Kyrgyz-Altay
Characteristics
- Change of Old Turkic *d to /y/, e.g. Tuba-Kizhi ayak 'foot', Kyrgyz kuyruk 'tail'.
- Complete rounding of of low vowel + */G/, e.g. Telet tuu 'mountain', Kyrgyz ooz 'mouth'
- Rounding and/or loss of */G/ after high vowels, e.g. Telengit sārï'yellow', Salar ulli 'big', Tuba-Kizhi ayu, ayuv, ayuu 'bear'.
Notes
- Tuba-Kizhi exhibits certain features that are transitional to the Northern Altay group.
References
Baskakov, N. A. 1958. “La classification des dialectes de la langue Turque d’Altaï.” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 8, no.1: 9-15.
Tekin, Talat. 2005. “A New Classification of the Turkic languages.” In Makaleler III: Çağdaş Türk Dilleri, edited by Nurettin Demir and Emine Yılmaz, 405-420. Ankara: Grafiker.