Figen Güner Dilek
On the Lexicology of Kumandin Dialect
50th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, Kazan 2007
Kumandin dialect, the main theme of our paper, is the mother language of Kumandin people living mostly along the river Biy in mountainous Altai Republic, in Şunarak, in the area between the river Lebed and Balıksu, in the villages of Sur- başevo, in Sankin and Tondoşka regions and outside the republic, in Solton (Koobiya, Urtay, Peşper) and Starobardinsk (Koja-bajı, Narlık, Akkiil, Çegenig, Kurlek villages) and also that of Kumandin population of Biysk city outside the mountainous Altai Republic.
In this paper, the lexicology of the mother language of the Kumandin people living in the above locations (names for, animals, plants, kinship, food, clother, places, jobs, games, etc.) has been studied. This study is important as it denotes the socio-cultural state and vocabulary wealth of Kumandin dialect, which is regarded as an endangered language by Unesco, and also as it clarifies its relations with contemporary and old Turkish dialects.