The Vocabulary of Inanimate Nature as a Part of Turkic-Mongolian Language Commonness

Valentin Ivanovich Rassadin

doi:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s2p126

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of commonness of Turkic and Mongolian languages in the area of vocabulary; a layer of vocabulary, reflecting the inanimate nature, is subject to thorough analysis. This thematic group studies the rubrics, devoted to landscape vocabulary, different soil types, water bodies, atmospheric phenomena, celestial sphere. The material, mainly from Khalkha-Mongolian and Old Written Mongolian languages is subject to the analysis; the data from Buryat and Kalmyk languages were also included, as they were presented in these languages. The Buryat material was mainly closer to the Khalkha-Mongolian one. For comparison, the material, mainly from the Old Turkic language, showing the presence of similar words, was included; it testified about the so-called Turkic-Mongolian lexical commonness. The analysis of inner forms of these revealed common lexemes in the majority of cases allowed determining their Turkic origin, proved by wide occurrence of these lexemes in Turkic languages and Turkologists' acknowledgement of their Turkic origin. The presence of great quantity of common vocabulary, which origin is determined as Turkic, testifies about repeated ancient contacts of Mongolian and Turkic languages, taking place in historical retrospective, resulting in hybridization of Mongolian vocabulary. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s2p126

Highlights

The problem of Turkic-Mongolian linguistic connections is not new
That there was insufficient material on Turkic and Mongolian languages in the period from XVIII to XIX and the beginning of XX centuries, and mainly Turkic sources of Arabic writing and Mongolian sources in Old Written Mongolian language were in scientists' disposal, they were far from vivid specific Turkic and Mongolian languages, it was difficult to expect deep investigations of this problem
We are interested in the vocabulary of inanimate nature, having the Turkic parallels, the majority of which are of Turkic origin

Summary

Introduction

The problem of Turkic-Mongolian linguistic connections is not new. From the XVIII century, it is being discussed in the scientific literature together with the hypothesis of the genetic affinity of so-called Altai languages, which involve, apart from Turkic and Mongolian languages, Tungus languages as well. From the end of XIX and the beginning of XX century, the situation of previous study of Turkic and Mongolian languages became to change significantly; a lot of investigations on grammar and vocabulary of different vivid Turkic and Mongolian languages and their dialects appeared, providing a possibility to present this hypothesis from a new angle. The investigations of such great Altai-scientists, as Ramstedt (1957ɚ), Kotwich W. The study of definite thematic groups of vocabulary allows specifying both character of Turkic languages, from which the borrowings were taken, and the character of region, where the contacts of Turkic and Mongolian ethnic groups took place

Main Part

Conclusions