Two Controversial Questions of History of “Small”Turkic Languages in Ukraine: Urum, Karay, Qrymchaq in comparison with Gagauz
Iryna M. DRYGA (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine)

 

 

 

DRYGA M. Iryna. (2008). Two Controversial Questions of History of “Small” Turkic Languages in Ukraine: Urum, Karay, Qrymchaq in comparison with Gagauz. Altai Hakpo 18: 147-164. The Altaic Society of Korea.

In 2006 a field study of small Turkic languages was conducted in Ukraine in cooperation with South Korean Turkologists. The study was aimed to revive, preserve and study the language and culture of Turkic-speaking Christian, Judaic and Karay minorities. The present research aims were to compare the results of that field study and to throw additional light on two problems of history of Turkic languages. The first one was to set a status of the Azovian Urum language from the point of view of its dictionary and morphology, concerning to Crimean Tatar. There is a consideration to compare this language with historical genesis of the Gagauz people and Gagauz language. The paper deals with conserved only in Crimean Karay and non-conserved in Qrymchaq and Urum old (Qypchaq) Past Perfect – *gan in its historical dimensions. The second one was to find evidences of developing the Qypchaq Perfect Past in the Urum language. We also tried to point some moments of the history of small Turkic languages in Ukraine, in which Qypchaq elements have been obliterated almost in whole, but Oguz elements still are surviving.

Keywords: insular Turkic languages, Ukraine, Karay, Urum, Qrymchaq, Participle *gan.