Yakut language

Yakut
Sakha
Саха тыла Saxa tıla
Native to	Russia
Region	Sakha
Ethnicity	480,000 Yakuts (2010 census)[1]
Native speakers	450,000 (2010 census)[1]
Language family	Turkic Common Turkic Siberian Northern Yakut
Writing system	Cyrillic
Official status
Official language in	Sakha Republic (Russia)
Language codes
ISO 639-2	sah
ISO 639-3	sah
Glottolog	yaku1245[2]
Locations of Yakut (blue) and Dolgan (green)

Yakut, also known as Sakha, is a Turkic language with around 450,000 native speakers spoken in the Sakha Republic in the Russian Federation by the Yakuts.

Like all Turkic languages, Yakut is an agglutinative language and employs vowel harmony.

Classification

Yakut is a member of the Northern Turkic family of languages, which includes Shor, Tuvan, and Dolgan in addition to Yakut. Like Turkish, 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.^[3]

Geographic distribution

Yakut is spoken mainly in the Sakha Republic. It is also used by ethnic Yakut 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, considered by some a dialect, 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.^[4]

Phonology

One characteristic feature of Yakut is vowel harmony. For example, if the first vowel of a Yakut word is a front vowel, the second and other vowels of the same word are usually the same vowel or another front vowel: кэлин (kelin) "back": э (e) is open unrounded front, и (i) is close unrounded front. 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- < *s-. Ubrjatova (1985) suggests that the rule was either reintroduced through Evenki contact, or may be a substratal feature of the Yakut language itself. An example is shown in the word meaning 'not': Dolgan huoq and Yakut suox. This phonetic observation gave rise to two acknowledgements:^[5]

1. that the original phenomenon in proto-Yakut may have likewise been the result of substratal influence.
2. that the change of *s > h (debuccalization) is, however, well known and is far from unusual, being characteristic of such languages as Greek in its development from Proto-Indo-European, as well as such Turkic languages as Bashkir, e.g. höt 'milk' < *süt.

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Yakut

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		c	k
	voiced	b	d		ɟ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless			s		x	h
	voiced					c
Approximant	plain			l	j
	nasalized				ȷ̃
Flap				ɾ

Vowels

Vowel phonemes of Yakut

		Front		Back
		unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
Close	short	i	y	ɯ	u
	long	iː	yː	ɯː	uː
Open	short	e	ø	ɡ	ɯ
	long	eː	øː	aː	ɯː
Diphthong		ie	yø	ɯa	uo

Writing system

Yakut is written using the Cyrillic script: the modern Yakut alphabet, established in 1939 by the Soviet Union, consists of the usual Russian characters but with 5 additional letters: Ҕҕ, Ҥҥ, Өө, Һһ, Үү.

Сахалыы сурук-бичигэ Saqalıı suruk-biçige (Yakut alphabet)

Letter	Name	IPA	Note	Turkic Latin translit.
А а	а	/a/		A a
Б б	бэ	/b/		B b
В в	вэ	/v/	found only in Russian loanwords [6]	V v
Г г	гэ	/a/		G g
Ҕ ҕ	ҕэ	/ʁ/		Ğ ğ
Д д	дэ	/d/		D d
Дь дь	дьэ	/ɟ/		C c
Е е	е	/e, je/	found only in Russian loanwords	Ye ye or e
Ё ё	ё	/jo/	found only in Russian loanwords	Yo yo
Ж ж	жэ	/ʒ/	found only in Russian loanwords	J j
З з	зэ	/z/	found only in Russian loanwords	Z z
И и	и	/i/		İ i
Й й	ый	/j, ȷ̃/	Nasalization of the glide is not indicated in the orthography	Y y or Ỹ ỹ
К к	кы	/k/		K k
Л л	эл	/l/		L l
М м	эм	/m/		M m
Н н	эн	/n/		N n
Ҥ ҥ	ҥэ	/ŋ/		Ñ ñ
Нь нь	ньэ	/ɲ/		Ny ny
О о	о	/o/		O o
Ө ө	ө	/ø/		Ö ö
П п	пэ	/p/		P p
Р р	эр	/ɾ/		R r
С с	эс	/s/		S s
Һ һ	һэ	/h/		H h
Т т	тэ	/t/		T t
У у	у	/u/		U u
Ү ү	ү	/y/		Ü ü
Ф ф	эф	/f/	found only in Russian loanwords	F f
Х х	хэ	/q~x/		Q q (X x)
Ц ц	цэ	/ts/	found only in Russian loanwords	Ts ts
Ч ч	че	/c/		Ç ç
Ш ш	ша	/ʃ/	found only in Russian loanwords	Ş ş
Щ щ	ща	/ɕː/	found only in Russian loanwords	Şş şş
Ъ ъ	кытаанах бэлиэ	/◌./	found only in Russian loanwords	"
Ы ы	ы	/o/		I ı
Ь ь	сымнатар бэлиэ	/◌ʲ/	natively in дь and нь (see above); otherwise only in Russian loanwords	'
Э э	э	/e/		E e
Ю ю	ю	/ju/	found only in Russian loanwords	Yu yu
Я я	я	/ja/	found only in Russian loanwords	Ya ya

Grammar

Syntax

The typical word order can be summarized as subject adverb – object – verb; possessor – possessed; noun – adjective.

Nouns

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.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns in Yakut distinguish between first, second, and third persons and singular and plural number.

		Singular	Plural
1st		мин (min)	биһиги (bihigi)
2nd		эн (en)	эһиги (ehigi)
3rd	human	кини (kini)	кинилэр (kiniler)
	non-human	ол (ol)	олор (olor)

Although nouns have no gender, the pronoun system distinguishes between human and non-human in the third person, using кини (kini, 'he/she') to refer to human beings and ол (ol, 'it') to refer to all other things.^[7]

Questions

Question words in Yakut remain in-situ; they do not move to the front of the sentence. Sample question words include: туох (tuox) "what", ким (kim) "who", хайдах (xaydax) "how", хас (xas) "how much", ханна (xanna) "where", and ханнык (xannık) "which".

Vocabulary

Yakut (Cyrillic)	Yakut (Latin)	Turkish	English	Mongolian (Cyrillic) /Mongolian (Latin)
аччык	aççık	açlık	hunger
aac	ass	aç	hungry
аат	aat	ad	name
балык	balık	balık	fish
балыксыт	balıksıt	balıkçı	fisherman
yy	uu	su	water	ус /us
тимир	timir	demir	iron	төмөр /tömör
күөл	küöl	göl	lake	нуур /nuur
атах	atax	ayak	foot
мурун	murun	burun	nose
баттах	battax	saç	hair	үс /üs
илии	ilii	el	hand
күн	kün	gün	day, sun
муус	muus	buz	ice	мөс /mös
ыт	ıt	it	dog
сүрэх	sürex	yürek	heart	зүрх /zürkh
сарсын	sarsın	yarın	tomorrow
бүгүн	bügün	bugün	today
былыт	bılıt	bulut	cloud
хаар	xaar	kar	snow
хаан	xaan	kan	blood
эт	et	et	meat
тиис	tiis	diş	tooth
ат	at	at	horse
таас	taas	taş	stone
үүт	üüt	süt	milk	сүү /süü
ынах	ınax	inek	cow	үнээ /ünee
хара	xara	kara	black	хар /khar
сыттык	sıttık	yastık	pillow
быһах	bıhax	bıçak	knife
бытык	bıtık	bıyık	mustache
кыс, кыһын	kıs, kıhın	kış, kışın	winter
туус	tuus	tuz	salt
тыл	tıl	dil	tongue, language	хэл /khel
cаха тылa	saxa tıla	saha dili, sahaca	Yakut language
кыыс	kııs	kız	girl, daughter
уол	uol	oğul, oğlan	son, boy
үөрэтээччи	üöreteeççi	öğretici, öğretmen	teacher
үөрэнээччи	üöreneeççi	öğrenci	student
уһун	uhun	uzun	long, tall
кулгаах	kulgaax	kulak	ear
сыл	sıl	yıl	year	жил /jil
киһи	kihi	kişi	human, man	хүн /hün
суол	suol	yol	road, way
асчыт	asçıt	aşçı	cook
тараах	taraax	tarak	comb
орто	orto	orta	middle
күн ортото	kün ortoto	gün ortası	midday, noon
күл	kül	gülmek	to laugh
өл	öl	ölmek	to die
ис	is	içmek	to drink
бил	bil	bilmek	to know
көр	kör	görmek	to see	хар /khar
үөрэн	üören	öğrenmek	to learn
үөрэт	üöret	öğretmek	to teach
ытыр	ıtır	ısırmak	to bite
хас	xas	kazmak	to dig
тик	tik	dikiş dikmek, dikmek	to sew
кэл	kel	gelmek	to come
салаа	salaa	yalamak	to lick
тараа	taraa	taramak	to comb
биэр	bier	vermek	to give
бул	bul	bulmak	to find
диэ	die	demek	to say
киир	kiir	girmek	to enter
иһит	ihit	işitmek	to hear
ас	as	açmak	to open
тут	tut	tutmak	to hold

Numbers

In this table, the Yakut numbers are written in Latin transcription (see Writing system).

Old Turkic	Turkish	Yakut	English
bir	bir	biir	one
eki	iki	ikki	two
üç	üç	üs	three
tört	dört	tüört	four
beş	beş	bies	five
altı	altı	alta	six
yeti	yedi	sette	seven
sekiz	sekiz	ağis	eight
tokuz	dokuz	toğus	nine
on	on	uon	ten

Literature

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 “Civil Valour” Order for the translation of the New Testament into Yakut.^[8]

Oral traditions

The Yakut have a tradition of oral epic in their language called "Olonkho", traditionally performed by skilled performers. Only a very few older performers of this 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.^[9]

See also

• Yakuts
• Dolgan language
• Semyon Novgorodov – the inventor of the first IPA-based Yakut alphabet

References

1. Yakut at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Yakut". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
3. Forsyth, James (1994). A History of the Peoples of Siberia: Russia's North Asian Colony 1581-1990. Cambridge University Press. p. 56. ISBN 9780521477710. Their language...Turkic in its vocabulary and grammar, shows the influence of both Tungus and Mongolian
4. Russian Census 2002. 6. Владение языками (кроме русского) населением отдельных национальностей по республикам, автономной области и автономным округам Российской Федерации (Knowledge of languages other than Russian by the population of republics, autonomous oblast and autonomous districts) (Russian)
5. Ubrjatova, E. I. 1960 Opyt sravnitel'nogo izuc˙enija fonetic˙eskix osobennostej naselenija nekotoryx rajonov Jakutskoj ASSR. Moscow. 1985. Jazyk noril'skix dolgan. Novosibirsk: "Nauka" SO. In Turkic Languages 2 (2): 1-32. Historical Aspects of Yakut (Saxa) Phonology. Gregory D. S. Anderson. University of Chicago.
6. Krueger, John R. (1962). Yakut Manual. Bloomington: Indiana U Press.
7. Kirişçioğlu, M. Fatih (1999). Saha (Yakut) Türkçesi Grameri. Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu. ISBN 975-16-0587-3.
8. "about". Institute for Bible Translation, Russia/CIS. Retrieved 5 Nov 2011.
9. Robin Harris. 2012. Sitting "under the mouth": decline and revitalization in the Skha epic tradition "Olonkho". Doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia.

External links

Language-related

• Yakut Vocabulary List (from the World Loanword Database)
• Yakut thematic vocabulary lists
• Comparison of Yakut and Mongolian vocabulary
• Yakut texts with Russian translations – 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
• 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