Khorasani Turkic

Oghuz Turkic language spoken in Iran

Khorasani Turkic

خراسان توٚركیسی Xorasan Türkîsi

Khorasani Turkic written in the Persian script.

Native to| Iran
Region| North Khorasan[1]
Ethnicity| Khorasani Turks

Native speakers

| 400,000–900,000 (2015–2019)[2][1]

Language family

Turkic

* Common Turkic
* Oghuz
* Eastern
* Khorasani Turkic

Writing system

| Persian alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3| `kmz`
Glottolog| `khor1269`

Map of Khorasani Turkic distribution per Ethnologue

Khorasani Turkic is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Khorasani Turkic or Khorasani is an Oghuz Turkic language spoken in the North Khorasan Province and the Razavi Khorasan Province in Iran. Nearly all Khorasani Turkic speakers are also bilingual in Persian.[1]

## Geographic distribution

[edit]

Khorasani Turkic is spoken in the Iranian provinces of North Khorasan near Bojnord and Razavi Khorasan near Sabzevar, Quchan. The Oghuz dialect spoken in Western Uzbekistan is sometimes considered a dialect of Khorasani Turkic.[citation needed]

## Dialects

[edit]

Khorasani Turkic is split into North, South and West dialects. The northern dialect is spoken in North Khorasan near Quchan; the southern in Soltanabad, near Sabzevar; the western, around Bojnord.

## Classification and related languages

[edit]

Khorasani Turkic belongs to the Oghuz group of Turkic languages, which also includes Turkish, Azerbaijani, Gagauz, Balkan Gagauz, Qashqai, Turkmen and Salar.

Khorasani Turkic was first classified as a separate dialect by Iranian Azerbaijani linguist Javad Heyat in the book Tārikh-e zabān o lahcayā-ye Türki (History of the Turkic dialects).[3] According to some linguists, it should be considered intermediate linguistically between Azerbaijani and Turkmen, although it is sufficiently distinct not to be considered a dialect of either.[3] It is considered by Turkic scholars to be most closely related to the other Oghuz varieties spoken in Iran, and a close relationship with Turkmen has been disputed on the basis of the comparisons of the core set of agglutinating morphemes.[4]

Doerfer and Hesche classify Khorasani Turkic into different branches within the Oghuz languages.[5]

Oghuz  |

| Central Oghuz  |

Southeastern Khorasani Turkish

|

Southern Oghuz  |

|  |

Northwestern Khorasani Turkish

|

Southwestern Khorasani Turkish

Eastern Oghuz  |

|  |

Northern Khorasani Turkish

|

Northeastern Khorasani Turkish

According to Robert Lindsay, Khorasani Turkic has four branches:[6]

Khorasani Turkic  |

|  |

Northwest Khorasani Turkic (Bojnurd (ru))

|

North-Northeast-Langar Khorasani Turkic

Southern Khorasani Turkic

Afshar

Glottolog lists seven distinct dialects:[7]

Khorasan Turkic  |

|  |

Langar

|

Northeast Khorasan Turkic

North Khorasan Turkic

Northwest Khorasan Turkic

Southeast Khorasan Turkic

South Khorasan Turkic

West Quchani

## Phonology

[edit]

### Consonants

[edit]

| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal

|
|
|
|
|
|

Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ |  |
Plosive/
Affricate | voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | q |
voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | ɡ |  |
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | x |  | h
voiced | v | z | ʒ | ɣ |  |
Flap |  | ɾ |  |  |  |
Approximant |  | l | j |  |  |

### Vowels

[edit]

Vowels  | Front | Back

|
|

unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded
Close | i | y | ɯ | u
Mid | e | ø |  | o
Open | æ |  | ɑ |

All vowels have phonemic length distinction. The vowel /ɑ/ is rounded to [ɒ] when followed by the vowels /u/, /i/ (sho& long /oː/ (Muxabbat [muxɒbbɑt] "love" , Insan [insɒn] "human"). On the other hand, short /o/ and all other vowels do not cause this rounding of /ɑ/. (Yoldaşlık [joldɑʃlɯk] "friendship"). /ɑ/ is always pronounced [ɑ] in plurals (& for some speakers, it is pronounced as such unconditionally)

## Writing system

[edit]

Khorasani Turkic is not often written, but it may be with the Persian alphabet in the Perso-Arabic script. Khorasani Turkic orthography is identical to the Azerbaijani Arabic alphabet.[8]

As Khorasani Turkic has more vowel sounds than either Arabic or Persian, and as the base Arabic letters are inadequate to distinguish between the divergent vowel sounds (wherein mispronunciation can at times change the meaning of words), same as in Azerbaijani Arabic alphabet, diacritics on top of existing letters are used. However, in everyday usage, these diacritics are often dropped and pronunciation is derived from context and from vowel/consonant harmony rules. In the table below, these vowels are shown with a beige background.

Letter | Romanization | IPA

|
|

ا‎ | a | /ɑ/, /æ/, /Ø/
ب‎ | b | /b/
پ‎ | p | /p/
ت‎ | t | /t/
ث‎ | (s) | /s/
ج‎ | c | /d͡ʒ/
چ‎ | ç | /t͡ʃ/
ح‎ | (h) | /h/
خ‎ | x | /x/
د‎ | d | /d/
ذ‎ | (z) | /z/
ر‎ | r | /r/
ز‎ | z | /z/
ژ‎ | j | /ʒ/
س‎ | s | /s/
ش‎ | ş | /ʃ/
ص‎ | (s) | /s/
ض‎ | (d) | /d/
ط‎ | (t) | /t/
ظ‎ | (z) | /z/
ع‎ | ’ | /æ/, /Ø/
غ‎ | ǧ | /ɣ/
ف‎ | f | /f/
ق‎ | q | /q/
ک‎ | k | /k/
گ‎ | g | /ɡ/
ل‎ | l | /l/
م‎ | m | /m/
ن‎ | n | /n~ŋ/
و‎ | v, o, u, ü | /v~w/, /o/, /u/, /y/
وْ‎ | o | /o/
وُ‎ | u | /u/
وٚ‎ | ü | /y/
ؤ‎ | ö | /ø/
ه‎ | h, ə | /h/, /æ/
ی‎ | y, ı, i | /j/, /ɯ/, /i/
یٛ‎ | ı | /ɯ/
ئ‎ | e | /e/
ء‎ | ʿ | /ʔ/
نگ‎ | ng | /ŋ(g)/

## Morphology

[edit]

### Nouns

[edit]

#### Pluralization

[edit]

Pluralization is marked on nouns with the suffix /-lar/, which has the two forms /-lar/ and /-lær/, depending on vowel harmony. As mentioned in the phonology section, plural /ɑ/ is never rounded to [ɒ], even when it follows /u/, /oː/ or /i/.

#### Case

[edit]

Nouns in Khorasani Turkic take a number of case endings that change based on vowel harmony and whether they follow a vowel or a consonant:

Case  | After Vowels | After Consonants

|
|

Nominative  | No Ending
Genitive  | niŋ/nin | iŋ/in
Dative  | ja/jæ | a/æ
Accusative  | ni/nɯ | i/ɯ
Locative  | da/dæ
Ablative  | dan/dæn
Instrumental  | nan/næn

#### Possession

[edit]

Possession is marked with a suffix on the possessed noun.

| Singular  | Plural

|
|

1st Person  | (I)m | (I)mIz
2nd Person  | (I)ŋ | (I)ŋIz
3rd Person  | (s)I | lArI

### Pronouns

[edit]

Khorasani Turkic has six personal pronouns. Occasionally, personal pronouns take different case endings from regular nouns.

| Singular  | Plural

|
|

1st Person  | mæn | bɯz
2nd Person  | sæn | siz
3rd Person  | o | olar

### Verbs

[edit]

Verbs are declined for tense, aspect, mood, person, and number. The infinitive form of the verb ends in -max.

## Sample text

[edit]

Excerpt from Tulu (1989) p. 90
Translation  | IPA | Romanization  | Arabic script (Iran)

|
|
|

Thus, there was a padishah named Ziyad.  | ɑl ɣæssa bir zijæːd pæːdiʃæːhiː bæːɾɨdɨ | Al ğässa bir Ziyäd pädişähi bärıdı | .ال غسا بیر زياد پدیشهی بـهریدی
Almighty God had given him no son.  | xodɒːʷændi æːlæm ona hit͡ʃ ɔɣul ataː elæmɑmiʃdi | Xodavändi äläm ona hiç oğul ata elämamişdi. | .خوداوندی آلم اونا هیچ اوغول اتا ایلهمامیشدی
Then, he spoke to his vizier: "O Vizier, I have no son. What shall I do about it?"  | bæːdæn vaziːɾæ dədi, ej vaziːɾ, mændæ ki ɔɣul joxdɨ, mæn næ t͡ʃaːɾæ ejlem | Bädän vazirä dedi: "Ey vazir, mändä ki oğul yoxdı. Män nä çarä eylem?" | بدن وازیره دهدی: «ای وازیر, منده کی اوغول یوخدی. من نه چاره ایولیم»؟
The vizier said: "Ruler of the whole world, what will you do with this possession?"  | vaziːɾ dedi, pɒːdiʃaː-i ɢɨblæ-ji ɒːlæm, sæn bu mɒːlɨ-æmwɒːlɨ næjlijæsæn | Vazir dedi: "Padişai qıbläyi aläm, sän bu malıämvalı näyliyäsän?" | وازیر دهدی: «پادیشای قیبلنهیی آلم, سن بو مالیموالی نیلیسن»؟

## See also

[edit]

* Bayat (tribe)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Khorasani Turkic at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. ^ The Turkic Languages, By Lars Johanson, Éva Ágnes Csató Johanson, page 13, Routledge, 2015
3. ^ a b Sultan Tulu (1994). "Horasan Türkçesi ne İlgili Folklor Çalışmaları". Journal of Turkish Research Institute (in Turkish). 1: 48–51\. ISSN 1300-9052. Wikidata Q122840179.
4. ^ Christiane Bulut (4 November 2021), Turkic Languages of Iran, pp. 287–302, doi:10.4324/9781003243809-19, Wikidata Q122750094
5. ^ Doerfer, Gerhard; Hesche, Wolfram (1993). Chorasantürkisch: Wörterlisten, Kurzgrammatiken, Indices. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-03320-7.
6. ^ Lindsay, Robert. Mutual Intelligibility Among the Turkic Languages. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
7. ^ "Glottolog 4.8 - Khorasan Turkic". glottolog.org. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
8. ^ "Khorasani Turkic alphabet, pronunciation and language".

Bibliography

* Tulu, Sultan (1989). Chorasantürkische Materialien aus Kalāt bei Esfarāyen (in German). Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag. ISBN 3-922968-88-0.
* Doerfer, Gerhard; Hesche, Wolfram (1993). Chorasantürkisch: Wörterlisten, Kurzgrammatiken, Indices. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-03320-7.

## Additional resources

[edit]

* (Persian) Qolizadeh Marzaji, Jalal (جلال قلی زاده مرزجی) (2011). Getting acquainted with the Khorasani Turkish language (آشنایی با زبان ترکی خراسانی). Mashhad, Iran: Damineh. ISBN 978-964-5805-91-1. (Downloadable from: https://turuz.com/storage/Language/2015/0861-_Dil_Ashnayi_Ba_Zabane_Turki_Xorasani_Celal_Qulizade_Merzeci.pdf / Archive)

## External links

[edit]

Khorasani Turkic test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

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Languages of Iran

Official language|

* Persian (Iranian)

Regional languages|

* Azerbaijani
* Achomi
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* Sorani
* Xwarin
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Minority languages|

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Working languages|

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Sign languages|

* Persian Sign Language
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* v
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Turkic languages

Reconstructed|

* Proto-Turkic

Common Turkic|

| Argu|

* Argu
* Khalaj

|

Karluk|

| Western|

* Northern Uzbek
* Southern Uzbek

|

Eastern|

* Ili Turki
* Uyghur
* Khoton
* Lop
* Äynu

Old|

* Chagatai
* Karakhanid
* Khorezmian

Kipchak|

| Bulgar|

* Bashkir
* Tatar
* Mishar Tatar
* Nagaibak
* Old Tatar

|

Cuman|

* Armeno-Kipchak
* Crimean Tatar
* Cuman
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* Urum

Kyrgyz|

* Fergana Kipchak
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* Pamir Kyrgyz
* Siberian Tatar
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* Telengit
* Teleut

Nogai|

* Dobrujan Tatar
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* Kazakh
* Nogai
* Siberian Tatar
* Tobol-Irtysh
* Uzbek Kipchak

Oghuz|

* Salar

| Eastern|

* Khorasani Turkic
* Turkmen
* Trukhmen

|

Southern|

* Afshari
* Chaharmahali Turkic
* Qashqai
* Sonqori

Western|

* Azerbaijani
* North Azerbaijani
* South Azerbaijani
* Ajem-Turkic
* Balkan Gagauz
* Gagauz
* Karapapakh
* Turkish
* Tsalka
* Karamanli Turkish
* Old Anatolian Turkish
* Ottoman Turkish

Siberian|

| Northern|

* Dolgan
* Yakut

|

Southern|

* Chulym
* Lower Chulym

| Sayan|

| Steppe|

* Tuvan

|

Taiga|

* Dukhan
* Soyot
* Tofa

Yenisei|

* Fuyu Kyrgyz
* Khakas
* Northern Altai
* Chelkan
* Kumandy
* Tuba
* Shor
* Western Yugur

Old|

* Old Uyghur
* Orkhon Turkic

Oghur|

* Bulgar
* Chuvash
* Onogur

Disputed classification|

* Khazar
* Pecheneg

Potentially Turkic languages|

* Di
* Hunnic
* Jie
* Pannonian Avar
* Tuoba
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Creoles and pidgins|

* Hezhou
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* Italics indicate extinct languages
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