Article

Name: The category of phonetic softness in the languages of the Altai community: correlation models and palatal synharmonism

Authors: I. Ya. Selyutina

Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia

In the section Фонетика

Abstract:

This article addresses current issues in the study of palatality and palatalization as mechanisms for expressing the category of phonetic softness in the languages of the Altai linguistic community. A comprehensive interdisciplinary methodology is applied, combining traditional linguistic approaches with modern high-technology instrumental techniques. A comparative typological analysis of South Siberian Turkic, Northern Mongolian, and Tungusic-Manchurian languages reveals three strategies for realizing phonetic softness. These employ palatal consonants, palatalized consonants, or a combination of both. The strategy for implementing phonetic softness in a language dictates how a speaker selects one of three correlation models to regulate the relationship between the vocalic and consonantal elements in a word. Based on functional similarity, these models are grouped into two types: Type I (strong mollis, “soft”) and Type II (weak mollis, “semi-soft”). The coexistence of these two correlation types within a soft-order word form is proposed as an explanatory framework for cases traditionally interpreted in Turkology as “violations” of synharmonism, often attributed to deviations from an assumed “ideal” model of vowel harmony. Theoretically, native speakers of harmonic languages cannot violate synharmonism in a monothematic word form. This is because the synharmonic rules, integral to the articulatory-acoustic articulatory-acoustic base of the language, are inherently algorithmic and are automatically reflected in speech production. From this perspective, the heterogeneity observed in Turkic soft-order word forms is interpreted as a reflex of the Ancient Turkic state.

Keywords: South Siberian Turkic languages, northern Mongolian languages, Tungus-Manchurian languages, phonetics, phonology, instrumental methods, consonantism, palatality, palatalization, palatal synharmonism

Bibliography:

Afanas’eva E. F. Fonologiya i fonetika evenkiyskogo yazyka: ucheb. posobie [Phonology and phonetics of the Evenki language: a handbook]. Ulan-Ude, Buryat State University Press, 2010, 116 р. (In Russian)

Akhmanova O. S. Slovar’ lingvisticheskikh terminov [Dictionary of linguistic terms]. Moscow, KomKniga, 2007, 576 p. (In Russian)

Bitkeev P. Ts. Soglasnye fonemy kalmytskogo yazyka (na materiale eksperimental’nykh issledovaniy) [Consonant phonemes of the Kalmyk language (based on experimental research)]. Ulan-Ude, Buryat. kn. izd., 1965, 68 p. (In Russian)

Bulatova N. Ya., Morozova O. N., Struchkov G. A. Zvukovoy evenkiysko-russko-angliyskiy te-maticheskiy slovar’. Zvukovoy russko-evenkiysko-angliyskiy tematicheskiy slovar’: na materiale selemdzhinskogo govora evenkiyskogo yazyka [Evenki-Russian-English thematic sound dictionary. Russian-Evenki-English thematic sound dictionary: based on the Selemdzhin dialect of the Evenki language]. Blagoveshchensk, 2017, 184 р. (In Russian)

Kasevich V. B. Morfonologiya [Morphonology]. Leningrad, Leningrad State University Press, 1986, 160 р. (In Russian)

Kirsanova N. A. Konsonantizm v yazyke chalkantsev (po eksperimental’nym dannym) [Consonantism in the Chalcan language (according to experimental data)]. Novosibirsk, Sibirskiy khronograf, 2003, 149 р. (In Russian)

Knyazev S. V., Pozharitskaya S. K. Sovremennyy russkiy literaturnyy yazyk: fonetika, orfoepiya, grafika i orfografiya: ucheb. posobie [Modern Russian literary language: phonetics, orthoepy, graphics, and spelling: A handbook]. Moscow, Gaudeamus, 2011, 430 р. (In Russian)

Kodzasov S. V., Krivnova O. F. Obshchaya fonetika [General phonetics]. Moscow, RSUH, 2001, 591 р. (In Russian)

Konstantinova O. A., Lebedeva E. P. Evenkiyskiy yazyk: ucheb. posobie [The Evenki language: a handbook]. Moscow, Leningrad, Gosuchpedgiz, 1953, 332 р. (In Russian)

Kuz’menkov E. A. Fonologicheskaya sistema sovremennogo mongol’skogo yazyka [The phonological system of the modern Mongolian language]. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg University Press, 2004, 212 р. (In Russian)

Lemov A. V. Osobennosti funktsionirovaniya nekotorykh lingvisticheskikh terminov v uchebnoy literature [Functioning patterns of some linguistic terms in the educational literature]. International Scientific Journal “Symbol of Science.” 2017, no. 3, pp. 182–183. (In Russian)

Mel’nikov G. P. Sistemnaya tipologiya yazykov [System typology of languages]. Moscow, Nauka, 2003, 395 р. (In Russian)

Morozova O. N. Paradigmatika i sintagmatika zvukovyh sistem tungusskih yazykov Verhnego Priamur’ya (na materiale evenkiyskogo i orochonskogo yazykov) [Paradigmatics and syntagmatics of the sound systems of the Tungusic languages of the Upper Amur region (based on the material of the Evenk and Orochon languages)]. Dr. philol. sci. diss. Novosibirsk, 2021, 481 р. (In Russian)

Nadelyaev V. M. Artikulyatsionnaya klassifikatsiya glasnykh [Articulation classification of vowels]. In Foneticheskie issledovaniya po sibirskim yazykam [Phonetic research on Siberian languages]. Novosibirsk, 1980, pp. 3–91. (In Russian)

Nadelyaev V. M. Drevnetyurkskaya runicheskaya nadpis’ iz Kosh-Agacha [Ancient Turkic runic inscription from Kosh-Agach]. Izvestiya Sibirskogo otdeleniya Akademii nauk SSSR. Seriya obshchestvennyh nauk [Proceedings of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. A series of social sciences]. 1973, iss. 1, no. 1, pp. 108–110. (In Russian)

Nadelyaev V. M. Drevnetyurkskie nadpisi Gornogo Altaya [Ancient Turkic inscriptions of the Altai Mountains]. Izvestiya Sibirskogo otdeleniya Akademii nauk SSSR. Seriya obshchestvennyh nauk [Proceedings of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. A series of social sciences]. 1981, iss. 3, no. 11, рр. 65–81. (In Russian)

Nadelyaev V. M. Sostav fonem v zvukovoy sisteme sovremennogo mongol’skogo yazyka [The composition of phonemes in the sound system of the modern Mongolian language]. In Fonetika sibirskikh yazykov [Phonetics of Siberian languages]. Novosibirsk, 1985, pp. 3–24. (In Russian)

Rebi D. I., Achkinazi B. M., Achkinazi I. V. Krymchakskiy yazyk [The Krymchak language]. In Yazyki mira. Tyurkskie yazyki [Languages of the world. Turkic languages]. Bishkek, ID “Kyrgyzstan,” 1997, рр. 309–319. (In Russian)

Selyutina I. Ya. Artikulyatornye parametry palatal’nosti i palatalizatsii v mongol’skikh yazykakh [Articulatory parameters of palatality and palatalization in Mongolian languages]. Yazyki i Fol’klor Korennykh Narodov Sibiri [Languages and Folklore of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia]. 2024b, no. 3 (iss. 51), pp. 9‒20. (In Russian)

Selyutina I. Ya. Korrelyatsiya vokal’nykh i konsonantnykh komponentov slovoformy v tyurkskikh i mongol’skikh yazykakh [Correlation of vocal and consonant components of word form in Turkic and Mongolian languages]. Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2024a, no. 4 (46), pp. 100–111. (In Russian)

Selyutina I. Ya. Modeli korrelyatsii vokal’nykh i konsonantnykh komponentov myagkoryadnoy slovoformy v evenkiyskom yazyke [Correlation models of vocal and consonant components of the soft-order word form in the Evenk language]. Teoreticheskaya i prikladnaya lingvistika [Theoretical and applied linguistics]. 2025, iss. 11 (4), (In press). (In Russian)

Selyutina I. Ya., Urtegeshev N. S., Dobrinina A. A. Tipologicheskaya spetsifika evenkiyskogo konsonantizma (po dannym rentgenografirovaniya i MR-tomografirovaniya) [Typological specificity of Evenk consonantism (according to X-ray and MRI imaging)]. Sibirskii Filologicheskii Zhurnal [Siberian Philological Journal]. 2014, no. 1, pp. 186–191. (In Russian)

Sokolyanskiy A. A. Korrelyatsiya tverdosti/myagkosti soglasnykh v russkom yazyke [Correlation of hardness/softness of consonants in Russian]. International research journal. 2017, no. 2 (iss. 56), pt. I, pp. 39–44. (In Russian)

Soktoeva S. P. Konsonantizm khorinskogo dialekta buryatskogo yazyka [Consonantism of the Khorin dialect of the Buryat language]. Novosibirsk, Nauka, 1988, 165 р. (In Russian)

Subrakova V. V. Sistema soglasnykh sagayskogo dialekta khakasskogo yazyka [The consonant system of the Sagai dialect of the Khakass language]. Novosibirsk, ID “Sova,” 2006, 244 р. (In Russian)

Timkin T. V. Koartikulyatsiya po palatal’nosti v altayskom yazyke po dannym UZI v dinamicheskom aspekte [Palatal coarticulation in the Altai language according to ultrasound data in a dynamic aspect]. Sibirskii Filologicheskii Zhurnal [Siberian Journal of Philology]. 2024, no. 4, pp. 156–171. (In Russian)

Tsintsius V. I. Sravnitel’naya fonetika tunguso-man’chzhurskikh yazykov [Comparative phonetics of Tungus-Manchu languages]. Leningrad, 1949, 342 р. (In Russian)

Urtegeshev N. S. Artikulyatsionno-akusticheskie korrelyaty myagkosti soglasnykh tipa “s” i “z” [Articulatory and acoustic cues of softness in consonants of s- and z-type]. Teoreticheskaya i prikladnaya lingvistika [Theoretical and Applied Linguistics]. 2025, iss. 11 (3), рр. 167–179. (In Russian)

Urtegeshev N. S., Morozova O. N. Glasnye shorskogo yazyka v postpozitsii k mollisnym soglasnym [Vowels of the Shor language in postposition to mollis consonants]. Arctic XXI Century. 2025, no. 2, рр. 110–143. (In Russian)

Zhunisbek A. Singarmologiya ili neizvestnyy singarmonizm [Synharmology or unknown synharmonism]. Almaty, Abzal-Aj baspasy, 2020, 144 р. (In Russian)

Zinder L. R. Obshchaya fonetika [General phonetics]. 2nd ed., rev. and enl., Moscow, Vyssh. shk., 1979, 312 р. (In Russian)