Horse Harness Naming in Yakut (as compared to Mongolic languages)

Abstract

The paper analyzes and describes the lexico-semantic groups (further, LSG) “Horse harness” in Yakut in comparison to Khalkha-Mongolian, Buryat, and Kalmyk. The purpose of the study is to introduce horse harness naming in academic use in the comparative and comparative-historical aspects. Material from the Mongolic languages was used to compare and identify common terms and establish their Turkic and Mongolian stems. The material of the study was selected from the corresponding dictionaries; it also includes field records collected from informants during expeditions to Mongolia and Buryatia. The main methods are descriptive, comparative, comparative-historical, and that of continuous sampling. The analysis allowed us to determine the structure and semantics of the considered lexical units, to identify a significant number of similarities and differences in Yakut and Mongolic languages. The Yakut, Khalkha-Mongolian, Buryat and Kalmyk material showed both Turkic-Mongolic and Turkic layers common for the analyzed languages. At the same time, for Yakut the Russian layer was revealed. The analyzed material allows us to speak about the features of the Yakut language that distinguish it from other Turkic languages, and Buryat from all Mongolic languages, as well as about what brings the Yakut language closer to Buryat. Out of the 38 lexical units of the LSG «Horse Harness» in modern Yakut, the comparative analysis has revealed 9 units representing Mongolian parallels, most of which presumably penetrated from the Old Mongolian language in the pre-literate period. Interestingly, the phonetic structure of some of them makes it possible to attribute them to the earliest Yakut-Mongolian contacts.