The Oghuz languages are a sub-branch of the Turkic language family, spoken by approximately 108 million people. The three languages with the largest number of speakers are Turkish, Azerbaijani, and Turkmen which, combined, account for more than 95% of speakers of this sub-branch.
Kara-Khanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari, who lived in the 11th century, stated that the Oghuz language was the simplest among all Turkic languages.D. T. Potts, (2014), Nomadism in Iran: From Antiquity to the Modern Era, p. 177
Swedish turcologist and linguist Lars Johanson notes that Oghuz languages form a clearly discernible and closely related bloc within the Turkic language family as the cultural and political history of the speakers of Oghuz languages has linked them more closely up to the modern age. Western Oghuz languages are highly mutually intelligible with each other and the Crimean Tatar language, which, though Kipchak Turkic rather than Oghuz, has been heavily influenced by Turkish over several centuries.
History and terminology The ancestor of Oghuz languages is a matter of debate. The language of the oldest stone monuments such as Orkhon inscriptions, and documents such as Old Uyghur manuscripts are rather the ancestor of Central Asiatic Turkic languages (including Karluk and Kipchak). Oghuz languages apparently originate from the language of the people known as "Western Türküt" in Chinese annals. Old Anatolian and Old Ottoman languages, known as Middle Turkic, would be the most ancient within the Oghuz group of Turkic languages.
The term "Oghuz" is applied to the southwestern branch of the Common Turkic languages. It is in reference to the Oghuz Turks, who migrated from the Altay Mountains "Historically, all of the Western or Oghuz Turks have been called Turkmen or Turkomen... In the 7th century C.E., they migrated from their ancestral homeland in the Altay mountains westward..." to Central Asia in the 8th century and further expanded to the Middle East and to the Balkans as separate tribes.
Classification The Oghuz languages currently spoken have been classified into three categories based on their features and geography: Western, Eastern, and Central.
Glottolog proposes the following linguistic classification and subgrouping of the Oghuz languages. Turkic Common Turkic Oghuz Salar Salar Nuclear Oghuz Qashqa'i Qashqa'i Central Oghuz North Azerbaijani South Azerbaijani East Oghuz Khorasan Turkic Turkmen West Oghuz Turkish Gagauz Rumelian Turkish
Proto-Turkic Common Turkic Oghuz Western Turkish Azerbaijani Gagauz Balkan Turkish Karapapakh † Ottoman Turkish † Old Anatolian Turkish † Pecheneg? † Ajem-Turkic † Crimean Ottoman † Eastern Turkmen Khorasani Turkic Salar Central Qashqai Chaharmahali Turkic Afshari Turkic Sonqori Turkic
Two further languages, Crimean Tatar and Urum, are Kipchak languages, but have been heavily influenced by the Oghuz languages. The extinct Crimean Ottoman language, commonly referred to as the "southern dialect" of Crimean Tatar, was an Oghuz language.
The extinct Pecheneg language was probably Oghuz, but as it is poorly documented, it is difficult to further classify it within the Oghuz family; it is therefore usually excluded from classification.Баскаков, Н. А. Тюркские языки, Москва 1960, с. 126–131.
Features The Oghuz languages share a number of features that have led linguists to classify them together. Some of the features are shared with other Turkic languages, and others are unique to the Oghuz family.
Swedish turcologist and linguist Lars Johanson notes that Oghuz languages form a clearly discernible and closely related bloc within the Turkic language family as the cultural and political history of Oghuz Turks has linked them more closely up to the modern age when compared to other Turkic subgroups.
Shared features Loss of initial *h sound (shared with all Turkic languages but Khalaj) Loss of productivity of the original Turkic instrumental case -n (shared with all Turkic languages but Yakut and Khalaj)
Unique features Voicing of stops (e.g. Anatolian Turkish gök < Ottoman گوك gök < Proto-Turkic kȫk, "sky"; Anatolian dağ < Ottoman طاغ dağ < Proto-Turkic tāg "mountain") Loss of after (e.g. quru < quruq, "dry", sarɯ < sarɯɣ, "yellow") Change in form of participial from -gan to -an
Comparison The remarkable similarity between Oghuz languages may be demonstrated through a sentence, which employs a verbal noun in the dative as a link between the main verb and auxiliary. This feature is universally shared by all Oghuz languages.Julian Rentzsch, "Uniformity and diversity in Turkic inceptive constructions", Johannes Gutenberg University, p. 270 Turcologist Julian Rentzsch uses this particular sentence in his work titled "Uniformity and diversity in Turkic inceptive constructions":Julian Rentzsch, "Uniformity and diversity in Turkic inceptive constructions", Johannes Gutenberg University, pp. 270–271
English: ‘The dead man rose, sat down and began to speak.’
See also
Oghuz Turks Turkic languages Turkic peoples Turkomans
References
Further reading