Overview of Altai

The Altai Republic of Russian, where people speak Altai, is a rugged, mountainous territory located in south-central Russia, along the border with Kazakhstan, China, and Mongolia. The region has been inhabited since ancient times by members of various Turkic tribes, who brought their languages with them when they migrated into the area. Once there, separated by the high peaks of the Altai Mountains, many distinct languages evolved among the isolated populations. One such language was Altai.

Political control of the Altai region has changed many times over the centuries, but the Altai language has persisted through it all. In much of the 20th century, under the influence of the Soviet Union, speaking Altai (and many other native languages found in Soviet territory), was discouraged in favor of Russian. Nonetheless, the language survived, and continued to be passed on between generations. After the fall of the Soviet Union, many of the language restrictions were lifted, and people began to speak Altai openly once more. Today, Altai has been designated as one of the official languages of the Altai Republic, along with Russian.

Classification of the Altai Language and Altai Vocabulary

Altai, which is sometimes also referred to as Altay, is a member of the Kypchak branch of the Turkic language family. As such, it is closely related to languages like Tuvan and Kazakh, and more distantly to Turkish and Turkmen. The Altai language has two main dialects, Northern Altai and Southern Altai, each of which has a number of sub-dialects.

Altai has also lent its name to the Altaic language family, a controversial concept proposed by some linguists which would link the Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, and possibly even the Korean and Japonic language families into one vast superfamily loosely centered on the Altai region. Many linguists, however, disagree with this grouping, believing that the similarities between these language families are the result of frequent borrowings rather than shared origins.

Vocabulary in Altai does contain many words adopted from other languages, particularly Russian and Turkish. The Russian influence is especially strong, due to the many years that the Altai Republic has been a part of Russia. Nonetheless, Altai is not directly related to Russian, despite the superficial resemblance caused by the large number of borrowings and their mutual use of the Cyrillic alphabet. Altai grammar, for example, is quite different from Russian grammar.

The Altai Alphabet and Altai Pronunciation

Altai uses a Cyrillic alphabet, similar but not identical to that of Russian; there are four Altai letters that represent unique aspects of Altai pronunciation and do not exist in Russian. This alphabet has been in use since 1938. Prior to that, a version of the Latin alphabet was used to write Altai. In the Cyrillic script, Altai text is written from left to right, the same as English. Letters have both capital and lowercase forms. One thing to remember when learning to speak Altai or read Altai is that some of the letters also have very different appearances when italicized or written by hand as opposed to typed in regular text.

English speakers learning Altai may be relieved to know that some Altai letters look and sound just like English letters. Other Altai characters look like English letters but have different sounds, while some have familiar sounds but unfamiliar appearances. There are only a few that are completely unfamiliar in both shape and sound. Paying careful attention to these letters can help if you are trying to learn Altai pronunciation.

Altai Grammar

Altai grammar differs significantly from that of English. For example, Altai nouns decline, meaning that they change form to show their role in a sentence. Also, the typical word order for an Altai sentence is Subject-Object-Verb, which is different from that of English.

Altai is considered an agglutinative language because it indicates grammatical functions primarily by attaching suffixes to word stems. One notable aspect of Altai grammar is the system of vowel harmony. All Altai vowels can be classified as either front vowels or back vowels. In the Altai language, if the stem of a word contains a front vowel, then any suffixes for that word must also use a front vowel. Likewise, if there is a back vowel in the stem of a word, back vowels are used in any suffixes for that word.

Regular practice is important to learn to speak Altai well. That's why good Altai software programs can be so useful. It's easier than ever to learn Altai and to begin to speak Altai with the language resources and Altai language software from Transparent Language. We wish you the best of luck as you learn Altai!