Chelkan language

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Chelkan
Kuu-Kizhi, Chalkan
куу, къуу, чалкъанду, шалкъанду
Native to Russia
Region Altai Republic
Ethnicity Chelkans
Native speakers
648 (2021) [1]
Turkic
Cyrillic script
Language codes
ISO 639-3
alt_quu
Glottolog chel1242
Altay.svg
A map of the Altai languages, including Chelkan (in red).

Chelkan (also Chalkan, Chalqandu) is a Turkic language spoken in the Altai Republic in Russia by 648 Chelkans.

Contents

The Chelkans

The Chelkans are sometimes called "Lebeds" (Russian : Лебедины, Lebediny), of the name of the river which runs through the Altai Republic, or Qu'Kiji. In the 2002 Russian census, their population rose to 855 people.

Classification

Chelkan is classified in the Siberian Turkic languages. It is considered to be a dialect of Northern Altai. The Chelkan, aside from knowing Chelkan, can also understand Tubalar and Kumandin, which comprise the Northern Altai language.

Phonology

Consonants

The word-final guttural phonemes of Chelkan are more stable then in literary Altai, for example Chelkan таг versus literary туу 'mountain'. [2]

Consonants in Chelkan [3]
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Stop voiceless p t k / q /
voiced d /g/
Fricative voiceless s ʃ / ħ /
voiced β z ʒ ɣ
Approximant w l j
Vibrant r

Vowels

Chelkan has vowel harmony. [2]

Vowels of Chelkan [3]
Front Back
unrounded rounded unrounded rounded
shortlongshortlongshortlongshortlong
Close i ʏ ʏː ɪ ɪː ʊ ʊː
e
Mid œ œː ɔ ɔː
Open ɑ ɑː

Orthography

In 2008, an alphabet was created for the Chelkan language. However, only one textbook has been published, "Аба-jыштың-аң-куштары" (Animals and Birds of Primeval Taiga), in 2004. [2]

А аБ бВ вГ гӶ ӷД дЈ јЕ еЁ ёЖ ж
З зИ иЙ йК кЛ лМ мН нҢ ңО оӦ ӧ
П пР рС сТ тУ уӰ ӱФ фХ хЦ цЧ ч
Ш шЩ щЪ ъЫ ыЬ ьЭ эЮ юЯ я

In 2017-18, the alphabet was modified with the addition of the letter Њ њ.

А аБ бВ вГ гҒ ғД дЈ јЕ еЁ ёЖ ж
З зИ иЙ йК кҚ қЛ лМ мН нҤ ҥЊ њ
О оӦ ӧП пР рС сТ тУ уӰ ӱФ фХ х
Ц цЧ чШ шЩ щЪ ъЫ ыЬ ьЭ эЮ юЯ я

Notes and references

  1. 7. НАСЕЛЕНИЕ НАИБОЛЕЕ МНОГОЧИСЛЕННЫХ НАЦИОНАЛЬНОСТЕЙ ПО РОДНОМУ ЯЗЫКУ
  2. 1 2 3 "Endangered Languages of Siberia - Bibliography on the Chelkan Language". lingsib.iea.ras.ru. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
  3. 1 2 "Челканский | Малые языки России". minlang.iling-ran.ru. Retrieved 2024-06-12.

Sources