Comparison of Sakha (Yakut) language with Turkish and Kyrgyz

Friday, April 03, 2009

Here's one reason why Sakha is so different from other Turkic languages.

I read an article here just now about the Sakha Republic and the people there but there wasn't much on the language except the fact that it's different from other Turkic languages in having far less similarity than the others do to each other, but the article on the Turkish Wikipedia on the language has a few examples that are worth taking a look at, plus there's an interesting comparison of Kyrgyz in there as well which seems to be a little more related to Sakha than Turkish from Istanbul. First Sakha compared with Turkish:
  • Olorbuttâğar ülelêbit orduk = Çalışmak oturmaktan daha iyi.(dir)
"Working is better that sitting". I'm not even sure which word corresponds with which. Olor...seems to be like otur in oturmak (to sit), but I have no idea about the rest.
  • Min ubayim saha oskuolatığar bâr = Benim ağabeyim Yakut okulundadır.
"My brother is in (goes to) a Sakha/Yakut school". This one's much easier to understand. The word ben (I) in Turkish is usually men in other Turkic languages.
  • Bihigi at mïnen barıahpıt = Biz at(a) binip gideceğiz.
"We'll go by horse", or literally "We get on horse, we will go". At is the same, bin- is mïn-, bihigi looks kind of like biz, and not sure about the rest.
  • Haydah oloroğut? = Nasılsınız? ("Nasıl yaşıyorsunuz?")
"How are you"? Lit. how are you living? Could haydah have something to do with Turkish fayda? No idea about how this one is formed.
  • En olus türgennik sanarağın = Sen çok hızlı konuşuyorsun.
"You talk very fast". Sen (you) = en, and I don't recognize any of the rest.
  • Min sahali kıratık öydüübün = Ben Yakutça biraz anlarım.
"I know Sakha (the language) a bit". öydüübün looks a tiny bit like öğrendim (I learned), but that could be a coincidence. Once again ben is min.
  • Bihigi sarsıarda erde turabıt = Biz sabahleyin erken kalkarız.
"We get up early in the morning". Here's bihigi again for biz (we), and I guess erde looks a tad like erken when you see the two of them together.
  • Ol oğo tüün ıtir = O çocuk gece(leri) ağlar.
"That child cries in the evening". Ol (that) looks like o, and oğo looks like oğul (son) so maybe they're related. The other words don't look familiar.
  • Miehe sıttık hâta uonna holuoha nâda = Bana yastık kılıfı ile galoş gerek.
"I need a pillow case and galoshes". Miehe looks a bit like bana when you know about the b-->m change; everything else looks is unfamiliar except maybe yastık and sıttık.
  • Bu son sieğe olus kılgas = Bu ceket(in) yen(leri) çok kısa.
"The sleeves of this jacket are very short". Bu is the same, yay! And...that's about it. Maybe kısa and kılgas too.

The article also shows how sometimes a y sound in Turkish will change to a c (c is pronounced like the g in gin) in Kyrgyz, and then s in Sakha. Here are a few of them:

'TÜRKİYE TÜRKÇESİ (Y) KIRGIZ TÜRKÇESİ (C) SAHA TÜRKÇESİ (S) English
yıl cıl Sıl year
yağmur camğır Samıır rain
yalamak caloo Salaa lick
Yaş caş Saas year (age)
yedi ceti Sette seven
yeni cañı Saña new
yer cer Sir place (location)
Yıldız cıldız Sulus star
Yirmi cıyırma Süürbe twenty
Yok (hayır) cok Suoh not (no)
Yol col Suol road
Yumurta cumurtka Sımmııt egg
Yüz cüz Süüs face



Finally, note that geographic proximity alone doesn't necessarily tell you whether two languages in the same language family will resemble each other. The Salar language for example is located well within China but resembles Istanbul Turkish much more than geographically closer languages like Uzbek.

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