Isoglosses & sound-law visualizer
Each row is a Proto-Turkic sound law; each column a language. Colored cells show which reflex each language uses. Below, pick a proto-form to watch it transform step-by-step through each branch's rule chain.
Sound-law matrix
| Isogloss | Proto | Old Turkic | Turkish | Azerbaijani | Turkmen | Kazakh | Kyrgyz | Uzbek | Uyghur | Sakha | Chuvash |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial *y- | *y- | y- (preserved) | y- (preserved) | y- (preserved) | y- (preserved) | j- | j- | y- (preserved) | y- (preserved) | s- | ś- |
| *š sibilant | *š | š (preserved) | š (preserved) | š (preserved) | š (preserved) | s | š (preserved) | š (preserved) | š (preserved) | s | ś |
| *č → š | *č | č (preserved) | č (preserved) | č (preserved) | č (preserved) | š | č (preserved) | č (preserved) | č (preserved) | s | ś |
| Intervocalic *d | *d | d (preserved) | y | y | y | y | y | y | y | t | innovation |
| *z ↔ Chuvash r (rhotacism) | *z | z (preserved) | z (preserved) | z (preserved) | z (preserved) | z (preserved) | z (preserved) | z (preserved) | z (preserved) | z (preserved) | r |
| *ĺ ↔ Chuvash l (lambdaism) | *ĺ | š (→ Common Turkic merger) | š (→ Common Turkic merger) | š (→ Common Turkic merger) | š (→ Common Turkic merger) | s (Kipchak/Siberian) | š (→ Common Turkic merger) | š (→ Common Turkic merger) | š (→ Common Turkic merger) | s (Kipchak/Siberian) | l |
| Uvular *q | *q | q (preserved) | k | q (preserved) | g | q (preserved) | k | — | q (preserved) | x / h | x / h |
| *b- → m- before nasals | *b- | b- (preserved) | b- (preserved) | m- | m- | m- | m- | m- | m- | m- | innovation |
The most productive Turkic isogloss. Every branch has its own reflex of initial *y-, making it the clearest single feature for identifying which language a text is in.
- y- (preserved) — Oghuz + Karluk + Old Turkic all keep the ancestral y-.
- j- — Kipchak innovation — Kazakh жол, Kyrgyz жол.
- s- — Sakha uniquely shifts *y- to s-. Same rule turns *yer → сир.
- ś- — Bulgaric Chuvash palatalizes to ś- (spelled ҫ).
Kazakh and Sakha collapse Proto-Turkic *š to plain s; Kyrgyz retains ş. This is one of the sharpest Kazakh↔Kyrgyz splits — a Kazakh speaker knows on hearing 'baş' vs. 'bas' which language they're listening to.
- ś — Chuvash palatalizes further.
Kazakh and Sakha further shift *č to š (or s). Kazakh üş vs Turkish üç 'three' — this is the second Kipchak/Siberian innovation on the sibilant chain.
Every modern Turkic language turns intervocalic *d to y — except Sakha, which uniquely preserves it as -t-. Old Turkic adaq 'foot' is the flagship attested proto stage.
- y — The universal Common-Turkic reflex.
- t — Sakha uniquely retains an obstruent.
- innovation — Chuvash ура from a different stem.
THE flagship Bulgaric isogloss. Common Turkic *z corresponds to Chuvash r. This single feature separates Chuvash from every other surviving Turkic language and dates the Bulgar/Common-Turkic split.
- r — The rhotacism reflex — dates the Bulgaric split from Common Turkic.
Sister to rhotacism. Common Turkic merged Proto *ĺ (a lateral) with *š; Chuvash uniquely kept it as l. Chuvash чул 'stone' from *tāĺ (Common Turkic *taš).
- l — Bulgaric preserves the ancestral lateral.
Turkish merged *q and *k to a single /k/. Azerbaijani, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz preserve the uvular. Sakha and Chuvash both go to a fricative h/x, but by different routes.
- k — Turkish merged *q with *k.
- g — Turkmen voices initial.
- x / h — Fricative reflexes at the far ends of the family.
Kipchak languages shift initial *b- to m- when the word contains a nasal further along. *ben → men 'I' and *biŋ → mıŋ 'thousand' are the flagship examples.
- innovation — Chuvash эпӗ from a different stem.
Step-by-step derivation
Each row shows one language's derivation from the proto-form. Some languages preserve the ancestral form (1 step); others go through multiple sound-law shifts.