Chuvash ( , ; , , , , , ) is a Turkic language spoken in Volga-Ural region of Russia, primarily in the Chuvash Republic and adjacent areas. It is the only surviving member of the Oghur branch of Turkic languages, one of the two principal branches of the Turkic family. Chuvash is the sole living representative of the Bulgharic branch, one of the two principal branches of the Turkic family.
The writing system for the Chuvash language is based on the Cyrillic script, employing all of the letters used in the Russian alphabet and adding four letters of its own: Ӑ, Ӗ, Ҫ and Ӳ.
Distribution
Chuvash is the native language of the Chuvash people and an official language of Chuvashia. There are contradictory numbers regarding the number of people able to speak Chuvash nowadays; some sources claim it is spoken by 1,640,000 persons in Russia and another 34,000 in other countries and that 86% of ethnic Chuvash and 8% of the people of other ethnicities living in Chuvashia claimed knowledge of Chuvash language during the 2002 census.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) However, other sources claim that the number of Chuvash speakers is on the decline, with a drop from 1 million speakers in 2010 to 700,000 in 2021; observers suggest this is due to Moscow having a lack of interest in preserving the language diversity in Russia. Although Chuvash is taught at schools and sometimes used in the media, it is considered endangered by the UNESCO, because Russian dominates in most spheres of life and few children learning the language are likely to become active users.
A fairly significant production and publication of literature in Chuvash still continues. According to UNESCO's Index Translationum, at least 202 books translated from Chuvash were published in other languages (mostly Russian) since ca. 1979.Index Translationum: translations from Chuvash - shows 202 titles, as of 2013-01-06. The index has data since ca. 1979. However, as with most other languages of the former USSR, most of the translation activity took place before the dissolution of the USSR: out of the 202 translations, 170 books were published in the USSRIndex Translationum: translations from Chuvash, published in the USSR - shows 170 titles and just 17, in the post-1991 Russia (mostly, in the 1990s).Index Translationum: translations from Chuvash, published in Russia - shows 17 titles A similar situation takes place with the translation of books from other languages (mostly Russian) into Chuvash (the total of 175 titles published since ca. 1979, but just 18 of them in post-1991 Russia).Index Translationum: translations into Chuvash
Classification Chuvash is the most distinctive of the Turkic languages and cannot be understood by other Turkic speakers, whose languages have varying degrees of mutual intelligibility within their respective subgroups. Chuvash is classified, alongside the long-extinct Bulgar, as a member of the Oghuric branch of the Turkic language family, or equivalently, the sole surviving descendant of West Old Turkic. Since the surviving literary records for the non-Chuvash members of Oghuric (Bulgar and possibly Khazar) are scant, the exact position of Chuvash within the Oghuric family cannot be determined.
Despite grammatical similarity with the rest of Turkic language family, the presence of changes in Chuvash pronunciation (which are hard to reconcile with other members of the Turkic family) has led some scholars to see Chuvash as originating not from Proto-Turkic but from another proto-language spoken at the time of Proto-Turkic (in which case Chuvash and all the remaining Turkic languages would be part of a larger language family).
The Oghuric branch is distinguished from the rest of the Turkic family (the Common Turkic languages) by two sound changes: r corresponding to Common Turkic z (rhotacism) and l corresponding to Common Turkic š (lambdacism).Johanson (1998); cf. Johanson (2000, 2007) and the articles pertaining to the subject in Johanson & Csató (ed., 1998). The first scientific fieldwork description of Chuvash, by August Ahlqvist in 1856, allowed researchers to establish its proper affiliation.
Some scholars suggest Hunnish had strong ties with Chuvash and classify Chuvash as separate Hunno-Bulgar. However, such speculations are not based on proper linguistic evidence, since the language of the Huns is almost unknown except for a few attested words and personal names. Scholars generally consider Hunnish as unclassifiable.
Chuvash is so divergent from the main body of Turkic languages that Chuvash was first believed to be a Turkified Finno-Ugric language, or an intermediate branch between Turkic and Mongolic languages.Rachewiltz, Igor de. Introduction to Altaic philology: Turkic, Mongolian, Manchu / by Igor de Rachewiltz and Volker Rybatzki; with the collaboration of Hung Chin-fu. p. cm. — (Handbook of Oriental Studies = Handbuch der Orientalistik. Section 8, Central Asia; 20). — Leiden; Boston, 2010. — P. 7. Conversely, other scholars today regard it as an Oghuric language significantly influenced by the Finno-Ugric languages.
The following sound changes and resulting sound correspondences are typical:Johanson (1998: 89-197).Agyagási (2019: passim) +Sound change from Proto-TurkicExample of sound correspondence*/ɾʲ/ > rхӗр (hĕr) : Turkish kız 'girl'*/lʲ/ > l,
but occasionally /lʲ/ > śкӗмӗл (kӗmӗl) : Turkish kümüş 'silver' хӗвел (hĕvel) : Tatar qoyaš 'sun' хӗл (hĕl) : Turkish kış ‘winter’
пуҫ (puş) : Turkish baş ‘head’*y > ǰ > č > śҫул (şul) : Turkish yol ‘road’*-n > -mтӗтӗм (tĕtĕm) : Turkish tütün ‘smoke’*-ŋ > -n (sometimes -m)ҫӗнӗ (şĕnĕ) : Yakut саҥа, Turkish yeni 'new' (< Proto-Turkic *yaŋï, yeŋi)*-d > -ð > -z > -rура (ura) : Tuvan адак, Turkish ayak (< Proto-Turkic *adak) ‘foot’*[q] (i.e. */k/ in back environments) > χ But dropped before later *yхура (hura) : Turkish kara 'black' юн (jun) : Turkish kan 'blood' (Proto-Turkic *qaːn > Oguric *χaːn > *χyan > *yån)*-/k/ (both -[q] or -[k]) finally in disyllabic stems: > g > γ > ∅пулӑ (pulă) : Turkish balık 'fish' ĕне (ĕne) : Turkish inek 'cow' ура (ura) : Turkish ayak 'foot' *-g > *-w > -v, -∅ (also via monophthongisation)ту (tu) : Turkish dağ 'mountain', тив (tiv) : Turkish değ 'touch', вӗрен (vĕren) : Turkish öğren 'learn',
аллӑ (allă) : Turkish elli (< Proto-Turkic *ellig, ellüg)*s > š occasionally (due to a following *y?)шыв (šyv) : Old Turkic sub, Turkish su 'water'*b- > p-пӗр (pĕr) : Turkish bir 'one'*-b > *-w > -vшыв (šyv) : Old Turkic sub, Turkish su 'water'*t in palatal environments > čчӗр (çĕr) : Turkish diz 'knee'diphthongisation of long vowels producing /yV/ and /vV/ sequences (but not in all relevant lexemes); e.g.: *ā > ja
*ō > *wo > vu
*ȫ, ǖ > *üwä > ăvaят (jat) : Turkmen at, Turkish ad 'name' (< Proto-Turkic *āt) вут (vut) : Turkmen ot, Turkish od 'fire' (< Proto-Turkic *ōt)
тӑват (tăvat): Turkish dört (< Proto-Turkic *tȫrt)reduction and centralisation of high vowels: *u > ă;
*ï > ă or ĕ
*i, *ü > ĕтӑр (tăr) : Turkish dur 'stand' хӗр (hĕr) : Turkish kız 'girl'
пӗр (pĕr) : Turkish bir 'one', кӗл (kĕl): Turkish kül 'ash'*a > *å > o > u (the latter only in the Anatri dialect, on which the standard is based); but also (the determining circumstances are unclear):
*a > ïут (ut) : Turkish at 'horse'
ҫыр (şyr) : Turkish yaz 'write'raising of most other low vowels: *ẹ > i, *o > u, *ö > üкил (kil) : Turkish gel 'come', утӑ (utӑ) : Turkish ot 'grass'*e (i.e. *ä) > aкас (kas) : Turkish kes 'cut'Allophonic rules: voicing between voiced segments, palatalisation of consonants in palatal environments,
leftward stress retraction from reduced vowelsSee Phonology section.
Most of the (non-allophonic) consonant changes listed in the table above are thought to date from the period before the Bulgars migrated to the Volga region in the 10th century; some notable exceptions are the č > ś shift and the final stage of the -d > -ð > -z > -r shift, which date from the following, Volga Bulgar period (between the 10th-century migration and the Mongol invasions of the 13th century). The vowel changes mostly occurred later, mainly during the Middle Chuvash period (between the invasions and the 17th century), except for the diphthongisation, which took place during the Volga Bulgar period. Many sound changes known from Chuvash can be observed in Turkic loanwords into Hungarian (from the pre-migration period) and in Volga Bulgar epitaphs or loanwords into languages of the Volga region (from the Volga Bulgar period). Nevertheless, these sources also indicate that there was significant dialectal variation within the Oguric-speaking population during both of these periods.
Comparison In the 8–10th centuries in Central Asia, the ancient Turkic script (the Orkhon-Yenisei runic script) was used for writing in Turkic languages. Turkic epitaphs of 7–9th centuries AD were left by speakers of various dialects (table):
Often in the Chuvash language, the Common Turkic sounds of /j/ (Oghuz), /d/ (Karluk), /z/ (Kipchak) are replaced by /r/, example rhotacism:
Words for "leg" and "put" in various Turkic languages:
j - languages (Oguz): ayaq, qoy-
d - languages (Karluk): adaq, qod-
z - languages (Kypchak): azaq, qoz-
r - languages (Oghur): ura, hur- (dial. ora, hor-)
Often in the Chuvash language, the Turkic sound /q/ is replaced by /x/, example hitaism:
Comparison table
Сhitacism (Q > H) English word Oghuz / Kipchak Chuvash (Up.)Chuvash (Low.) black qara hurahora goose qaz hurhor girl qız hĕrhĕr zucchini qabaq hupahhopah
Turkic sound -y- (oguz) and -j- (kipchaks) is replaced by chuvash -ş-, example:
Words in Turkic languages: egg, snake, rain, house, earth
Oguz: yumurta, yılan, yağmur, yurt, yer (turk., azerb.)
Kipchaks: jumırtqa, jılan, jañğır, jurt, jer (kyrgyz., kazakh.)
Chuvash: şămarta, şĕlen, şămăr, şurt, şĕr
In the field of vowels, we observe the following correspondences: the common Turkic -a- in the first syllable of the word in Chuvash correspond to -u- and -o-.
Comparison table English word Oguz / Kipchak Chuvash (Up.)Chuvash (Low.) horse at ut ot coin aqça ukşaokşa head baš puşpoş step adım utăm otăm
In modern times, in Chuvash [a] remains, Tatar "kapka" ~ Chuvash "hapha" (gate), when there should be a "hupha" from the root "hup - close".
In the field of vowels, G. F. Miller observes another example when -u- is replaced by -wu- or -wă-
Comparison table English word Kipchak Chuvash (Upper) Oguz Chuvash (Lower) fire ut wut ot wot ten un wun on won forest urman wărman orman wărman Russian urus wırăs orus wırăs he ul wăl ol wăl thirty utyz wătăr otyz wătăr
The fricative -g- in some words in Chuvash corresponds to -v-
Comparison table English word Oghuz Chuvash native doğan tăvantreeağaçjıvăş mountain dağ tuv Ogur and Oguz
It is well known that the Oghuz group of Turkic languages differs from the Kipchak in that the word “I” was pronounced by the Oghuzes and Oghurs in ancient times by "bä(n)", and the rest of the Turks - by "män". There is such a difference in the modern Turkic languages of the Volga region: +Volga TatarChuvashOghuzTranslationNotesэпӗ(н)benI, meпинbiŋthousandпилешrowanпӗҫи, пиҫукpişikcatпичевbuckle tat., bash. Min, ogur/chuv. Epĕn (< *pen), turk. Ben, eng. «I am»;
tat., bash. Mең, ogur/chuv. Piń, turk. Bin, eng. «thousand»;
tat., bash. Milәş, ogur/chuv. Pileš, eng. «rowan»;
tat. Мәçe, ogur/chuv. Pĕşi, Pĕşuk, az. Pişik, eng. «cat»;
,
Phonology Consonants