Turkish

[Wolfgang Schulze]

As for the Gagauz: They are generally considered as a Oghuz-Turkic
speaking linguistic community, today spoken basically in the southern
parts of the Moldavian Republic (in the so-called Gagauz Republic
[Gagauz Yeri]) as well in the adjacent parts of Ukraine. They have
immigrated into the Moldavian regions in 1806-12 - before, the Gagauz
speakers settled mainly in the northeastern part of what is now Bulgaria
(Deli Orman and so on), some Gagauz speakers remained on the Balkan
(e.g. in the area of Novi Pazar and Varna, in Makedonia (FIY), and
(perhaps) the Evros region of Northern Greece). Linguistically speaking,
Gagauz clearly belongs to Western Oghuz - it participated in the Balkan
Osmanic dialect continuum since at least the time of Sultan Bayasid I.
However, it seems that Gagauz is based on a Kipchak Turkic substratum,
perhaps spoken by Turkic Bulgarian groups in Byzantinian times
(Danube-Bulgarian?) who had been christianized say between the 11th and
13th century. We may assume that the speakers switched from their
Kipchak variety to the predominant Early Osmanic variety as it had shown
up on the Balkan since say 1390.

Nogays (Kipchak) can be spotted in the Dobrucha area esp. north of
Constantia in Romania, they came to this place in the 19th century
(after the Crimea war) from the eastern parts of the Crimea peninsula
(due to Russian pressure).

Pomaks are Bulgarian speaking muslims in Bulgaria (and now in the
European parts of Turkey).

Wolfgang

Rick Mc Callister wrote:

> Aren't the Gaugaz [sp?] an Anatolian Turkish-speaking Christian
> ethnic group in Ukraine, Rumania et al.?
> BTW: On maps I've seen references to Pomaks, Sanjaks & Nogays
> (among others) in the Balkans. Are these Turkish groups, former
> Turkish-speakers or local Muslims speaking Slavic languages?

********************
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulze
Institut für Allgemeine und Indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft
Universität München - Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1 - D-80539 München
Tel.: ++49-(0)89-2180 2486 (secretary) // ++49-(0)89-2180 5343 (office)
Fax:  ++49-(0)89-2180 5345
Email: 	W.Schulze at lrz.uni-muenchen.de
Web:   	http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/
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