SOME USEFUL PHRASES IN TURKMEN FIVE REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD TURKMENWHO SPEAKS UZBEK? Salam. Meniň adym Jon. LEARN MORE ABOUT TURKMENS AND [θaˈlaːm mɛˈniŋ aˈdɨm ʤan] THEIR LANGUAGE Uzbeks are the most numerous Turkic /Thalaam. Mĕnĭng adĭm Jōn./ 1. Turkmen is spoken natively by about 7 million people in Central Asia. They predomi- Hi. My name is John. people worldwide, with approximately 1 million nantly mostly live in Uzbekistan, a land- more speaking it as a second language. The majority Siziň adyňyz näme? locked country of Central Asia that shares [θiˈðiŋ ˈadɨˌŋɨð ˈnæmɛ] of Turkmen speakers are located in Eurasia and Central Asia, with the highest concentrations borders with Kazakhstan to the west and /Thĭthĭng adĭngĭth nămĕ?/ located in Turkmenistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. What is your name? north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the 2. A member of the West Oghuz branch of the Turkic Ýagdaýlaryňyz gowumy? language family, Turkmen shares many structural east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan [ˌjaɣdaɪˈlarɨŋɨð goˈwumy] features with other Turkic languages, such as SOV to the south. Many Uzbeks can also be /Yagdīlarĭngĭth gōwūmĭ?/ word order, vowel harmony, and agglutinative How are you doing? structure. found in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyr- gyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Siz nireden? Men Indianadan. 3. Because of its similarity to other Turkic languages, [θið ˈnirɛˌdɛn mɛn ˌindiˈanadan] studying Turkmen can actually help you learn Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of /Thĭth nĭrĕdĕn? Mĕn ĭndĭanadan/ Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek! Where are you from? I am from Indiana. China. 4. Turkmenistan possesses the world’s fourth largest Sizden haýyş, maňa kömek ediň! reserves of natural gas and substantial oil resources, [θiðˈdɛn haɪˈɨʃ maˈŋa køˈmɛk ɛˈdiŋ] and is therefore a most prominent trade partner /Thĭthdĕn khī-ĭsh, manga kōmĕk edĭng!/ with the United States. As business partnerships Please help me! with Turkmenistan and the USA grow, this creates a demand for Americans who are fluent in Turkmen. Hajathana nirede? [χaˈʤat•haˌna ˈnirɛˌdɛ] 5. Turkmenistan is a region of numerous archeological /Hajat-hana nĭrĕdĕ?/ sites of great interest. The Turkmen cities of Nisa, Where is the bathroom? Anau, and Merv have been declared as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO and were once Bagyºlaò! part of the ancient Bronze Age Bactria-Margian [ˈbaɣɨʃˌlaŋ] Archeological Complex and later the Scythian, /Bagĭshlang!/ Greek, Persian, and Arab empires. Excuse me. ABOUT US Köp sag boluň! The Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region [køp θaɣ boˈluŋ] (CeLCAR) at Indiana University develops materials for /Kōp thag bōlūng!/ learning and teaching a wide variety of Central Asian Thank you very much! languages. For more information, go to celcar.indiana.edu. Hoş, sag boluň! [χoʃ θaɣ boˈluŋ] 238 Eigenmann Hall, 1900 East 10th Street, /Hōsh thag bōlūng!/ Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47406 Good-bye! Phone: (812) 856-1230 Center for Languages of the E-mail : [email protected] Special thanks goes to Barno Womack Website: https://celcar.indiana.edu for her contributions to this pamphlet. Central Asian Region (CeLCAR) WHO ARE THE TURKMEN AND Turkmen vocabulary has been influenced by Arabic, society is relatively secular. Persian, and Russian. However, after the collapse Traditionally, Turkmen are WHERE DO THEY LIVE? of the Soviet-Union, many Russian loanwords in a nomadic people known Turkmen are a Turkic people living throughout Turkmen have been replaced with new Turkmen for their horsemanship. Eurasia and Central Asia. There are an estimated ones. The Turkmen horse, 8 million Turkmens Akhal-Teke, was bred worldwide, but the WHAT ALPHABET DO TURKMENS USE? for war and raiding and largest population is considered to be one of Turkmens (about Similar to other Central Asian Turkic languages, the oldest surviving 5 million) lives in Turkmen has been written in a number of horse breeds. Amazingly Turkmenistan, a alphabets. Textual remains of early Turkic resilient and tough, they resource-rich country varieties from in and around Turkmenistan are became part of Turkic in southwestern Central attested in a variety of scripts, including the Old oral epics, legends and myths. It is said that the Asia situated between Turkic runic alphabet and others. Before 1929, Chinese called them Heavenly Horses and waged Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmens used the Perso-Arabic script to write wars just to acquire a few. In fact, some say owning Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Caspian Sea. their language. Then for a short time between such a horse was the dream of every noble Greek Additionally significant populations of Turkmen 1929 and 1938, they adopted a Latin script and Roman. Today, the Akhal-Teke breed is people live in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, before switching to a Cyrillic script under Soviet Turkmenistan’s national emblem and a source of and the Ukraine. Rule, which they used until the 1990s when the cultural pride for the Turkmen people. Latin script was reintroduced. Today Turkmen people who live in Turkmenistan and in other Carpet-weaving is an important traditional Turkmen art form. Turkmen carpets and rugs are WHAT KIND OF LANGUAGE IS TURKMEN? post-Soviet states use a modified Latin script, Täze Elipbiý, however those who live in Iran and usually made of sheep or Turkmen belongs to the West Oghuz branch of the Afghanistan use the Arabic script. camel wool and are known Turkic language family, which includes languages for their rich colors, high such as Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and quality, and durability. Uzbek. In fact, Turkmen is so similar to Turkish WHAT IS TURKMEN CULTURE LIKE? But it is the unique styles and Azerbaijani that many scholars consider these Throughout its history, the territory of what is of patterns designed and languages to be mutually intelligible. now Turkmenistan, has produced by each tribe that really make these rugs Turkmen in Turkmenistan is spoken in several been part of the Persian, Greek, Arab, Mongol, stand out. Perhaps the dialects throughout its provinces, including the most famous of these is the Teke, Yomut, Arsari, Salyr, and Saryk dialects. Russian, and Soviet empires, thus the local people and Bukhara style woven by the Additionally, some major Turkmen dialects from Tekke tribe. other countries include Yomut (spoken in Iran, their traditions have been Russia, Afghanistan, and Iraq) and Arsari (spoken in influenced for millennia by Like many other Central Asian peoples, Turkmen Afghanistan). cultures and civilizations are a very family and community oriented society, from Greece to China, and and individuals are commonly identified with Like many other Turkic languages, Turkmen has from Middle East to Siberia. reference to their family and lineage. It is not vowel harmony (vowels of the suffixes change to fit In the 8th century, due to Arab influences, much surprising to see two or three generations living the other vowels in the stem) and is an agglutinative under the same roof. Furthermore family elders are language, where each suffix added to the stem of Turkmenistan converted to Islam. Today, majority of Turkmens identify themselves as Sunni highly respected and consulted for all important indicates only one meaning; these suffixes attach to decisions. the word stem one after another in a set order. Muslims. However, due to its Soviet past, Turkmen