This is, to a certain extent, a hypothetical language family that unites three language groups: Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchurian. Some linguists also classify Korean and Japanese as Altaic languages. However, the commonality of these language groups has not been proven, and they can be considered as separate language families. The name "Altai languages" is sometimes used to refer to the languages ​​of the peoples living in Altai - Khakasses, Altaians, Tuvans and others.

The peoples of the Altaic language family in the North Caucasus are represented by the Turks. The Mongolian language is spoken by the Kalmyks (the self-name "Khalmg" - the number of more than 150 thousand people), genetically ascending to the Mongols - Oirats, who emigrated from Dzungaria to Russia in the 17th century. But the Kalmyks geographically gravitate not to the North Caucasus, but to the Lower Volga region, and we do not consider them.

Peoples of the Turkic group

In the former Soviet Union, the Turks were the most extensive group, which included about 25 languages ​​and dialects with a total population of up to 25 million people. Most of them lived in Central Asia (Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Turkmens, Kirghiz, Uighurs, Karakalpaks), Siberia (Yakugs, Tuvans, Khakasses, Altaians), Povol - Zhsko-Ural region (Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvashs) and in the Caucasus (Azerbaijanis , Kumyks, Karachays, Balkars). After the collapse of the USSR at the end of 1991, five large Turkic peoples formed independent states (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan). The peoples of the North Caucasus include Kumyks, Karachays, Balkars and Nogais.

Kumyks. They live in the flat-foothill part of Dagestan, being part of the main population of 7 of its districts. Small groups of Kumyks also live in the Chechen Republic and North Ossetia. The number of Kumyks is approximately 150 thousand people; we do not have more accurate data at our disposal. Self-name of the people "Kumuk". The southern part of the Kumyks called themselves by the names of the villages - Bashlynets (village Bashly), Utamysh (village Utamysh), etc. The Kumyk language belongs to the Kipchak group of Turkic languages ​​and is divided into three dialects: northern (Khasavyurt), middle (Buinak) and southern (Kaitag).

Literary is the Khasavyurt dialect. Differences between dialects are gradually being erased (62, p. 421).

The ethnogenesis of the Kumyks is currently presented as a process of ethnic mixing, i.e., mixing of the ancient aboriginal population of the foothills of Dagestan with the newcomer Turkic-speaking nomads of the early Middle Ages, who infiltrated here from the SS-Caucasian steppes. According to the researcher of this problem, Ya. A. Fedorov, the first wave of such nomads - Turks were the Savirs, who appeared in Dagestan in the 5th century; Savirs are a people of Hunnic origin. In the V - VII centuries. this part of Dagestan was called "the country of the Huns" in some sources. Thus began the linguistic Turkization of the foothill natives of Dagestan, which stretched for several centuries (108, pp. 114-117).

Ya. A. Fedorov connects the second wave of Turkization with the Turkic-speaking people of the Khazars, who created the vast and powerful Khazar Khaganate that existed in the 7th-10th centuries. on the territory of the Lower Volga region - the North-Eastern Caucasus. The final stage of Turkization and assimilation falls on the period of the 11th-13th centuries, when masses of new warlike nomadic Turks appeared in the steppes of the Ciscaucasia, bearing the common name "Kipchaks" (in Russian chronicles "Polovtsy"). Kipchak camps reached Northern Dagestan, but after the defeat of them and the Alans by the Tatar-Mongols around the middle of the 13th century. part of the Kipchaks migrated to Dagestan, settled in the foothills among the already heavily Turkified natives and mixed with them, laying the foundation for the Kumyk language and the Kumyk people. The belonging of the Kumyk language to the Kipchak group of Turkic languages ​​confirms this version. Anthropologically, the Kumyks represent a typical Caucasian people.

In the XVI-XIX centuries. significant development among the Kumyks received feudal relations based on large landed property. The class of feudal lords, headed by Shamkhal Tarkovsky, included beks, gulls, bridles and Muslim clergy: Kumyks were Sunni Muslims. Peasants were also divided into several categories. The most dependent was the category of Chagars-krpostnyh, not to mention slaves-Kuls. Judicial proceedings were based on adat and sharia. Feudal relations dominated until the revolution of 1917, intertwined with patriarchal tribal remnants and elements of capitalist relations. Blood feud was also common (62, pp. 432-434).

During the years of Soviet power, illiteracy was eliminated among the Kumyks (which was over 90% before the revolution), magazines and newspapers were published in the Kumyk language, and an intelligentsia was formed. In 1930, the Kumyk Drama Theater was founded in Makhachkala.

Karachays. The territory of the ancient settlement of Karachais until the beginning of the 20th century. It was limited to the basin of the upper reaches of the Kuban, subdivided into Bolshoy Karachay (the headwaters of the Kuban River with the auls of Kart-Dzhurt, Uchkulan, Khur-Zuk) and Small Karachay (the gorge of the Tebsrda River with tributaries and auls of Teberd and Senta). East of the city of Kumbashi and along the river. Until the Soviet era, the Karachays did not live in the Podkumka, as they did in the upper reaches of the Bolshoi Zelenchuk (the village of Arkhyz was founded in 1923 and received about 150 families of immigrants). Mountain scarcity of land and the simultaneous growth of the population encouraged the Karachais to move to the foothill areas, moving down the Podkumka. The Cossack villages of Zelenchukskaya, Kardonik-Skaya, Storozhevaya, Prsgradnaya settled down. Thus, the territory of settlement of Karachais during the years of Soviet power has undergone significant changes, expanded and became the basis for the revival of this small people: at the beginning of the 20th century. Karachays, according to some sources, there were 15 thousand people (now more than 150 thousand; 107, p. 131).

The self-name of the Karachays is "Karachayly". Their language, like Kumyk, belongs to the Kipchak group of Turkic languages, but unlike Kumyk, it has a number of similarities with the Ossetian language. The latter circumstance can hardly be explained by linguistic ties and borrowings of the late Middle Ages - the Karachays have no territorial contacts with the Ossetians. This phenomenon finds the most probable explanation in the features of the formation of the Karachai people, similar in basic features to the ethnogenesis of the Kumyks - linguistic Turkization and ethnic assimilation of the local pre-Turkic population, i.e. the faiths - Khnskuban Alans, by some group of medieval Turks. Various Turkic groups (Bulgarians, Khazars) penetrated into the upper reaches of the Kuban and Pyatigors from the 7th - 8th centuries, but the demographic situation did not seriously change here. Approximately from the middle of the XI century. from the steppes of the Ciscaucasia to the foothills, the most powerful Turkic tribal association of the Polovtsy, or Kipchaks, is moving forward. Their settlement in the upper reaches of the Kuban radically changed the demography of the region and led to the gradual assimilation of the local group of Iranian-speaking Alans by the Kipchaks, to the final linguistic Turkization of these Alans, who mixed with the Kipchaks. The ethnonym "Alans", which the Mingrelians of Western Georgia call the Karachais, and the preservation of this ethnonym in the historical memory of the Karachais confirm the likelihood of the described process of the formation of the Karachai people (108, pp. 100 - 104). Thus, the Karachay ethnogenesis can be attributed to the XI-XIII centuries. and consider this people, as well as kindred Balkars, the youngest people of the North Caucasus.

Under the modern name "Karachai", the people of interest to us became known from the first half of the 17th century, when Moscow ambassadors F. Yelchin and P. Zakhariev passed through their lands to Megrelia (109, pp. 7 - 8). At that time, feudal relations and feudal lords already existed in Karachas, in Russian sources referred to as

murzas, while the peasants were called "muzhiks" in the same documents. In 1828 Karachay was annexed to Russia. The main economic occupation of the Karachays before the 1917 revolution was pasture cattle breeding with a predominance of small cattle, the Karachai breed of sheep was traditionally considered one of the best breeds.

The ethnographic life of the Karachais is characterized by some specific features. First of all, this is house-building: while most of the peoples of the North Caucasus built houses and outbuildings of stone, the traditional dwelling of the Karachays was a log house made of thick logs with a gable earthen roof and a wall hearth (62, pp. 250 - 253). There are no combat and residential towers in Karachas, which are so widely represented in the more eastern regions of the North Caucasus. There are almost no church buildings and sanctuaries, which were also widely used to the east. The reasons for this peculiarity of the construction culture of the Karachays have not yet been disclosed.

Since the 17th century Islam begins to spread in Karachay. Currently, Karachays are Sunni Muslims. In 1926, the construction of the city of Karachaevsk began as the center of the economic and cultural life of the Karachay people. Now this picturesque city, surrounded by low mountains, has grown and has really become such a center. The mountain valleys of Tsberda, Dombai and Arkhyz have become magnificent mountain resorts, surpassing the resorts of Switzerland in terms of natural and climatic characteristics. They have a great future ahead of them. In the Lower Arkhyz (Great Zelenchuk gorge) there is the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the largest telescope in Europe (mirror diameter 6 m).

During the Second World War, the Karachay people were repressed and completely deported to Central Asia. The Karachay Autonomous Region, which had existed since 1926, was liquidated, the territory of Karachay was basically ceded to Georgia as the Kluhorsky region of the GSSR. Karachay statehood was restored in 1957 as part of the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Okrug as part of the Stavropol Territory, and the Karachays returned to their native places. In 1991, the status of statehood was raised and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic was created with the capital in the city of Cherkessk. A characteristic feature of the socio-political life of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic in subsequent years was the relative stability and balance of interethnic relations, despite the multi-ethnicity of its population. This positive balance was upset in May-June 1999 in connection with the election of the first president of the republic: the most realistic contenders for the highest post were V. Semyonov from Karachai and S. Derev from Circassia. This circumstance drew the line of an ethnic split between the two "titular" peoples of Karachay-Cherkessia and led to confrontation and an unprecedented increase in tension, which once again indicated the complexity and severity of the situation in the North Caucasus. As a result of the elections, V. Semenov won, but the "Circassian party" did not accept the defeat of its candidate, and the hidden confrontation continued.

Balkars. They live in the Baksan, Chegem, Cherek, Khulamo-Bezengi gorges and in some flat settlements of Kabardino-Balkaria. The number of the Balkar people is about 90 thousand people (107, p. 132). The self-name of the Balkars “taulu” is mountaineers, but there are more private names for the names of mountain gorges and, accordingly, societies: malkarlyla, byzyngylyl, holamlyla, chegemllyla. In written documents, the name of the Balkars is first encountered in the first half of the 17th century. (108, p. 104), but this does not mean that the history of the Balkar people began in the 17th century. The origin of the Balkars, like

their Turkic language of the Kipchak group is essentially the same with the ethnogenesis and language of the Karachais, as already mentioned above. These are brother peoples, probably coming from the same common roots and, perhaps, once forming one ethnic community, later divided into two separate parts. We have already seen a similar picture among the Circassians, who formed three closely related, but separate peoples. Territorial and cultural isolation in conditions of very inaccessible highlands and impassable roads led to small dialectal differences between Karachays and Balkars. In the language of the Balkars, in particular, the so-called "Digorisms" were revealed - the Digors are the closest eastern neighbors of the Balkars and had traditional ties with them. In addition, there is reason to think that the formation of the Balkars took place on the Digor ethnic basis by mixing and assimilation of the ancient Alano-Digor layer with the newcomer group of Kipchaks after the Tatar-Mongol invasion of the 13th century. If so, the Balkars, like the Karachays and Kumyks, represent the youngest peoples of the North Caucasus.

Writing in the Balkar language was created in 1924, and the basis of the literary language was Baksano-che, the Gem dialect. The largest and most famous Balkar poet is Kaisyn Kuliev.

The basis of the economy of the Balkars has traditionally been animal husbandry with a predominance of small cattle, primarily sheep of the coarse-wooled Karachay breed. A significant part of the cattle and the best pastures and hayfields were in the hands of the local feudal lords, the taubisv. During the years of Soviet power, industrial enterprises appeared in the mountains of Balkaria. The largest was the tungsten-molpbdenum plant in the town of Tyrny-Auz (Baksanskos gorge).

In contrast to Karachay, stone residential buildings with flat ceilings and open hearths prevailed in Balkaria (62, pp. 280-281). Another difference

4 Order No. 1610 Q7 consists in the fact that stone battle towers were erected in Balkaria and stone burial crypts were built, which existed until the 18th-19th centuries. In the XVIII century. Islam penetrated Balkaria, and now Muslim Balkars are non-Sunnis.

In 1944, the Balkar people were subjected to unjustified repressions and completely deported to Central Asia, where they stayed until 1957. After Stalin's personality cult was exposed, all the repressed peoples of the North Caucasus returned to their historical homeland and experienced a turbulent period of rebirth. The Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was restored with its capital in the city of Nalchik. In January 1991, Kabardino-Balkaria was proclaimed a republic within the Russian Federation with a presidential form of government. Soon after that, a political trend appeared in Balkaria, focused on the creation of a separate Balkarian republic and, consequently, on the split of the united and justified statehood of Kabardians and Balkars. After heated discussions, the impossibility of such a delimitation and redistribution of land was recognized and condemned, the Balkar people showed sobriety and far-sightedness, not supporting the ideas of separatism.

Nogais. Between the Terek and the Kura stretches the Nogai steppe, which is an arid zone administratively included in the Karanogai region of Dagestan and the Achikulak region of the Stavropol Territory. This is the territory of Nogai nomadism until the 20th century, and the nomads were scattered over a vast and flat, sometimes semi-desert (Achikulak) space. The Nogais did not make pens for cattle, they did not procure fodder for future use. A typical phenomenon for this harsh natural environment was the lack of water: there were very few digging wells in the steppe. Under the nomadic pastoral system, the constant threat of mass loss of livestock in summer was heat and lack of water, in winter - snow cover, when livestock could not get food from under the snow. Therefore, the Nogais occupied a territory in the Ciscaucasia, which in economic terms always represents a zone of increased risk and the least profitable for life support.

Part of the Nogai settled in more favorable conditions in the Kizlyar, Babayurt and Khasavyurt regions of Dagestan, partly in the Terek regions of Chechnya, in the Kochubeevsky and Minsralovodsky regions (village Kangly) of Stavropol. The Nogais also live in Karachay-Cherkessia, making up a population of 7 auls. The total number of Nogais is more than 75 thousand people, but we do not have exact data. The Nogai language belongs to the Kipchak group of Turkic languages ​​and includes three dialects: Karanogai, Achikulaks-Ky and Aknogai (in Karachay-Cherkessia). The dialects reflect, respectively, the three ethnographic groups of the Nogai people (108, p. 117).

The origin of the Nogais is associated with the Mongol tribes of the Mangyts and others who entered the ulus of the Golden Horde temnik of the 13th century. Nogay and mixed with the Turkic-speaking Kipchaks-Polovtsy (110, p. 5 - 6). In the process of this mixing and assimilation, the Kipchak language won and became the language of the new ethnic formation of the Nogais. For a long time it was believed that the self-name of the people “Nogai” comes from the name of the mentioned temnik Nogai, who achieved significant military and political power. At present, a different explanation has been put forward: the ethnonym “nogai” comes from the social term “nomad” (“nagai”; Yu. A. Evstigneev, 111, pp. 80-81). The Nogai Horde separated from the Golden Horde at the end of the 14th century, and in the 16th century. split into the Great and Small Hordes. In the 17th century under the pressure of the Kalmyks who moved to the Volga region, the Nogais of the Great Horde migrated to the west and south, mastering the steppes of the North Caucasus.

Like many peoples of the North Caucasus, the Nogais were dominated by feudal-patriarchal relations - shsnya. The feudal class consisted of murzas and sultans (the latter were equal with murzas), kaibashi - petty nobility, nobles, similar to the Adyghe workers, and Muslim clergy. The dependent population consisted of aslanbiyke-free peasants and yolla kul-krs - fasting. Constant hunger and disease without medical assistance led to a systematic decrease in the population. The Nogais were called a dying people. Like other peoples of the North Caucasus, the Nogai suffered severely from epidemics. So, in the 30s of the XIX century. cholera raged, from which the population of Kangle almost died out.

Huge shifts in the life and culture of the Nogai occurred during the years of Soviet power. In 1928, the Nogai script was created on a Latin graphic basis, in 1938 it was translated into an alphabet with a Russian basis. The publication of textbooks and Nogai literature in the native language has begun, the literacy rate has grown to 90. The process of formation of the Nogai intelligentsia is taking place, and cadres of their scientists are appearing. The Karachay-Cherkess Research Institute in Cherkessk became the center for studying the Nogai people and their culture. The Nogais do not have their own national-state education due to both the small number of the people and its dispersal in different regions of the North Caucasus and the lack of a territory of compact residence. Nevertheless, the Nogai problem exists, the Nogai leaders are raising the issue of territorial autonomy, which seems unrealistic. More realistic are two options for solving the Nogai problem proposed by A. V. Avksentiev: the creation of a national-cultural autonomy and Nogai representation in regional and federal authorities (107, p. 134).

We got acquainted in the shortest possible way with many peoples of the North Caucasus and became convinced that this southernmost region of the Russian Federation is also the most colorful and complex region of the Russian state. The above picture of the historical and ethnological reality of the North Caucasus is not static. It varies in different ways in different parts of the region, being in constant motion. Over the past 10 years, the North Caucasus has become the zone of the most active mass migration in the Russian Federation; after the armed conflicts in the Transcaucasus and as a result of growing economic problems in the sovereign Transcaucasian states, hundreds of thousands of Armenians, Georgians and Azerbaijanis moved to the North Caucasus. It is impossible not to notice that the main flows of these migrants (and they are foreigners for Russia) are sent not to the national republics of the North Caucasus, but to the Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories. Thus, the demographic situation in these regions is gradually changing, the ethnic structure of the population and the existing demographic balance are undergoing qualitative changes. The danger of uncontrolled and unmanaged mass migrations, in our opinion, in local conditions lies in the latent accumulation of negative social energy, which can lead to tension in interethnic relations in the previously stable regions of the North Caucasus. Considering that after the collapse of the USSR, it was the North Caucasus, according to A.V. Avksentiev, that “turned out to be the epicenter of ethnic conflicts in Russia,” such a development of the demographic (hence, political) situation in the region can lead to extremely negative consequences.

There are a large number of language families and a wide variety of languages ​​in the world. There are more than 6,000 of the latter on the planet. Most of them belong to the largest language families in the world, which are distinguished by lexical and grammatical composition, kinship of origin and by the common geographical location of their speakers. However, it should be noted that community of residence is not always an integral factor.

In turn, the language families of the world are divided into groups. They are distinguished in a similar way. There are also languages ​​that do not belong to any of the selected families, as well as the so-called isolated languages. It is also customary for scientists to single out macrofamilies, i.e. groups of language families.

Indo-European family

The most fully studied is the Indo-European language family. It has been isolated since ancient times. However, relatively recently, work began on the study of the Proto-Indo-European language.

The Indo-European language family consists of groups of languages ​​whose speakers live in vast areas of Europe and Asia. So, the German group belongs to them. Its main languages ​​are English and German. Also a large group is Romance, which includes French, Spanish, Italian and other languages. In addition, Eastern European peoples who speak languages ​​of the Slavic group also belong to the Indo-European family. This is Belarusian, Ukrainian, Russian, etc.

This language family is not the largest in terms of the number of languages ​​included in it. However, these languages ​​are spoken by almost half of the world's population.

Afro-Asian family

The languages ​​that represent the Afro-Asiatic language family are used by more than a quarter of a million people. It includes Arabic, Egyptian, Hebrew, and many others, including extinct languages.

This family is usually divided into five (six) branches. This includes the Semitic branch, Egyptian, Chadian, Cushite, Berber-Libyan and Omot. In general, the Afro-Asiatic family includes more than 300 languages ​​of the African continent and parts of Asia.

However, this family is not the only one on the continent. In large numbers, especially to the south, there are other languages ​​​​in Africa that are not related to it. There are at least 500 of them. Almost all of them were not presented in writing until the 20th century. and used only orally. Some of them are still exclusively oral.

Nilo-Saharan family

The language families of Africa also include the Nilo-Saharan family. The Nilo-Saharan languages ​​are represented by six language families. One of them is songhai-zarma. The languages ​​and dialects of another - the Saharan family - are common in Central Sudan. There is also a family of mamba, whose carriers inhabit Chad. Another family, Fur, is also common in Sudan.

The most complex is the Shari-Nile language family. It, in turn, is divided into four branches, which consist of language groups. The last family - coma - is common in Ethiopia and Sudan.

The language families represented by the Nilo-Saharan macrofamily have significant differences among themselves. Accordingly, they present a great challenge for linguistic researchers. The languages ​​of this macrofamily were greatly influenced by the Afro-Asiatic macrofamily.

Sino-Tibetan family

The Sino-Tibetan language family has over a million native speakers of its languages. First of all, this became possible due to the large number of the Chinese population speaking Chinese, which is part of one of the branches of this language family. In addition to it, this branch includes the Dungan language. It is they who form a separate branch (Chinese) in the Sino-Tibetan family.

Another branch includes more than three hundred languages, which are distinguished as the Tibeto-Burmese branch. There are approximately 60 million native speakers of its languages.

Unlike Chinese, Burmese and Tibetan, most of the languages ​​of the Sino-Tibetan family do not have a written tradition and are passed down from generation to generation exclusively orally. Despite the fact that this family has been studied deeply and for a long time, it still remains insufficiently studied and hides many secrets that have not yet been revealed.

North and South American languages

At present, as is known, the vast majority of North and South American languages ​​belong to the Indo-European or Romance families. Settling the New World, European colonists brought with them their own languages. However, the dialects of the indigenous population of the American continent did not disappear altogether. Many monks and missionaries who came from Europe to America recorded and systematized the languages ​​and dialects of the local population.

Thus, the languages ​​of the North American continent north of present-day Mexico were represented in the form of 25 language families. In the future, some experts have revised this division. Unfortunately, South America has not been studied as well in terms of language.

Language families of Russia

All the peoples of Russia speak languages ​​belonging to 14 language families. In total, there are 150 different languages ​​and dialects in Russia. The basis of the country's linguistic wealth is made up of four main language families: Indo-European, North Caucasian, Altai, Ural. At the same time, most of the country's population speaks languages ​​\u200b\u200bthat belong to the Indo-European family. This part makes up 87 percent of the total population of Russia. Moreover, the Slavic group occupies 85 percent. It includes Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian, which make up the East Slavic group. These languages ​​are very close to each other. Their carriers can almost easily understand each other. This is especially true for the Belarusian and Russian languages.

Altaic language family

The Altaic language family consists of the Turkic, Tungus-Manchurian and Mongolian language groups. The difference in the number of representatives of their carriers in the country is great. For example, Mongolian is represented in Russia exclusively by Buryats and Kalmyks. But the Turkic group includes several dozen languages. Among them are Khakass, Chuvash, Nogai, Bashkir, Azerbaijani, Yakut and many others.

The group of Tungus-Manchurian languages ​​includes Nanai, Udege, Even and others. This group is under the threat of extinction due to the preference of their native peoples to use Russian on the one hand, and Chinese on the other. Despite the extensive and long study of the Altaic language family, it is extremely difficult for specialists to decide on the reproduction of the Altaic proto-language. This is explained by the large number of borrowings of its speakers from other languages ​​due to close contact with their representatives.

Ural family

The Uralic languages ​​are represented by two large families - Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic. The first of them includes Karelians, Mari, Komi, Udmurts, Mordovians and others. The languages ​​of the second family are spoken by Enets, Nenets, Selkups, Nganasans. The carriers of the Ural macrofamily are to a large extent Hungarians (more than 50 percent) and Finns (20 percent).

The name of this family comes from the name of the Ural Range, where it is believed that the formation of the Ural proto-language took place. The languages ​​of the Uralic family had some influence on their neighboring Slavic and Baltic languages. In total, there are more than twenty languages ​​of the Uralic family both in Russia and abroad.

North Caucasian family

The languages ​​of the peoples of the North Caucasus represent a huge difficulty for linguists in terms of their structuring and study. In itself, the concept of a North Caucasian family is rather arbitrary. The fact is that the languages ​​of the local population are too little studied. However, thanks to the painstaking and deep work of many linguists studying this issue, it became clear how fragmented and complex many of the North Caucasian dialects are.

The difficulties relate not only to the actual grammar, structure and rules of the language, for example, as in the Tabasaran language - one of the most difficult languages ​​on the planet, but also to pronunciation, which is sometimes simply inaccessible to people who do not speak these languages.

A significant obstacle for specialists studying them is the inaccessibility of many mountainous regions of the Caucasus. However, this language family, despite all the contradictions, is usually divided into two groups - Nakh-Dagestan and Abkhaz-Adyghe.

Representatives of the first group inhabit mainly the regions of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia. These include Avars, Lezgins, Laks, Dargins, Chechens, Ingush, etc. The second group consists of representatives of kindred peoples - Kabardians, Circassians, Adyghes, Abkhazians, etc.

Other language families

The language families of the peoples of Russia are by no means always extensive, uniting many languages ​​into one family. Many of them are very small and some are even isolated. Such nationalities primarily live in Siberia and the Far East. So, the Chukchi-Kamchatka family unites the Chukchi, Itelmens, and Koryaks. The Aleuts and Eskimos speak Aleut-Eskimo.

A large number of nationalities scattered over the vast territory of Russia, being extremely few in number (several thousand people or even less), have their own languages, which are not included in any known language family. As, for example, the Nivkhs inhabiting the banks of the Amur and Sakhalin, and the Kets, located near the Yenisei.

However, the problem of linguistic extinction in the country continues to threaten the cultural and linguistic diversity of Russia. Not only individual languages, but also entire language families are under the threat of extinction.

, central and western Asia, and eastern Europe

Turkic, Mongolian, Tungus-Manchu; Korean (sometimes included), Japanese-Ryukyuan (sometimes included); Nivkh (rarely included); Ainu language (rarely included); eskimo [ ] (no Aleutian, hypothesis)

These language families have many similar characteristics. The question is their source. One camp, the "Altaists", sees the similarities as the result of a common origin from the Proto-Altaic language, which was spoken several thousand years ago. The other camp, the "anti-Altaists", sees the similarities as the result of interactions between these language groups. Some linguists believe that both theories are in equilibrium; they are called "skeptics".

Internal classification

According to the most common point of view, the Altaic family includes the Turkic languages, the Mongolian languages, the Tungus-Manchu languages, in the maximum version also the Korean language and the Japanese-Ryukyu languages ​​(the relationship with the last two groups is the most controversial).

Other languages ​​proposed for inclusion include:

external relationship

Within the framework of one of the approaches of modern macro-comparative studies, the Altai family is included in the Nostratic macrofamily. This position, however, has been criticized by various specialists, is considered highly controversial and its conclusions are not accepted by many comparativeists, who consider the theory of Nostratic languages ​​either as, at worst, completely erroneous or as, at best, simply unconvincing. At first, the Altaic and Uralic languages ​​were considered related (Ural-Altaic hypothesis). At present, scientists have moved away from this idea, only some of them (D. Nemeth, M. Ryasyanen, B. Kollinder) allow the explanation of lexical parallels in the Ural and Altaic languages ​​​​by their relationship.

Grammatical characteristics of the parent language and its development

Phonology

Notes

1. Kormushin I. V. Altai languages. // Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ch. ed. V. N. Yartseva. 1990.
2. George et al. 1999: 73-74
3. Altai languages (indefinite) . Encyclopædia Britannica.
4. Interactive Maps The Altaic Family from The Tower of Babel
5. Languages ​​of the world. Turkic Languages ​​(1996). C.7
6. George et al. 1999: 81
7. 2006. Methodological Observations on Some Recent Studies of the Early Ethnolinguistic History of Korea and Vicinity. Altai Hakpo 2006, 16: 199-234.
8. Alexander Vovin, 2005. "Koguryǒ and Paekche: Different Languages ​​or Dialects of Old Korean?" Journal of Inner and East Asian Studies, 2005, Vol. 2-2: 108-140.
9. net.net - The first domain name on the Internet!
10. Kamchukchee and Eskimo Glottochoronogy and Some Altaic Etymologies Found in the Swadesh List
11. Language Situation in Northeast Asia According to Comparative Historical Linguistics
12. George Starostin. nostratic (indefinite) .

They are settled on the vast territory of our planet, ranging from the cold Kolyma basin to the southwestern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Turks do not belong to any particular racial type, even among the same people there are both Caucasoids and Mongoloids. They are mostly Muslims, but there are peoples who profess Christianity, traditional beliefs, and shamanism. The only thing that connects almost 170 million people is the common origin of the group of languages ​​that the Turks now speak. Yakut and Turk - they all speak related dialects.

Strong branch of the Altai tree

Among some scholars, disputes still do not subside over which language family the Turkic language group belongs to. Some linguists singled it out as a separate large group. However, the most generally accepted hypothesis today is the version about the entry of these related languages ​​into the large Altaic family.

A great contribution to these studies was made by the development of genetics, thanks to which it became possible to trace the history of entire peoples in the wake of individual fragments of the human genome.

Once a group of tribes in Central Asia spoke the same language - the ancestor of modern Turkic dialects, but in the 3rd century. BC e. a separate Bulgar branch separated from the large trunk. The only people who speak the languages ​​of the Bulgar group today are the Chuvash. Their dialect is noticeably different from other related ones and stands out as a special subgroup.

Some researchers even propose to place the Chuvash language in a separate genus of the large Altai macrofamily.

Southeast direction classification

Other representatives of the Turkic group of languages ​​are usually divided into 4 large subgroups. There are disagreements in the details, but for simplicity, we can take the most common way.

Oguz, or southwestern, languages, which include Azerbaijani, Turkish, Turkmen, Crimean Tatar, Gagauz. Representatives of these peoples speak very similarly and can easily understand each other without an interpreter. Hence the huge influence of strong Turkey in Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, whose inhabitants perceive Turkish as their native language.

The Turkic group of the Altai family of languages ​​also includes the Kypchak, or northwestern, languages, which are spoken mainly on the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as representatives of the peoples of Central Asia who have nomadic ancestors. Tatars, Bashkirs, Karachays, Balkars, such peoples of Dagestan as Nogais and Kumyks, as well as Kazakhs and Kirghiz - they all speak related dialects of the Kypchak subgroup.

The southeastern, or Karluk, languages ​​are solidly represented by the languages ​​of two large peoples - the Uzbeks and the Uighurs. However, for almost a thousand years they developed separately from each other. If the Uzbek language has experienced a colossal influence of Farsi, the Arabic language, then the Uyghurs, the inhabitants of East Turkestan, have brought a huge amount of Chinese borrowings into their dialect over the years.

Northern Turkic languages

The geography of the Turkic group of languages ​​is wide and varied. Yakuts, Altaians, in general, some indigenous peoples of northeastern Eurasia, are also combined into a separate branch of a large Turkic tree. Northeastern languages ​​are quite heterogeneous and are subdivided into several separate genera.

The Yakut and Dolgan languages ​​separated from the single Turkic dialect, and this happened in the 3rd century BC. n. e.

Tuvan and Tofalar languages ​​belong to the Sayan group of languages ​​of the Turkic family. Khakasses and residents of Gornaya Shoria speak the languages ​​of the Khakass group.

Altai is the cradle of the Turkic civilization, the indigenous inhabitants of these places still speak the Oirot, Teleut, Lebedin, Kumandin languages ​​of the Altai subgroup.

Incidents in a slender classification

However, not everything is so simple in this conditional division. The process of national-territorial delimitation, which took place on the territory of the Central Asian republics of the USSR in the twenties of the last century, also affected such subtle matter as language.

All residents of the Uzbek SSR were called Uzbeks, a single version of the literary Uzbek language was adopted, based on the dialects of the Kokand Khanate. However, even today the Uzbek language is characterized by pronounced dialectism. Some dialects of Khorezm, the westernmost part of Uzbekistan, are closer to the languages ​​of the Oguz group and closer to Turkmen than to literary Uzbek.

Some regions speak dialects that belong to the Nogai subgroup of the Kipchak languages, hence the situations when a Fergana has difficulty understanding a native of Kashkadarya, who, in his opinion, shamelessly distorts his native language.

The situation is approximately the same with other representatives of the peoples of the Turkic group of languages ​​- the Crimean Tatars. The language of the inhabitants of the coastal strip is almost identical to Turkish, but the natural steppe people speak an dialect closer to the Kypchak ones.

Ancient history

For the first time, the Turks entered the world historical arena in the era of the Great Migration of Nations. In the genetic memory of Europeans, there is still a shudder before the invasion of Attila's Huns in the 4th century. n. e. The steppe empire was a motley formation of numerous tribes and peoples, however, the Turkic element was still predominant.

There are many versions of the origin of these peoples, but most researchers place the ancestral home of today's Uzbeks and Turks in the northwestern part of the Central Asian plateau, in the area between Altai and the Khingar Range. This version is also followed by the Kyrgyz, who consider themselves the direct heirs of the great empire and are still nostalgic about this.

The neighbors of the Turks were the Mongols, the ancestors of today's Indo-European peoples, the Ural and Yenisei tribes, the Manchus. The Turkic group of the Altaic family of languages ​​began to take shape in close cooperation with close peoples.

Confusion with Tatars and Bulgarians

In the first century A.D. e. individual tribes begin to migrate towards southern Kazakhstan. In the 4th century, the famous Hun invasion of Europe took place. It was then that the Bulgar branch separated from the Turkic tree and an extensive confederation was formed, which was divided into the Danubian and Volga. Today's Bulgarians in the Balkans now speak Slavic and have lost their Turkic roots.

The reverse situation occurred with the Volga Bulgars. They still speak Turkic languages, but after the invasion of the Mongols they call themselves Tatars. The conquered Turkic tribes living in the steppes of the Volga took the name of the Tatars, a legendary tribe that had long disappeared in wars, with whom Genghis Khan began his campaigns. They also called their language Tatar, which they used to call Bulgar.

Chuvash is considered the only living dialect of the Bulgar branch of the Turkic group of languages. The Tatars, another descendant of the Bulgars, actually speak a variant of the later Kipchak dialects.

From Kolyma to the Mediterranean

The peoples of the Turkic language group include the inhabitants of the harsh regions of the basin of the famous Kolyma, the resort beaches of the Mediterranean, the Altai mountains and the steppes of Kazakhstan, which are flat as a table. The ancestors of today's Turks were nomads, along and across the Eurasian continent. For two thousand years they interacted with their neighbors, who were Iranians, Arabs, Russians, Chinese. During this time, an unimaginable mixture of cultures and bloodlines occurred.

Today it is even impossible to determine the race to which the Turks belong. Residents of Turkey, Azerbaijanis, Gagauz belong to the Mediterranean group of the Caucasian race, there are practically no guys with slanted eyes and yellowish skin. However, the Yakuts, Altaians, Kazakhs, Kirghiz - they all carry a pronounced Mongoloid element in their appearance.

Racial diversity is observed even among peoples who speak the same language. Among the Tatars of Kazan you can meet blue-eyed blonds and black-haired people with slanted eyes. The same is observed in Uzbekistan, where it is impossible to deduce the appearance of a typical Uzbek.

Faith

The majority of Turks are Muslims who practice the Sunni branch of this religion. Only in Azerbaijan adhere to Shiism. However, individual peoples either retained ancient beliefs or became adherents of other major religions. Most of the Chuvash and Gagauz profess Christianity in its Orthodox form.

In the northeast of Eurasia, individual peoples continue to adhere to the faith of their ancestors; among the Yakuts, Altaians, Tuvans, traditional beliefs and shamanism continue to be popular.

During the time of the Khazar Khaganate, the inhabitants of this empire professed Judaism, which continues to be perceived as the only true religion by today's Karaites, fragments of that mighty Turkic state.

Vocabulary

Along with world civilization, the Turkic languages ​​also developed, absorbing the vocabulary of neighboring peoples and generously endowing them with their own words. It is difficult to count the number of borrowed Turkic words in the East Slavic languages. It all started with the Bulgars, from whom the words “kap” were borrowed, from which arose “temple”, “suvart”, transformed into “serum”. Later, instead of "serum" they began to use the common Turkic "yogurt".

The exchange of vocabulary became especially lively during the Golden Horde and the late Middle Ages, during active trade with the Turkic countries. A huge number of new words came into use: donkey, cap, sash, raisins, shoe, chest and others. Later, only the names of specific terms began to be borrowed, for example, snow leopard, elm, dung, kishlak.

And the Japanese-Ryukyuan language branches, as well as the Korean language isolate. These languages ​​are spoken in Northeast Asia, Central Asia, Anatolia and Eastern Europe (Turks, Kalmyks). The group is named after the Altai Mountains, a mountain range in central Asia.

These language families have many similar characteristics. The question is their source. One camp, the "Altaists", sees the similarities as the result of a common origin from the Proto-Altaic language, which was spoken several thousand years ago. The other camp, the "anti-Altaists", sees the similarities as the result of interactions between these language groups. Some linguists believe that both theories are in equilibrium; they are called "skeptics".

Another opinion accepts the fact of the existence of the Altaic family, but includes only the Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchurian branches in it. This view was common until the 1960s, but has almost no adherents today.

Internal classification

According to the most common point of view, the Altaic family includes the Turkic languages, the Mongolian languages, the Tungus-Manchu languages, in the maximum version also the Korean language and the Japanese-Ryukyu languages ​​(the relationship with the last two groups is hypothetical).

Ancestral home

The name "Altai" indicates the alleged ancestral home of the family (Altai), which, however, according to the latest data, was located to the south, in the territory of present-day Northern China (Manchuria - Hongshan Culture). Up until the beginning of e. Altai was inhabited by Indo-European tribes (Pazyryk culture). Siberia "Altaians" began to develop during the Glazkov culture (II millennium BC). They invaded Japan in the Yayoi era (I millennium BC).

external relationship

In modern macro-comparative studies, the Altai family is included in the Nostratic macrofamily. The assumption about the special proximity of the Altaic languages ​​​​with the Uralic ones (the hypothesis of the Ural-Altaic family of languages ​​has existed since the 18th century) can be removed within the framework of the Nostratic theory; specific convergence of the Uralic and Altaic languages ​​in the field of vocabulary, word formation and typology are explained by a similar habitat and numerous contacts at different chronological levels.

Grammatical characteristics of the parent language and its development

Phonology

Phonological systems of modern Altaic languages ​​have a number of common properties. Consonantism: restrictions on the occurrence of phonemes in the position of the beginning of a word, a tendency to weaken in the initial position, restrictions on the compatibility of phonemes, a tendency to an open syllable. Noisy plosives are usually contrasted by strength-weakness or sonority-deafness; glottalization does not occur. There are no phonologically relevant post-velars (uvular in Turkic languages ​​are allophones of velars with back vowels). These systems are the development of the following system of phonemes, restored for the Proto-Altaic language.

Proto-Altaic consonantism is reconstructed in the following form:

ph	p	b	m
t h	t	d	n	s	z	r	l
h h	č	ǯ	ń	š	j	ŕ	ĺ
k h	k	g	ŋ

The vocalism included 5 monophthongs (*i, *e, *u, *o, *a) and 3 diphthongs (*ia, *io, *iu), which may have been prefaced monophthongs: *ä; *o; *u. Diphthongs occur only in the first syllable. For the Proto-Altaic, the absence of synharmonism is restored. The vocalism of most Altaic languages ​​is characterized by synharmonism of various types; vowel systems are reconstructed at least for the Proto-Turkic and Proto-Mongolian languages. In some languages, there are long vowels, as well as ascending diphthongs (in the Tungus-Manchu, some Turkic languages; for a certain period of development of the Mongolian languages).

The Altaic languages ​​have virtually no phonologically significant power stress. The languages ​​of the Japanese-Korean branch are characterized by systems with musical stress; the Proto-Korean-Japanese tone system is being reconstructed. In individual Turkic languages, tone and phonation prosodic differences are noted. For the proto-language, apparently, the opposition of vowels by longitude-shortness (according to the Turkic-Tungus-Manchurian correspondences) and by tone (high-low, according to the Japanese-Korean correspondences) was relevant.

General trends in the phonetic change of the Altaic languages ​​are a tendency to establish various types of vowel harmony, complex positional changes, reduction of the phonological system in anlaut, compression and simplification of combinations, leading to a decrease in the length of the root. This caused a sharp increase in the number of homonymous roots, compensated by the fusion of roots with affixal elements, which makes it difficult to identify the parent stems, establish their meanings and compare them within the framework of the Altai theory.

Morphology

In the field of morphology, Altaic languages ​​are characterized by agglutination of the suffixal type. There are also certain typological differences: if the Western Turkic languages ​​are a classic example of agglutinative and have almost no fusion, then in Mongolian morphology we find a number of fusion processes, as well as not only morphonological, but also morphological distributions of affixes, that is, a clear movement in the direction of inflection. The Eastern Turkic languages, which fell into the sphere of Mongol influence, also develop a powerful fusion.

The grammatical categories of the name in the Altaic languages ​​​​of the mainland branch are number, belonging, case; in Japanese and Korean - case. The affixes of number are characterized by a great variety and a tendency to string several indicators of the plural within one word form with their subsequent gluing into one; many indicators reveal a material similarity with the suffixes of collective names, from which, apparently, they originate. The easy transition of the meaning of the affix from the derivational collective to the grammatical plurality is associated with the nature of the use of the plural in the Altaic languages: it is expressed only in a marked case, sometimes only lexically. For the Proto-Altaic, a large number of collective affixes with various shades of meanings are restored.

Ownership affixes in the Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages ​​go back to postpositive personal pronouns, and in Turkic they form a special system (possibly also going back to personal pronouns); a special 3rd person possessive affix -ni, not reducible to 3rd person pronouns, is raised to the Proto-Altaic state. In the Tungus-Manchurian languages, affixes of belonging to the 1st person of the plural are distinguished, as well as personal pronouns, inclusiveness and exclusivity. In all three mainland families, the 3rd person form of ownership is used to express certainty.

Almost all Altaic case systems are characterized by the nominative case with a zero exponent; the zero case form is also used for many postpositions. This form is also restored for the parent language. The accusative, genitive, partitive, dative and instrumental affixes are also reconstructed. There are a number of general indicators with localization, directional and similar meanings, partly used across languages ​​in nominal paradigms, partly manifested in adverbial formations. These indicators are often attached to each other and to the case affixes of the "basic" cases, initially to express shades of localization-directive meanings; then subtle differences are erased and etymologically complex case indicators arise.

The personal pronouns of the Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages ​​show significant coincidences (cf. the difference between the direct (bi-) and indirect (m-) stems of the 1st person pronouns; the stem of the 2nd person pronoun in the Mongolian languages ​​(*t-> n-) differs from Turkic and Tungus-Manchu (s-). In Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages, inclusive and exclusive pronouns of the 1st person plural are distinguished. Possessive pronouns are derived from personal; Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages ​​have reflexive possessive pronouns Demonstrative pronouns coincide formally and semantically in Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages, in Turkic an ancient system (there are three degrees of range). 'that'. Two interrogative pronouns are restored with a personality/impersonality opposition. In the Mongolian languages ​​there is a special category of place verbs (etymologically - ch agols derived from demonstrative and interrogative pronouns); the negative verb e-, common to the Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages, belongs to the same category.

Contrary to the often expressed opinion, the system of common numerals from 1 to 10 is being reconstructed for the Altaic languages.

In the Altaic verb, two native verb forms are found: the imperative mood (in the form of a pure stem) and the desirable mood (in -s-). Other finite forms etymologically represent various verbal names in a predicate position, or formed by predicative affixes (usually they express person and number). The indicators of these verbal names (now playing the role of species-temporal and perpetual) reveal a significant material similarity, but their original semantics and use have been greatly obscured by intra-systemic changes. The category of voice in the Altaic languages ​​is rather derivational; with a general structural similarity, it retains few materially identical indicators. The Turkic and Tungus-Manchu languages ​​are characterized by the inclusion of the category of negation in the verbal paradigm, but its indicators do not match. There are several common modal indicators. Personal agreement of verb forms is represented in the languages ​​of the inner circle; its indicators ultimately go back to personal pronouns. In Japanese and Korean, a developed category of politeness acts as a functional analogue of personal agreement.

The Altaic languages ​​show a significant number of common derivational features, mainly nouns from verbs and verbs from nouns.

Syntax

The Altaic languages ​​are languages ​​of the nominative system with the prevailing SOV word order and the preposition of the definition. In the Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages, there are isafet constructions with a possessive indicator at the word being defined. Basically, the existential way of expressing possession (that is, “I have”, and not “I have”) is used, except for Mongolian, where possession is expressed using a special adjective in -taj (such as “I am a horse”; adjectives of possession and non-possession are and in other mainland Altaic languages). In Japanese and Korean sentences, the actual articulation is necessarily formally expressed. The term "Altaic type of complex sentence" is associated with the preference given by the Altaic languages ​​to absolute constructions with a verb in a non-finite form over subordinate clauses.

Research history

The emergence of scientific Altaistics is associated with the names of B. Ya. Vladimirtsov, G. J. Ramstedt and N. N. Poppe. G. Ramstedt substantiated the kinship not only of the Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages, but also of Korean. Subsequently, R. Miller put forward, and S. A. Starostin finally substantiated belonging to the same family of the Japanese language. A number of researchers (A. M. Shcherbak, A. Vovin, S. Georg, G. Derfer, Yu. Yanhunen) consider the relationship of the Altaic languages ​​unproven, leaving only the areal and typological status behind the Altaic community. The main claims are caused by the vocabulary introduced into the Altai comparison: it is argued that all Altai lexical comparisons can be explained by borrowings at different times and that the words common to the Altaic languages ​​turn out to be precisely the words that in their meaning refer to the “permeable” parts of the lexical system. The real basis of such a view is as follows: the comparative procedure in the Altaic languages ​​really has to face the disturbing factor of repeatedly renewed close contacts between the Turks, Mongols and Tungus-Manchus, as a result of which the vocabulary of any mainland Altaic language is full of borrowings from other Altaic languages. The addition of Altaic comparison with Japanese and Korean significantly increases the reliability of lexical matching, reducing the likelihood of early contacts explaining lexical matches.

Notes

Literature

• Akhatov G.Kh. Local dialects are a reliable source for the comparative historical study of languages" // "Issues of Dialectology of Turkic Languages". Baku, 1963.
• Baskakov N. A. Altai family of languages ​​and its study. - M., 1981.
• Kormushin I. V. Systems of verb tenses in the Altaic languages. - M., 1984.
• Kotvich V. Research on the Altaic languages. - M., 1962.
• Ramstedt G.I. Introduction to Altai Linguistics. - M. 1957.
• Starostin S. A. The Altai problem and the origin of the Japanese language. - M., 1991.
• Achatow G. Unsere vielsprachige Welt. - Berlin: NL, 1986.
• Haguenauer, Charles: Nouvelles recherches comparées sur le japonais et les langues altaïques, Paris: l'Asiathèque, 1987
• Miller R.A. Japanese and the other Altaic languages. - Chicago, 1971.
• Poppe N. Vergleichende Grammatik der Altaischen Sprachen, 1. Wiesbaden, 1960.
• Ramstedt G.J. Einführung in die altaische Sprachwissenschaft, Lautlehre. Helsinki, 1957.
• Starostin S.A., Dybo A.V., Mudrak O.A. The etymological dictionary of Altaic languages. Leiden and Brill, 2003.

Links

• Altaic etymological database on the website "Tower of Babel" by S. A. Starostin.

Language families of Eurasia
language families	Abkhaz-Adyghe Austroasiatic Austronesian Andamanian Dravidian Yenisei Indo-European Kartvelian Mongolian Miao-Yao Nakh-Dagestanian Semitic Sino-Tibetan Tai-Kadai Tungus-Manchurian Turkic Uralic Chukchi-Kamchatka Shompen Eskimo-Aleutian Yukaghir Japanese-Ryukyuan
Isolated languages