A is for… loanwords!

Feb 15, 2011 by

While researching the phonological and morphological properties of Turkic loanwords in Russian, I ran into an interesting factoid that I’d like to share. As it turns out, words that begin with a in Russian are almost all...

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Turkic words in Russian

Feb 14, 2011 by

Staying on the subject of Turkic languages, let’s consider what impact these languages had on the Russian language. Some time ago we’ve considered the influence of Finnic languages on Russian, which, as I pointed out in...

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Creating illusions with language maps

Feb 14, 2011 by

At the end of the latest posting, I promised to talk about the controversy surrounding the alledged Altaic language family. But before I move on to that topic, there are two more things I want to discuss in connection with the Turkic...

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How far does Turkic-speaking area stretch?

Feb 12, 2011 by

As I’ve already pointed out in several previous postings, good books on languages and linguistics, that is, books that are simultaneously accessible and accurate, are rare. But the problem extends beyond books specifically on...

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The language of Hazara

Jul 7, 2010 by

Hazara (not to be confused with Khazars, the putative progenitors of the Ashkenazi Jewry) are an ethnic group who live mainly in the central region of Afghanistan (see the highlighted dark green area in the picture below)....

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