Lars Johanson - Turkic Linguistic Map.pdf - Shahzada

S VENSKA F ORSKNINGSINSTITUTET I I STANBUL

S WEDISH R ESEARCH I NSTITUTE IN I STANBUL

S KRIFTER — P UBLICATIONS 5

_________________________________________________

Lars Johanson

Discoveries on the Turkic Linguistic Map

Svenska Forskningsinstitutet i Istanbul

Stockholm 2001

Published with fónancial support

from Magn. Bergvalls Stiftelse.

¨ Lars Johanson

Cover: Carte de lÔAsie ... par I. M. Hasius, dessine par Aug. Gottl. Boehmius.

Nrnberg: Hritiers de Homann 1744 (photo: Royal Library, Stockholm).

Universitetstryckeriet, Uppsala 2001

ISBN 91-86884-10-7

Prefatory Note

The present publication contains a considerably expanded version of a

lecture delivered in Stockholm by Professor Lars Johanson, Johannes

Gutenberg University, Mainz, on the occasion of the ninetieth birth-

day of Professor Gunnar Jarring on October 20, 1997. This inaugu-

rated the ÑJarring LecturesÒ series arranged by the Swedish Research

Institute of Istanbul ( SFII ), and it is planned that, after a second lec-

ture by Professor Staffan Rosn in 1999 and a third one by Dr. Bernt

Brendemoen in 2000, the series will continue on a regular, annual,

basis.

The Editors

Discoveries on the Turkic Linguistic Map

Linguistic documentation in the field

The topic of the present contribution, dedicated to my dear and

admired colleague Gunnar Jarring, is linguistic fóeld research, journeys

of discovery aiming to draw the map of the Turkic linguistic world in a

more detailed and adequate way than done before. The survey will

start with the period of the classical pioneering achievements, particu-

larly from the perspective of Scandinavian Turcology. It will then pro-

ceed to current aspects of language documentation, commenting brief-

ly on a number of ongoing projects that the author is particularly fami-

liar with. The focus will be on projects carried out by Turcologists ac-

tive at my own university, Johannes Gutenberg-Universitt Mainz, and

by associated or cooperating researchers (cf. Johanson 1998 b).

Turkic languages and the Turkic linguistic map

The Turkic languages are commonly considered interesting because of

their vast geographical distribution, their contacts with many different

types of languages, their relative stability over time, and their regularity

in morphology and syntax. Due to their development at the end of the

twentieth century, many Turkic languages have recently acquired in-

creased political importance. See, e.g., the surveys in Johanson 1992 a

and Johanson & Csat (eds.) 1998.

The Turkic linguistic map, on which our journeys of discovery will

take place, is comprehensive. It extends from the Southwest, Turkey

and her neighbors, to the Southeast, to Eastern Turkistan and farther

into China. From here it stretches to the Northeast, via South and

North Siberia up to the Arctic Ocean, and fónally to the Northwest,

across West Siberia and East Europe.

The Turkic Linguistic Map 5

The area comprises a great number of different peoples and lang-

uagesÐafter the breakdown of the Soviet Union also a set of new

autonomous states with Turkic national languages. The regions in

which Turkic languages are spoken include Anatolia, Azerbaijan, the

Caucasus region, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, the immense areas of West

and East Turkistan, South, North and West Siberia and the Volga

region. In the past, the Turkic-speaking world also included compact

areas in the PontoÏCaspian steppes, the Crimea, the Balkans, etc.

A total of at least 125 million speakers of Turkic languages live

today predominantly in Turkey, the CIS republics, Iran, Afghanistan,

China, several countries in Northwestern Europe and other parts of

the world. There are currently twenty Turkic standard languages, the

most important ones being Turkish, Azerbaijanian, Turkmen, Kazak,

Karakalpak, Kirghiz, Uzbek, Uyghur, Tuvan, Yakut, Tatar, Bashkir

and Chuvash. However, on our round-trip in the Turkic world we

shall essentially be concerned with its peripheral parts, with languages

and dialects that have so far been insuffóciently investigated.

The beginnings of the Swedish research tradition

Let me start this survey with the Swedish tradition, which has, to a

considerable degree, formed my own interest in the fóeld of Turcologi-

cal research. Swedes rather early came to play an active role in the ex-

ploration of the Turkic linguistic world. For Swedish linguistic re-

search on Central Asia, see Johanson 1994. The earliest, pre-scientifóc

Swedish research on Central Asia belongs to what Gunnar Jarring has

referred to as the ÑapocryphalÒ period (1994: 18Ï19). It may be ex-

emplifóed with Johan Gabriel SparwenfeldÔs curious idea launched in

the seventeenth century, suggesting that Odin (Woden), one of the

principal gods in Norse mythology, originally came from Kashgar,

which he identifóed with Asgard, the dwellingplace of the gods.

Another weird example is an eighteenth century treatise on alleged

similarities between Swedish and Turkic.

The Swedish tradition of fóeld research in the Turkic world begins

with the research carried out by so-called CaroleansÐSwedish offócers

of Charles XII Ôs armyÐwho had fallen into captivity in Siberia after

the battle of Poltava (1709). With his zealous scientifóc activity in Sibe-

Lars Johanson - Turkic Linguistic Map.pdf

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