Turkmen language

Turkmen is a Turkic language spoken by the Turkmens, a group of people living mainly in Central Asia. It is the official language of Turkmenistan, where about 4.7 million people speak it. Smaller numbers of speakers live in Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, as well as in diaspora communities in Turkey and Russia.

Turkmen belongs to the Oghuz branch of Turkic languages and is closely related to Azerbaijani, Gagauz, Qashqai, and Turkish. Among these, its closest relative is Khorasani Turkic, spoken in parts of Iran. The language has preserved many old features from the early Oghuz Turks, including special sounds like vowel length.

The main form of Turkmen used in Turkmenistan comes from the Teke dialect. In Iran, most speakers use the Yomud dialect, while in Afghanistan, the Ersary variety is common. These dialects reflect the rich history and wide spread of the Turkmen people across different regions.

Classification

Turkmen belongs to the Oghuz group of Turkic family languages, which also includes Turkish and Azerbaijani. It is especially closely related to Khorasani Turkic. Turkmen has special rules for how sounds match in words and builds words by adding endings.

The main dialect of Turkmen used for writing is called Teke. Other dialects include Ýomud, Änewli, Hasarly, Nerezim, Gökleň, Salyr, Saryk, Ärsary, and Çowdur.

Comparison with other Turkic languages

Turkmen has special sounds /θ/ and /ð/ that are not found in most other Oghuz Turkic languages. These sounds replace what would normally be /s/ and /z/ in other languages. Only Bashkir shares this feature, but in Bashkir these sounds act differently.

Turkmen vs. Azerbaijani

In Turkmen, the word for "I" is "men", just like "mən" in Azerbaijani, while Turkish uses "ben". You can also see this difference in words that start with "bu", which changes to use "m" sounds in Turkmen.

Turkmen vs. Turkish

Turkey was the first country to recognize Turkmenistan’s independence in 1991. The Turkmen language is very close to Turkish, sharing many rules and similar words. For example, both languages use vowel harmony and have matching word endings, though some words sound different because of regional changes.

Here are some words from the Swadesh list in Turkmen and Turkish that mean the same in both languages:

Phonology

Main article: Turkmen grammar § Phonology

The Turkmen language has its own special sounds and ways of speaking that make it unique. These sounds are part of what helps the language work and be understood by the people who speak it. The study of these sounds is important for learning how the Turkmen language is put together.

Writing system

Main article: Turkmen alphabet

The Turkmen written language started in the 13th–14th centuries, using the Arabic alphabet. However, this script did not fit well with the sounds of the Turkmen language.

Later, during the Soviet era, the writing system changed several times. It switched to a Latin alphabet in 1928, then to the Cyrillic alphabet in 1940. After the Soviet Union broke up, Turkmenistan decided to return to a version of the Latin alphabet in 1993. Today, Turkmen in Afghanistan and Iran still use the Arabic script.

Grammar

Main article: Turkmen grammar

Turkmen is a highly agglutinative language, meaning it adds suffixes to nouns and verbs to show meaning. This makes the grammar quite regular compared to many other languages. For example, the word "obalardan" means "from the villages" and is formed by adding suffixes to the word "oba," which means "village."

Another feature of Turkmen is vowel harmony. Suffixes change their form based on the vowels in the root word. For example, the word for "from the villages" is "obalardan," while "from the dogs" is "itlerden." This shows how the language adjusts to keep a smooth sound.

Literature

Main article: Turkmen literature

Turkmen literature includes both spoken stories and written books in Old Oghuz Turkic and the Turkmen languages. The Turkmens are related to the Oghuz Turks, a group of western Turkic people who spoke the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family.

Modern Turkmen literature began in the 1700s with the poems of Magtymguly Pyragy, who is called the father of Turkmen literature. Other important poets from this time include Döwletmämmet Azady, Mollanepes, and Nurmuhammet Andalyp.

Vocabulary

Turkmen, like other Turkic languages such as Turkish, forms its numbers in a similar way. For example, the number eleven is said as "on bir," which literally means "ten-one."

The language also includes common colors and basic expressions used in everyday conversation.

Example

Here is a poem by Magtymguly in the Turkmen language. It is shown with its words written using Latin letters, while the original language is kept. Next to it, you will find the poem translated into Turkish, then Azerbaijani, and finally into English.

Turkmen in Iran

Irani Turkmens speak a version of the Turkmen language in the Golestan province. This version can be understood by people who speak Turkmen in Afghanistan, and it is written using the Nastaliq script.