For the first time, a linguistic description of Old Turkic (7th to 13th centuries) is presented, dealing with phonology, morphophonology and subphonemic phenomena as reflected in numerous scripts, derivational and inflectional morphology, syntax and coherence, the lexicon and stylistic, dialect and diachronic variation.

For the first time, a linguistic description of Old Turkic (7th to 13th centuries) is presented, dealing with phonology, morphophonology and subphonemic phenomena as reflected in numerous scripts, derivational and inflectional morphology, syntax and coherence, the lexicon and stylistic, dialect and diachronic variation.

First published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Turkic languages are spoken today in a vast geographical area stretching from southern Iran to the Arctic Ocean and from the Balkans to the great wall of China. There are currently 20 literary languages in the group, the most important among them being Turkish with over 70 million speakers; other major languages covered include Azeri, Bashkir, Chuvash, Gagauz, Karakalpak, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Noghay, Tatar, Turkmen, Uyghur, Uzbek, Yakut, Yellow Uyghur and languages of Iran and South Siberia. The Turkic Languages is a reference book which brings together detailed discussions of the historical development and specialized linguistic structures and features of the languages in the Turkic family. Seen from a linguistic typology point of view, Turkic languages are particularly interesting because of their astonishing morphosyntactic regularity, their vast geographical distribution, and their great stability over time. This volume builds upon a work which has already become a defining classic of Turkic language study. The present, thoroughly revised edition updates and augments those authoritative accounts and reflects recent and ongoing developments in the languages themselves, as well as our further enhanced understanding of the relations and patterns of influence between them. The result is the fruit of decades-long experience in the teaching of the Turkic languages, their philology and literature, and also of a wealth of new insights into the linguistic phenomena and cultural interactions defining their development and use, both historically and in the present day. Each chapter combines modern linguistic analysis with traditional historical linguistics; a uniform structure allows for easy typological comparison between the individual languages. Written by an international team of experts, The Turkic Languages will be invaluable to students and researchers within linguistics, Turcology, and Near Eastern and Oriental Studies.

This superb grammar and exercise text, used successfully for years at Princeton University, enable English speaking students--in and out of the classroom to gain a quick and thorough understanding of Modern Turkish. In a carefully arranged sequence of 23 lessons, Lewis V. Thomas, late Professor of Oriental Studies at Princeton, presents thorough coverage that allows the student to begin to use the basic patterns of modern Turkish without time-consuming and expensive private instruction.