Our faculty member, Dr. Hakan Aydemir, gave a presentation titled "Tocharian-Turkic Language Contacts" at the Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin, USA, where he was conducting postdoctoral research on a research scholarship on November 16, 2022.
Drawing attention to the significance of Tocharian language history in illuminating the history of the Turkic language and vice versa, Dr. Aydemir evaluated the historical relationship between the Indo-European-derived Tocharian language, spoken in the Western Turkic Khaganate regions and later becoming an extinct language in the 13th century, and the Turkish language history from the perspective of Turkish language history and historical linguistics. Within this scope, he focused on topics such as the timing and location of the first contact between Turkish and Tocharian, the duration of this contact, the extent and nature of their mutual influence, the areas in which these influences are observed, and the process of Tocharian language extinction.
Based on archaeological research, Dr. Aydemir proposed that the Tocharians lived in the Afanasyevo Culture region, which is believed to have encompassed the Minusinsk area of southern Siberia and the northern parts of the Altai Mountains, around 3500-2500 BCE. Considering the proximity of this culture to the northern regions of present-day Mongolia at that time, he argued that the initial contacts between these two peoples and languages likely began in that period and region, supported by linguistic traces that extend to pre-Christian eras. From then on, he explored the linguistic traces in the domains of syntax, morphosyntax, morphology, and lexicon that emerged as a result of repeated contacts in different geographical locations and intensities between the two languages.
Dr. Aydemir determined that starting from the 5th century, the Tocharian groups with a Buddhist culture underwent Islamization and cultural transformation. He observed that the western and eastern groups of Tocharians likely underwent language changes, becoming Turkicized and Uighurized in Western Turkestan, probably by the late 12th century, and in Eastern Turkestan, probably by the late 13th century. He explained this process using philological, linguistic, and historical data. Dr. Aydemir continues his research on this topic at The Linguistics Research Center, affiliated with the Department of Linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin.
We congratulate Dr. Aydemir and wish him continued success in his academic endeavors.
