Ruanruan (; also called Rouran) is an unclassified

extinct language An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, especially if the language has no living descendants. In contrast, a dead language is one that is no longer the native language of any community, even if it is still in use, ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 millio ...

and

northern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions within China. The exact boundary between these two regions is not precisely defined and only serve to depict where there appears to be regional differences between the climates ...

, spoken in the

Rouran Khaganate The Rouran Khaganate, also Juan-Juan Khaganate (), was a tribal confederation and later state founded by a people of Proto-Mongolic Donghu origin.*Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (2000)"Ji 姬 and Jiang 姜: The Role of Exogamic Clans in the Organizat ...

from the 4th to the 6th centuries AD, considered a likely early precursor to Mongolic.

Peter A. Boodberg Peter Alexis Boodberg (born Pyotr Alekseyevich Budberg; 8 April 1903 – 29 June 1972) was a Russian-American scholar, linguist, and sinologist who taught at the University of California, Berkeley for 40 years. Boodberg was influential in 20th ...

claimed in 1935 that the Ruanruan language was Mongolic by analysing Chinese transcriptions of Ruan-ruan names. Atwood (2013) notes that Rourans

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

d the Sogdian word ''pūr'' "son" into their language as *''k’obun'' (Chinese transliteration: 去汾 MC *''kʰɨʌ^H-bɨun'' >

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

''qùfén''); which, according to Atwood, is cognate with

Middle Mongol Middle Mongol or Middle Mongolian, was a Mongolic koiné language spoken in the Mongol Empire. Originating from Genghis Khan's home region of Northeastern Mongolia, it diversified into several Mongolic languages after the collapse of the empire ...

''kö'ün'' "son". Alexander Vovin noted that

Old Turkic Old Turkic (also East Old Turkic, Orkhon Turkic language, Old Uyghur) is the earliest attested form of the Turkic languages, found in Göktürk and Uyghur Khaganate inscriptions dating from about the eighth to the 13th century. It is the ...

had borrowed some words from an unknown non-Altaic language that might have been Ruan-ruan, arguing that if so, the language would be non- Altaic language, unrelated to its neighbours and possibly a

language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The nu ...

, though evidence was scant. In 2019, with the emergence of new evidence through the analysis of the '' Brāhmī Bugut'' and '' Khüis Tolgoi'', Vovin changed his view, suggesting Ruan-ruan was, in fact a Mongolic language, close but not identical to Middle Mongolian. Pamela Kyle Crossley (2019) wrote that the Rouran language itself has remained a puzzle, and leading linguists consider it a possible isolate.

Phonology

Features of Ruan-ruan included: *no mid vowels *presence of initial ''l-'' *final consonantal cluster ''-nd'' unusual for any "Altaic" languages

Morphology

Ruan-ruan had the feminine gender suffix ''-tu-''.

Lexicon

Ruan-ruan vocabulary included: *''küskü'' – 'rat' *''ud'' – 'ox' *''luu'' – 'dragon' <

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...

''luŋ'' – 'dragon' *''yund'' – 'horse' < otk, 𐰖𐰆𐰣𐱃, yunt - 'horse' *''laγzïn'' – 'pig' *''qaγan'' – 'emperor' *''qan'' – 'khan' *''qaγatun'' – 'empress' *''qatun'' – 'khan's wife' *''aq'' – 'dung' *''and'' – 'oath' < otk, 𐰦, ant 'oath' *''beg'' – 'elder' *''bitig'' – 'inscription' *''bod'' – 'people' *''drö'' – 'law' *''küǰü'' – 'strength' < otk, 𐰚𐰇𐰲, küč 'strength, power' *''ordu'' – 'camp' *''tal-'' – 'to plunder' *''törö'' – 'to be born' *''türǖg'' – '

Turk Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...

References

{{Eurasian languages Unclassified languages of Asia Languages of China Medieval languages Extinct languages of Asia Rouran Xianbei