Nogai (Ногай тили / Nogay tili)

Nogai is a Turkic language spoken by about 90,000 people in southwestern Russia, mainly in Dagestan, Stavropol, Karachay-Cherkessia and in the Mineralnye Vody District. It is a member of the Kipchak-Nogay branch of Kipchak Turkic, is also known as Nogay or Nogai Tatar, and is related to Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Karakalpak and Crimean Tatar. Nogai has three dialects: Qara-Nogay (Black/Northern Nogay), Nogai Proper and Aqnogay (White/Western Nogay). The former two are very close, while Aqnogay has more differences.

The Nogai people are descended from the Golden Horde, part of the Mongol Empire from the 1240s to 1502, and they are named after Nogai Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan. Before 1928 the Nogai language was written with a version of the Arabic alphabet. From 1928 to 1938 it was written with the Latin alphabet, and with the Cyrillic alphabet after that.

Nogai was taught in primary schools for the first five years until 1957. Since then there have been some lessons but in many schools they are optional.

Cyrillic alphabet for Nogai

Notes

Nogai has vowel harmoney: front vowels are аь э(е) и оь & уь; back vowels are а ы о & у
е = /je/ word-initially and after vowels, e.g. ел /jel/ (fog)
г = /ʁ/ (ğ) & к= /q/ (q) before or after back vowels. Before or after front vowels г = /g/ (g) & к= /k/ (k), e.g. ак /ɑq/(white)
ю = /jy/ before a syllable which has a front vowel, e.g. юрек /jyrek/ (heart)
ё,ф,ц,ч,щ,ъ, and ь are only used in Russian loanwords. в = /v/ only in Russian loanwords.

Sample text in Nogai

Былай айтып, дува этинъиз,--деди оларга Иca: Аспандагы Aтамыз, Сенинъ атынъ сыйлы болсын! Сенинъ Патшалыгынъ келсин, Сенинъ эркинъ, коьктегиндей, Ерде де этилинсин. Куьнлик оьтпегимизди бизге аьр куьнгe бepип тур. Aьр кимнинъ борышларын биз кеширгендей, Куьнaларымызды кешир. Бизди азгырувга туьсирме, Яманлыктан бизди куткар.

Translation

He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation"
part of Lord's prayer (Luke 11:2-4)

Information about Nogai compiled by 이윤호 (Yun-ho Lee)

Useful phrases in Nogai