Қыпшақ тілдер тобындағы жоғалып кеткен бұлғар тілі

Extinct Oghur Turkic language

Bulgar (also known as Bulghar, Bolgar, or Bolghar) is an extinct Oghuric Turkic language spoken by the Bulgars. The name is derived from the Bulgars, a tribal association that established the Bulgar state known as Old Great Bulgaria in the mid 7th century, giving rise to the Danubian Bulgaria by the 680s. While the language was extinct in Danubian Bulgaria (in favour of Old Bulgarian), it persisted in Volga Bulgaria, eventually being replaced by the modern Chuvash language. Other than Chuvash, Bulgar is the only language to be definitively classified as an Oghur Turkic language. The inclusion of other languages such as Hunnish, Khazar and Sabir within Oghur Turkic remains speculative owing to the paucity of historical records. Some scholars suggest Hunnish had strong ties with Bulgar and to modern Chuvash and refer to this extended grouping as separate Hunno Bulgar languages. However, such speculations are not based on proper linguistic evidence, since the language of the Huns is almost unknown except for a few attested words and personal names. Scholars generally consider Hunnish as unclassifiable.

Mainstream scholarship places Bulgar among the "Lir" branch of Turkic languages referred to as Oghur Turkic, Lir Turkic or, indeed, "Bulgar Turkic", as opposed to the "Shaz" type of Common Turkic. The "Lir" branch is characterized by sound correspondences such as Oghuric /r/ versus Common Turkic (or Shaz Turkic) /z/ and Oghuric /l/ versus Common Turkic (Shaz Turkic) /š/. As was stated by Al Istakhri (Х c. AD), "The language of the Khazars is different than the language of the Turks and the Persians, nor does a tongue of (any) group of humanity have anything in common with it and the language of the Bulgars is like the language of the Khazars, but the Burtas have another language." The only surviving language from this linguistic group is Chuvash. He concludes that the language of the Bulgars was from the family of the Hunnic languages, as he calls the Oghur languages. According to the Bulgarian Antoaneta Granberg, the Hunno Bulgar linguistic situation is further complicated by the extensive migration of nomadic communities of Hunnic and Oghuric peoples from East to West. This migration brought them into contact with a variety of different lands, neighbors, cultures, and languages, including China and Rome. Linguistic individuation of the Hunno Bulgaric language family has yet to be conclusively established. A Hunno Bulgar language is believed to have formed on the North Western borders of China in the 3rd 5th c. BC.

On the other hand, some Bulgarian historians, especially in recent decades, link the Bulgar language to the Iranic language group instead (more specifically, the Pamir languages are frequently mentioned), noting the presence of Iranian words in the modern Bulgarian language. According to Raymond Detrez, who is a specialist in Bulgarian history and language, such views are based on anti Turkish sentiments and the presence of Iranian words in the modern Bulgarian is result of Ottoman Turkish linguistic influence. Indeed, other Bulgarian historians, especially older ones, only point out certain signs of Iranian influence in the Turkic base or indeed support the Turkic theory.