From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tofa, also known as Tofalar or Karagas, is one of the Turkic languages. It is a moribund language spoken in Russia's Irkutsk Oblast. Today, it has less than 30 native speakers.
Tofa is most closely related to the Tuvan language and forms a dialect continuum with it, Tuha, and Tsengel Tuvan, which may be dialects of either Tuvan or Tofa. Tofa shares a number of innovations with these languages, including the change *d>z (as in *adaq > azak "foot") and the development of low tones on historically short vowels (as in *et > èt "meat, flesh").
[edit] Writing System
Tofa, although not widely written, employs a modified version of the Cyrillic alphabet:
| А а |
Б б |
В в |
Г г |
Ғ ғ |
Д д |
Е е |
Ә ә |
| Ё ё |
Ж ж |
З з |
И и |
I i |
Й й |
К к |
Қ қ |
| Л л |
М м |
Н н |
Ң ң |
О о |
Ө ө |
П п |
Р р |
| С с |
Т т |
У у |
Ү ү |
Ф ф |
Х х |
Һ һ |
Ц ц |
| Ч ч |
Ҷ ҷ |
Ш ш |
Щ щ |
ъ |
Ы ы |
ь |
Э э |
| Ю ю |
Я я |
The additional letters in Tofa are Ғғ (ɣ), Әә (æ), Ii (iː), Ққ (q), Ңң (ŋ), Өө (œ), Үү (y), Һһ (h), and Ҷҷ [d͡ʒ]. Additionally, the letter ъ is sometimes used after a vowel to mark low tone, as in эът "meat".
[edit] Morphology and syntax
[edit] Pronouns
Tofa has six personal pronouns:
Personal pronouns
| Singular |
Plural |
| Tofa (transliteration) |
English |
Tofa (transliteration) |
English |
| мен (men) |
I |
биъс (bìs) |
we |
| сен (sen) |
you (singular) |
сілер (siler) |
you (plural, formal) |
| оң (oŋ) |
he/she/it |
оларың (olarıŋ) |
they |
Tofa also has the pronouns бо ('this'), тээ ('that'), кум ('who'), and чү ('what').
[edit] Numbers
The cardinal numbers in Tofa are бірәә birəə (1), иъһ̃и íhı (2), үш üş (3), дөрт dört (4), беш beş (5), аълты áltı (6), чеді çedi (7), сеъһес séhes (8), тоъһос tóhos (9), он on (10). After ten are иъһён (20), үчжөн (30), дөртөн dörtön (40), бечжөн beçjön (50), аълтон álton (60), чедон çedon (70), сеъһезон séhezon (80), тоъһозон tóhozon (90), чүс çüs (100), тыысиччи tıısççï (1000).
- ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=kim
[edit] References
