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Turkic Khalaj of Iran, who are they?

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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Turkic Khalaj of Iran, who are they?
    Posted: 17-Jan-2007 at 00:55
Not the Khalaj of Afghanistan, but a group of people who speak a Turkic dialect called Khalaj, like stated here:

Population 42,107 (2000 WCD).
Region Northeast of Arak in Central Province.
Alternate names   Khalaj
Dialects Not a dialect of Azerbaijani, as previously supposed. An independent language distinct from other extant Turkish languages (Doerfer 1971).
Classification Altaic, Turkic, Southern, Azerbaijani
Language use Some children know only Farsi. Most also use Farsi.
Comments Different from Indo-Iranian Khalaj. Muslim.


so who are they?  its listed as a language, but who exactly speaks it?
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  Quote Suren Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-Jan-2007 at 07:10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalaj
 

Khalaj language

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Khalaj
Spoken in: Iran 
Region: Northeast of Arak in Markazi Province of Iran
Total speakers: 42,107 (2000)
Language family: Altaic[1] (controversial)
 Turkic
  Arghu? Northern?
   Khalaj
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: tut
ISO/FDIS 639-3: klj 

Map showing location of Khalaj (red) within Iran
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

Khalaj is a language spoken primarily in Iran and Afghanistan. It belongs to the Turkic family of languages. There were approximately 42,000 speakers of this language as of 2000.

Contents

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[edit] Classification

Khalaj has traditionally been classified with Turkoman or Azerbaijani dialects, primarily because of its proximity to those languages. However, features such as preservation of three vowel lengths, preservation of word-initial Proto-Turkic *h, and lack of the sound change *d > y has led to a non-Oghuz classification of Khalaj. An example of these archaisms is present in the word hadaq, which has preserved the initial *h and medial *d. The equivalent form in nearby Oghuz dialects is ayaq. Because of the preservation of these archaic features, some scholars have speculated that the Khalaj are the descendants of the Arghu Turks.

[edit] Geographic Distribution

Khalaj is spoken mainly in Markazi Province in Iran. Doerfer cites the number of speakers as approximately 17,000 in 1968; the Ethnologue reports that the population of speakers grew to 42,107 by 2000.

[edit] Dialects

The main dialects of Khalaj are Northern and Southern. Within these dialect groupings, individual villages and groupings of speakers have distinct speech patterns.

[edit] Sounds

[edit] Consonants

Consonant phonemes
  Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Plosive p b t d     k ɡ q ɢ    
Affricate         ʧ ʤ            
Fricative f v s z ʃ ʒ x ɣ     h  
Nasal m n     ŋ        
Flap/Tap     ɾ                
Lateral     l                
Approximant       j            

[edit] Vowels

Khalaj%20vowels

Vowels in Khalaj occur in three lengths: long (qn "blood"), half-long (bʃ "head"), and short (hat "horse"). Additionally, some vowels are realized as falling diphthongs, as in quo̯l "arm, sleeve".

[edit] Grammar

[edit] Morphology

[edit] Nouns

Nouns in Khalaj may receive a plural marker or possessive marker. Cases in Khalaj include genitive, accusative, dative, locative, ablative, instrumental, and equative.

Forms of case suffixes change based on vowel harmony and the consonants they follow. Case endings also interact with possessive suffixes. A table of basic case endings is provided below:

Case Suffix
Nominative -
Dative -A, -KA
Accusative -I, -NI
Locative -čA
Ablative -dA
Instrumental -lAn, -lA, -nA
Equative -vāra

[edit] Verbs

Verbs in Khalaj are inflected for voice, tense, aspect, and negation. Verbs consist of long strings of morphemes in the following array:

Stem + Voice + Negation + Tense/Aspect + Agreement

[edit] Syntax

Khalaj employs Subject Object Verb word order. Adjectives precede nouns.

[edit] Vocabulary

The core of Khalaj vocabulary is Turkic, but many words have been borrowed from Persian. Words from neighboring Turkic dialects, namely, Azerbaijani have also made their way into Khalaj.

[edit] Numbers

Khalaj numbers are Turkic in form, but some speakers replace the forms for "80" and "90" with Persian terms:

  • 1 - biː
  • 2 - k.ki
  • 3 -
  • 4 - tɾt
  • 5 - bie̯ʃ
  • 6 - al.ta
  • 7 - jt.ti
  • 8 - sk.kiz
  • 9 - toq.quz
  • 10 - uo̯n
  • 20 - ji.iɾ.mi
  • 30 - hot.tuz
  • 40 - qiɾq
  • 50 - l.li
  • 60 - alt.miʃ
  • 70 - yt.miʃ
  • 80 - saʲ.san (Turkic), haʃ.taˑd (Persian)
  • 90 - toqx.san (Turkic), na.vad (Persian)
  • 100 - jyːz
  • 1000 - min, miŋk

[edit] Examples

Excerpt from Dorfer & Tezcan (1994) p. 158-9
Translation IPA
Once, Mullah Nasreddin had a son. biː ki.niː mol.laː nas.ɾd.diː.niːn oɣ.lu vaːɾ-aɾ.ti
He said, "Oh Father, I want a wife." hay.dɨ ki "j baː.ba, mn ki.ʃi ʃj.jo.ɾum"
He said, "My dear, we have a cow; take this cow and sell it. Come, with the proceeds, we will buy you a wife! hay.dɨ ki "bɒː.ba bi.zym biː sɨ.ɣɨ.ɾɨ.myz vaːɾ, je.tib̥ bo sɨ.ɣɨ.ɾɨ saː.tɨ, naɣd ʃj.i puˑ.lĩn, jk biz s̃ ki.ʃi al.duq

[edit] References

  • Doerfer, Gerhard (1971). Khalaj Materials. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 
  • Doerfer, Gerhard (1998). Grammatik des Chaladsch. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 
  • Doerfer, Gerhard & Tezcan, Semih (1994). Folklore-Texte der Chaladsch. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 
  • Johanson, Lars & Csat, va gnes (1998). The Turkic Languages. London: Routledge. 
v  d  e
Turkic languages
West Turkic
Bolgar Bolgar | Chuvash | Hunnic | Khazar
Chagatay Aini| Chagatay | Ili Turki | Lop | Uyghur | Uzbek
Kypchak Baraba | Bashkir | Crimean Tatar | Cuman | Karachay-Balkar | Karaim | Karakalpak | Kazakh | Kipchak | Krymchak | Kumyk | Nogay | Tatar | Urum
Oghuz Afshar | Azerbaijani | Crimean Tatar | Gagauz | Khorasani Turkish | Ottoman Turkish | Pecheneg | Qashqai | Salar | Turkish | Turkmen | Urum
East Turkic
Khalaj Khalaj
Kyrgyz-Kypchak Altay | Kyrgyz
Uyghur Chulym | Dolgan | Fuy Grgs | Khakas | Northern Altay | Shor | Tofa | Tuvan | Western Yugur | Sakha / Yakut
Old Turkic
Anfører
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-Jan-2007 at 10:16
yes but it doesn't explain who speaks it. it could be Azeris, Turkmen, or some turkic minority we never heard of.
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  Quote gok_toruk Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-Jan-2007 at 10:59
Turkmen does not speak Halaj.
 
During my two-week visit to Iranian Azerbaijan, I've visited also Qazvin and the so-called Halajes. I didn't hear them to call themselves Halaj anyway. But the language they speak is something like Azeri (in fact, seems like a dialect of Azeri) with some specific differences in pronounciation:
 
Azeri 'gidiram' = Halaj 'gidiyam' = I go
 
Azeri 'olmur' = It won't be (X; for instance) = Halaj 'olmiya'
Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota.
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  Quote shinai Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-Jan-2007 at 19:56
Their language is so close to Torki (Azeri), looks like an accent of Torki, but I donot know they are considered two diffrent languages.
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  Quote Cyrus Shahmiri Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Jan-2007 at 03:22
There is really an excellent book about Khalajs in Persian language:
 

"Khalajs, the memorial of the ancient Turks", written by Ali Asghar Jamrasi, after several years of investigation and continuous study.

http://khalaj.parsiblog.com/-126216.htm

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  Quote kotumeyil Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-Jan-2007 at 03:06
Originally posted by gok_toruk

Turkmen does not speak Halaj.
 
During my two-week visit to Iranian Azerbaijan, I've visited also Qazvin and the so-called Halajes. I didn't hear them to call themselves Halaj anyway. But the language they speak is something like Azeri (in fact, seems like a dialect of Azeri) with some specific differences in pronounciation:
 
Azeri 'gidiram' = Halaj 'gidiyam' = I go
 
Azeri 'olmur' = It won't be (X; for instance) = Halaj 'olmiya'
 
It resembles to Anatolian Turkish:
 
gidiyom - gidiyorum 
 
olmuyo-olmuyor
                         
[IMG]http://www.maksimum.com/yemeicme/images/haber/raki.jpg">
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  Quote gok_toruk Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-Jan-2007 at 12:01

Yes. Seems like they use a conversational form. 'Gidiyom' and' olmuyo' are informal forms, aren't they?

Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota.
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  Quote barbar Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30-Jan-2007 at 12:11
 
Qalach was one of the oldest Oghur(Oghuz) tribes according to Oghuzkhan legend, together with Qarluq, Qanli, Qirghiz, Uyghur, Saqlap, Qipchaq etc. Today's Qalaj might have direct decendance judging from the Turkic linguistical archaic features they have kept.
 
 
 


Edited by barbar - 30-Jan-2007 at 12:15
Either make a history or become a history.
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  Quote gok_toruk Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04-Feb-2007 at 11:39

Well, they're not that much rich as Central Asian and Eastern Turkic dialects are. Their vocabulary is a mixture of Western Oghuz (majority) and Persian.



Edited by gok_toruk - 04-Feb-2007 at 11:40
Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota.
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