Kalmyk language
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| Kalmyk | ||
|---|---|---|
| Хальмг келн Halʹmg keln | ||
| Spoken in | Russia | |
| Region | Kalmykia | |
| Total speakers | 174,000 | |
| Language family | Altaic[1] | |
| Writing system | Cyrillic, Latin, Clear script | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | xal | |
| ISO 639-3 | xal | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
The Kalmyk language (Хальмг келн; also known as Kalmuck, Calmouk, Qalmaq, Kalmytskii Jazyk, Khal:mag, Volga Oirat, Weilate, Western Mongol) is the language spoken by the Kalmyks, that is, the Oirats of Kalmykia (Russian Federation). The Kalmyk variety belongs to the Oirat language within the Mongolic language family and is itself divided into the Torgut language in the East and the Dörbed dialect in the West[2].
The Kalmyks suffered greatly during the Soviet period. Half of all Kalmyk speakers died during the Russian Civil War. Stalin's ethnic cleansings also significantly reduced the population of the Kalmyk people. Until recently, the Kalmyk population in Russia was at lower levels than it had been in 1913. Russian was made the primary official language of Kalmykia, and in 1963 the last Kalmyk language classes were closed and Russian became the language of education for Kalmyk children.
As a result of these policies, many Kalmyks do not speak their ethnic language. Kalmyk linguists, in collaboration with the Kalmyk government, are working to improve this situation. Beginning in 1993, school education in the Kalmyk language was restored.
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[edit] Writing systems
It has some elements in common with the Uralic and Uyghur languages, which reflects its origin from the common language of the Oirats, a union of four Oirat tribes that absorbed some Ugric and Turkic tribes during their expansion westward.
The literary tradition of Oirat reaches back to 11th century when the Uyghur script was used. The official Kalmyk alphabet named Todo Bichig (Clear Script) was created in the 17th century by a Kalmyk Buddhist monk called Zaya Pandit. In 1924 this script was replaced by a Cyrillic script, which was abandoned in 1930 in favor of a Latin script. The Latin script was in turn replaced by another Cyrillic script in 1938. These script reforms effectively disrupted the Oirat literary tradition.
The modified Cyrillic alphabet used for the Kalmyk language is as follows:
| Cyrillic | IPA | Transliteration | Cyrillic | IPA | Transliteration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Аа | a | a | Оо | ɔ | o | |
| Әә | ə | ä | Өө | o | ö | |
| Бб | p,pʲ | b | Пп | (pʰ ), (pʲʰ ) | p | |
| Вв | w,wʲ | v, w | Рр | r,rʲ | r | |
| Гг | ɡ,ɡʲ,ɢ | g | Сс | s | s | |
| Һһ | gh | Тт | tʰ,tʲʰ | t | ||
| Дд | t,tʲ | d | Уу | ʊ | u | |
| Ее | je | ye | Үү | u | ü | |
| Ёё | jɔ | yo | Фф | ( f ) | f | |
| Жж | tʃ | zh | Хх | x,xʲ | h | |
| Җҗ | dzh, j | Цц | tsʰ | ts | ||
| Зз | ts | (d)z | Чч | tʃʰ | ch | |
| Ии | i | i | Шш | ʃ | sh | |
| Йй | j | y | Щщ | (stʃ ) | shch | |
| Кк | ( k ), (kʲ ) | k | Ыы | i | y | |
| Лл | ɮ,ɮʲ | l | Ьь | ʲ | ' | |
| Мм | m,mʲ | m | Ээ | e | e | |
| Нн | n,nʲ | n | Юю | jʊ | yu | |
| Ңң | ng | Яя | ja | ya |
[edit] Notes
- ^ The existence of the Altaic family is controversial. See Altaic languages.
- ^ Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Anna Tsendina, Anastasia Karlsson, Vivan Franzén (2005): The Phonology of Mongolian. New York: Oxford University Press: 148
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
