Sayan
Characteristics
- Retention of Old Turkic *d as /d/, e.g. Tòfa bedĭk 'tall', Jungar Tuvan kuduruk 'tail'.
- Preservation of word-final and preconsonantal */G/, e.g. Soyot daɣ 'mountain', Dzhungar Tuvan sarïg 'yellow'.
- Preservation of the Old Turkic vowel length distinction. OT short vowels are realized as having low tone, 'pharyngealization', or preaspiration (this feature may be areal, as it is present in Kalpin Uyghur and Salar):
Old Turkic Tuvan Soyot Dukhan horse *at àt aˁt aʰt name *āt at at at grass *ot òt oˁt oʰt fire *ōt ot ot ot - Various other phonological, morphological, and lexical features. See Ragagnin (2009) for further details.
Tree
Sayan- Taiga
- Steppe
- Standard Tuvan (Tï̀va)
- Tuha
- Altay Tuvan
- Tsengel Tuvan
- Jungar Tuvan (Dïba)
References
Harrison, K. David. 2000. “Topics in the Phonology and Morphology of Tuvan.” PhD Diss., Yale University.
Ragagnin, Elisabetta. 2009. “A rediscovered lowland Tofan variety in northern Mongolia.” Turkic Languages 13: 225-245.
Ragagnin, Elisabetta. 2011. Dukhan, a Turkic Variety of Northern Mongolia. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.