Tocharian languages

Tocharian languages
Region	Tarim Basin in Central Asia
Extinct	9th century AD
Language family	Indo-European Tocharian languages
Writing system	Tocharian script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: xto – Tocharian A txb – Tocharian B

Tocharian (or Tokharian) is an extinct branch of the Indo-European language family. The name comes from Greek (Ptolemy VI, 11, 6, 2nd cent. AD) Tócharoi (Ancient Greek: Τόχαροι), itself taken from Indo-Iranian (cf. Old Persian tuxāri-, Khotanese ttahvāra, and Sanskrit tukhāra). The Tocharians are sometimes identified with the Yuezhi and the Kushans. The term Tokharistan usually refers to 1st millennium Bactria, which the Kushans ruled. A Turkic text refers to the Turfanian language (Tocharian A) as toxrï (twγry). Interpretation is difficult, but Friedrich W. K. Müller has associated this with the name of the Bactrian Tokharoi.

Two branches of Tocharian are known from documents dating from the 3rd to 9th centuries AD:

• Tocharian A (Agnean or East Tocharian; natively ārśi) of Qarašähär (ancient Agni, Chinese Yanqi) and Turpan (ancient Turfan and Xočo); and
• Tocharian B (Kuchean or West Tocharian) of Kucha and in Tocharian A territory.

Both languages were once spoken in the Tarim Basin in Chinese Turkestan, now known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. They became extinct when their speakers were either absorbed or exterminated by the expanding Uyghur tribes.

Phonemes

Phonetically, Tocharian is a "centum" Indo-European language, meaning that it merges the palatovelar consonants (*ḱ, *ǵ, *ǵʰ) of Proto Indo-European with the plain velars (*k, *g, *gʰ). Centum languages are mostly found in western and southern Europe (Greek, Italic, Celtic, Germanic) and the number of isoglosses between Tocharian and several Western European languages is stunning, considering the geographical separation and total lack of cultural contact. In that sense, Tocharian (to some extent like the Greek and the Anatolian languages) seems to have been an isolate in the "satem" (i.e. palatovelar to sibilant) phonetic regions of Indo-European-speaking populations. The discovery of Tocharian contributed to doubts that Proto-Indo-European had originally split into western and eastern branches.

Vowels

• /i/, /e/, /a/ (transcribed ā) /u/, /o/, /ɨ/ (transcribed ä), /ə/ (transcribed a)
• Diphthongs (Tocharian B only): /əi/ (transcribed ai), /oi/ (transcribed oy), /əu/ (transcribed au), /au/ (transcribed āu)

Consonants

• Stops: /p/, /t/, /c/, /k/, /kʷ/ (transcribed ku)
• Affricates: /ts/
• Fricatives: /s/, /ɕ/ (transcribed ś), /ʂ/ (transcribed ṣ)
• Approximants: /w/, /j/ (transcribed y)
• Trills: /r/
• Nasals: /m/, /n/ (transcribed ṃ word-finally), /ɲ/ (transcribed ñ)
• Lateral approximants: /l/, /ʎ/ (transcribed ly)

Note that the above consonantal values are largely based on the writing of Sanskrit/Prakrit loanwords. A retroflex value for /ʂ/ is particularly suspect as it is derived from palatalized /s/; it was probably a low-frequency sibilant /ʃ/ (like German spelling sch), as opposed to the higher-frequency sibilant /ɕ/ (like Mandarin Pinyin spelling x).

Writing system

Wooden tablet with an inscription showing Tocharian B in its Brahmic form. Kucha, China, 5th-8th century (Tokyo National Museum)

Main article: Tocharian script

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 toxrï as related to Tocharoi, 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. A common Proto-Tocharian language must precede the attested languages by several centuries, probably dating to the 1st millennium BC. Given the small geographical range of and the lack of secular texts in Tocharian A, it might alternatively have been a liturgical language, the relationship between the two being similar to that between Classical Chinese and Mandarin. However, the lack of a secular corpus in Tocharian A is by no means definite, due to the fragmentary preservation of Tocharian texts in general.

Most of the script in Tocharian was a derivative of the Brahmi alphabetic syllabary (abugida) and is referred to as slanting Brahmi, However a smaller amount was written in the Manichaean script in which Manichaean texts were recorded. 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, medical and magical texts, and one love poem.

In 1998, Chinese linguist Ji Xianlin published a translation and analysis of fragments of a Tocharian Maitreyasamiti-Nataka discovered in 1974 in Yanqi.

Morphology

Tocharian has completely re-worked the nominal declension system of Proto-Indo-European. The only cases inherited from the proto-language are nominative, genitive, and accusative; in Tocharian the old accusative is known as the oblique case. In addition to these three cases, however, each Tocharian language has six cases formed by the addition of an invariant suffix to the oblique case. For example, the Tocharian A word käṣṣi "teacher" is declined as follows:

Case	Suffix	Singular	Plural
Nominative		käṣṣi	käṣṣiñ
Genitive		käṣṣiyāp	käṣṣiśśi
Oblique		käṣṣiṃ	käṣṣis
Instrumental	-yo	käṣṣinyo	käṣṣisyo
Perlative	-ā	käṣṣinā	käṣṣisā
Comitative	-aśśäl	käṣṣinaśśäl	käṣṣisaśśäl
Allative	-ac	käṣṣinac	käṣṣisac
Ablative	-äṣ	käṣṣinäṣ	käṣṣisäṣ
Locative	-aṃ	käṣṣinaṃ	käṣṣisaṃ

Cultural significance

The existence of the Tocharian languages and alphabet was not even suspected until archaeological exploration of the Tarim basin by Aurel Stein in the early 20th century brought to light fragments of manuscripts in an unknown language.

This language, now known as Tocharian, turned out to belong to a hitherto unknown branch of Indo-European. The discovery of Tocharian upset some theories about the relations of Indo-European languages and revitalized their study.

The Tocharian languages are a major geographic exception to the usual pattern of Centum branches, being the only one that spread directly east from the theoretical Indo-European starting point in the Pontic steppe. One theory, following the "wave" theory of Johannes Schmidt, suggests that the Satem isogloss represents a linguistic innovation within the heart of the Proto-Indo-European home range, which would thus see the distribution of the Centum languages as simply representing linguistic conservatism along the eastern and western peripheries of the Proto-Indo-European home range.

Tocharian probably died out after 840, when the Uyghurs were expelled from Mongolia by the Kyrgyz, 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.

The Afanasevo culture is a strong candidate for being the earliest attested representative for speakers of the Tocharian languages.

Comparison to other Indo-European languages

Tocharian vocabulary (sample)
English	Tocharian A	Tocharian B	Ancient Greek	Sanskrit	Latin	Gothic	Old Irish	Proto-Indo-European
one	sas	ṣe	heĩs, hen	sakṛ́t	semel	simle	samail	PToch *sems ← *sḗm
two	wu	wi	duo	dvā́	duo	twái	dá	*duoh₁
three	tre	trai	treis	tráyas	trēs	þreis	trí	*tréi̯es
four	śtwar	śtwer	téssares	catvā́ras, catúras	quattuor	fidwōr	cethair	*kʷetu̯óres
five	päñ	piś	pénte	páñca	quīnque	fimf	cóic	*pénkʷe
six	ṣäk	ṣkas	héx	ṣáṣ	sex	saihs	sé	*su̯éḱs
seven	ṣpät	ṣukt	heptá	saptá	septem	sibun	secht	*septḿ̥
eight	okät	okt	oktṓ	aṣṭáu, aṣṭá	octō	ahtau	ocht	*h₃eḱtéh₃(u)
nine	ñu	ñu	ennéa	náva	novem	niun	noí	*h₁néun̥
ten	śäk	śak	déka	dáśa	decem	taihun	deich	*déḱm̥t
hundred	känt	kante	hekatón	śatām	centum	hund	cét	*ḱm̥tóm
father	pācar	pācer	patḗr	pitā́	pater	fadar	athair	*ph₂tḗr
mother	mācar	mācer	mḗtēr	mātā́	mater	mōdar	máthair	*méh₂tēr
brother	pracar	procer	phrā́tēr	bhrātar-	frāter	brōþar	bráthair	*bʰréh₂tēr
sister	ṣar	ṣer	héor	svásar-	soror	swistar	siur	*swésōr
horse	yuk	yakwe	híppos	áśva-	equus	aiƕs	ech	*h₁éḱʷos
cow	ko	keu	boũs	gaúṣ	bōs	(OE cū)	bó	*gʷeh₃us ~ *gʷh₃eum̥
voice	vak	vek	épos	vāk	vōx	(Du gewag)	foccul	*u̯ṓkʷs
name	ñom	ñem	ónoma	nāman-	nōmen	namō	ainmm	*h₃néh₃-m̥n
to milk	mālkā	mālkant	amélgein	—	mulgēre	miluks	bligid (MIr)	*h₂melǵ-ei̯e

See also

• Language families and languages
• Tocharians
• Tocharian and Indo-European Studies

Sources

• Gerd Carling 2009. Dictionary and Thesaurus of Tocharian A. Volume 1: a-j. (in collaboration with Georges-Jean Pinault and Werner Winter), Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2009, XXXIX+204 pages.
• Daniels, Peter (1996), The Worlds Writing Systems, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195079930
• Campbell, George (2000), Compendium of the Worlds Languages Second Edition: Volume II Ladkhi to Zuni, Routledge, ISBN 041520473 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)
• "Tokharian Pratimoksa Fragment Sylvain Levi". The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 1913, pp. 109–120.
• Mallory, J.P. and Victor H. Mair. The Tarim Mummies. London: Thames & Hudson, 2000. (ISBN 0-500-05101-1)
• Malzahn, Melanie (Ed.). Instrumenta Tocharica. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, 2007. (ISBN 978-3-8253-5299-8)
• Pinault, Georges-Jean 2008. Chrestomathie tokharienne. Textes et grammaire, Leuven-Paris, Peeters (Collection linguistique publiée par la Société de Linguistique de Paris, t. XCV), 2008, 692 pages.
• Schmalsteig, William R. "Tokharian and Baltic." Lituanus. v. 20, no. 3, 1974.
• Krause, Wolfgang and Werner Thomas. Tocharisches Elemantarbuch. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, 1960.
• Winter, Werner. 1998. "Tocharian." In Ramat Giacalone Anna and Paolo Ramat (eds). The Indo-European languages, 154-168. London: Routledge.

External links

• Conjugation tables for Tocharian A and B
• Tocharian alphabet (from Omniglot)
• TITUS: Tocharian alphabets& Manuscripts from the Berlin Turfan Collection
• Mark Dickens, 'Everything you always wanted to know about Tocharian'
• A Tocharian-to-English dictionary with nearly 200 words
• Tocharian Online from the University of Texas at Austin
• Online dictionary of Tocharian B with over 4000 entries
• Tocharian B Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)
• Online edition of Tocharian texts