Summary
Tuoba (Tabγač or Tabghach; also Taγbač or Taghbach; Chinese: 拓跋) is an extinct language spoken by the Tuoba people in northern China around the 5th century AD during the Northern Wei dynasty.
| Tuoba | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Tuoba |
| Region | Northern China and Mongolia |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Classification edit
Alexander Vovin (2007) identifies the Tuoba language as a Mongolic language.[1]
On the other hand, Juha Janhunen proposed that the Tuoba might have spoken an Oghur Turkic language.[2] According to Peter Boodberg, the Tuoba language was essentially Turkic with Mongolic admixture.[3] Chen Sanping noted that the Tuoba language "had both" Turkic and Mongolic elements.[4][5]
Liu Xueyao stated that Tuoba may have had their own language, which should not be assumed to be identical with any other known languages.[6]
Andrew Shimunek (2017) classifies Tuoba (Tabghach) as a "Serbi" (i.e., para-Mongolic) language. Shimunek's Serbi branch also consists of the Tuyuhun and Khitan languages.[7]
Morphology edit
Some functional suffixes are:[7]
- *-A(y) ~ *ʁa(y) ‘verbal noun suffix’
- *-Al ~ *-l ‘deverbal noun suffix’
- **čɪ ~ **či ‘suffix denoting occupations’
- **-mɔr/-mʊr (萬) ‘deverbal noun suffix’
- **-n ‘plural suffix’
Lexicon edit
Selected basic Taghbach words from Shimunek (2017) are listed below. Forms reconstructed using the comparative method are marked with one asterisk (*), while forms reconstructed according to the Chinese fanqie spellings and/or rhymes of the traditional Chinese philological tradition are marked with two asterisks (**) (originally marked as ✩ by Shimunek 2017).[7]
| Taghbach (reconstructed form) | Taghbach (original Chinese transcription) | English meaning | Original Chinese gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| *agyɪl ~ *agɪl | 屋引 | house | 房 |
| *čʰɪrnɔ | 叱奴 | wolf | 狼 |
| **dɪʁa | 地何 | writing, book, document | 書 |
| **ɦatśir̃ | 阿真 | food | 飲食 |
| *ɦorbǝl | 嗢盆 | warmth | 溫 |
| *ɪrgɪn | 俟懃 | above, superior | 尚 |
| **kʰɪl- | 乞 | to speak | - |
| **kʰɪr- | 契 | to kill someone | 殺人 |
| **kʰɪrʁayčɪn | 契害真 | assassins | 殺人者 |
| *ñaqañ | 若干 | dog | 狗 |
| *pary-al | 拔列 | bridge | 梁 |
| **pʰatala | 破多羅 | rice water | 潘 |
| *qɔw/*qəw | 侯 | pig, boar | 亥 |
| **tʰaʁ | 托 | dirt, soil, earth | 土 |
| *tʰʊʁnar | 土難 | mountain | 山 |
| **tʰʊʁay | 吐奚 | ancient | 古 |
| *uwl/*ʊwl | 宥連 | cloud | 雲 |
| *yirtʊqañ/*yirtʊqan | 壹斗眷 | bright | 明 |
| *žirpəŋ | 是賁 | raised earth, embankment | 封 |
| **žiʁlʊ | 是樓 | high, tall | 高 |
References edit
Citations edit
- ^ Vovin, Alexander. "Once Again on the Tabghach Language".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Juha Janhunen, (1996), Manchuria: An Ethnic History, p. 190
- ^ Holcombe, Charles (2001). The Genesis of East Asia: 221 B.C. - A.D. 907. p. 132.
- ^ Chen, Sanping 2005. Turkic or Proto-Mongolian? A Note on the Tuoba Language. Central Asiatic Journal 49.2: 161-73.
- ^ Holcombe 2001, p. 248
- ^ Liu Xueyao p. 83-86
- ^ a b c Shimunek, Andrew (2017). Languages of Ancient Southern Mongolia and North China: a Historical-Comparative Study of the Serbi or Xianbei Branch of the Serbi-Mongolic Language Family, with an Analysis of Northeastern Frontier Chinese and Old Tibetan Phonology. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-10855-3. OCLC 993110372.