Tuvan (Тыва дыл, Tıwa dıl; [tʰɯˈʋa tɯl]; also known as Tuvinian, Tyvan or Tuvine) is a Turkic language spoken by slightly fewer than 300,000 in the Tuva Republic in south-central Siberia. Diaspora groups of Tuvan people that speak varying dialects can also be found in Mongolia and China.

Linguistics

As a Sayan Turkic language, Tuvan is closely related to the Tofa language, a moribund language in Russia's Irkutsk Oblast, which it once formed a dialect continuum with. From being a Turkic language in general, it is more distantly related to other languages such as Tatar (not to be confused with Crimean Tatar, to which they're both related as well), Kyrgyz, and of course everyone's favourite language, Uzbek.

Classification

Tuva's full classification is as follows:

Turkic (Proto-Turkic) > Common Turkic > Siberian Turkic > South Siberian > Sayan Turkic > Tuvan

Phonology and Phonotactics

Tuvan has 16 different vowel phonemes, contrasting 8 different qualities and 2 different lengths. Tuvan also has 8 'low-pitch' vowels that appear in word-initial syllables. Foг most sрakегs, this is rеalizеd as very low modаl voice, which hаs the aсoustiс сorгelate of low pitсh (low fundamental frеquеnсy). Early studies analyzed these as separate vowels, giving a total number of 24 vowel phonemes; however, following Anderson & Harrison (1999), from which this work draws, here they are analyzed as suprasegmental features. Thus, in the IPA, the phonemic vowels are /i y e ø ɯ u a o/ and their long counterparts. Note that, throughout this write-up, the vowels /y ø ɯ/ might be written with their turcological symbols, ü ö ɨ/ï, respectively.

Like most Turkic languages, Tuvan has a process of vowel harmony, inherited from Proto-Turkic, which already had it fully formed. Tuvan has two types of vowel harmony, Back and Round. Because of Tuvan's perfectly symmetrical vowel system, both classes contain four phonemes and no phonemes are left out of the harmony processes, i.e. there are no neutral vowels.

Out of these two, back harmony is the most robust. The process of back harmony means that either all vowels must be front vowels (the first four listed above) or back vowels (the last four). Vowels in suffixes take their cue from the closest vowel to the left, whether it's in the root or another suffix. Thus all Tuvan suffixes have at least two allomorphs, one for front vowels, and one for back vowels. An example of this is given in is-ter-im-den ('footprint-PL-1-ABL), at-tar-ïm-dan (name-PL-1-ABL), where you can see the front and back alternations of the three suffixes. Back vowel harmony arises even when consonant clusters from borrowed words are simplified by vowel epenthesis, showing just how robust this type of vowel harmony is.

Unlike other Turkic languages, such as Uzbek, where vowel harmony only applies weakly (and might be more of a relic than applying at all), Tuvan only has four morphological suffixes exceptions to back vowel harmony, allative, diminutive, durative and sequential. They may be classified respectively as
invariant (non-alternating) elements (allative), borrowed suffixal elements (diminutive), or fused elements (durative, sequential). Other exceptions to back harmony occur in some compound words, through ablaut (an intensive form is created by applying ablaut to the second vowel of a disyllabic adjective; this ablauted vowel is always front, regardless of the first vowel) as well as due to co-articulatory features in fluent speech. The latter of these causes disharmony in several other Turkic languages as well.

Round harmony, on the other hand, is much more restricted in its appearance. Under round harmony, high vowels that follow a round vowel must also be round. Thus, round harmony only targets two vowels, /i/ and /ï/, which become realized as /ü/ and /u/ if the vowel before them is a round vowel. The only time the rounded high vowels appear in post-initial syllables is when this process of vowel harmony takes place. Native words thus contain no examples of a round vowel followed by a high unrounded vowel. Furthermore, due to phonotactic contrasints, no rounded vowel may follow an unrounded vowel. Thus the only time that the mid-rounded vowels, /ö/ and /o/ occur in native words is in the initial vowel position, with a few exceptions that originally derived from compound words.

There are 19 native Tuvan consonant phonemes, with two more appearing only in loan words. Tuvan consonants undergo a predictable pattern of surface changes when they are realized in a word. Tuvan bilabial stops only contrast in word-initial position. For some speakers, the contrast between [b]/[p] and [d]/[t] is one of (weak) voicing, while for other speakers they are contrasted by aspiration.

No onset clusters exist in native Tuvan words, being limited solely to borrowings. Only two possible clusters exist in the coda - [rt] and [jt]. All other word-internal clusters are heterosyllabic (i.e. they occur in two different syllables). The following syllable types are attested in native Tuvan words: V, VV, VC, VVC, VCC, CV, CVV, CVC, CVVC, CVCC. Stress in Tuvan is weak, and falls on the final syllable of a word. This stress is not sensitive to vowel quality, thus it is not attracted to long vowels; if suffixes are added, the stress typically shifts to the final suffix, though there are a few non-stress-bearing suffixes.

Morphology and Syntax

Tuvan, like all Turkic languages, is an agglutinative language, meaning suffixes are tacked on to the ends of words, often forming one long word that could represent a full English sentence. However, Tuvan does have a few morphological processes -- elision, vowel lengthening and reduplication -- which are not agglutinative.

Tuvan's basic word order is subject-object-verb. Noun phrases and verb phrases are head-final, with the maximum expansion of the noun phrase being [Demonstrative-Possessive-Adjective Phrase-Noun] and the verb phrase being [Direct Object - Indirect Object- Subject - Verb]. Some freedom is permitted within the verb-phrase for focus, with objects that move closer to the verb being more focused; however, the verb always occurs finally. Postpositions are also used in the language.

Tuvan makes no morphological distinction based on noun class/gender. However, there is one exception, the words meaning 'old' and 'young', which have different words based on whether the object is animate (people, animals, trees, the heart, etc.) or inanimate (things, plants, body parts). The animate words for old and young are, respectively, kirgan and anyak; the inanimate ones are, respectively, èrgi and čaa, with the latter also meaning 'new'. Tuvan likewise has no definite articles, with the demonstratives taking its place when something needs to be overtly marked.

However, despite not making any morphological distinctions based on noun class, Tuvan nouns do decline for seven cases -- nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, locative, ablative and allative -- as well as for plurality. The plural marker precedes any possessive and case affixes. Nouns that are quantified by a number generally do not take the plural suffix, and ones that take a numerical-qualifier can take the plural to give a distributive meaning (i.e. 'I have read many different books').

The base case of Tuvan nouns is the nominative case, which is also the unmarked case. The nominative case is used to mark the subject of the sentence, as well as the first nominal in a two-part possessive construction. It's also used in constructions with 'auxiliary' nouns. Furthermore, it is used for an indefinite direct object of a transitive verb.

The ablative case is used to mark motion away from an object. This has been extended into temporal use as well, thus mart aydan (March month-ABL) means 'from March'. It also marks the source and the comparandum in a comparative construction. Furthermore, in uses specific to Tuvan among the Turkic languages, the ablative is used to mark the agent in certain passives and to give a partitive meaning. It is governed by certain postpositions as well.

While the accusative case in general is used to mark direct objects, it does not do this automatically in Tuvan. In fact, the accusative's primary function in Tuvan is to mark definiteness or specificity on direct objects. Furthermore, it make mark the subjects in some subordinate clauses, as well as the predicate itself in aother types. It can be used along with a third person possessive as a vocative and in some dialects its used to mark a causee over the dative case.

Contrary to other Tuvan cases, the allative case has basically one function, to mark direction wards a location, though it may also be used to denote motion around an object. This case is not descended from the Old Turkic allative case, but possibly arose from the word čak ('moment').

The Tuvan dative case serves to mark the recipient or indirect object of a verb. It is also used to mark an expressed causee in causative formations, as well as an expressed agent in passive formations. Tuvan also uses the dative instead of the locative case in the past and future to express location, and it can sometimes be used to express direction instead of the allative. It also marks the experiencer subject with certain adjectival predicates and is required on the object of other adjectival predicates.

The Tuvan genitive case's primary function is to mark the possessor in a possesive construction, followed by a noun with with a possessive suffix (see below). It can also be used to mark the subject in some subordinate clauses.

The locative case expresses location solely in the present-tense in Tuvan. This has been extended to temporal locations as well, in which case it is still used in the past tense.

A salient feature of Tuvan is that possessive constructions mark both the possessor and the possessum (thing possessed). The possessor in the clause takes the genitive case, whereas the possessum is marked with a special suffix corresponding to the number and person of the possessor. Some of these forms can be seen in the table below.

Tuvan also has a class of 'auxiliary nouns', which often indicate what would be indicated with prepositions and postpositions in other languages. Postpositions are found in Tuvan as well, but there is a formal difference in how the auxiliary nouns act when compared to the postpositions, so the two are treated as separate classes.

Nominative	1.POSS	2.POSS	3.POSS	1.PL.POSS	2.PL.POSS	3.PL.POSS	English
xap	xavïm	xavïŋ	xavï	xavïvïs	xavïŋar	xavï	'bag'
küš	küžüm	küžüŋ	küžü	küžüvüs	küžüŋer	küžü	'strength, power'

The possessive markers precede the case markers, but they follow the plurality marker.

Tuvan has six pronouns, distinguishing two numbers (singular and plural) and three persons. Gender is not distinguished in the pronouns. The third singular form is also identical to the demonstrative 'that'. These pronouns are declined for all seven cases; the singular ones have certain irregularities in their declension patterns, but the plurals all decline regularly. The pronouns, in the nominative case, are summarized in the table below.

Pronoun	Meaning
men	1st singular
sen	2nd singular
ol	3rd singular
bis(ter)	1st plural
siler	2nd plural
olar	3rd plural

Tuvan pronomial verbal markers can appear in two ways on verbs, either as enclitics or as suffixes. All main-clause verb forms take them as enclitics (except one of the past tense forms, to be described below), whereas all subordinate clauses use the suffix form. These markers, except for the third plural, are always required, whereas the pronoun is optional and frequently dropped; Tuvan is thus a pro-drop language.

In terms of tense-aspect-mood, Tuvan has an extensive number of affixes to express an extensive amounts of distinctions. Likewise, auxiliary verbs are also used to further increase the distinctions available. Some of these are described below.

Tuvan has two past tense categories, an 'assertive/definite' and a 'non-assertive/indefinite', past. Both of these are represented on the verb with an affix. The assertive past is the one exception to the use of the pronomial enclitics among main clause verbs in Tuvan. For most verbs, there is no clear-cut semantic distinction, though there are minimal contrasts that could be established for a few verbs. Generally, the non-assertive is the unmarked form, and refers to a general point in the past; it can also be used to express a point further back in the past, such as the English past perfect. The assertive, therefore, may refer to a recent or definite time in the past, and also refers back to things already introduced; in many people's speech, it occurs primarily with first person subjects. A full conjugation paradigm for the two past tenses can be seen in the table below.

Non-Assertive Past	Assertive Past	English
uškan men	uštum	I flew
uškan sen	uštuŋ	You flew
uškan	uštu	S/he flew
uškan bis	uštuvus	We flew
uškan siler	uštuŋar	You (pl.) flew
uškan(nar)	uštu(lar)	They flew

Non-past is expresed as one form in Tuvan, thus ažïdaar men can mean "I work" or "I will work". Non-past actions are commonly denoted by auxiliary verbs, which may express a progressive or non-progressive meaning.

Tuvan has six aspect markers on the verb, the iterative, used colloquially to mark expressive actions as well as iterative actions; the perfective; the resultative, used to mark and emphasize actions completed in the past, and used to emphasize the truth of a statement the hearer doubts (e.g. I did see you!); unaccomplished, used to mark an unaccomplished action and now mostly extinct. It carried a sense that the verb would be completed in the near future; emphatic, marked with reduplication, which adds emphasis to the verb or the connotation of a rapid/intense action; cessation, 'to stop doing X'.

Tuvan also marks an extensive set of modal categories on the verb. These include the conditional, marking conditional statements in the past and future, and used to mean 'in order to'; the concessive mood, corresponding to English 'even though' or 'although'; the conciliatory, or optative, which signals the concession or agreement on the part of the subject to perform an action; the desiderative; the evidential mood, which can also signal reported speech or the inadvertant, involuntary or unexpected nature of an action; the imperative mood.

Verbs are negated with a suffix. Tuvan also has a system of converbs, which can add shades of semantic meaning to the verb. Likewise, there is an extensive system of auxiliary verbs, which, when used with certain converbs, can add a further distinction in various tenses, aspects and moods. One example of this is where an auxiliary can be used to create a continuous meaning. Furthermore, other auxiliaries can add various shades of meaning, such as a self-benefactive voice, capabiliative mood, inchoative aspect, benefactive voice, etc. Some auxiliaries determine the meaning depending on the converb or semantic class of the verb, but most auxiliaries only have one meaning, despite the converb. A list of these auxiliaries, and their additional meanings, can be seen in the table below.

Auxiliary	Meaning
al-	self-benefactive voice or capabilative mood
ber-	inchoative aspect or benefactive mood
bar-	completitive/perfective action or translocative action (across space)
bol-	possibilitive mood
čït-	capabilitive mood
čoru -	imperfective or durative aspect
egele-	inchoative aspect
kag-	'already'
kel-	cislocative
kir-	completive or terminative aspect
kör-	attemptive mood
olur-	imperfective aspect

Miscellany

Tuvan currently uses a modified version of the Russian Alphabet, with three additional letters.
Historically, Tuvan was written with the Mongolian script, and a Tuvan monk designed a Latin based script
There is no traditional way to transcribe Tuvan Cyrillic, so traditional methods are often resorted to; Turkologists often use the Turkic Notation, which was used through this post
Tuvan throat singing is a well-known musical style of the Tuvan people, as well as of other peoples of the steppes. A link is included below.

Samples

Spoken sample:

Conversation/interview

throat singing lullaby

More throat singing

Final throat singing

Tuvan storyteller telling an epic tale

Introduction to another epic tale

Written sample:

Тыва чоннуң эртинези – хөөмей

Делегейниң эң улуг күчулүг, чараш, арыг, байлак хемнерниң бирээзи – алдарлыг Енисейниң – Улуг Хемниң шуурап баткан ораны, делегейде чок дээн делгем чаагай Азия диптиң географтыг төвү, чүрээ, буурул баштыг Саян сыннары хаажылаан Тыва чурту бойдустуң эң ховар чурумалы, тураскаалы болуп турары дег, тываларны өске чоннардан ылгап, алдаржыдып, киискидип турар онзагай демдектер эвээш эвес.

(Excerpt from an essay about Tuvan throat singing)

Tyvan Wikipedia

Sources

Wikipedia pages on Tuvan
Topics in the Phonology and Morphology of Tuvan, K. David Harrison, 2000
Tyvan, Gregory David Anderson & K. David Harrison, 1999
Online Tyvan-English Dictionary

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кирип моорлаңар - This week's language of the week: Tuvan!

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