{{Infobox Language family

|name=Altaic
|region=[[East Asia|East]], [[North Asia|North]], [[Central Asia|Central]], and [[West Asia]] and [[Eastern Europe]]
|familycolor=Altaic
|family=The validity of the Altaic family is in dispute. Among those who accept it, some class Altaic as a branch of [[Eurasiatic languages|Eurasiatic]] and/or [[Nostratic languages|Nostratic]], two controversial [[macrofamily|macrofamilies]].
|proto-name=[[Proto-Altaic]]
|child1=[[Turkic languages|Turkic]]
|child2=[[Mongolic languages|Mongolic]]
|child3=[[Tungusic languages|Tungusic]]
|child4=[[Korean language|Korean]] and its extinct relatives (often included)
|child5=[[Japonic languages|Japonic]] and its extinct relatives (often included)
|child6=[[Ainu language|Ainu]] (occasionally included)
}}

'''Altaic''' is a proposed [[Language families and languages|language family]] that includes 66 [[language]]s<ref>[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90009 Language Family Trees: Altaic]</ref> spoken by about 348 million people, mostly in and around [[Central Asia]] and northeast Asia.<ref>[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90009 Altaic Language Family Tree] ''Ethnologue report for Altaic''.</ref>

The proponents of Altaic traditionally consider it to include the [[Turkic languages]], the [[Mongolic languages]], and the [[Tungusic languages]] (also called the Manchu-Tungus languages). Some also include [[Korean language|Korean]] or [[Japonic language|Japonic]]. A few linguists add [[Ainu language|Ainu]].<ref name="geor99">Georg, S., Michalove, P.A., Manaster Ramer, A., Sidwell, P.J.: "Telling general linguists about Altaic", ''Journal of Linguistics'' 35 (1999): 65-98 [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=17033 Online abstract]</ref>

Sometimes hypotheses that include only Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic are called "Micro-Altaic" and ones that include additional language families are called "Macro-Altaic".

The relationships among these languages are currently a matter of debate among historical linguists. Some scholars consider the apparent similarity among these languages to indicate a [[genetic relationship]]. Others propose that they are not a family derived from a common ancestor but a [[Sprachbund]], a group of languages that have become similar in some ways by massive borrowing because of long [[language contact]].

Altaic is itself part of the still more controversial [[Eurasiatic languages|Eurasiatic]] and [[Nostratic languages|Nostratic]] hypotheses.

==History of the hypothesis==

[[Image:2006-07 altaj belucha.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The [[Altay Mountains]] ("''High Mountain''"{{Fact|date=December 2007}} in Turkic) give their name to the proposed language family.]]

The idea that the [[Turkic languages|Turkic]], [[Mongolic languages|Mongolic]], and [[Tungusic languages]] are each others' closest relatives was allegedly first published by F.J. von Strahlenberg in 1730. However, as has been shown by A. Manaster Ramer and Paul Sidwell ("The truth about Strahlenberg's classification of the languages of Northeastern Eurasia", JSFOu 87, 1997, 139-160), Strahlenberg, who travelled in Russia as a prisoner of war after the [[Great Northern War]], actually opposed the idea of a closer relationship between the languages which later became known as "Altaic".

The name "Altaic", as a designation of a large-scale language family which was initially also to comprise the [[Uralic languages]], was coined in 1844 by [[Matthias Alexander Castrén|M.A. Castrén]].

As early as 1857, [[Anton Boller]] suggested adding [[Japanese language|Japanese]]. For Korean, [[Gustaf John Ramstedt|G.J. Ramstedt]] and [[Yevgeny Polivanov|E.D. Polivanov]] put forward additional etymologies in the 1920s.

For much of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, those few linguists who studied these language families regarded them as members of a common [[Ural-Altaic languages|Ural-Altaic]] family, together with [[Finno-Ugric languages|Finno-Ugric]] and [[Samoyedic languages|Samoyedic]], based on such shared features as [[vowel harmony]] and [[Agglutinative language|agglutination]]. While the Ural-Altaic hypothesis can still be found in encyclopedias, atlases, and similar general reference works, it has not had any adherents in the linguistics community for decades ("an idea now completely discarded" – [[Sergei Starostin|Starostin]] et al. [2003:8]).

As a result of decades-long work, [[Gustaf John Ramstedt|G.J. Ramstedt]]'s book ''Einführung in die altaische Sprachwissenschaft'', 'Introduction to Altaic Linguistics', was published in 1952 (two years after Ramstedt's death). It separated the [[Uralic languages]] (i.e. the Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic families) from the Altaic ones, added [[Korean language|Korean]] and [[Japonic languages|Japanese]] to the latter, and contained the first attempts to find regular correspondences in the sound systems and grammars of the Altaic language families.

Further contributions to Altaic studies, especially attempts to reconstruct the [[most recent common ancestor]] of the Altaic languages (the hypothetical Proto-Altaic language), were made in the 1950s and 1960s by linguists such as [[Nikolaus Poppe]], [[K. Menges]], [[Vera Cincius]], [[Vladislav Illich-Svitych]], [[S. Martin]] and [[Roy Andrew Miller]]. Most of these attempts did not include Korean or Japanese, judged to be too different from Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic.

== The controversy over Altaic ==
[[Image:Altaic family2.png|thumb|300px|Distribution of the [[Altaic languages]] across Eurasia. {{Fact|date=November 2007}}]]
In the 1960s the pendulum swung in the other direction. [[G. Clauson]], [[Gerhard Doerfer]], and [[A. Shcherbak]] argued that the words and features shared by Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic were for the most part borrowings, and that the rest could be attributed to chance resemblances. They argued that while there were words shared by Turkic and Mongolic, by Mongolic and Tungusic, and by all three, there were none shared by Turkic and Tungusic but not Mongolic. If all three families had a common ancestor, we should expect losses to happen at random, not only at the geographical margins of the family; on the other hand, we should expect exactly the supposedly observed pattern if borrowing is responsible. Furthermore, they argued that many of the [[linguistic typology|typological]] features of the supposedly Altaic languages, such as [[agglutinative language|agglutinative]] [[morphology (linguistics)|morpology]] and [[Subject Object Verb|SOV]] word order, usually occur together. In sum, the idea was that Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic form a Sprachbund – the result of [[language convergence|convergence]] through intensive borrowing and long contact among speakers of languages that are not necessarily closely related. The proponents of this hypothesis are sometimes called "the Anti-Altaicists".

Doubt was also raised about the affinities of Korean and Japanese (defended by Roy Andrew Miller in 1971); in particular, some workers tried to connect Japanese to the [[Austronesian languages]].

Since then, the debate has raged back and forth, with wholesale defenses of Altaic in the wide sense (e.g. Starostin 1991<ref name="Star1">{{cite book |author=[[Sergei Starostin|Starostin, Sergei]] Старостин, С. А. |year=1991 |title=Алтайская проблема и произхождение японского языка [The Altaic problem and the origin of the Japanese language] |publisher=Наука [Science]}}</ref>), advocacy of a family consisting of Tungusic, Korean, and Japonic but not Turkic or Mongolic ("Macro-Tungusic", [[J. Marshall Unger]] 1990), and wholesale rejections (e.g. Doerfer 1988) being published. The latter was the generally most popular point of view among historical linguists. (For a review see e.g. Georg et al. [1999]<ref name="geor99" />.)

An important step in the debate was the publication of ''An Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages'' by S. Starostin, A. Dybo, and O. Mudrak in 2003. The result of some twenty years of work, it contains 2800 proposed [[cognate]] sets, a complete set of regular sound correspondences, and a number of grammatical correspondences, as well as a few important changes to the reconstruction of Proto-Altaic; for example, while most of today's Altaic languages have [[vowel harmony]], Proto-Altaic as reconstructed by Starostin et al. lacked it – instead various vowel assimilations between the first and second syllables of words occurred in Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Korean, and Japonic. Importantly, it tries hard to distinguish loans between Turkic and Mongolic and between Mongolic and Tungusic from cognates, and it suggests words that occur in Turkic and Tungusic but not Mongolic (Starostin et al. 2003:20; all other combinations between the five branches also occur in the book).

Starostin's ''et aliorum'' "sincere […] hope that this publication will bring an end to this discussion" (Starostin et al. 2003:7) has not been fulfilled, however. The debate continues (e.g. Georg 2004, Vovin 2005<ref>Vovin, Alexander. (2005). "The End of the Altaic Controversy". ''Central Asiatic Journal'' 49.1: 71–132.</ref>, Starostin 2005, Georg 2005, Blažek 2006, A. Dybo and G. Starostin 2008).

It has been suggested that the Japonic languages could be Altaic but have an Austronesian or generally [[Austric languages|Austric]] [[substratum]]{{Fact|date=June 2007}}. This would (geographically) fit suggestions (e.g. Bengtson 2006<ref name="Beng1">{{cite journal |author=John D. Bengtson |year=2006 |title= A Multilateral Look at Greater Austric ''[http://jdbengt.net/articles/Austric.pdf pdf of similar article by the same author]'' |journal=Mother Tongue (Journal) |volume=11 |pages=219–258}}</ref>) that Ainu is an Austric language.

Using the controversial [[phenetics|phenetic]] method of [[mass lexical comparison|multilateral comparison]], [[Joseph Greenberg]] (2000) found a family consisting of Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic and a separate family consisting of Korean, Japanese, and Ainu.

== Urheimat ==

[[Image:Kyzyl orkhon inscription.jpg|thumb|right|120px|[[Old Turkic language|Old Turkic]] inscription with the [[Orkhon script]] (c. 8th century). [[Kyzyl]], [[Russia]]]]

Altaic languages in their diversity show a great depth, probably going back deep into the [[Mesolithic]] or even [[Upper Paleolithic]] period in Central Asia, following the disappearance of the [[Mansiyskoe lake]], or, as it is still named, the West Siberian lake, which occupied practically the whole territory of the west Siberian flatlands up to the foothills of the Kuznetsk Alatau and Altai. With the Late Glacial warming, up to the Atlantic Phase of the Post-Glacial Optimum, Mesolithic groups moved northwards into this area from the Hissar (6000-4000 BCE) and Keltiminar (5500-3500 BCE) cultures, which introduced the [[bow and arrow]] and the hunting [[dog]], within what [[Kent Flannery]] has called the "broad-spectrum revolution". The Keltiminar culture practised a mobile hunting, gathering, fishing, and over time, an introduced stockbreeding seasonal-round subsistence system while inhabiting the semi-desert, desert, and deltaic areas of the Kara and Kyzyl Kum deserts, and the lower Amu Darya and Zeravshan rivers. <ref>Whitney Coolidge, Jennifer "Southern Turkmenistan in the Neolithic: A Petrographic case study" (Oxbow Books)</ref>

The spread of the [[Karasuk culture]], and the appearance of northern Mongol [[Dinlin]] elements has been equated with the spread of what has been called the later "micro-Altaic" group. Their anthropological type is of a basic Europoid group with admixture of Mongoloids. Karasuk people lived in permanent settlements in frame-type houses. The economy was complex; they bred large-horned livestock, horses, and sheep. In the Karasuk period they developed a high level of bronze metallurgy. Characteristic of the Karasuk culture are extensive cemeteries. Tombs are fenced with stone slabs laid on crest. The Karasuk culture is a result of migration of eastern part of Dinlins, and had an influence as far as the Ordos region of China and across into Manchuria and northern Korea. The split between the Turkic and Mongolian languages, it is proposed, was the last division within the Proto-Altaic group, and it has been suggested that this occurred just prior to the [[Xiongnu]] period of Central Asian history.

==Reconstructed phonology==

Based on the proposed correspondences listed below, the following [[phoneme]] inventory has been reconstructed for the [[Protolanguage|Proto]](-Macro)-Altaic language (taken from Blažek's [2006] summary of the newest Altaic etymological dictionary [Starostin et al. 2003] and transcribed into the [[help:IPA|IPA]]:

===Consonants===

{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" |
! [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar or dental]]
! [[Alveolo-palatal consonant|Alveolopalatal]]
! [[Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]
! &nbsp;[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]&nbsp;
! &nbsp;&nbsp;[[Velar consonant|Velar]]&nbsp;&nbsp;
|- align="center"
! rowspan="3" | [[Stop consonant|Plosives]]
| [[Aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]]
| {{IPA|/pʰ/}}
| {{IPA|/tʰ/}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA|/kʰ/}}
|- align="center"
| [[voiceless]]
| {{IPA|/p/}}
| {{IPA|/t/}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA|/k/}}
|- align="center"
| [[Voiced consonant|voiced]]
| {{IPA|/b/}}
| {{IPA|/d/}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA|/g/}}
|- align="center"
! rowspan="3" | [[Affricate consonant|Affricates]]
| [[Aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]]
|
|
|
| {{IPA|/t͡ʃʰ/}}
|
|
|- align="center"
| [[voiceless]]
|
|
|
| {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}}
|
|
|- align="center"
| [[Voiced consonant|voiced]]
|
|
|
| {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}}
|
|
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative consonant|Fricatives]]
| [[voiceless]]
|
| {{IPA|/s/}}
|
| {{IPA|/ʃ/}}
|
|
|- align="center"
| [[Voiced consonant|voiced]]
|
| {{IPA|/z/}}¹
|
|
|
|
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasals]]
| {{IPA|/m/}}
| {{IPA|/n/}}
| {{IPA|/nʲ/}}
|
|
| {{IPA|/ŋ/}}
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" | [[Trill consonant|Trills]]
|
| {{IPA|/r/}}²
| {{IPA|/rʲ/}}
|
|
|
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant consonant|Approximants]]
|
| {{IPA|/l/}}
| {{IPA|/lʲ/}}
|
| {{IPA|/j/}}²
|
|}

¹ This phoneme only occurred at the beginnings of words.

² These phonemes only occurred in the interior of words.

===Vowels===

{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|- align="center"
| [[Roundedness|unrounded]]
| colspan="2" | [[Roundedness|rounded]]
|- align="center"
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| /i/
| &nbsp;&nbsp;/y/&nbsp;&nbsp;
| /u/
|- align="center"
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| /e/
| /ø/
| /o/
|- align="center"
! [[Near-open vowel|Near-open]]
| /æ/
|
|
|- align="center"
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="3" | /a/
|}

It is not clear whether /æ/, /ø/, /y/ were [[monophthong]]s as shown here (presumably {{IPA|[æ œ~ø ʏ~y]}}) or [[diphthong]]s ({{IPA|[i̯a~i̯ɑ i̯ɔ~i̯o i̯ʊ~i̯u]}}); the evidence is equivocal. In any case, however, they only occurred in the first (and sometimes only) syllable of any word.

Every vowel occurred in long and short versions which were different [[phoneme]]s in the first syllable.

===Prosody===

As reconstructed by Starostin et al. (2003), Proto-Altaic was a [[pitch accent]] or [[Tone (linguistics)|tone]] language; at least the first, and probably every, syllable could have very high or very low pitch.

==Sound correspondences==

If a Proto(-Macro)-Altaic language really existed, it should be possible to reconstruct regular sound correspondences between that [[protolanguage]] and its descendants; such correspondences would make it possible to distinguish [[cognate]]s from [[loanword]]s (in many cases). Such attempts have repeatedly been made. The latest and (so far) most successful version is reproduced here, taken from Blažek's (2006) summary of the newest Altaic etymological dictionary (Starostin et al. 2003) and transcribed into the [[help:IPA|IPA]].

When a Proto-Altaic phoneme developed differently depending on its position in a word (beginning, interior, or end), the special case (or all cases) is marked with a hyphen; for example, Proto-Altaic {{IPA|/pʰ/}} disappears (marked "0") or becomes /j/ at the beginning of a Turkic word and becomes /p/ elsewhere in a Turkic word.

===Consonants===

Only single consonants are considered here. In the middle of words, clusters of two consonants were allowed in Proto-Altaic as reconstructed by Starostin et al. (2003); the correspondence table of these clusters spans almost 7 pages in their book (83–89), and most clusters are only found in one or a few of the reconstructed roots.

{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
! Proto-Altaic
! Proto-Turkic
! Proto-Mongolic
! Proto-Tungusic
! Proto-Korean
! Proto-Japonic
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/pʰ/}}
| {{IPA|0-¹, /j/-, /p/}}
| {{IPA|/h/-}}²{{IPA|, /j/-, -/b/-, -/h/-}}²{{IPA|, -/b/}}
| {{IPA|/p/}}
| {{IPA|/p/}}
| {{IPA|/p/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/tʰ/}}
| {{IPA|/t/-, /d/-}}³{{IPA|, /t/}}
| {{IPA|/t/, /t͡ʃ/}}⁴{{IPA|, -/d/}}
| {{IPA|/t/}}
| {{IPA|/t/}}
| {{IPA|/t/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/kʰ/}}
| {{IPA|/k/}}
| {{IPA|/k/-, -/k/-, -/g/-⁵, -/g/}}
| {{IPA|/x/-, /k/, /x/}}
| {{IPA|/k/, /h/}}
| {{IPA|/k/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/p/}}
| {{IPA|/b/}}
| {{IPA|/b/-, /h/-}}²{{IPA|, /b/}}
| {{IPA|/p/-, /b/}}
| {{IPA|/p/}}
| {{IPA|/p/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/t/}}
| {{IPA|/d/-, /t/}}
| {{IPA|/t/, /t͡ʃ/}}⁴
| {{IPA|/d/-, /d͡ʒ/-}}⁶{{IPA|, /t/}}
| {{IPA|/t/, -/r/-}}
| {{IPA|/t/-, /d/-, /t/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/k/}}
| {{IPA|/k/-, /k/, /g/}}⁷
| {{IPA|/k/-, /g/}}
| {{IPA|/k/-, /g/-, /g/}}
| {{IPA|/k/-, -/h/-, -0-, -/k/}}
| {{IPA|/k/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/b/}}
| {{IPA|/b/}}
| {{IPA|/b/-, -/h/-, -/b/-⁸, -/b/}}
| {{IPA|/b/}}
| {{IPA|/p/, -/b/-}}
| {{IPA|/p/-, /w/, /b/⁹, /p/¹⁰}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/d/}}
| {{IPA|/j/-, /d/}}
| {{IPA|/d/, /d͡ʒ/}}⁴
| {{IPA|/d/}}
| {{IPA|/t/, -/r/-}}
| {{IPA|/d/-, /t/-, /t/, /j/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/g/}}
| {{IPA|/g/}}
| {{IPA|/g/-, -/h/-, -/g/-⁵, -/g/}}
| {{IPA|/g/}}
| {{IPA|/k/, -/h/-, -0-}}
| {{IPA|/k/-, /k/, 0¹¹}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/t͡ʃʰ/}}
| {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}}
| {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}}
| {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}}
| {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}}
| {{IPA|/t/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}}
| {{IPA|/d/-, /t͡ʃ/}}
| {{IPA|/d/-, /d͡ʒ/-}}⁴{{IPA|, /t͡ʃ/}}
| {{IPA|/s/-, -/d͡ʒ/-, -/s/-}}
| {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}}
| {{IPA|/t/-, -/s/-}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}}
| {{IPA|/j/}}
| {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}}
| {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}}
| {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}}
| {{IPA|/d/-, /j/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/s/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
| {{IPA|/s/-, /h/-, /s/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/ʃ/}}
| {{IPA|/s/-, /t͡ʃ/-¹², /s/}}
| {{IPA|/s/-, /t͡ʃ/-¹², /s/}}
| {{IPA|/ʃ/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/z/}}
| {{IPA|/j/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/m/}}
| {{IPA|/b/-, -/m/-}}
| {{IPA|/m/}}
| {{IPA|/m/}}
| {{IPA|/m/}}
| {{IPA|/m/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/n/}}
| {{IPA|/j/-, -/n/-}}
| {{IPA|/n/}}
| {{IPA|/n/}}
| {{IPA|/n/}}
| {{IPA|/n/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/nʲ/}}
| {{IPA|/j/-, /nʲ/}}
| {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/-, /j/, /n/}}
| {{IPA|/nʲ/}}
| {{IPA|/n/-, /nʲ/}}
| {{IPA|/m/-, /n/, /m/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/ŋ/}}
| {{IPA|0-, /j/-, /ŋ/}}
| {{IPA|0-, /j/-, /g/-¹³, /n/-¹⁴, /ŋ/, /n/, /m/, /h/}}
| {{IPA|/ŋ/}}
| {{IPA|/n/-, /ŋ/, 0}}
| {{IPA|0-, /n/-, /m/-⁶, /m/, /n/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/r/}}
| {{IPA|/r/}}
| {{IPA|/r/}}
| {{IPA|/r/}}
| {{IPA|/r/}}
| {{IPA|/r/, /t/¹⁵}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/rʲ/}}
| {{IPA|/rʲ/}}
| {{IPA|/r/}}
| {{IPA|/r/}}
| {{IPA|/r/}}
| {{IPA|/r/, /t/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/l/}}
| {{IPA|/j/-, /l/}}
| {{IPA|/n/-, /l/-, /l/}}
| {{IPA|/l/}}
| {{IPA|/n/-, /r/}}
| {{IPA|/n/-, /r/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/lʲ/}}
| {{IPA|/j/-, /lʲ/}}
| {{IPA|/d/-, /d͡ʒ/-}}⁴{{IPA|, /l/}}
| {{IPA|/l/}}
| {{IPA|/n/-, /r/}}
| {{IPA|/n/-, /s/}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/j/}}
| {{IPA|/j/}}
| {{IPA|/j/, /h/}}
| {{IPA|/j/}}
| {{IPA|/j/, 0}}
| {{IPA|/j/, 0}}
|}

* ¹ The [[Khalaj language]] has /h/ instead. (It also retains a number of other archaisms.) However, it has also added /h/ in front of words for which no initial consonant (except in some cases /ŋ/, as expected) can be reconstructed for Proto-Altaic; therefore, and because it would make them dependent on whether Khalaj happens to have preserved any given root, Starostin et al. (2003:26–28) have not used Khalaj to decide whether to reconstruct an initial {{IPA|/pʰ/}} in any given word and have not reconstructed a /h/ for Proto-Turkic even though it was probably there.
* ² The [[Monguor language]] has /f/ here instead (Kaiser & Shevoroshkin 1988); it is therefore possible that Proto-Mongolian also had /f/ which then became /h/ (and then usually disappeared) in all descendants except Monguor. Tabgač and [[Khitan language|Kitan]], two extinct Mongolic languages not considered by Starostin et al. (2003), even preserve /p/ in these places (Blažek 2006).
* ³ This happened when the next consonant in the word was {{IPA|/lʲ/}}, {{IPA|/rʲ/}}, or {{IPA|/r/}}.
* ⁴ In front of /i/.
* ⁵ When the next consonant in the word was /h/.
* ⁶ When followed by /æ/, /ø/, /y/.
* ⁷ When the next consonant in the word was /r/.
* ⁸ When the preceding consonant was {{IPA|/r/}}, {{IPA|/rʲ/}}, {{IPA|/l/}}, or {{IPA|/lʲ/}}, or when the next consonant was /g/.
* ⁹ When the following vowel was /a/, /ə/, or followed by /j/.
* ¹⁰ When followed by /i/ and then another vowel, or by /j/.
* ¹¹ When preceded by a vowel preceded by /i/.
* ¹² When followed by /a/.
* ¹³ When followed by /u/.
* ¹⁴ When followed by /a/, /o/, or /e/.
* ¹⁵ When followed by /i/ or /u/.

===Vowels===

[[Vowel harmony]] is pervasive in Altaic languages: most Turkic and Mongolic as well as some Tungusic languages have it, Korean is arguably in the process of losing its traces, and it is (controversially) hypothesized for Old Japanese. (Vowel harmony is also typical of the neighboring [[Uralic languages]] and was often counted among the arguments for the [[Ural-Altaic languages|Ural-Altaic hypotheses]].) Nevertheless, Starostin et al. (2003) reconstruct Proto-Altaic as lacking vowel harmony. Instead, according to them, vowel harmony originated in each daughter branch as assimilation of the vowel in the first syllable to the vowel in the second syllable (which was usually modified or lost later). "The situation therefore is very close, e.g., to [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] [see [[Germanic umlaut]]] or to the [[Nakh languages]] in the Eastern Caucasus, where the quality of non-initial vowels can now only be recovered on the basis of umlaut processes in the first syllable." (Starostin et al. 2003:91) The table below is taken from Starostin et al. (2003):

{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" | Proto-Altaic
! Proto-Turkic
! Proto-Mongolic
! Proto-Tungusic
! Middle Korean
! Proto-Japonic
|- align="center"
! first s.
! second s.
! colspan="5" | first syllable
|- align="center"
! /a/
! /a/
| /a/, /a/¹, {{IPA|/ʌ/}}¹
| /a/
| /a/
| /a/, /e/
| /a/
|- align="center"
! /a/
! /e/
| /a/, {{IPA|/ɯ/}}
| /a/, /i/
| /a/
| /a/, /e/
| /ə/
|- align="center"
! /a/
! /i/
| {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, /a/
| /a/, /e/
| /a/
| /a/, /e/, /i/
| /i/
|- align="center"
! /a/
! /o/
| /o/, /ja/, /aj/
| /a/, /i/, /e/
| /a/
| /ə/, /o/
| /a/
|- align="center"
! /a/
! /u/
| /a/
| /a/, /o/, /u/
| /a/
| /a/, /ə/, /o/, /u/
| /u/
|- align="center"
! /e/
! /a/
| {{IPA|/a/, /ʌ/, /ɛ/}}
| /a/, /e/
| /e/
| /a/, /e/
| /a/
|- align="center"
! /e/
! /e/
| /ja/-, {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, /e/²
| /e/, /ja/
| /e/
| /a/, /e/, /i/, {{IPA|/ɨ/}}
| /ə/
|- align="center"
! /e/
! /i/
| /ja/-, /ɛ/, /e/²
| /e/, /i/
| /e/
| /i/, {{IPA|/ɨ/}}, /a/, /e/
| /i/
|- align="center"
! /e/
! /o/
| /ʌ/, /e/
| /a/, /e/, /y/³, /ø/³
| /e/
| /ə/, /o/, /u/
| /ə/, /a/
|- align="center"
! /e/
! /u/
| {{IPA|/ɛ/, /a/, /ʌ/}}
| /e/, /a/, /o/³
| /e/
| /o/, /u/, /a/
| /u/
|- align="center"
! /i/
! /a/
| {{IPA|/ɯ/}}, /i/
| /i/
| /i/
| /a/, /e/
| /a/
|- align="center"
! /i/
! /e/
| {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, /e/²
| /e/, /i/
| /i/
| /i/, {{IPA|/ɨ/}}
| /i/
|- align="center"
! /i/
! /i/
| /i/
| /i/, /e/¹
| /i/
| /i/
| /i/
|- align="center"
! /i/
! /o/
| {{IPA|/ɯ/}}
| /i/
| /i/
| /o/, /u/, {{IPA|/ɨ/}}
| /i/, /ə/
|- align="center"
! /i/
! /u/
| {{IPA|/ɯ/}}, /i/
| /i/
| /i/
| /i/, {{IPA|/ɨ/}}
| /u/
|- align="center"
! /o/
! /a/
| /o/
| /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/
| /a/, /e/
| /a/
|- align="center"
! /o/
! /e/
| /ø/, /o/
| /ø/, /y/, /o/
| /o/, /u/
| {{IPA|/ɨ/}}, /o/, /u/
| /ə/
|- align="center"
! /o/
! /i/
| /ø/, /o/
| /ø/
| /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/
| /u/
|- align="center"
! /o/
! /o/
| /o/
| /u/
| /o/, /u/
| /a/, /e/
| /ə/
|- align="center"
! /o/
! /u/
| /o/
| /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/
| /ə/, /o/, /u/
| /u/
|- align="center"
! /u/
! /a/
| /u/, /o/
| /a/, /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/
| /a/, /e/
| /a/
|- align="center"
! /u/
! /e/
| /y/
| /o/, /u/, /y/
| /u/
| /a/, /e/
| /ua/, /a/¹
|- align="center"
! /u/
! /i/
| /y/, /u/
| /y/, /ø/
| /u/
| /o/, /u/, {{IPA|/ɨ/}}
| /u/
|- align="center"
! /u/
! /o/
| /u/
| /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/, {{IPA|/ɨ/}}
| /ə/
|- align="center"
! /u/
! /u/
| /u/
| /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/
| /u/
|- align="center"
! /æ/
! /a/
| /ia/, /ja/, {{IPA|/ɛ/}}
| /a/
| /ia/, /i/⁴
| /ə/, /a/³
| /a/
|- align="center"
! /æ/
! /e/
| /ia/, /ja/
| /i/, /a/, /e/
| /i/
| /i/, /e/, /je/
| /ə/
|- align="center"
! /æ/
! /i/
| /ia/, /ja/, {{IPA|/ɛ/}}
| /i/, /e/
| /ia/, /i/⁴
| /ə/, /e/, /je/
| /i/
|- align="center"
! /æ/
! /o/
| /ia/, /ja/, /a/¹
| /e/
| /o/, /u/
| /ə/, /o/, /u/
| /a/
|- align="center"
! /æ/
! /u/
| /e/, /a/, {{IPA|/ʌ/}}¹
| /a/, /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/, /e/, /je/
| /u/
|- align="center"
! /ø/
! /a/
| /ia/, /ja/, /a/¹
| /a/, /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/, /ə/
| /a/
|- align="center"
! /ø/
! /e/
| /e/, /a/, {{IPA|/ʌ/}}¹
| /e/, /ø/
| /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/, /je/
| /ə/, /u/
|- align="center"
! /ø/
! /i/
| /ia/, /ja/, /a/¹
| /i/, /e/, /ø/
| /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/, /ə/
| /i/
|- align="center"
! /ø/
! /o/
| /o/, /u/
| /ø/, /y/, /o/, /u/
| /i/
| /i/, /e/, /je/
| /ə/, /a/
|- align="center"
! /ø/
! /u/
| /u/, /o/
| /e/, /i/, /u/
| /ia/, /i/⁴
| /ə/, /u/, /je/
| /u/
|- align="center"
! /y/
! /a/
| {{IPA|/ɯ/}}
| /o/, /u/, /i/
| /o/, /u/
| /a/, /e/
| /a/
|- align="center"
! /y/
! /e/
| /y/, /ø/, /i/²
| /ø/, /y/, /o/, /u/
| /y/, /u/¹
| /a/, /e/, /ja/, /je/, /o/, /u/
| /u/, /ə/
|- align="center"
! /y/
! /i/
| /y/, /ø/
| /ø/, /y/, /o/, /u/
| /i/, /u/¹
| {{IPA|/ɨ/}}, /i/, /o/, /u/
| /i/
|- align="center"
! /y/
! /o/
| /u/, /o/
| /o/, /u/
| /y/
| /a/, /e/, /ja/, /je/, /o/, /u/
| /u/, /ə/
|- align="center"
! /y/
! /u/
| {{IPA|/ɯ/}}
| /i/, /o/, /u/, /y/, /ø/
| /o/, /u/
| /o/, /u/, /i/, {{IPA|/ɨ/}}
| /u/
|}

* ¹ When preceded by a bilabial consonant.
* ² When followed by a trill, /l/, or {{IPA|/lʲ/}}.
* ³ When preceded or followed by a bilabial consonant.
* ⁴ When preceded by a fricative ({{IPA|/s/, /ʃ/, /x/}}).

===Prosody===

Length and pitch in the first syllable evolved as follows according to Starostin et al. (2003), with the caveat that it is not clear which pitch was high and which was low in Proto-Altaic (Starostin et al. 2003:135). For simplicity of input and display every syllable is symbolized as "a" here:

{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
! Proto-Altaic
! Proto-Turkic
! Proto-Mongolic
! Proto-Tungusic
! Proto-Korean
! Proto-Japonic
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|á}}
| {{IPA|a}}
| {{IPA|a}}¹
| {{IPA|a}}
| {{IPA|à}}²
| {{IPA|á}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|à}}
| {{IPA|a}}
| {{IPA|a}}
| {{IPA|a}}
| {{IPA|á}}
| {{IPA|à}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|áː}}
| {{IPA|aː}}
| {{IPA|a}}¹
| {{IPA|a}}
| {{IPA|à}}²
| {{IPA|á}}
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|àː}}
| {{IPA|a}}
| {{IPA|a}}
| {{IPA|aː}}
| {{IPA|á}}
| {{IPA|à}}
|}

* ¹ "Proto-Mongolian has lost all traces of the original prosody except for voicing *p > *b in syllables with original high pitch" (Starostin et al. 2003:135).
* ² "[…] several secondary metatonic processes happened […] in Korean, basically in the verb subsystem: all verbs have a strong tendency towards low pitch on the first syllable." (Starostin et al. 2003:135)

==Morphological correspondences==

Because grammar is less easily borrowed than words, grammar is usually considered stronger evidence for language relationships than vocabulary. Starostin et al. (2003) have reconstructed the following correspondences between the case and number [[suffix]]es (or [[clitic]]s) of the (Macro-)Altaic languages (taken from Blažek, 2006):

{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
! colspan="6" | Case
|- align="center"
! Proto-Altaic
! Proto-Turkic (*), Old Turkic
! Proto-Mongolic (*), Classical Mongolian
! Proto-Tungusic
! Proto-Korean (*), Middle Korean
! Proto-Japonic (*), Old Japanese
|- align="center"
! [[Nominative case|nominative]]: 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
|- align="center"
! [[Accusative case|accusative]]: {{IPA|/be/}}
|
|
| {{IPA|/ba/, /be/
|
| {{IPA|/wo/}}
|- align="center"
! [[Partitive case|partitive]]: {{IPA|/ga/}}
| {{IPA|-/ʁ/, -/ɯʁ/, -/g/, -/ig/}}
| *{{IPA|-/ʁ/}} (accusative)
| {{IPA|/ga/}}
|
| {{IPA|/ga/}} (possessive)
|- align="center"
! [[Genitive case|genitive]]: {{IPA|-/nʲV/}}
| {{IPA|-/ŋ/}}
| *{{IPA|-/n/}}
| {{IPA|-/ŋi/}}
| {{IPA|-/nʲ/}}
| {{IPA|/no/}}
|- align="center"
! [[Dative case|dative]]-[[Locative case|locative]]: {{IPA|/du/, /da/}}
| {{IPA|-/ta/, -/da/, -/te/, -/de/}} (locative-ablative)
| {{IPA|-/da/ (dative-locative), -/du/ ([[Attributive case|attributive]])
| {{IPA|/du/ (dative), -/daː/- (locative)}}
|
| {{IPA|-/tu/}} (attributive-locative)
|- align="center"
! dative-[[Instrumental case|instrumental]]: {{IPA|-/nV/}}
| {{IPA|-/n/, -/ɯn/, -/in/}} (instrumental)
|
|
|
| {{IPA|/ni/}} (dative-locative)
|- align="center"
! dative-[[Directive case|directive]]: {{IPA|-/kʰV/}}
| {{IPA|-/qa/, -/ke/}} (dative)
|
| {{IPA|/kiː/}} (directive)
|
|
|- align="center"
! [[Comitative case|comitative]]-locative: {{IPA|-/lV/}}
| {{IPA|-/li/, -/lɯʁ/}}
|
| {{IPA|/laː/ (locative), -/liː/ ([[Prolative case|prolative]]), -/luʁa/ (comitative)}}
| {{IPA|-/ro/}} (instrumental-[[Lative case|lative]])
|
|- align="center"
! comitative-[[Equative case|equative]]: {{IPA|-/t͡ʃʰa/}}
| {{IPA|-/t͡ʃa/, -/t͡ʃe/}} (equative)
| {{IPA|/t͡ʃa/}} (ablative), {{IPA|/t͡ʃa/, /t͡ʃaʁa/}} (terminative)
|
|
| {{IPA|/to/}} (comitative)
|- align="center"
! [[Allative case|allative]]: {{IPA|-/gV/}}
| {{IPA|-/ʁaru/, -/gery/}} (directive)
| *{{IPA|-/ʁa/, -/a/}}
| {{IPA|/giː/}} (allative)
| {{IPA|-/ei/}}
|
|- align="center"
! directive: {{IPA|-/rV/}}
| {{IPA|-/ʁaru/, -/gery/}}
| {{IPA|-/ru/}}
|
| {{IPA|-/ro/}} (lative)
|
|- align="center"
! instrumental-ablative: {{IPA|-/d͡ʒV/}}
| *{{IPA|?-/ja/, -/a/}} terminal dative
|
| {{IPA|/d͡ʒi/}}
|
| {{IPA|/ju/}} (ablative)
|- align="center"
! [[Singulative case|singulative]]: {{IPA|-/nV/}}
|
| *{{IPA|-/n/}}
| {{IPA|-/n/}}
|
|
|- align="center"
! colspan="6" | Number
|- align="center"
! [[dual]]: {{IPA|-/rʲV/}}
| *{{IPA|-/rʲ/}} (plural for paired objects)
|
| {{IPA|-/r/}} (plural)
|
| *{{IPA|-/rə/}} (plural for paired objects)
|- align="center"
! plural: {{IPA|-/tʰ/-}}
| *{{IPA|-/t/}}
| {{IPA|-/d/}}
| {{IPA|-/ta/, -/te/, -/tan/, -/ten/}}
| *{{IPA|-/tɨr/}}
| *{{IPA|-/tati/}}
|- align="center"
! plural: {{IPA|-/s/-}}
|
| *{{IPA|-/s/}}
| {{IPA|-/sal/}}
|
|
|- align="center"
! plural: {{IPA|-/l/-}}
| *{{IPA|-/lar/}}
| *{{IPA|-/nar/}}
| {{IPA|-/l/, -/sal/}}
|
| *{{IPA|-/ra/}}
|}

/V/ symbolizes an uncertain vowel. Suffixes reconstructed for Proto-Turkic, Proto-Mongolic, Proto-Korean, or Proto-Japonic, but not attested in Old Turkic, Classical Mongolian, Middle Korean, or Old Japanese are marked with asterisks.

== Selected cognates ==
===Personal pronouns===

[[Personal pronoun]]s are seldom borrowed between languages{{Fact|date=April 2007}}. Therefore the many correspondences between Altaic pronouns found by Starostin et al. (2003) could be rather strong evidence for the existence of Proto-Altaic. The table below is taken (with slight modifications) from Blažek (2006) and transcribed into IPA.

{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
!
! Proto-Altaic
! Proto-Turkic
! Proto-Mongolic (*), Classical Mongolian
! Proto-Tungusic
! Proto-Korean (*), Middle Korean
! Proto-Japonic
|- align="center"
! "I" (nominative)
! {{IPA|/bì/}}
| {{IPA|/be/}}
| *{{IPA|/bi/}}
| {{IPA|/bi/}}
|
| {{IPA|/bà/}}
|- align="center"
! "me" ([[oblique case]]s)
! {{IPA|/mine/-}}
| {{IPA|/men/}}
| *{{IPA|/min/-}}
| {{IPA|/min/-}}
|
|
|- align="center"
! "I"
! {{IPA|/ŋa/}}
|
| *{{IPA|/nad/-, -/m/-}} (oblique)
|
| {{IPA|/nà/}}
| {{IPA|/a/-}}
|- align="center"
! "[[thou]]" (nominative)
! {{IPA|/si/ and/or /tʰi/}}
| {{IPA|/se/}}
| *{{IPA|/t͡ʃi/}}
| {{IPA|/si/}}
|
| {{IPA|/si/}}
|- align="center"
! "[[Thou|thee]]" (oblique cases)
! {{IPA|/sin/- and/or /tʰin/-}}
| {{IPA|/sen/}}
| ?*{{IPA|/t͡ʃin/-}}
|
|
|
|- align="center"
! "thou"
! {{IPA|/ná/}}
| {{IPA|-/ŋ/}}
|
|
| *{{IPA|/nè/}}
| {{IPA|/ná/}}
|- align="center"
! "we" (nominative)
! {{IPA|/bà/}}
| {{IPA|/bi-rʲ/}}
| *{{IPA|/ba/}}
| {{IPA|/bue/}}
| {{IPA|/ú-rí/}}
| {{IPA|/bà/}}
|- align="center"
! "us" (oblique cases)
! {{IPA|/myn/-}}
|
| *{{IPA|/man/-}}
| {{IPA|/myn/-}}
|
|
|- align="center"
! "ye" (nominative)
! {{IPA|/sV/ and/or /tʰV/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
| *{{IPA|/ta/}}
| {{IPA|/suː/}}
|
|
|- align="center"
! "you" (oblique)
! {{IPA|/sVn/-}}
|
|
| {{IPA|/sun/-}}
|
|
|}

As above, forms not attested in Classical Mongolian or Middle Korean but reconstructed for their ancestors are marked with an asterisk, and /V/ represents an uncertain vowel.

===Numerals and related words===

In the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European family]], the [[numerals]] are remarkably stable. Therefore shared numerals are often considered good evidence for language relationships{{Fact|date=June 2007}}. The Altaic numerals are less stable than the Indo-European ones, but nevertheless Starostin et al. (2003) reconstruct them as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
! Proto-Altaic meaning
! Proto-Altaic
! Proto-Turkic
! Proto-Mongolic
! Proto-Tungusic
! Proto-Korean
! Proto-Japonic
|- align="center"
! 1
! /byri/
| /bir/
| /byri/ "all, each"
|
| {{IPA|/pìrɨ́/}} "at first"
| /pitə/
|- align="center"
! single
! /nøŋe/
| {{IPA|/jaŋɯrʲ/}}
| /nige/ '''"1"'''
| /noŋ/~/non/ "be the first, begin"
|
| /nəmi/ "only"
|- align="center"
! front
! /emo/
| /øm-gen/ "upper part of breast"
| /emy/-
| /emu/~/ume/ '''"1"'''
|
|
|- align="center"
! single, one of a pair
! {{IPA|/sǿna/}}
| {{IPA|/sɯŋar/}} "one of a pair"
| /son-du-/ "odd"
| ¹
| {{IPA|/hə̀nàh/}} '''"1"'''
| /sa/- "together, reciprocally"
|- align="center"
! 2
! /tybu/
| ²
| {{IPA|/d͡ʒiw-rin/~/d͡ʒui-rin/ "2 (feminine)"³
| {{IPA|/d͡ʒube/}}
| {{IPA|/tuː/, /tuː-rh/}}⁴
|
|- align="center"
! pair, couple
! {{IPA|/pʰø̀kʰe/}}
| /eki/ '''"2"''', {{IPA|/ekirʲ/}} "twins"; ?{{IPA|/(j)ɛgir-mi/}} "20"
| /(h)ekire/ "twins"
|
|
|
|- align="center"
! different, other
! /gojV/
|
| /gojar/ '''"2"'''
| /goj/~/gia/
|
| /kía/
|- align="center"
! pair, half
! {{IPA|/put͡ʃʰu/}}
| {{IPA|/but͡ʃ-uk/}}
|
|
| {{IPA|/pt͡ʃa-k/}}
| /puta/- '''"2"'''
|- align="center"
! 3
! /ŋy/
| {{IPA|/o-turʲ/}} "30"⁵
| /gu-rban/; {{IPA|/gu-t͡ʃin/}} "30"
|
| ⁶
| /mi/-⁷
|- align="center"
! ^{(footnote 8)}
! /ìlù/
| /øløŋ/⁹
|
| /ila-n/ '''"3"'''
|
| /ùrù-pu/ "bissextile (year or month)"
|- align="center"
! object consisting of 3 parts
! /séjra/
|
| {{IPA|/sere-ʁe/}} "trident, pitchfork"
|
| {{IPA|/seːi(h)/}} '''"3"'''
| /sárápi/ "rake, pitchfork"
|- align="center"
! 4
! {{IPA|/toːjV/}}
| {{IPA|/døː-rt/}}
| /dø-rben/; {{IPA|/dø-rt͡ʃin/}} "40"¹⁰
| /dy-gin/
|
| /də/-
|- align="center"
! 5
! {{IPA|/tʰu/}}
|
| /ta-bun/; /ta-bin/ "50"¹¹
| {{IPA|/tu-nʲga/}}
| /tà/-
| /i-tu-/¹²
|- align="center"
! 6
! {{IPA|/nʲu/}}
|
| {{IPA|/d͡ʒi-rgu-/}}; {{IPA|/d͡ʒi-ran/}} "60"¹³
| {{IPA|/nʲu-ŋu-/}}
| ¹⁴
| /mu/-
|- align="center"
! 7
! {{IPA|/nadi/}}¹⁵
| /jeti/
| {{IPA|/dolu-ʁan/}}; /dala-n/ "70"¹⁵
| /nada-n/
| /nìr-(kúp)/
| /nana/-
|- align="center"
! 8
! {{IPA|/d͡ʒa/}}
|
|
| {{IPA|/d͡ʒa-pkun/}}
| /jè-t-/ ¹⁶
| /da/-
|- align="center"
! 9
! {{IPA|/kʰegVnV/}}
|
|
| /xegyn/
|
| /kəkənə/
|- align="center"
! 10
! {{IPA|/t͡ʃøbe/}} or /tøbe/
|
|
| {{IPA|/d͡ʒuba-n/}}
|
| /təwə/¹⁷
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" | many, a big number
! {{IPA|/d͡ʒøːrʲo/}}
| {{IPA|/jyːrʲ/}} "100"
|
| ¹⁸
| /jér(h)/ '''"10"'''
| {{IPA|/də̀rə̀/-}} "10,000"
|- align="center"
! {{IPA|/pʰVbV/}}
| {{IPA|/oː-n/}} '''"10"'''
| /ha-rban/ '''"10"''', /ha-na/ "all"
| ¹⁹
|
| -/pə/, -/pua/ "-00"²⁰
|- align="center"
! 20
! {{IPA|/kʰyra/}}
| {{IPA|/gɯrk/ or /kɯrk/}} "40"²¹
| /kori-n/
| /xori-n/
|
| /pata-ti/²²
|- align="center"
! 100
! {{IPA|/nʲàmò/}}
| ?/jom/ "big number, all"
| {{IPA|/d͡ʒaʁu-n/}}²³
| {{IPA|/nʲamaː/}}
|
| {{IPA|/muàmuà/}}
|- align="center"
! 1000
! {{IPA|/t͡ʃỳmi/}}
| /dymen/ or /tymen/ "10,000"²⁴
|
|
| {{IPA|/t͡ʃɨ̀mɨ̀n/}}
| /ti/
|}

* ¹ [[Manchu language|Manchu]] /soni/ "single, odd".
* ² [[Bulgar language|Old Bulgarian]] /tvi-rem/ "second".
* ³ [[Khitan language|Kitan]] has {{IPA|/t͡ʃur/}} '''"2"''' (Blažek 2006).
* ⁴ {{IPA|-/uː/-}} is probably a contraction of -/ubu/-.
* ⁵ The /y/- of {{IPA|/yt͡ʃ/}} "3" "may also reflect the same root, although the suffixation is not clear." (Starostin et al. 2003:223)
* ⁶ Compare [[Silla]] /mir/ "3" (Blažek 2006).
* ⁷ Compare [[Goguryeo language|Goguryeo]] /mir/ "3" (Blažek 2006).
* ⁸ "third (or next after three = fourth)", "consisting of three objects"
* ⁹ "song with three out of four verses rhyming (first, second and fourth)"
* ¹⁰ Kitan has /dur/ '''"4"''' (Blažek 2006).
* ¹¹ Kitan has /tau/ '''"5"''' (Blažek 2006).
* ¹² "(the prefixed i- is somewhat unclear: it is also used as a separate word meaning ‘fifty’, but the historical root here is no doubt ''*tu-'')" (Starostin et al. 2003:223). – Blažek (2006) also considers Goguryeo *{{IPA|/ut͡s/}} '''"5"''' (from */uti/) to be related.
* ¹³ Kitan has /nir/ '''"6"''' (Blažek 2006).
* ¹⁴ Middle Korean has {{IPA|/je-(sɨs)/}} "6", which may fit here, but the required loss of initial {{IPA|/nʲ/-}} "is not quite regular" (Starostin et al. 2003:224).
* ¹⁵ The Mongolian forms "may suggest an original proto-form" {{IPA|/lʲadi/}} or /ladi/ "with [[dissimilation]] or [[metathesis]] in" Proto-Mongolic (Starostin et al. 2003:224). – Kitan has /dol/ '''"7"'''.
* ¹⁶ "Problematic" (Starostin et al. 2003:224).
* ¹⁷ Compare Goguryeo /tok/ "10" (Blažek 2006).
* ¹⁸ Manchu {{IPA|/d͡ʒiri/, /d͡ʒirun/}} "a very big number".
* ¹⁹ [[Orok language|Orok]] {{IPA|/poːwo/}} "a bundle of 10 squirrels", [[Nanai language|Nanai]] {{IPA|/poã/}} "collection, gathering".
* ²⁰ "Hundred" in names of hundreds.
* ²¹ Starostin et al. (2003) suspect this to be a reduplication: {{IPA|/kɯr-kɯr/}} "20 + 20".
* ²² /kata-ti/ would be expected; Starostin et al. (2003) think that this irregular change from /k/ to /p/ is due to influence from "2" /puta-tu/.
* ²³ From {{IPA|/nʲam-ŋu-/}}.
* ²⁴ Also see [[Tumen]].

===Others===

The following table is a brief selection of further proposed [[cognate]]s in basic vocabulary across the Altaic family (from Starostin et al. [2003]).

{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
! Proto-Altaic meaning
! Proto-Altaic
! Proto-Turkic
! Proto-Mongolic
! Proto-Tungusic
! Proto-Korean
! Proto-Japonic
|- align="center"
! breast
! {{IPA|/kòkʰè/}}
| {{IPA|/køky-rʲ/}}¹
| /køkø-n/²
| /kuku-n/²
| /kokajŋi/ "pith; medulla; core"
| /kəkə-rə/¹ "heart"
|- align="center"
! stone
! {{IPA|/tǿːlʲì/}}
| {{IPA|/diaːlʲ/}}
| {{IPA|/t͡ʃila-ʁu/}}
| {{IPA|/d͡ʒola/}}
| {{IPA|/toːrh/}}³
| {{IPA|/(d)ísì/}}
|- align="center"
! neck
! {{IPA|/móːjno/}}
| {{IPA|/boːjn/
|
| {{IPA|/moŋa-n/}}
| /mje-k/
| /nəmpV/
|- align="center"
! star
! {{IPA|/pʰǿlʲo/}}
| {{IPA|/jul-durʲ/}}
| /ho-dun/
|
| {{IPA|/pjɨːr/}}
| {{IPA|/pə́sí/}}
|- align="center"
! eye
! {{IPA|/næ̀ː/}}
|
| /ni-dy/
| /n{{IPA|ʲ}}ia-sa/⁴
| /nú-n/
| /mà/-
|- align="center"
! that
! {{IPA|/tʰa/}}
| /di/- or /ti/-
| /te-re/
| /ta/
| /tjé/
|
|}

* ¹ Contains the Proto-Altaic dual suffix {{IPA|-/rʲV/}}: "both breasts" – "chest" – "heart".
* ² Contains the Proto-Altaic singulative suffix -/nV/: "one breast".
* ³ Compare [[Baekje]] */turak/ "stone" (Blažek 2006).
* ⁴ This is disputed by Georg (2004), who states: "The traditional Tungusological reconstruction ''*yāsa'' [ = {{IPA|/jaːsa/}}] cannot be replaced by the nasal-initial one espoused here, needed for the comparison."<ref>{{cite journal |author=Georg, S. |year=2004 |title=[Review of Starostin et al. 2003] |journal=Diachronica |volume=21 |pages=445–450}}</ref> However, Starostin (2005)<ref name="Star3">{{cite journal |author=Starostin, S. |year=2005 |title=Response to Stefan Georg's review of the ''Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages'' |journal=Diachronica |volume=22 |pages=451–457}}</ref> mentions evidence from several Tungusic languages cited by Starostin et al. (2003). Georg (2005)<ref name="Geor3">{{cite journal |author=Georg, S. |year=2005 |title=[reply to Starostin 2005] |journal=Diachronica |volume=22 |pages=455–457}}</ref> does not accept this, referring to Georg (1999/2000)<ref name="Geor4">{{cite journal |author=Georg, S. |year=1999/2000 |title=Haupt und Glieder der Altaischen Hypothese: Die Körperteilbezeichnungen im Türkischen, Mongolischen und Tungusischen [Head and members of the Altaic Hypothesis: the body-part designations in Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic] |journal=Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher N. F. |volume=16 |pages=143–182}}</ref> and an upcoming paper. By that time, Starostin was already dead (Starostin 2005 was published posthumously).

== Literature ==

*Blažek, V.: [http://www.phil.muni.cz/linguistica/art/blazek/bla-004.pdf "Current Progress in Altaic Etymology"], ''Linguistica Online'' 30 January 2006 (pdf).
*Doerfer, G.: ''Grundwort und Sprachmischung: Eine Untersuchung an Hand von Körperteilbezeichnungen (Münchener Ostasiatische Studien 47)'', Franz-Steiner-Verlag, 1988.
*Georg, S.: "Reply [to Starostin 2005]", ''Diachronica'' 22(2):455–457, 2005.
*Greenberg, J.H.: ''Indo-European and Its Closest Relatives: The Eurasiatic Language Family, Volume 1: Grammar'', Stanford University Press, 2000.
*Kortlandt, F.: [http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications/art125e.pdf "The origin of the Japanese and Korean accent systems"], ''Acta Linguistica Hafniensia'' 26 (1993): 57–65.
*Miller, R.A.: ''Languages and history. Japanese, Korean and Altaic'', Inst. for Comparative Research in Human C, 1996, ISBN 974-8299-69-4.
*Ruhlen, M.: ''A Guide to the World's Languages'', Stanford University Press (1987).
*Starostin, S.A., Dybo, A.V., Mudrak, O.A.: ''Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages'', Brill Academic Publishers, June 2003. ISBN 90-04-13153-1.
*Starostin, S.A.: "Response to Stefan Georg's review of the ''Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages''", ''Diachronica'' 22(2):451–454, 2005.
*LINGUIST Mailing List, 18 Aug 1994, Reinhard F. Hahn.
*Dybo, A.V., Starostin, G.S..: [http://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/compmeth.pdf "In Defense of the Comparative Method, or the End of the Vovin Controversy"], "Aspects of Comparative Linguistics", v. 3: 109-258, Moscow: RSUH Publishers, 2008.

== Further reading ==

*Sinor, D. (1990). ''Essays in comparative Altaic linguistics''. Bloomington, Ind: Indiana University, Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies. ISBN 0933070268.
*Poppe, N. N. (1965). ''Introduction to Altaic linguistics''. Ural-altaische Bibliothek, 14. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz.

== References and notes ==

{{reflist}}

== See also ==

*[[Language family]]
*[[Altay language]] (a Turkic language)
*[[Classification of the Japanese language]]
*[[Nostratic languages]]

== External links ==

*[http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=config&morpho=0&basename=\data\alt\altet Starling Databases: ''Altaic etymology'' section]
*[http://altaica.narod.ru/Engl.htm/ Monumenta Altaica - Altaic Linguistics]
*[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570647_5/Language.html Language] article from [[Encarta]]
*[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90009 Ethnologue]

{{Altaic languages}}

[[Category:Altai]]
[[Category:Altaic languages| ]]

[[ar:ألطية]]
[[ast:Familia altaica]]
[[az:Altay dil ailəsi]]
[[be-x-old:Алтайскія мовы]]
[[br:Yezhoù altaek]]
[[bg:Алтайски езици]]
[[ca:Llengües altaiques]]
[[cs:Altajské jazyky]]
[[de:Altaische Sprachen]]
[[el:Αλταϊκές γλώσσες]]
[[es:Lenguas altaicas]]
[[fa:زبان‌های آلتایی]]
[[fr:Langues altaïques]]
[[ko:알타이어족]]
[[hsb:Altajske rěče]]
[[io:Altaika linguaro]]
[[id:Bahasa Altai]]
[[it:Lingue altaiche]]
[[kk:Алтай тілдері]]
[[ku:Zimanên altayî]]
[[la:Linguae Altaicae]]
[[lij:Lengue altaiche]]
[[lt:Altajaus kalbos]]
[[hu:Altaji nyelvcsalád]]
[[mn:Алтай хэлний бүлэг]]
[[nl:Altaïsche talen]]
[[ja:アルタイ諸語]]
[[no:Altaiske språk]]
[[nn:Altaiske språk]]
[[oc:Lengas altaïcas]]
[[pl:Języki ałtajskie]]
[[pt:Línguas altaicas]]
[[ro:Limbi altaice]]
[[ru:Алтайские языки]]
[[sk:Altajské jazyky]]
[[sl:Altajski jeziki]]
[[sh:Altajski jezici]]
[[fi:Altailaiset kielet]]
[[sv:Altaiska språk]]
[[vi:Hệ ngôn ngữ Altai]]
[[tr:Altay dilleri]]
[[uk:Алтайські мови]]
[[bat-smg:Altajous kalbas]]
[[zh:阿尔泰语系]]