| Dukha | |
| Also Known As: | Tsaatan, Tuha |
| Nativename: | Uncoded languages: тyъһа тыл Uncoded languages: tuʰha sös |
| States: | Mongolia |
| Region: | Khövsgöl Province |
| Ethnicity: | Dukha |
| Speakers: | 50 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| Familycolor: | Altaic |
| Fam1: | Turkic |
| Fam2: | Common Turkic |
| Fam3: | Siberian Turkic |
| Fam4: | South Siberian |
| Fam5: | Sayan Turkic |
| Fam6: | Taiga Sayan Turkic |
| Iso3: | dkh |
| Glotto: | dukh1234 |
| Iso3comment: | (rejected) |
| Map2: | Lang Status 40-SE.svg |
| Speakers2: | (2011) |
| Mapcaption: | and distribution in Mongolia and Tuva |
| Map: | File:Siedlungsgebiete_der_Tiva_und_Duva.PNG |
Dukha or Dukhan is a nearly extinct Turkic language or dialect variety of Tuvan language spoken by the Dukhan (a.k.a. Tsaatan) herder people in the Tsagaan-Nuur county of Khövsgöl Province in northern Mongolia. Dukhan belongs to the Taiga subgroup of Sayan Turkic (which also includes Soyot–Tsaatan and Tofa).[1] This language is nearly extinct and is only spoken actively by no more than 40 people.[2] The ISO 639-3 proposal (request) code was dkh,[3] but this proposal was rejected.[4]
It is mostly related to the Soyot language of Buryatia.[5] Also, it is related to the language of Tozhu Tuvans and the Tofa language. Today, it is spoken alongside Mongolian.[6]
Dukhan morphophonemic units are written with capital letters, similar to its sister languages and standard grammars.[1]
Dukhan is classified in the Taiga Sayan Turkic branch of Sinerian Turkic.
The Dukha language or Dukhan is an endangered Turkic language. It is spoken by about five hundred people of the Dukhan (also Tsaatan) from Tsagaan-Nuur County, Tsagaannurr (Khövsgöl) Mongolia. Цагааннуур сум) is a Sum (district) of Mongolia in the province of Khövsgöl, located in Northern Mongolia.
Currently, the Dukhan language is mainly related to an amalgam of dialects from the nomadic people of Outer Mongolia, China, Russia, and surrounding areas. It is most closely related to the Tuvan language. The Dukhan language appears to be moribund.