Sonqori dialect explained

Sonqori
Nativename:سؤنقؤر دیلی
States:Iran
Region:Sonqor County
Speakers:about 40,000
Date:no date
Familycolor:Altaic
Fam1:Turkic
Fam2:Common Turkic
Fam3:Oghuz
Fam4:Southern Oghuz
Iso3:none
Iso3comment:(included in [azb])
Glotto:sonq1234

Sonqori, also known as Sonqori Turkic, is a moribund Turkic dialect spoken in Sonqor (Sunqur), east of Kermānšāh, in a large valley separated from the rest of Kurdistan.[1]

According to the Turkologist Michael Knüppel, Sonqori is one of the Southern Oghuz dialects of Iran alongside Qashqai and Äynallu. He notes that K. H. Menges had already characterized Sonqori, together with Qashqai and Äynallu, as a transitional form between Azerbaijani and Khorasani Turkic.

Turkologist Gerhard Doerfer identifies Sonqori as a possible dialect of Azerbaijani, or as a distinctive variety of Southern Oghuz/Afshar. Ethnologue and Glottolog list it as a South Azerbaijani dialect.[2] [3]

Knowledge of the dialect was scant prior to the expeditions of the University of Göttingen.

About 40,000 speakers of Sonqori exist in the Sonqor area.

Phonology

Consonant phonemes
 LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarUvularGlottal
pronounced as /p/~pʰ pronounced as /b/~ppronounced as /t/~tʰ pronounced as /d/~t   pronounced as /k/~pronounced as /k/ʰ pronounced as /ɡ/~pronounced as /k/pronounced as /q/~ɢ     
      pronounced as /t͡ʃ//pronounced as /t͡ʃ/ʰ pronounced as /d͡ʒ//pronounced as /t͡ʃ/         
pronounced as /f/ pronounced as /v/~wpronounced as /s/ pronounced as /z/pronounced as /ʃ/ pronounced as /ʒ/pronounced as /x/ pronounced as /ɣ/   pronounced as /h/  
pronounced as /m/pronounced as /n/pronounced as /ɲ/ pronounced as /ŋ/       
   pronounced as /r/~ɾ            
   pronounced as /l/            
      pronounced as /j/         

Vowels

+ VowelsFrontBack
Closepronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Midpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Openpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/

Literature

Notes and References

  1. "Next to Qašqāʾi and Äynallu, Sonqori is worth mentioning as another dialect of the Southern-Oghuz group."

  2. Web site: Azerbaijani, South. Ethnologue. 4 February 2017.
  3. Web site: Glottolog 4.7 - Sonqor . glottolog.org . 14 February 2023.