiphonemic  vowelPreceding vowelFrontBackunrounded(''i, ii, ie, e, ee'')roundedunrounded (''ï, ïï, ïa, a, aa'')rounded high(''ü, üü, üö'') low(''ö, öö'') high(''u, uu, uo'') low(''o, oo'') I i ü ïu Ae öa oExamples of ''I'' can be seen in the first-person singular possessive agreement suffix ''-(I)m'': as in (a):The underlyingly low vowel phoneme ''A'' is represented through the third-person singular agreement suffix ''-(t)A'' in (b):
Orthography After three earlier phases of development, Yakut is currently written using the Cyrillic script: the modern Yakut alphabet, established in 1939 by the Soviet Union, consists of all the Russian characters with five additional letters for phonemes not present in Russian:  '''Ҕҕ, Ҥҥ, Өө, Һһ, Үү''', as follows:+  А а Б б В в Г г Ҕ ҕ Д д Дь дь Е е Ё ё Ж ж З з И и Й й К к Л л М м Н н Ҥ ҥ	 Нь нь О о Ө ө П п Р р С с Һ һ Т т У у Ү ү Ф ф Х х Ц ц Ч ч Ш ш Щ щ Ъ ъ Ы ы Ь ь Э э Ю ю Я я Yakut alphabet, letter names, IPA values  А Б В Г Ҕ Д Дь Е Ё Ж З И Й К Л М Н Ҥ Нь О Ө П Р С Һ Т У  Ү Ф Х Ц Ч Ш  Щ  Ъ Ы Ь Э Ю Я  а бэ вэ гэ ҕэ дэ дьэ е ё жэ зэ и ый кы эл эм эн ҥэ ньэ о ө пэ эр эс һэ	 тэ у ү эф хэ цэ че ша ща  ы  э ю я              ,                            Long vowels are represented through the doubling of vowels, e.g. '''үүт''' (''üüt'') // 'milk,' a practice that many scholars follow in Romanizations of the language.The full Yakut alphabet contains letters for consonant phonemes not present in native words (and thus not indicated in the phonology tables above): the letters '''В''' , '''Е''' //, '''Ё''' /|/, '''Ж''' , '''З''' , '''Ф''' , '''Ц''' , '''Ш''' , '''Щ''' , '''Ъ''', '''Ю''' //, '''Я''' // are used exclusively in Russian loanwords. In addition, in native Yakut words, the soft sign  is used exclusively in the digraphs  and .===Transliteration===There are numerous conventions for the Romanization of Yakut. Bibliographic sources and libraries typically use the  ALA-LC Romanization tables for non-Slavic languages in Cyrillic script. Linguists often employ Turkological standards for transliteration, or a mixture of Turkological standards and the IPA. In addition, others employ Turkish orthography. Comparison of some of these systems can be seen in the following:+ Comparison of different conventions for transcribing Yakut    дьон  айыы  бу  ыт  аттааҕар  түргэнник  сүүрэр  эһэ  бөрөтөөҕөр  күүстээх IPA //  //  //  //  //  //  //  //  //  //  Krueger ǰon  ajıı  bu  ıt  attaaɣar  türgennik  süürer  ehe  böröötööɣör  küüsteeχ  ǰon  ayï:  bu  ït  atta:ɣar  türgännik  sü:rär  ähä  börötö:ɣör  kü:stä:χ  ʤon  ïyïː  bu  ït  attaːɣar  türgennik  süːrer  ehe  börötöːɣör  kü:steːχ ALA-LC d'on  aĭyy  bu  yt  attaaghar  tu̇rgennik  su̇u̇rer  eḣe  bȯrȯtȯȯghȯr  ku̇u̇steekh KNAB djon ajy:  bu  yt  atta:ǧar  türgennik  sü:rer  eḩe  börötö:ǧör  kü:ste:h Turkish orthography con  ayıı  bu  ıt  attaağar  türgennik  süürer  ehe  börötööğör  küüsteex
Grammar ===Syntax===The typical word order can be summarized as subject – adverb – object – verb; possessor – possessed; adjective – noun.===Pronouns===Personal pronouns in Yakut distinguish between first, second, and third persons and singular and plural number. Singular Plural 1st person  ()  () 2nd person  ()  () 3rd personhuman  ()  ()non-human  ()  ()Although nouns have no gender, the pronoun system distinguishes between human and non-human in the third person, using  (, 'he/she') to refer to human beings and  (, 'it') to refer to all other things.===Grammatical number===Nouns have plural and singular forms. The plural is formed with the suffix /-LAr/, which may surface as '''-лар''' (''-lar''), '''-лэр''' (''-ler''), '''-лөр''' (''-lör''), '''-лор''' (''-lor''), '''-тар''' (''-tar''), '''-тэр''' (''-ter''), '''-төр''' (''-tör''), '''-тор''' (''-tor''), '''-дар''' (''-dar''), '''-дэр''' (''-der''), '''-дөр''' (''-dör''), '''-дор''' (''-dor''), '''-нар''' (''-nar''), '''-нэр''' (''-ner''), '''-нөр''' (''-nör''), or '''-нор''' (''-nor''), depending on the preceding consonants and vowels. The plural is used only when referring to a number of things collectively, not when specifying an amount. Nouns have no gender. Final sound basics  Plural affix options  Examples Vowels,  ''-lar, -ler, -lor, -lör''   ''kïïllar'' 'beasts', ''eheler'' 'bears', ''oɣolor'' 'children', ''börölör'' 'wolves'   ''-tar, -ter, -tor, -tör''  ''attar'' 'horses', ''külükter'' 'shadows', ''ottor'', 'herbs', ''bölöxtör'' 'groups'   ''-dar, -der, -dor, -dör''  ''baaydar'' 'rich people', ''ederder'' 'young people' ''xotoydor'' 'eagles', ''kötördör'' 'eagles'  ''-nar, -ner, -nor, -nör''   ''kïïmnar'' 'sparks', ''ilimner'' 'fishing nets', ''oronnor'' 'beds', ''bödöŋnör'' 'large ones'There is a handful of irregular plural nouns, e.g. () 'boy; son' >  (),  () 'girl; daughter' >  ().===Cases===Only Sakha (Yakut) has a rich case system that differs markedly from all the other Siberian Turkic languages. It has retained the ancient comitative case from Old Turkic (due to strong influence from Mongolian) while in other Turkic languages, the old comitative has become an instrumental case. However, in Sakha language the Old Turkic locative case has come to denote partitive case, thus leaving no case form for the function of locative. Furthermore, (in addition to locative,) genitive and equative cases are lost as well. Yakut has eight grammatical cases: nominative (unmarked), accusative ''-(n)I'', dative ''-GA'', partitive ''-TA'', ablative ''-(t)tan'', instrumental ''-(I)nAn'', comitative ''-LIIn'', and comparative ''-TAAɣAr''. Examples of these are shown in the following table for a vowel-final stem  'peace' and a consonant-final stem  'fire':   'peace'   'fire' Nominative   Accusative   Dative   Partitive   Ablative   Instrumental   Comitative   Comparative  The partitive object case indicates that just a part of an object is affected, e.g. :The corresponding expression below with the object in the accusative denotes wholeness:The partitive is only used in imperative or necessitative expressions, e.g. Note the word naːda is borrowed from Russian надо (must).A notable detail about Yakut case is the absence of the genitive, a feature which some argue is due to historical contact with Evenki (a Tungusic language), the language with which Sakha (i.e. Yakut) was in most intensive contact. Possessors are unmarked, with the possessive relationship only being realized on the possessed noun itself either through the possessive suffix (if the subject is a pronoun) or through partitive case suffix (if the subject is any other nominal). For example, in (a) the first-person pronoun subjects are not marked for genitive case; neither do full nominal subjects (possessors) receive any marking, as shown in (b):===Questions===The Sakha yes–no question marker is enclitic ''duo'' or ''du:'', whereas almost all other Turkic languages use markers of the type ''-mI'', compare:and the same sentence in Uzbek (note the question suffix '''-mi''' in contrast to Sakha):Question words in Yakut remain in-situ; they do not move to the front of the sentence. Sample question words include:  () 'what',  () 'who',  () 'how',  () 'how much; how many',  () 'where', and  () 'which'.
Vocabulary Sakha has a large number of Mongolian loanwords, representing around 13% of its vocabulary (including terms pertaining to kinship and body parts). Despite the close contact with Evenki, Sakha has quite a small number of loanwords from that language. YakutTuvanTurkishUzbek EnglishClassical Mongolian Cyrillic Latin Cyrillic Latinаччыктааһын	aččïktahïn аштаар aštaaraçlıkochlik	hungerölüsgüleŋ ᠥᠯᠥᠰᠬᠦᠯᠡᠩаччык	aččïk аш ašaç	och	hungryаатaat ат atadotnameбалык		balïkбалыкbalïkbalıkbaliqfishбалыксыт			balïksït балыкчы balïkčï			balıkçıbaliqchifishermanjiğasuçi ᠵᠢᠭᠠᠰᠤᠴᠢyy			uuсуг sugsusuvwaterusu ᠤᠰᠤтимир			timirдемирdemirdemirtemirirontemür ᠲᠡᠮᠦᠷкүөл			küölхөлkhölgölko‘llakena'ur ᠨᠠᠭᠤᠷатах			atax adaḳayakoyoqfootмурун			murunдумчукdumčukburunburunnoseбаттах	battaxдүк düksaçsochhairüsü ᠦᠰᠦилии	iliiхолkholelqo‘lhandкүн	künхүнkhüngünkunday, sunмуус			muusдошdošbuzmuzicemösü ᠮᠥᠰᠥыт			ïtытïtititdogсүрэх		sürexчүрекčürekyürekyurakheartjirüke ᠵᠢᠷᠦᠬᠡсарсын			sarsïnдаарта, эртен daarta,ertenyarınertagatomorrowбүгүн		bügünбөгүнbögünbugünbuguntodayбылыт	bïlïtбулутbulutbulutbulutcloudхаар		xaarхарkharkarqorsnowхаан			xaanхан khankanqonbloodэт		etэътètetetmeatтиис	tiisдишtišdiştishtoothат	atаътàtatothorseтаас	taasдашdaštaştoshstoneүүт	üütсүтsütsütsutmilksün ᠰᠦᠨынах		ïnaxинекinekinekinak/sigircowхара			xaraкараkarakaraqorablackqar-a ᠬᠠᠷ᠎ᠠсыттык				sïttïkсыртыкsïrtïkyastıkyostiqpillowбыһах		bïhax бижек bižekbıçakpichoqknifeбытык			bïtïk bıyıkmo‘ylovmustacheкыс, кыһын				kïs, kïhïnкышkïškış, kışınqishwinterтуус	tuusдусdustuztuzsaltтыл		tïlдылdïldiltiltongue, languagekele ᠬᠡᠯᠡcаха тылa		saxa tïlaСаха дыл,Якут дылSakha dïl,Yakut dïlsaha dili, sahacayoqut tili, yoqutchaYakut languageкыыс 					kïïsкысkïskızqizgirl, daughterуол 				uolоол,оглуool,ogluoğul, oğlano‘g‘ilson, boyүөрэтээччи					üöreteečči	башкы baškïöğretici, öğretmeno‘qituvchiteacherүөрэнээччи				üöreneečči	өөреникчиöörenikčiöğrenci,talebe o‘quvchi, talabastudentуһун			uhunузунuzunuzunuzunlong, tallкулгаах					kulgaaxкулакkulakkulakquloqearсыл		sïlчыл,харčïl,kharyılyilyearjil ᠵᠢᠯкиһи	kihiкижиkižikişikishihuman, mankümün ᠬᠥᠮᠦᠨсуол 						suolорукorukyolyo‘lroad, wayасчыт	 		asčïtбелеткээрbeletkeeraşçıoshchi, oshpazcookтараах	 		taraaxдыргакdïrgaktaraktaroqcombорто		 		ortoортаortaortao‘rtamiddleкүн ортото				 		kün ortotoдүш, дүъш,дүъштеdüš, dǜš,dǜštegün ortasıkun o‘rtasi, tushmidday, noonкүл									külхүлүмзүрүүрkhülümzürüürgülmekkulmoqto laugh; to smile өл		 		öl	өлүрölürölmeko‘lmoq	to dieис	 		isижерižeriçmekichmoqto drinkбил		 		bilбилирbilirbilmekbilmoqto knowкөр				 		körкөөр (көр-)köör (kör-)görmekko‘rmoqto seeqara ᠬᠠᠷᠠүөрэн									üören		өөренир öörenir							öğrenmeko‘rganmoqto learnүөрэт									üöretөөредирööredir									öğretmeko‘rgatmoqto teachытыр			 		ïtïrызырарïzïrar			 		ısırmak	tishlamoq	to biteхас	xasказарkazarkazmakqozmoq,qazmoqto digтик					 		tikдаараарdaaraardikiş dikmek, dikmektikmoqto sewкэл					 		kelкелирkelirgelmekkelmoqto comeсалааsalaaчылгаарčïlgaaryalamakyalamoqto lickтараа									taraataramaktaramoqto comb биэр				 		bier	бээрbeervermekbermoqto giveбул	bulтыварtïvarbulmaktopmoqto findдиэ						 		die дe-, дi- de-, di-demekdemoq, aytmoqto sayкиир						 		kiirкирерkirergirmekkirmoqto enterиһит				 		ihitдыңнаар dïŋnaarişitmekeshitmoqto hearас		asажарažaraçmakochmoqto openтут							 		tutтударtudartutmaktutmoqto holdыйïyайayayoymoonыйытыыïyïtïïайтырыгaytïrïgsorusavolquestionкыайыыkïayïïтиилелгеtiilelgezaferg‘alabavictory===Numerals===Old TurkicTurkishUzbek TuvanYakutEnglish birbirbir birbiironeekiikiikki iyiikkitwoüçüçuch üşüsthreetörtdörttŏrtdörttüörtfourbeşbeşbeshbeşbiesfivealtıaltıoltialdıaltasixyetiyediyettiçedisettesevensekizsekizsakkizsesaɣïseighttokuzdokuztŏqqiztostoɣusnineononŏnonuonten
Oral and written literature The Yakut have a tradition of oral epic in their language called "Olonkho", traditionally performed by skilled performers. The subject matter is based on Yakut mythology and legends. Versions of many Olonkho poems have been written down and translated since the 19th century, but only a very few older performers of the oral Olonkho tradition are still alive. They have begun a program to teach young people to sing this in their language and revive it, though in a modified form.The first printing in Yakut was a part of a book by Nicolaas Witsen published in 1692 in Amsterdam.In 2005, Marianne Beerle-Moor, director of the Institute for Bible Translation, Russia/CIS, was awarded the Order of Civil Valour by the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) for the translation of the New Testament into Yakut.
Examples Article 1 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (with footnotes on etymologies of some words): Novgorodov's alphabet 1920–1929. (Latin alphabet/IPA)  Latin alphabet 1929–1939. (Yañalif)  Modern Cyrillic 1939–present. Romanization   English All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
See also *Yakuts*Dolgan language*Semyon Novgorodov – the inventor of the first IPA-based Yakut alphabet
References
Bibliography * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
External links ===Language-related===* Yakut Vocabulary List (from the World Loanword Database)* Yakut thematic vocabulary lists*** Yakut texts with Russian translations in the Internet Archive – heroic poetry, fairy tales, legends, proverbs, etc. * Sakhalyy suruk – Yakut Unicode fonts and Keyboard Layouts for PC* Sakhatyla.ru – On-line Yakut–Russian, Russian–Yakut dictionary* Yakut–English Dictionary * BGN/PCGN romanization tool for Yakut* Sakha Open World  – MP3's of Sakha Radio===Content in Yakut===* Sakha Open World – Орто Дойду  – A platform to promote the Yakut Language on the web; News, Lyrics, Music, Fonts, Forum, VideoNews (in Yakut, Unicode)* Baayaga village website – news and stories about and by the people of Baayaga (in Yakut)* Kyym.ru – site of Yakut newspaper* НВК Саха (''NVK Sakha'') Yakut language news channel on YouTube