Socio-Political Lexis in Altaic Languages
50th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, Kazan 2007
In the Altaic language family there are the Turk, Mongol, Tungus-Manchu groups of languages, the Korean and Japanese languages. The comparative study of these languages shows that the lexical layer (word-stock) in each of these languages has common elements, which we can find in all modern Mongol, Tungus-Manchu and Turk dictionaries. This phenomenon is especially well seen in the sphere of the socio-political lexis. One of the reasons for this is that a number of dynamic Altaic tribes kept regular relations with their neighbors, who had their own written languages. “Turk runic texts, written 1300 years ago, represent it as a well formed written language”1. There we can find some of the words from a socio-political lexicon. E.g.: the word il ‘country, land’ is found in Orkhon-Yenisey texts: Bangu il tuta olur tachi san. ‘You can rule the country to the end of time’ (p.73)
In the modern Tatar language the word il has the same meaning. The same variant of the word occurs in the Bashkir language; the Kazakh and Kara kalpak word il has the form yel, in Azerbaijan and Kyrgyz – olka, in Kumik – ulke, in Altaic – oruon, in Buryat – oron, in Mongol – oron or uls, in Kalmik – ornutg, in Chuvash – tchershev, in Evenk – dunnie, in Balkar – krai.
The word iltche ‘ambassador’ in the Tatar language has the same form, in Bashkir – ilse, Kumik – eltchi, in Chuvash – elche, in Azerbaijan – elchi or safir, in Kalmik – eltch. in Kyrgyz – elchi or okul, in Kazakh – elshi, in Kara kalpak – elshi, in Mongol – elshen sayd, but Bin the Altaic, Alkar, Buryat, Evenk languages it was naturalized from the Russian posol.
As it is seen from the examples, the word il and ilche in the majority of the Altaic languages has the same root with small phonetic variation. The word i7 in Mongol, Kalmik, Altaic languages has the form oron but with little phonetic variations.
The word daulat ‘country’ can also be found in texts. In the modern Tatar language it has the form daulat, in Bashkir – daulat, in Azerbaijan – dovlat, in Kyrgyz – mamlakat, in Kazakh – memleket, in Kara kalpak – mcemlakat, in Chuvash – pat- shalah, in Kumik –pachalik, in Mongol – uls, guren or zasag, in Buryat – guren, in Balkar – krai, in Kalmik – orn-nutg, but in the Altaic and Evenk languages it has the variant gosudarstvo.
As is seen from the examples, the word gosudarstvo in the Altaic languages is adopted from Russian: mamlakat, daulat (from Arabic), patshalah (from Persian). Native word forms for the Altaic languages are: guren (Buryat, Mongol), uls (Mongol), zasag (Mongol), krai (Balkar), orn-nutg (Kalmik).
Thus, we have analyzed a more ancient, general layer of words: il, ilche, daulat. Later radical changes in Russia and Mongolia (origin of these languages) affected public mind and local languages. New phenomena in public life and ideology brought to life new words and terms. In this context new words appeared, new words were adopted and some words developed new meanings. Identity of lexical formatives in the examined languages make it possible to specify mentality and view of the world of native speakers.
Socio-political lexis in Altaic languages did not come to being accidentally. Most of the socio-political lexis in Altaic languages was used in ancient times in old written languages.
1 Kononov A.N. Grammatika yazika turkskih runicheskih pamyatnikov VII-IX vv. – L.: Nauka, 1980. – S. 266.