Tocharian languages

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Indo-European
Indo-European languages
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Proto-Indo-Europeans
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Indo-European studies

Tocharian is one of the most obscure branches of the Indo-European language group. It consisted of two languages, Tocharian A (Turfanian, Arsi, or East Tocharian) and Tocharian B (Kuchean or West Tocharian). These languages were spoken roughly from the 6th to 8th centuries, before they became extinct, their speakers being absorbed by the expanding Uyghur tribes.

Both languages were once spoken in the Tarim Basin in Central Asia, now the Xinjiang province of China. The name of the language is taken from the Tocharians (Greek: Τόχαροι, "Tokharoi") of the Greek historians (Ptolemy VI, 11, 6). These are sometimes identified with the Yuezhi and the Kushans, and the term Tokharistan usually refers to 1st millennium Bactria. A Turkic text refers to the Turfanian language (Tocharian A) as twqry. Interpretation is difficult, but F. W. K. Müller has associated this with the name of the Bactrian Tokharoi.

1 Phonetics
- 1.1 Vowels
- 1.2 Consonants
2 Writing system
3 Cultural significance
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

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Phonetics

Phonetically, Tocharian is a "Centum" (pronounced [kentum]) Indo-European language, characterized by the merging of palato-velar consonants with plain velars (*k, *g, *gh), which is generally associated with Indo-European languages of the West European area (Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Greek). In that sense, Tocharian seems to have been an isolate in the "Satem" phonetic world of Indo-European-speaking East European and Asian populations.

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Vowels

/i/, /e/, /Template:IPA/, /a/ /u/, /o/,
Diphthongs (Tocharian B only): /aj/, /aw/

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Consonants

Stops: /p/, /t/, /c/, /k/
Affricates: /ts/
Fricatives: /s/, /Template:IPA/, /Template:IPA/
Approximants: /w/, /j/
Trills: /r/
Nasals: /m/, /n/, /Template:IPA/
Lateral Approximants: /l/

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Writing system

Image:Tocharian.JPG Image:Tocharian2.gif Image:Tocharian1.gif Tocharian is documented in manuscript fragments, mostly from the 8th century (with a few earlier ones) that were written on palm leaves, wooden tablets and Chinese paper, preserved by the extremely dry climate of the Tarim Basin. Samples of the language have been discovered at sites in Kucha and Karasahr, including many mural inscriptions.

Tocharian A and B are not intercomprehensible. Properly speaking, based on the tentative interpretation of twqry as related to Tokharoi, only Tocharian A may be referred to as Tocharian, while Tocharian B could be called Kuchean (its native name may have been kuśiññe), but since their grammars are usually treated together in scholarly works, the terms A and B have proven useful. The common Proto-Tocharian language must precede the attested languages by several centuries, probably dating to the 1st millennium BC.

The alphabet the Tocharians were using is derived from the North Indian Brahmi alphabetic syllabary and is referred to as slanting Brahmi. It soon became apparent that a large proportion of the manuscripts were translations of known Buddhist works in Sanskrit and some of them were even bilingual, facilitating decipherment of the new language. Besides the Buddhist and Manichaean religious texts, there were also monastery correspondence and accounts, commercial documents, caravan permits, and medical and magical texts, and one love poem. Many Tocharians embraced Manichaean duality or Buddhism.

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Cultural significance

Image:QizilDonors.jpg The existence of the Tocharian languages and alphabet was not even guessed at, until chance discoveries in the early 20th century brought to light fragments of manuscripts in a then-unknown alphabetic syllabary that turned out to belong to a hitherto unknown branch of the Indo-European family of languages, which has been named 'Tocharian'.

Tocharian has upset some theories about the relations of Indo-European languages and is revitalizing linguistic studies. The Tocharian languages are a major geographic exception to the usual pattern of Indo-European branches, being the only one that spread directly east from the theoretical Indo-European starting point in the Pontic steppe.

Tocharian probably died out after 840, when the Uyghurs were expelled from Mongolia by the Kirghiz, retreating to the Tarim Basin. This theory is supported by the discovery of translations of Tocharian texts into Uyghur. During Uyghur rule, the peoples mixed with the Uyghurs to produce much of the modern population of what is now Xinjiang.

Modern English	Tocharian A	Tocharian B	Ancient Greek	Latin	Sanskrit	*Proto-Indo-European
Tocharian vocabulary (sample)
one two three four five six seven eight nine ten hundred father mother brother sister (horse)³ cow (voice)²	sas wu tre śtwar päñ ṣäk ṣpät okät ñu śäk känt pācar mācar pracar ṣar yuk ko vak	ṣe wi trai śtwer piś ṣkas ṣukt okt ñu śak kante pācer mācer procer ṣer yakwe keu vek	heis duo treis tettares pente heks hepta oktō ennea deka hekaton pater mētēr (phrater)¹ (eor)¹ hippos bous (epos)¹	ūnus duo trēs quattuor quīnque sex septem octō novem decem centum pater mater frāter soror equus bos vox	eka dvi tri catur pañca ṣaṣ sapta aṣṭa nava daśa śata pitṛ mātṛ bhrātṛ svasṛ aśva go vāc	oinos or sems duwo treyes qwetwor penkwe sweks septm oktou newn dekm kmtom pə2ter mater bhrater swesor ekwo gwou wekw