Tuvan (Тыва дыл / Tyva dyl)

Tuvan is a Turkic language with about 200,000 speakers in the Republic of Tuva (Tannu Tuva) in south-central Siberia in the far east of the Russian Federation. There are also small groups of Tuvan speakers in China and Mongolia.

Tuvan is classified as a Northeastern or Siberian Turkic language and is closely related to the Khakas and Altai languages. It has also been quite heavily influenced by Mongolian and Russian.

There are four main dialects of Tuvan: Western, Central, Northeastern and Southeastern. Written Tuvan is based on the Central dialect. It was first written in 1930 using the Latin alphabet with a spelling system invented by Mongush Lopsang-Chinmit, a Tuvan Buddhist monk. A few books and newspapers were printed using his system. Since September 1943, Tuvan has been written with the Cyrillic alphabet.

Latin alphabet for Tuvan

Cyrillic alphabet for Tuvan

Sample text in Tuvan

Тыва чоннуң ертинези: хөөмей
Делегейниң эң улуг күчүтен, чараш, арыг, байлак хемнерниң бирээзи – алдарлыг Енисейниң – Улуг Хемниң шурап баткан ораны, делегейде чок дээн делгем чаагай Азия диптиң географтыг төвү, чүрээ, буурул баштыг Саян сыннары хаажылаан Тыва чурту бойдустуң эң ховар чурумалы, тураскаалы болуп турары дег, тываларны өске чоннардан ылгап, алдаржыдып, киискидип турар онзагай демдектер эвээш эвес.

Transliteration

Tïva čonnuŋ ertinezi: xöömey
Delegeyniŋ eŋ ulug küčüten, čaraš, arïg, baylak xemnerniŋ bireezi - aldarlïg Yeniseyniŋ - Ulug Xemniŋ šurap batkan oranï, delegeyde čok deen delgem čaagay Aziya diptiŋ geograftïg tövü, čüree, buurul baštïg Sayan sïnnarï xaažïlaan Tïva čurtu boydustuŋ eŋ xovar čurumalï, turaskaalï bolup turarï deg, tïvalarnï öske čonnardan ïlgap, aldaržïdïp, kiiskidip turar onzagay demdekter eveeš eves.

Source: part of a text about Tuvan Throatsinging from http://tyvawiki.org/wiki/Throatsinging_-_Treasure_of_the_Tuvan_People

Links

Information about the Tuvan language and people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuvan_language
http://tyvawiki.org/wiki/Category:Language
http://www.avantart.com/tuva/

Tuvan language and culture portal, including a Tuvan-English dictionary
http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tuvan/

Huun-Huur-Tu - a group of Tuvan throatsingers
http://www.huunhuurtu.com

Related languages

Azerbaijani, Balkar, Bashkir, Chuvash, Crimean Tatar, Even, Evenki, Gagauz, Kazak, Kyrghyz, Nanai, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Tuvan, Uyghur, Uzbek, Yakut

Other languages written with the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets