Tocharian languages

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Royal family, Cave 17, Kizil (family detail, retouched), Hermitage Museum

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Tocharian languages

Tocharian

Tocharian languages refer to a branch of the Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Tarim Basin, in what is now the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, during the 1st millennium AD. The Tocharian languages are known from manuscripts dating from the 6th to the 8th century AD. These languages are divided into two groups: Tocharian A (or Agnean) and Tocharian B (or Kuchean). Tocharian C, also referred to as Kroränian or Krorainic, is hypothesized based on some lexical items but is not widely accepted as a distinct language.

History and Discovery

The discovery of Tocharian texts in the early 20th century was unexpected, as the linguistic landscape of Central Asia was thought to be well understood. The manuscripts were found by archaeologists and explorers in the desert sites of the Tarim Basin, including the ancient cities of Kucha, Krorän, and others. These texts were written in an abugida script, derived from the Brahmi script, and were used for religious (primarily Buddhist), literary, and legal documents.

Linguistic Features

Tocharian languages exhibit features that are both archaic and innovative within the Indo-European family. Phonologically, they show a simplification of the consonant systems seen in other Indo-European languages but retain the distinction between palatal and velar consonants. Morphologically, Tocharian languages are synthetic, using affixes to indicate grammatical relationships, but they also show a movement towards analytic structures, with a reduction in the use of inflectional endings compared to other ancient Indo-European languages.

Tocharian A vs. Tocharian B

Tocharian A and B are significantly different from each other, suggesting a long period of separation and independent development. Tocharian A, found in the eastern Tarim Basin, is known from fewer texts than Tocharian B, which was used in the western areas. Tocharian B has provided a larger corpus, including Buddhist scriptures, monastic texts, and secular documents, indicating its use as a lingua franca in the region.

Cultural and Historical Impact

The Tocharian languages offer crucial insights into the migrations of Indo-European-speaking peoples, the spread of Buddhism into Central Asia, and the interactions between nomadic and settled cultures in the Tarim Basin. The study of Tocharian has contributed to our understanding of the prehistory of the Indo-European languages, including the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language.

Decline and Extinction

The decline of the Tocharian languages is attributed to the expansion of the Turkic languages in Central Asia, which began in the 6th century AD. By the end of the 1st millennium, Tocharian languages had largely been replaced by Turkic languages, although some Tocharian words survived in the local Turkic languages, indicating a period of bilingualism and language shift.

Research and Scholarship

Research into the Tocharian languages has been challenging due to the limited number of texts and the complex historical context in which they were used. However, advances in linguistics, archaeology, and digital humanities have led to increased understanding of these languages and their place in the history of the Indo-European family.