Tuyuhun (), also known as ‘Azha from
Tibetan script
The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system (''abugida'') of Indic origin used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. It has also been used for some non-Tibetic language ...
, is an
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, l ...
once spoken by the
Tuyuhun
Tuyuhun (; LHC: *''tʰɑʔ-jok-guənʔ''; Wade-Giles: ''T'u-yühun''), also known as Henan () and Azha (; ), was a dynastic kingdom established by the nomadic peoples related to the Xianbei in the Qilian Mountains and upper Yellow River valle ...
of
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 climate ...
about 500 AD. The existence of the Tuyuhun, and consequently their language, is first attested in the ''
Book of Song
The ''Book of Song'' (''Sòng Shū'') is a historical text of the Liu Song Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties of China. It covers history from 420 to 479, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories, a traditional collection of historical records ...
'', compiled around 488 AD.
Classification
Alexander Vovin
Alexander (Sasha) Vladimirovich Vovin (russian: Александр Владимирович Вовин; 27 January 1961 – 8 April 2022) was a Soviet-born Russian-American linguist and philologist, and director of studies at the School for Ad ...
(2015) identifies the extinct Tuyuhun language as a
Para-Mongolic
Para-Mongolic is a proposed group of languages that is considered to be an extinct sister branch of the Mongolic languages. Para-Mongolic contains certain historically attested extinct languages, among them Khitan and Tuyuhun.
Languages
The ...
language, meaning that Tuyuhun is related to the
Mongolic languages
The Mongolic languages are a language family spoken by the Mongolic peoples in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Asia and East Asia, mostly in Mongolia and surrounding areas and in Kalmykia and Buryatia. The best-known member of this language ...
as a
sister clade
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and ...
but is not directly descended from the
Proto-Mongolic language. The
Khitan language
Khitan or Kitan ( in large script or in small, ''Khitai''; , ''Qìdānyǔ''), also known as Liao, is a now-extinct language once spoken in Northeast Asia by the Khitan people (4th to 13th century). It was the official language of the Liao E ...
is also a
Para-Mongolic
Para-Mongolic is a proposed group of languages that is considered to be an extinct sister branch of the Mongolic languages. Para-Mongolic contains certain historically attested extinct languages, among them Khitan and Tuyuhun.
Languages
The ...
language. Tuyuhun had previously been identified by
Paul Pelliot
Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French Sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and his discovery of many important Chinese texts such as the Dunhuang manuscripts.
Early life and career ...
(1921) as a Mongolic language.
Vocabulary
Shimunek (2017) reconstructs some Tuyuhun words as:
* ‘second person singular pronoun (爾)’: *čʰɪ
��(northern
Early Middle Chinese **tśʰɨ); Vovin (2015) reconstructs *čʰo, a 2nd person singular pronoun, equivalent to Mongolic ''či''. The correspondence between /o/ and /i/ is attested between Mongolic and Khitan, cf. Western
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 ...
ic ''taqiya'' vs. Khitan ''t
qo.a''.
[Vovin, Alexander. 2015]
Some notes on the Tuyuhun (吐谷渾) language: in the footsteps of Paul Pelliot
In ''Journal of Sino-Western Communications'', Volume 7, Issue 2 (December 2015).
* ‘river (川)’: *qɔl
��ལ་(
Old Tibetan
Old Tibetan refers to the period of Tibetan language reflected in documents from the adoption of writing by the Tibetan Empire in the mid-7th century to works of the early 11th century.
In 816 CE, during the reign of Sadnalegs, literary Tibetan ...
*kʰol) ~
��ལ་(
Old Tibetan
Old Tibetan refers to the period of Tibetan language reflected in documents from the adoption of writing by the Tibetan Empire in the mid-7th century to works of the early 11th century.
In 816 CE, during the reign of Sadnalegs, literary Tibetan ...
*kol)
* ‘militant (武)’: *bu
��(
Late Middle Chinese *mbu)
* ‘elder brother (兄)’: *aqañ
��干(northern
Early Middle Chinese **ɦakar̃)
* ‘father (父)’ or ‘great’: *maʁa/*amaʁa
��賀(northern
Early Middle Chinese *magɣa)
* ‘great’: *maʁa
��་ག(
Old Tibetan
Old Tibetan refers to the period of Tibetan language reflected in documents from the adoption of writing by the Tibetan Empire in the mid-7th century to works of the early 11th century.
In 816 CE, during the reign of Sadnalegs, literary Tibetan ...
*maga < Indic)
* ‘emperor, king’: *qʰaʁan
��་གན་(
Old Tibetan
Old Tibetan refers to the period of Tibetan language reflected in documents from the adoption of writing by the Tibetan Empire in the mid-7th century to works of the early 11th century.
In 816 CE, during the reign of Sadnalegs, literary Tibetan ...
*kʰagan) / **kʰaʁɣar̃
��寒~
��汗(northern
Early Middle Chinese **kʰaʁɣar̃)
* ‘wife (妻) of the khaghan (可汗)’: *qʰaʁʦʊn
��尊(northern
Early Middle Chinese **kʰagʦor̃)
Vovin (2015) also reconstructs several words using
Early Middle Chinese readings of transcribed Tuyuhun lexical items.
Morphology
Tuyuhun suffixes:
* *-čin/*-čiñ
��ན་(
Old Tibetan
Old Tibetan refers to the period of Tibetan language reflected in documents from the adoption of writing by the Tibetan Empire in the mid-7th century to works of the early 11th century.
In 816 CE, during the reign of Sadnalegs, literary Tibetan ...
*ʧin) ‘having X (possessive)’
* *-yin/*-yiñ
��(northern
Early Middle Chinese **yir̃) ‘genitive-attributive suffix’
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuyuhun Language
Agglutinative languages
Mongolic languages
Languages of China
Medieval languages
Extinct languages of Asia
Unclassified languages of Asia
Tuyuhun
Xianbei
Mongolic–Khitan languages