Soyot language: Difference between revisions

Soyot-Tsaatan belongs to the Turkic family of languages. Within this family, it is placed in the Sayan Turkic branch. According to some researchers, the Sayan Turkic branch has five languages:<ref>{{cite web |title=THE DUKHAS OF MONGOLIA A 'NOT LOST' TURCOPHONE PEOPLE |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/305300 |access-date=2 January 2021 |format=PDF |quote=...Dukhan language, it belongs to the taiga subgroup of Sayan Turkic, which itself is a member of the Siberian branch of the Turkic languages. The other Taiga Sayan Turkic languages are Tofan, which is spoken in the Irkutsk Oblast’, with varieties spoken in the Toja and Tere-Khöl regions of the Tuvan republic, and the Soyot language spoken in the Oka region of the Buryat republic.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A comparative study on the Sayan languages (Turkic; Russia and Mongolia) {{!}} Student Repository |url=https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/52611 |website=studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl |access-date=2 January 2021}}</ref>

** Toju

Ragagnin similarly divides the Sayan languages into two branches: Steppe and Taiga, but makes certain distinctions note made by Glottlog:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ragagnin |first=Elisabetta |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/900888155 |title=Dukhan, a Turkic variety of Northern Mongolia : description and analysis |date=2011 |isbn=978-3-447-19067-1 |location=Wiesbaden, Germany |oclc=900888155}}</ref>

* '''Taiga'''

** Dukha

** Tofa

** Toju

** Tuvan dialects of [[Tere-Kholsky District|Tere-Khöl]]

** Soyot

* '''Steppe'''

** Standard Tuvan

** Altay-Sayan varieties of China and Mongolia

** Tuha

== Geographic distribution ==

Soyot-Tsaatan has no official recognition in any of the countries where it is spoken. Until 1993, they were counted as part of the [[Buryats|Buryat]] nationality in Russia. At this point, they were acknowledged as a separate nationality by the [[People's Khural of the Republic of Buryatia]]. After applying to the [[State Duma|Russian Duma]] for official recognition, they were acknowledged as an ethnic minority in 2001. Most Soyots in Russia live in [[Buryatia]]'s [[Okinsky District]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Rassadin |first=V. I. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/760289448 |title=Soyotica |last2=Рассадин |first2=В. И. |date=2010 |publisher=University of Szeged, Dept. of Altaic Studies |others=Béla Kempf |isbn=978-963-306-027-8 |location=Szeged |oclc=760289448}}</ref>

== Phonology ==

Rassadin reports that the two dialects, Soyot and Tsaatan, have very similar phonological systems.<ref name=":0" /> Information here is from Soyot.

=== Consonants ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

|+Consonant phonemes of Soyot

! colspan="2" |

![[Labial consonant|Labial]]

![[Dental consonant|Dental]]/

[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]

![[Postalveolar consonant|Post-alveolar]]

![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]

![[Velar consonant|Velar]]

![[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]

![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]

|-

! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]

|{{IPAlink|m}}

|{{IPAlink|n}}

|

|

| colspan="2" |{{IPAlink|ŋ}}

|

|-

! rowspan="2" |[[Stop consonant|Stop]]

!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}

|{{IPAlink|p}}

|{{IPAlink|t}}

|{{IPAlink|ʧ}}

|

|{{IPAlink|k}}

|{{IPAlink|q}}

|

|-

!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}

|{{IPAlink|b}}

|{{IPAlink|d}}

|{{IPAlink|ʤ}}

|

|

|

|

|-

! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]

!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}

|{{IPAlink|f}}

|{{IPAlink|s}}

|{{IPAlink|ʃ}}

|

| colspan="2" |{{IPAlink|x}}

|{{IPAlink|h}}

|-

!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}

|{{IPAlink|v}}

|{{IPAlink|z}}

|{{IPAlink|ʒ}}

|

| colspan="2" |{{IPAlink|ɣ}}

|

|-

! colspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]

|

|

|{{IPAlink|l}}

|{{IPAlink|j}}

|

|

|

|-

! colspan="2" |[[Trill consonant|Trill]] or [[Tap consonant|Tap]]

|

|

|{{IPAlink|r}}

|

|

|

|

|}

=== Vowels ===

{| class="wikitable"

|+Vowels of Soyot

! rowspan="2" |

! colspan="2" |[[Front vowel|Front]]

! colspan="2" |[[Back vowel|Back]]

|-

![[Roundedness|Unrounded]]

!Rounded

!Unrounded

!Rounded

|-

![[Close vowel|Close]]

|{{IPAlink|i}}

|{{IPAlink|y}}

|{{IPAlink|ɯ}}

|{{IPAlink|u}}

|-

![[Close-mid vowel|Mid]]

|{{IPAlink|e}}

|{{IPAlink|ø}}

|

|{{IPAlink|o}}

|-

![[Open vowel|Open]]

|{{IPAlink|æ}}

|

|{{IPAlink|a}}

|

|}

Vowels may be [[Vowel length|short]], long, or short [[Pharyngealization|pharyngealized]], e.g. /ɯt/ "send", /ɯˁt/ "dog", /ɯːt/ "sound, voice".

Soyot-Tsaatan exhibits [[vowel harmony]], that is, words containing front vowels take only suffixes containing front vowels, whereas words with back vowels take only suffixes with back vowels.

== Writing system ==

Soyot-Tsaatan is not commonly written. Rassadin employs a [[Cyrillic alphabets|Cyrillic]]-based writing system to represent Soyot in his dictionaries and grammars. Certain letters are only found in Russian loanwords.

{| class="wikitable"

|+Soyot alphabet

!Letter

!Value

!Letter

!Value

!Letter

!Value

|-

|Аа

|/a/

|Һһ

|/h/

|Хх

|/x/

|-

|Бб

|/b/

|Лл

|/l/

|Цц

|/t͡s/

|-

|Вв

|/v/

|Мм

|/m/

|Чч

|/t͡ʃ/

|-

|Ғғ

|/ɣ/

|Нн

|/n/

|Ҷҷ

|/d͡ʒ/

|-

|Дд

|/d/

|Ңң

|/ŋ/

|Шш

|/ʃ/

|-

|Ее

|/e, ʲe/<ref>Not used at the beginning of words.</ref>

|Оо

|/o/

|Щщ

|/ɕ/

|-

|Ёё

|/ʲo, jo/

|Өө

|/ø/

|Ъъ

|/◌ˤ/<ref>Indicates that the preceding consonant is pharyngealized.</ref>

|-

|Жж

|/ʒ/

|Пп

|/p/

|Ыы

|/ɯ/

|-

|Зз

|/z/

|Рр

|/r/

|Ьь

|/◌ʲ/<ref>Indicates that the preceding consonant is palatalized.</ref>

|-

|Ии

|/i/<ref name=":1">Ии and Іі both represent the same sound /i/. Ии indicates that the previous consonant is palatalized; Іі indicates that it is not.</ref>

|Сс

|/s/

|Ээ

|/e/<ref>Used at the beginning of words or after vowels.</ref>

|-

|Іі

|/i/<ref name=":1" />

|Тт

|/t/

|Әә

|/æ/

|-

|Йй

|/j/

|Уу

|/u/

|Юю

|/ʲu, ju/

|-

|Кк

|/k/

|Үү

|/y/

|Яя

|/ʲa, ja/

|-

|Ққ

|/q/

|Фф

|/f/

|

|

|}