Proto-Turkic/Pronouns and numbers

Welcome to your first Proto-Turkic lesson!

Pronouns

I - *bẹ /be/, *ben- /bɛn-/^[1]^[2]^[3]
we - *biŕ /birʲ/^[4]^[2]
you (singular) - *sẹ /se/, *sen- /sɛn-/^[5]^[6]^[3]
you (plural) - *siŕ /sirʲ/^[7]^[8]
he/she/it - *ol /ol/, *an- /än-/^[9]^[10]
they - *olar /olär/^[9] (unclear)

Whether the Chuvash эпӗ derives from *ben or *bẹ is a matter of debate. However, the word п becomes м when it is suffixed in Chuvash and this phonetic change is not seen in эпӗ (epĕ), indicating that it is more likely to derive from *bẹ. The pronoun *olar is unclear since it was derived from *ol with a plural ending, Common Turkic has the reflexes of it, but Chuvash has вӗсем (vĕsem) instead (many plural endings of Proto-Turkic are disputed, see also the Plurality section of the third lesson).

The fact that the word has not experienced m-n affinity in Tonyukuk inscription, Old Anatolian Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, and Turkish is proof that this is a sound development that developed later. Therefore, the letter b does not turn into m when we add a suffix starting with n to the pronoun that starts with b. Also, pronouns ending in a vowel always take the n consonant when adding suffixes.

my - *bẹ- > *beniŋ /beniŋ/
our - *biŕ- > *biŕniŋ /birʲniŋ/
your - *sẹ- > *seniŋ /seniŋ/
your (plural) - *siŕ- > *siŕniŋ /sirʲniŋ/
him/her/its - *an- > *anïŋ /änɨŋ/
their - *olar- > *olarnïŋ /olärnɨŋ/ (unclear)

And unlike many other languages, there is no grammatical gender in Proto-Turkic. So there is no distinction between he, she and it. There's only ol. And unlike modern Turkic languages, there are no words like "am/is/are".

Numbers

Numbers in Proto-Turkic are in decimal basis, so the components for tens are often less clear, like suppletion between *ẹki "two" and *yẹgirmi "twenty", or adding suffixes which unclear in meaning like *altï "six" and *altmïĺ "sixty". To make teens, simply add numbers after tens (*ōn bīr "eleven", *ōn ẹki "twelve", *ōn üč "thirteen", ...).

one - *bīr /biːr/
two - *ẹki /eki/
three - *üč /ytʃ/
four - *tȫrt /tøːrt/
five - *bẹ̄ĺ /beːlʲ/
six - *altï /ältɨ/
seven - *yẹti /jeti/
eight - *sekiŕ /sɛkirʲ/
nine - *tokuŕ /tokurʲ/
ten - *ōn /oːn/
twenty - *yẹgirmi
thirty - *otuŕ
forty - *kïrk
fifty - *ellig
sixty - *altmïĺ
seventy - *yẹtmiĺ
eighty - *sẹkiŕ ōn
ninety - *tokuŕ ōn
hundred - *yǖŕ
thousand - *bïŋ

In Proto-Turkic we provide questions with *ka- and *nē-. In this case, the words *kanča and *nēnče are used to ask how much something is.

A: How much barley is there? - *Kanča/*nēnče *arpa *bār?

References

↑ Clauson, Gerard (1972), “ben”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 346
↑ ^a ^b Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003), “*bẹ-”, in (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill, page 341
↑ ^a ^b Erdal, Marcel (1991). Old Turkic Word Formation: A Functional Approach to the Lexicon. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, page: 192-198, ISBN:978-3-447-03084-7. (Erdal has a footnote in page 196: “The Proto-Turkic nominatives of 'I' and 'you' might have been *bä and *sä; the vowel of Bolgar-Chuvash *bi and *si apparently comes from a different analogy with the oblique stems.”)
↑ Clauson, Gerard (1972), “biz”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 388
↑ Clauson, Gerard (1972), “sen”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 831
↑ Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003), “*sẹ-”, in (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill, page 1237
↑ Clauson, Gerard (1972), “si:z”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 860
↑ Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003), “*bẹ-”, in (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill, page 1238
↑ ^a ^b Clauson, Gerard (1972), “ol, an-, olar”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 123
↑ Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003), “*o(-l)”, in (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill, page 1040

Next Lesson: Basics

[1] Clauson, Gerard (1972), “ben”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 346

[:0-2] Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003), “*bẹ-”, in (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill, page 341

[:1-3] Erdal, Marcel (1991). Old Turkic Word Formation: A Functional Approach to the Lexicon. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, page: 192-198, ISBN:978-3-447-03084-7. (Erdal has a footnote in page 196: “The Proto-Turkic nominatives of 'I' and 'you' might have been *bä and *sä; the vowel of Bolgar-Chuvash *bi and *si apparently comes from a different analogy with the oblique stems.”)

[4] Clauson, Gerard (1972), “biz”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 388

[5] Clauson, Gerard (1972), “sen”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 831

[6] Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003), “*sẹ-”, in (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill, page 1237

[7] Clauson, Gerard (1972), “si:z”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 860

[8] Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003), “*bẹ-”, in (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill, page 1238

[:2-9] Clauson, Gerard (1972), “ol, an-, olar”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 123

[10] Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003), “*o(-l)”, in (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill, page 1040

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