| Soyot | |
|---|---|
| сойыт тыл | |
| Native to | Russia,Mongolia |
| Region | Buryatia,Khövsgöl Province |
| Ethnicity | Soyots |
| Extinct | late 20th century[1][2] |
| Revival | 2000s[2] |
Turkic
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | soyo1234 Soyot |
| ELP |
|
 Soyot is classified as Extinct by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger[4] | |
Soyot (orSoyot–Tsaatan) is an extinct and revitalizingTurkic language of theSiberian Sayan branch similar to theDukhan language and closely related to theTofa language.[2] Two dialects/languages are spoken inRussia andMongolia: Soyot in theOkinsky District of the Republic ofBuryatia (Russia) and Tsaatan (Uriankhai Uyghur) in theDarkhad valley of Mongolia.
The language is revitalizing in primary schools.[2] In 2002,V. I. Rassadin published a Soyot–Buryat–Russian dictionary.[2][5] In 2020, he published a children's picture dictionary in the Soyot language, along with Russian, Mongolian, and English translations.[6]
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:[7][8]
According to Glottolog, Soyot is a dialect of the Taiga Sayan Turkic language:[9]
Ragagnin similarly divides the Sayan languages into two branches: Steppe and Taiga, but makes certain distinctions not made by Glottlog:[10]
Soyot has no official recognition in any of the countries where it is spoken. Until 1993, they were counted as part of theBuryat nationality in Russia. At this point, they were acknowledged as a separate nationality by thePeople's Khural of the Republic of Buryatia. After applying to theRussian Duma for official recognition, they were acknowledged as an ethnic minority in 2001. Most Soyots in Russia live inBuryatia'sOkinsky District.[11]
Rassadin reports that the Soyot andTsaatan dialects, have very similar phonological systems.[11] Information here is from Soyot.
| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | |
| Close | i | y | ɯ | u |
| Mid | e | ø | o | |
| Open | æ | a | ||
Vowels may beshort, long, or shortpharyngealized, e.g. /ɯt/ "send", /ɯˁt/ "dog", /ɯːt/ "sound, voice".
Soyot exhibitsvowel harmony, that is, words containing front vowels take only suffixes containing front vowels, whereas words with back vowels take only suffixes with back vowels.
Soyot is not commonly written. Rassadin employs aCyrillic-based writing system to represent Soyot in his dictionaries and grammars. Certain letters are only found in Russian loanwords.[which?]
| Letter | Value | Letter | Value | Letter | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Аа | /a/ | Ққ | /q/ | Хх | /x/ |
| Бб | /b/ | Лл | /l/ | Һһ | /h/ |
| Вв | /v/ | Мм | /m/ | Цц | /t͡s/ |
| Гг | /g/ | Нн | /n/ | Чч | /t͡ʃ/ |
| Ғғ | /ɣ/ | Ңң | /ŋ/ | Ҷҷ[note 1] | /d͡ʒ/ |
| Дд | /d/ | Оо | /o/ | Шш | /ʃ/ |
| Ее | /e, ʲe/[note 2] | Өө | /ø/ | Щщ | /ɕ/ |
| Ёё | /ʲo, jo/ | Пп | /p/ | Ъъ | /◌ˤ/[note 3] |
| Жж | /ʒ/ | Рр | /r/ | Ыы | /ɯ/ |
| Зз | /z/ | Сс | /s/ | Ьь | /◌ʲ/[note 4] |
| Ии | /i/[note 5] | Тт | /t/ | Ээ | /e/[note 6] |
| Іі | /i/[note 5] | Уу | /u/ | Әә | /æ/ |
| Йй | /j/ | Үү | /y/ | Юю | /ʲu, ju/ |
| Кк | /k/ | Фф | /f/ | Яя | /ʲa, ja/ |
Nouns have singular andplural forms. The plural is formed with the suffix /-LAr/, which has six possible surface variations depending on vowel harmony and the preceding sound.
| 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:
| 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 . Thenominative 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.
| 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 |
Certain adjectives may be intensified viareduplication. 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 adverbtuŋ "very", e.g.tuŋ ulɯɣ "very big".
Soyot employs abase-10 counting system.
| 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 wordduɣaːr to the cardinal numeral, e.g.iˁhi duɣaːr "second".
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)...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.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| Reconstructed |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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