Tuvan language

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{{language |name=Tuvan |nativename=Тыва дыл Tyva dyl |familycolor=Altaic |states=Russia |region=Tuva |speakers=200,000 |fam1=Altaic (disputed) |fam2=Turkic |fam3=Northern |nation=Tuva (federal subject of Russia) |iso1=|iso2=tyv|iso3=tyv}}

Tuvan (Tuvan: Тыва дыл (Tyva dyl)), also known as Tuvinian, Tyvan, or Tuvin, is one of the Turkic languages. It is spoken by around 200,000 people in the Republic of Tuva in south-central Siberia. The language borrows a great number of roots from the Mongolian language and more recently from the Russian language. There are small diaspora groups of Tuvans that speak distinct dialects of Tuvan in the People's Republic of China and in Mongolia.

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Orthography

The original Tuvan orthography was devised in the early 1930s by a Tuvan Buddhist monk, Lopsan-Chimit, who was later repressed in Stalinist purges. It used mostly Latin-based letters with some special letters to reflect the sounds of Tuvan. A few books, including primers intended to teach adults to read, were printed using this writing system. Lopsan-Chimit's alphabet was supplanted by a Cyrillic-based one, in use to the present day, and he was effectively erased from the history books. In the post-Soviet era, Tuvan and other scholars have taken a renewed interest in the history of Tuvan letters, and in setting the historical record straight.

The current Tuvan alphabet is modified version of the Russian alphabet, with three additional letters: ң (latin "ng" or International Phonetic Alphabet [ŋ]), Өө (latin "ö", IPA [ø]), Үү (latin "ü", IPA [y]). The sequence of the alphabet follows Russian exactly, with ң located after Russian Н, Ө after О, and Ү after У. There is no capital letter version of ң, because it never occurs at the beginning of Tuvan words.

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Oral traditions

Tuvan has a rich tradition of orally transmitted folklore, including many genres, ranging from very brief riddles and aphorisms, to tongue twisters, magical tales, hero tales, scary stories, and epics that would take many hours to recite. A few examples and excerpts of the epic genres, such as "Boktu-Kirish, Bora-Sheelei" have been published. This art form is now endangered as the traditional tale-tellers grow old and are not being replaced by younger practitioners.

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