The Oghuz languages are a sub-branch of the Turkic language family, spoken by approximately 108 million people. The three languages with the largest number of speakers are

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

Azerbaijani Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...

and

Turkmen Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to: Peoples Historical ethnonym * Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages Ethnic groups * Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...

, which, combined, account for more than 95% of speakers. Kara-Khanid scholar

Mahmud al-Kashgari Mahmud ibn Husayn ibn Muhammed al-Kashgari, ''Maḥmūd ibnu 'l-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Kāšġarī'', , tr, Kaşgarlı Mahmûd, ug, مەھمۇد قەشقىرى, ''Mehmud Qeshqiri'' / Мәһмуд Қәшқири uz, Mahmud Qashg'ariy / М ...

, who lived in the 11th century, stated that the Oghuz language was the simplest among all Turkic languages. Swedish turcologist and linguist

Lars Johanson Lars Johanson (born 8 March 1936 in Köping, Sweden) is a Swedish Turcologist and linguist, an emeritus professor at the University of Mainz, and docent at the Department of Linguistics and Philology, University of Uppsala, Sweden. He has been ...

notes that Oghuz languages form a clearly discernible and closely related bloc within the Turkic language family as the cultural and political history of the speakers of Oghuz languages has linked them more closely up to the modern age.

History and terminology

The ancestor of Oghuz languages is a matter of debate. The language of the oldest stone monuments such as

Orkhon inscriptions The Orkhon inscriptions (also known as the Orhon inscriptions, Orhun inscriptions, Khöshöö Tsaidam monuments (also spelled ''Khoshoo Tsaidam'', ''Koshu-Tsaidam'' or ''Höshöö Caidam''), or Kul Tigin steles ( zh, t=闕特勤碑, s=阙特勤� ...

, and documents such as

Old Uyghur Old Uyghur () was a Turkic language which was spoken in Qocho from the 9th–14th centuries and in Gansu. History The Old Uyghur language evolved from Old Turkic after the Uyghur Khaganate broke up and remnants of it migrated to Turfan, Qomu ...

manuscripts are rather the ancestor of Karluk and Kipchak Turkic languages. Oghuz languages apparently originate from the language of the people known as "Western Turgut" in Chinese annals. Old Anatolian and Old Ottoman languages, which are written

Middle Turkic Middle Turkic (''Türki'' or ''Türkçe'') refers to a phase in the development of the Turkic language family, covering much of the Middle Ages (c. 900–1500 CE). In particular the term is used by linguists to refer to a group of Karluk and Og ...

, would be the most ancient within the Oghuz group of Turkic languages. The term "Oghuz" is applied to the southwestern branch of the

Common Turkic languages Common Turkic, or Shaz Turkic, is a taxon in some classifications of the Turkic languages that includes all of them except the Oghuric languages. Classification Lars Johanson's proposal contains the following subgroups: * Southwestern Com ...

. It is in reference to the

Oghuz Turks The Oghuz or Ghuzz Turks (Middle Turkic languages, Middle Turkic: ٱغُز, ''Oγuz'', ota, اوغوز, Oġuz) were a western Turkic people that spoke the Oghuz languages, Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages, Turkic language family. In th ...

, who migrated from the Altay Mountains "Historically, all of the Western or Oghuz Turks have been called Turkmen or Turkomen... In the 7th century C.E., they migrated from their ancestral homeland in the Altay mountains westward..." to Central Asia in the 8th century and further expanded to the Middle East and to the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

as separate tribes. An 11th-century Kara-Khanid scholar

stated in his work '' Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk'' (Compendium of Turkic dialects) that the Oghuz language was the simplest among all Turkic languages.

Classification

The Oghuz languages currently spoken have been classified into three categories based on their features and geography: Western, Eastern, and Southern. Two further languages, Crimean Tatar and Urum, are Kipchak languages, but have been heavily influenced by the Oghuz languages. The extinct Pecheneg language was probably Oghuz, but as it is poorly documented, it is difficult to further classify it within the Oghuz family; it is therefore usually excluded from classification.

Features

The Oghuz languages share a number of features that have led linguists to classify them together. Some of the features are shared with other Turkic languages, and others are unique to the Oghuz family. Swedish turcologist and linguist

Shared features

*Loss of initial ''*h'' sound (shared with all Turkic languages but Khalaj) *Loss of

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proces ...

of the original Turkic

instrumental case In grammar, the instrumental case (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated or ) is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the ''instrument'' or means by or with which the subject (grammar), subject achieves or accomplishes an acti ...

''-n'' (shared with all Turkic languages but Yakut and Khalaj)

Unique features

*Voicing of stops (e.g. Anatolian Turkish ''gök'' < Ottoman گوك ''gök'' < Proto-Turkic ''kȫk'', "sky"; Anatolian ''dağ'' < Ottoman داغ ''dağ'' < PTrk ''tāg'' "mountain") *Loss of after (e.g. ''quru'' < ''quruq'', "dry", ''sarɯ'' < ''sarɯɣ'', "yellow") *Change in form of participial from -''gan'' to -''an''

Comparison

The remarkable similarity between Oghuz languages may be demonstrated through a sentence, which employs a verbal noun in the dative as a link between the main verb and auxiliary. This feature is universally shared by all Oghuz languages. Turcologist Julian Rentzsch uses this particular sentence in his work titled "Uniformity and diversity in Turkic inceptive constructions":Julian Rentzsch, "Uniformity and diversity in Turkic inceptive constructions", Johannes Gutenberg University, pp. 270–271 '' English: ‘The dead man rose, sat down and began to speak.’'' *

: Ölü doğrulup oturdu ve konuşmaya başladı. *

: Öli ýerinden galyp oturdy-da, geplemäge başlady. *

: Ölü durub oturdu və danışmağa başladı. * Gagauz: Ölü oturdu da bašladï lafetmää.

Literary works

* ''

Book of Dede Korkut The ''Book of Dede Korkut'' or ''Book of Korkut Ata'' ( az, Kitabi-Dədə Qorqud, ; tk, Kitaby Dädem Gorkut; tr, Dede Korkut Kitabı) is the most famous among the epic stories of the Oghuz Turks. The stories carry morals and values signific ...

'' * '' Epic of Köroğlu'' * Târîh-i Âli Selçûk (History of the House of Seljuk) by Yazıcıoğlu Ali * Şikâyetnâme (شکايت نامه; "Complaint") by Fuzûlî * Dâstân-ı Leylî vü Mecnûn by Fuzûlî * Risâletü'n-Nushiyye by Yunus Emre * Mârifetnâme (معرفت‌نامه; "Book of Gnosis") by

İbrahim Hakkı Erzurumi Ibrahim Hakkı Erzurumi (18 May 1703 – 22 June 1780), a popular sufi saint of Turkey from Erzurum in eastern Anatolia - mystic, poet, author, astronomer, physicist, psychologist, sociologist and Hanafi Maturidi Islamic scholar. He w ...