Chagatai (, ), also known as Turki, Eastern Turkic, or Chagatai Turkic (), was a Turkic language that was once widely spoken across Central Asia. It remained the shared literary language in the region until the early 20th century when it went extinct. It was used across a wide geographic area including western or Russian Turkestan (i.e. parts of modern-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan), Eastern Turkestan, Crimea, the Volga-Ural region (such as Tatarstan and Bashkortostan), etc.
Chagatai is the direct ancestor of the Uzbek and Uyghur languages. Kazakh and Turkmen, which are not within the Karluk branch but are in the Kipchak and Oghuz branches of the Turkic languages respectively, had been nonetheless heavily influenced by Chagatai for centuries.
Ali-Shir Nava'i was the greatest representative of Chagatai literature.
Etymology The word Chagatai relates to the Chagatai Khanate (1225–1680s), a descendant empire of the Mongol Empire left to Genghis Khan's second son, Chagatai Khan. Many of the Turkic peoples who spoke this language claimed political descent from the Chagatai Khanate.
As part of the preparation for the 1924 establishment of the Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan, Chagatai was officially renamed "Old Uzbek", which Edward A. Allworth argued "badly distorted the literary history of the region" and was used to give authors such as Ali-Shir Nava'i an Uzbek identity. It was also referred to as "Turki" or "Sart" in Russian colonial sources. In China, it is sometimes called "ancient Uyghur".
History
In the twentieth century, the study of Chagatai suffered from nationalist bias. In the former Chagatai area, separate republics have been claiming Chagatai as the ancestor of their own brand of Turkic. Thus, Old Uzbek, Old Uyghur, Old Tatar, Old Turkmen, and a Chagatai-influenced layer in sixteenth-century Azerbaijanian have been studied separately from each other. There has been a tendency to disregard certain characteristics of Chagatai itself, e.g. its complex syntax copied from Persian. Chagatai developed in the late 15th century. It belongs to the Karluk branch of the Turkic language family. It is descended from Middle Turkic, which served as a lingua franca in Central Asia, with a strong infusion of Arabic and Persian words and turns of phrase.
Mehmet Fuat Köprülü divides Chagatai into the following periods: Early Chagatai (13th–14th centuries) Pre-classical Chagatai (the first half of the 15th century) Classical Chagatai (the second half of the 15th century) Continuation of Classical Chagatai (16th century) Decline (17th–19th centuries)
The first period is a transitional phase characterized by the retention of archaic forms; the second phase began with the publication of Ali-Shir Nava'i's first divan and is the highpoint of Chagatai literature, followed by the third phase, which is characterized by two bifurcating developments. One is preservation of the classical Chagatai language of Nava'i, the other the increasing influence of dialects of the local spoken languages.
Influence on later Turkic languages Uzbek and Uyghur, two modern languages descended from Chagatai, are the closest to it. Uzbeks regard Chagatai as the origin of their language and Chagatai literature as part of their heritage. In 1921 in Uzbekistan, then a part of the Soviet Union, Chagatai was initially intended to be the national and governmental language of the Uzbek SSR. However, when it became evident that the language was too archaic for that purpose, it was replaced by a new literary language based on a set of Uzbek dialects.
Ethnologue records the use of the word "Chagatai" in Afghanistan to describe the "Tekke" dialect of Turkmen. Up to and including the eighteenth century, Chagatai was the main literary language in Turkmenistan and most of Central Asia.Clark, Larry, Michael Thurman, and David Tyson. "Turkmenistan." Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan: Country Studies. p. 318. Comp. Glenn E. Curtis. Washington, D.C.: Division, 1997 While it had some influence on Turkmen, the two languages belong to different branches of the Turkic language family.
Literature 15th and 16th centuries Persian literature, which Central Asian Turkic authors regarded as superior, was deliberately imitated and emulated in the creation of Chagatai literature. The most famous of Chagatai poets, Ali-Shir Nava'i, among other works wrote Muhakamat al-Lughatayn, a detailed comparison of Chagatai and New Persian. Here, Nava’i argued for the superiority of the former for literary purposes. His fame is attested by the fact that Chagatai is sometimes called "Nava'i's language". Among prose works, Timur's biography is written in Chagatai, as is the famous Baburnama (or Tuska Babure) of Babur, the Timurid founder of the Mughal Empire. A Divan attributed to Kamran Mirza is written in Persian and Chagatai, and one of Bairam Khan's Divans was written in Chagatai.
The following is a prime example of the 16th-century literary Chagatai Turkic, employed by Babur in one of his Ruba'is.
Muhammad Shaybani, ruler of the nascent Khanate of Bukhara, wrote a prose essay called Risale-yi maarif-i Shaybāni in Chagatai in 1507 shortly after his capture of Greater Khorasan. He dedicated it to his son, Muhammad Timur. The manuscript of his philosophical and religious work, "Bahr ul-Khuda", written in 1508, is located in London.
Ötemish Hajji wrote a history of the Golden Horde entitled the Tarikh-i Dost Sultan in Khwarazm.
17th and 18th centuries In terms of literary production, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are often seen as a period of decay. It is a period in which Chagatai lost ground to Persian. Important writings in Chagatai from the period between the 17th and 18th centuries include those of Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur: Shajara-i Tarākima (Genealogy of the Turkmens) and Shajara-i Turk (Genealogy of the Turks). Abu al-Ghāzī is motivated by functional considerations and describes his choice of language and style in the sentence "I did not use one word of Chagatay (!), Persian or Arabic". As is clear from his actual language use, he aims at making himself understood to a broader readership by avoiding too ornate a style, notably saj’, rhymed prose. In the second half of the 18th century, Turkmen poet Magtymguly Pyragy also introduced the use of classical Chagatai into Turkmen literature as a literary language, incorporating many Turkmen linguistic features.
Bukharan ruler Subhan Quli Khan (1680–1702) was the author of a work on medicine, "Subkhankuli's revival of medicine" ("Ihya at-tibb Subhani"), which was written in the Central Asian Turkic language (Chagatai) and is devoted to the description of diseases, their recognition and treatment. One of the manuscript lists is kept in the library in Budapest.A Turkic Medical Treatise from Islamic Central Asia: A Critical Edition of a Seventeenth-Century Chagatay Work by Subḥān Qulï Khan. Edited, Translated and Annotated by László KÁROLY. Brill’s Inner Asian Library. Volume 32. Editors: Michael DROMPP; Devin DEWEESE; Mark C. ELLIOTT. Leiden. 2015
19th and 20th centuries Prominent 19th-century Khivan writers include Shermuhammad Munis and his nephew Muhammad Riza Agahi.; Qahhar, Tahir, and William Dirks. “Uzbek Literature.” World Literature Today, vol. 70, no. 3, 1996, pp. 611–618. . Muhammad Rahim Khan II of Khiva also wrote ghazals. Musa Sayrami's Tārīkh-i amniyya, completed in 1903, and its revised version Tārīkh-i ḥamīdi, completed in 1908, represent the best sources on the Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) in Xinjiang.МОЛЛА МУСА САЙРАМИ: ТА'РИХ-И АМНИЙА (Mulla Musa Sayrami's Tarikh-i amniyya: Preface), in: "Материалы по истории казахских ханств XV–XVIII веков (Извлечения из персидских и тюркских сочинений)" (Materials for the history of the Kazakh Khanates of the 15–18th cc. (Extracts from Persian and Turkic literary works)), Alma Ata, Nauka Publishers, 1969.
Dictionaries and grammars The following are books written on the Chagatai language by natives and westerners:
Vocabularium Linguae Giagataicae Sive Igureae (Lexico Ćiagataico) Muḥammad Mahdī Khān, Sanglakh. Abel Pavet de Courteille, Dictionnaire turk-oriental (1870). Ármin Vámbéry 1832–1913, Ćagataische Sprachstudien, enthaltend grammatikalischen Umriss, Chrestomathie, und Wörterbuch der ćagataischen Sprache; (1867). Sheykh Süleymān Efendi, Čagataj-Osmanisches Wörterbuch: Verkürzte und mit deutscher Übersetzung versehene Ausgabe (1902). Sheykh Süleymān Efendi, Lughat-ï chaghatay ve turkī-yi 'othmānī (Dictionary of Chagatai and Ottoman Turkish). Mirza Muhammad Mehdi Khan Astarabadi, Mabaniul Lughat: Yani Sarf o Nahv e Lughat e Chughatai. Abel Pavet de Courteille, Mirâdj-nâmeh : récit de l'ascension de Mahomet au ciel, composé a.h. 840 (1436/1437), texte turk-oriental, publié pour la première fois d'après le manuscript ouïgour de la Bibliothèque nationale et traduit en français, avec une préf. analytique et historique, des notes, et des extraits du Makhzeni Mir Haïder.
Phonology
Consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarUvularGlottalPlosive/AffricateFricativeNasalTap/Trill~Approximant Sounds /f, ʃ, χ, v, z, ɡ, ʁ, d͡ʒ, ʔ, l/ do not occur in initial position of words of Turkic origin.
Vowels + Vowels Front Back Close Mid Open Vowel length is distributed among five vowels /iː, eː, ɑː, oː, uː/.
Orthography
Chagatai has been a literary language and is written with a variation of the Perso-Arabic alphabet. This variation is known as Kona Yëziq, (). It saw usage for Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uyghur, and Uzbek.
Isolated Final Medial Initial Uzbek Letter nameUzbek LatinKazakhKyrgyzUyghurUyghur LatinBashkirKazan TatarCommon Turkic Alphabet ﺀ — Hamza'∅∅ئ'∅∅∅ ﺍ ﺎ ﺍ alifО о А аА а Ә әА аئاА аА аА аA a ﺏ ﺐ ﺒ ﺑ beB bБ бБ бﺏB bБ бБ бB b ﭖ ﭗ ﭙ ﭘ peP pП пП пﭖ P pП пП пP p ﺕ ﺖ ﺘ ﺗ teT tТ тТ тﺕT tТ тТ тT t ﺙ ﺚ ﺜ ﺛ seS sС сС сسS sҪ ҫС сS s (Ś ś) ﺝ ﺞ ﺠ ﺟ jimJ jЖ жЖ жﺝJ jЙ йҖ җC c ﭺ ﭻ ﭽ ﭼ chimCh chШ шЧ чﭺCh chС сЧ чÇ ç ﺡ ﺢ ﺤ ﺣ hoy-i huttiH hX xX xھH hХ хХ хH h ﺥ ﺦ ﺨ ﺧ xeX xҚ қ (Х х)К к (Х х)ﺥX xХ хХ хX x ﺩ ﺪ ﺩ dolD dД дД дﺩD dД дД дD d ﺫ ﺬ ﺫ zolZ zЗ зЗ зذZ zҘ ҙЗ зZ z (Ź ź) ﺭ ﺮ ﺭ reR rР рР рﺭR rР рР рR r ﺯ ﺰ ﺯ zeZ zЗ зЗ зﺯZ zЗ зЗ зZ z ﮊ ﮋ ﮊ je (zhe)J jЖ жЖ жﮊZh zhЖ жЖ жJ j ﺱ ﺲ ﺴ ﺳ sinS sС сС сﺱS sС сС сS s ﺵ ﺶ ﺸ ﺷ shinSh shС с Ш шﺵSh shШ шШ шŞ ş ﺹ ﺺ ﺼ ﺻ sodS sС сС сسS sС сС сS s ﺽ ﺾ ﻀ ﺿ dodZ zЗ зЗ зزZ zҘ ҙЗ зZ z ﻁ ﻂ ﻄ ﻃ to (itqi)T tТ тТ тتT tТ тТ тT t ﻅ ﻆ ﻈ ﻇ zo (izgʻi)Z zЗ зЗ зزZ zҘ ҙЗ зZ z (Ź ź) ﻉ ﻊ ﻌ ﻋ ayn'Ғ ғ∅ئ'Ғ ғГ гĞ ğ ﻍ ﻎ ﻐ ﻏ ğaynGʻ gʻҒ ғГ гﻍGh ghҒ ғГ гĞ ğ ﻑ ﻒ ﻔ ﻓ feF fП п П п/Б бﻑF fФ фФ фF f ﻕ ﻖ ﻘ ﻗ qofQ qҚ қК кﻕQ qҠ ҡК кQ q ک ک ﻜ ﻛ kofK kК кК кكK kК кК кK k ﮒ ﮓ ﮕ ﮔ gofG gГ гГ гﮒG gГ гГ гG g ݣ ـنگ/ـݣ ـنگـ/ـݣـ نگـ/ݣـ nungofNg ngҢ ңҢ ңڭNg ngҢ ңҢ ңÑ ñ ﻝ ﻞ ﻠ ﻟ lamL lЛ лЛ лﻝL lЛ лЛ лL l ﻡ ﻢ ﻤ ﻣ mimM mМ мМ мﻡM mМ мМ мM m ﻥ ﻦ ﻨ ﻧ nunN nН нН нﻥN nН нН нN n ﻭ ﻮ ﻭ vavV v U u, Oʻ oʻУ у Ұ ұ, Ү ү О о, Ө өУ у, Ү ү О о, Ө өۋ ئۆ/ئو, ئۈ/ئۇW w U u, O o, Ü ü, Ö öО о, Ө ө, У у, Ү үО о, Ө ө, У у, Ү үO o, Ö ö, U u, Ü ü, V v, W w ﻩ ﻪ ﻬ ﻫ hoy-i havvazH h A aҺ һ Э э, е∅ Э э, еھ ئە/ئاH h A a, E eҺ һ, Ә әҺ һ, Ә әH h, Ä äﻯﻰﻴﻳyeY y Е e, I iЙ й, И и Ы ы, І іЙ й Ы ы, И иي ئى، ئېY y Ë ë, I iЙ й, И и, Ы ы, Э эЙ й, И и, Ы ы, Э эY y, İ i, I ı, E e
Notes The letters ف، ع، ظ، ط، ض، ص، ژ، ذ، خ، ح، ث، ء are only used in loanwords and do not represent any additional phonemes.
For Kazakh and Kyrgyz, letters in parentheses () indicate a modern borrowed pronunciation from Bashkir or Tatar that is not consistent with historic Kazakh and Kyrgyz treatments of these letters
Influence