Tuoba language

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. It has variously been considered to be of (Para-)Mongolic or Turkic affiliations.^[2][3][4]

Tuoba
T'opa
Tabγač, Taγbač
Native to	Tuoba
Region	Northern China and Mongolia
Ethnicity	Tuoba
Era	5th century
Language family	Mongolic (or Para-Mongolic)? Turkic? language isolate? Tuoba
Writing system	Serbi script[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None

Classification

Alexander Vovin (2007) identifies the Tuoba language as a Mongolic language.^[2]

On the other hand, Juha Janhunen proposed that the Tuoba might have spoken an Oghur Turkic language.^[3] According to Peter Boodberg, the Tuoba language was essentially Turkic with Mongolic admixture.^[4] Chen Sanping noted that the Tuoba language "had both" Turkic and Mongolic elements.^[5][6]

Liu Xueyao stated that Tuoba may have had their own language, which should not be assumed to be identical with any other known languages.^[7]

Andrew Shimunek (2017) classifies Tuoba (Taghbach) as a "Serbi" (i.e., para-Mongolic) language. Shimunek's Serbi branch also consists of the Tuyuhun and Khitan languages.^[1]

Morphology

Some functional suffixes are:^[1]

• *-A(y) ~ *ʁa(y) ‘verbal noun suffix’
• *-Al ~ *-l ‘deverbal noun suffix’
• **čɪ ~ **či ‘suffix denoting occupations’ <cognates with Turkic suffix "-či"
• **-mɔr/-mʊr (萬) ‘deverbal noun suffix’ <cognates with Turkic suffix "-mur"^[8]
• **-n ‘plural suffix’

Lexicon

Further information: Wiktionary:Appendix:Taghbach word list

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).^[1]

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

Citations

1. 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.
2. Vovin, Alexander. "Once Again on the Tabghach Language". Mongolian Studues XXIX (2007).
3. Juha Janhunen, (1996), Manchuria: An Ethnic History, p. 190
4. Holcombe, Charles (2001). The Genesis of East Asia: 221 B.C. - A.D. 907. p. 132.
5. Chen, Sanping (2005). "Turkic or Proto-Mongolian? A Note on the Tuoba Language". Central Asiatic Journal. 49 (2): 161–174. ISSN 0008-9192. JSTOR 41928391.
6. Holcombe 2001, p. 248
7. Liu Xueyao p. 83-86
8. "mUr". Nişanyan Sözlük.

Bibliography

• Liu, Xueyao (2005). 歷代胡族王朝之民族政策. 知書房出版集團. ISBN 9789867151018.
• Liu, Xueyao (2012). 鮮卑列國：大興安嶺傳奇. 三聯書店(香港)有限公司. ISBN 9789628904327.