View source for Saka language

{{Short description|Extinct Eastern Iranic language spoken from 100 BC to 1,100 AD}}
{{For|the Northern Turkic language spoken in the Republic of Sakha|Yakut language{{!}}Sakha language}}
{{Distinguish|Makhuwa language|Scythian languages}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Saka
| altname          = Khotanese, Tumshuqese
| nativename       = 
| states           = [[Kingdom of Khotan]], [[Tumxuk|Tumshuq]], Murtuq, [[Shule Kingdom]],<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Mallory |first=J. P. |date=2010 |title=Bronze Age Languages of the Tarim Basin |url=http://penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/52-3/mallory.pdf |magazine=Expedition |publisher=Penn Museum |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=44–53 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109090710/https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/52-3/mallory.pdf |archive-date=9 January 2021 |access-date=16 March 2013}}</ref> and [[Indo-Scythians|Indo-Scythian Kingdom]]
| region           = [[Tarim Basin]] ([[Xinjiang]], [[China]])
| ethnicity        = [[Saka]]
| era              = 100 BC – 1,000 AD
|speakers2=developed into [[Wakhi language|Wakhi]]<ref>{{Cite book |title=Early contacts between Uralic and Indo-European: linguistic and archaeological considerations: papers presented at an international symposium held at the Tvärminne Research Station of the University of Helsinki, 8-10 January, 1999 |date=2001 |publisher=Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura |isbn=978-952-5150-59-9 |editor-last=Parpola |editor-first=Asko |series=Suomalais-ugrilaisen Seuran toimituksia |location=Helsinki |editor-last2=Koskikallio |editor-first2=Petteri}}</ref>
| ref              = 
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
| fam3             = [[Iranian languages|Iranian]]
| fam4             = [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranian]]
| fam5             = [[Scythian languages|Scythian]]
| script           = [[Brahmi script|Brahmi]], [[Kharosthi]]
| dia1             = Khotanese
| dia2             = Tumshuqese
| dia3             = Kanchaki?
| iso2             = kho
| lc1              = kho
| ld1              = Khotanese
| lc2              = xtq
| ld2              = Tumshuqese
| linglist         = kho
| lingname         = (Khotanese)
| linglist2        = xtq
| lingname2        = (Tumshuqese)
| glotto           = saka1298
| glottorefname    = Saka
| image            = Khotanese animal zodiac BLI6 OR11252 1R2 1.jpg
| imagecaption     = Khotanese animal zodiac BLI6 OR11252 1R2 1
}}

{{Indo-European}}[[File:Khotanese Verses BLE4 IOLKHOT50 4R1 1.jpg|thumb|Khotanese Verses BLE4 IOLKHOT50 4R1 1]]
[[File:Book of Zambasta BLX3542 OR9614 5R1 1.jpg|thumb|Book of Zambasta BLX3542 OR9614 5R1 1]]

'''Saka''', or '''Sakan''', was a variety of [[Eastern Iranian languages]], attested from the ancient [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Khotan|Khotan]], [[Kingdom of Shule|Kashgar]] and [[Tumxuk|Tumshuq]] in the [[Tarim Basin]], in what is now southern [[Xinjiang]], China. It is a [[Middle Iranian languages|Middle Iranian language]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Saka Language |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/518606/Saka-language |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407004002/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/518606/Saka-language |archive-date=2014-04-07 |access-date=2012-10-26 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> The two kingdoms differed in [[dialect]], their speech known as '''Khotanese''' and '''Tumshuqese'''.

The Saka rulers of the western regions of the [[Indian subcontinent]], such as the [[Indo-Scythians]] and [[Western Satraps]], are traditionally assumed to have spoken practically the same language.<ref name="DD350">{{Cite book |last=Diringer |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.57042/page/n351/mode/2up |title=The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind |date=1953 |publisher=Hutchinson's Scientific and Technical Publications |edition=Second and revised |location=London |page=350 |language=en |orig-date=1948}}</ref> This has however been questioned by more recent research.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Michaël Peyrot |title=Farnah. Indo-Iranian and Indo-European Studies in Honor of Sasha Lubotsky |date=2018 |publisher=Beech Stave Press |location=Ann Arbor, N.Y. |url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2952729/view |access-date=14 November 2024 |chapter=Tocharian B etswe ‘mule’ and Eastern East Iranian |quote="In sum, the evidence that the Saka language [of North India] is Khotanese or an earlier form of it is weak. Many of the features are found in other languages as well, and it is known from other sources that non-Khotanese Iranians found their way to northern India. In any case, the large number of Indic elements in Khotanese is no proof "daß das 'Nordarisch' sprechende Volk längere Zeit auf indischem Boden saß" (Lüders 1913), since there is ample evidence that instead speakers of Middle Indian migrated into the Tarim Basin."}}</ref>

Documents on wood and paper were written in modified [[Brahmi script]] with the addition of extra characters over time and unusual conjuncts such as ''ys'' for ''z''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bailey |first=H. W. |date=1970 |title=Saka Studies: The Ancient Kingdom of Khotan |journal=Iran |language=en |volume=8 |pages=65–72 |doi=10.2307/4299633 |jstor=4299633}}</ref> The documents date from the fourth to the eleventh century. Tumshuqese was more archaic than Khotanese,<ref>{{Cite book |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia |date=1992 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=92-3-103211-9 |location=Paris |pages=283 |language=en}}</ref> but it is much less understood because it appears in fewer manuscripts compared to Khotanese. The Khotanese dialect is believed to share features with the modern [[Wakhi language|Wakhi]] and [[Pashto]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Frye |first1=R.N. |title=The History of Ancient Iran |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofancient0000frye |url-access=registration |date=1984 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofancient0000frye/page/192 192]|publisher=C.H.Beck |isbn=9783406093975 |quote=[T]hese western Saka he distinguishes from eastern Saka who moved south through the Kashgar-Tashkurgan-Gilgit-Swat route to the plains of the sub-continent of India. This would account for the existence of the ancient Khotanese-Saka speakers, documents of whom have been found in western Sinkiang, and the modern Wakhi language of Wakhan in Afghanistan, another modern branch of descendants of Saka speakers parallel to the Ossetes in the west.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bailey |first1=H.W. |title=The culture of the Sakas in ancient Iranian Khotan |date=1982 |publisher=Caravan Books |pages=7–10 |quote=It is noteworthy that the Wakhi language of Wakhan has features, phonetics, and vocabulary the nearest of Iranian dialects to Khotan Saka.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Carpelan |first1=C. |last2=Parpola |first2=A. |last3=Koskikallio |first3=P. |title=Early Contacts Between Uralic and Indo-European: Linguistic and Archaeological Considerations: Papers Presented at an International Symposium Held at the Tvärminne Research Station of the University of Helsinki, 8–10 January, 1999 |journal=Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura |date=2001 |volume=242 |page=136 |quote=...descendants of these languages survive now only in the Ossete language of the Caucasus and the Wakhi language of the Pamirs, the latter related to the Saka once spoken in Khotan.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|quote=It is, however, possible that the original home of Paṣ̌tō may have been in Badaḵšān, somewhere between Munǰī and Sangl. and Shugh., with some contact with a Saka dialect akin to Khotanese.|title=Encolypedia Iranica, AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṣ̌tō|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan-vi-pasto}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Indo-Iranica|publisher=Iran Society|year=1946|location=Kolkata, India|pages=173–174|quote=... and their language is most closely related to on the one hand with Saka on the other with Munji-Yidgha}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bečka|first=Jiří|title=A Study in Pashto Stress|publisher=Academia|year=1969|pages=32|quote=Pashto in its origin, is probably a Saka dialect.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Cheung|first=Jonny|title=Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb|publisher=(Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series)|year=2007}}</ref> Saka was known as "Hvatanai" (from which the name [[Khotan]]) in contemporary documents.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bailey |first=H. W. |date=1939 |title=The Rāma Story in Khotanese |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |language=en |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=460–468 |doi=10.2307/594480 |jstor=594480}}</ref> Many [[Prakrit]] terms were borrowed from Khotanese into the [[Tocharian languages]].

== Classification ==
Khotanese and Tumshuqese are closely related [[Eastern Iranian languages]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Emmerick |first=Ronald |title=The Iranian Languages |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |editor-last=Windfuhr |editor-first=Gernot |location=London |pages=377–415 |chapter=Khotanese and Tumshuqese}}</ref>

The unusual phonological development of Proto-Iranian ''*ću̯'' to Khotanese ''śś'' sets the latter apart from most other Iranian languages (which usually have ''sp'' or a product thereof). Similarities with [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]] exist but could be due to parallel developments or areal features.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Michaël Peyrot |title=Farnah. Indo-Iranian and Indo-European Studies in Honor of Sasha Lubotsky |date=2018 |publisher=Beech Stave Press |location=Ann Arbor, N.Y. |url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2952729/view |access-date=14 November 2024 |pages=270–283 |chapter=Tocharian B etswe ‘mule’ and Eastern East Iranian}}</ref>

== History ==
{{Main|Saka}}
The two known dialects of Saka are associated with a movement of the [[Scythians]]. No invasion of the region is recorded in Chinese records and one theory is that two tribes of the [[Saka]], speaking the two dialects, settled in the region in about 200 BC before the Chinese accounts commence.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bailey |first=H. W. |date=1970 |title=Saka Studies: The Ancient Kingdom of Khotan |journal=Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=68 |doi=10.2307/4299633 |jstor=4299633}}</ref>

Michaël Peyrot (2018) rejects a direct connection with the "Saka" (塞) of the Chinese [[Hanshu]], who are recorded as having immigrated in the 2nd century BC to areas further west in Xinjiang, and instead connects Khotanese and Tumshuqese to the long-established [[Aqtala culture|Aqtala]] culture (also Aketala, in [[pinyin]]) which developed since ca. 1000 BC in the region.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Michaël Peyrot |title=Farnah. Indo-Iranian and Indo-European Studies in Honor of Sasha Lubotsky |date=2018 |publisher=Beech Stave Press |location=Ann Arbor, N.Y. |url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2952729/view |access-date=14 November 2024 |pages=270–283 |chapter=Tocharian B etswe ‘mule’ and Eastern East Iranian}}</ref>

The Khotanese dialect is attested in texts between the 7th and 10th centuries, though some fragments are dated to the 5th and 6th centuries. The far more limited material in the Tumshuqese dialect cannot be dated with precision, but most of it is thought to date to the late 7th or the 8th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Emmerick |first=Ronald E. |title=The Iranian Languages |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-79704-1 |editor-last=Windfuhr |editor-first=Gernot |pages=377–415 |language=en |chapter=7. Khotanese and Tumshuqese |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QtpQZ1DD6tEC&q=tumshuqese+century&pg=PA377}}</ref><ref>{{Iranica|buddhism-iii}}</ref>

The Saka language became extinct after invading Turkic Muslims conquered the [[Kingdom of Khotan]] in the [[Islamicisation and Turkicisation of Xinjiang]].

In the 11th century, it was remarked by [[Mahmud al-Kashgari]] that the people of Khotan still had their own language and script and did not know Turkic well.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kocaoğlu |first=Timur |date=2004 |title=Diwanu Lugatı't-Turk and Contemporary Linguistics |url=http://journals.manas.edu.kg/mjtc/oldarchives/2004/17_781-2049-1-PB.pdf |journal=MANAS Journal of Turkic Civilization Studies |language=en |volume=1 |pages=165–169 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519050601/http://journals.manas.edu.kg/mjtc/oldarchives/2004/17_781-2049-1-PB.pdf |archive-date=2020-05-19 |access-date=2016-08-22}}</ref><ref name="LeviSela2010">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAX5ohFkcVgC&q=yabaqu&pg=PA72 |title=Islamic Central Asia: An Anthology of Historical Sources |date=2010 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-35385-6 |editor-last=Levi |editor-first=Scott Cameron |location=Bloomington |pages=72– |language=en |editor-last2=Sela |editor-first2=Ron}}</ref> According to Kashgari some non-Turkic languages like the Kanchaki and [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]] were still used in some areas.<ref name="LeviSela2010 2">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAX5ohFkcVgC&pg=PA72 |title=Islamic Central Asia: An Anthology of Historical Sources |date=2010 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-35385-6 |editor-last=Levi |editor-first=Scott Cameron |pages=72– |language=en |editor-last2=Sela |editor-first2=Ron}}</ref> It is believed that the Saka language group was what Kanchaki belonged to.<ref name="DaniLitvinsky1996">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&pg=PA283 |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Crossroads of Civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750 |date=1996 |publisher=UNESCO Publishing |isbn=978-92-3-103211-0 |pages=283– |language=en}}</ref> It is believed that the Tarim Basin became linguistically Turkified by the end of the 11th century.<ref name="Akiner2013">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udjWAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 |title=Cultural Change and Continuity in Central Asia |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-15034-0 |editor-last=Akiner |editor-first=Shirin |location=London |pages=71– |language=en}}</ref>

== Old Khotanese phonology ==
=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Hitch |first=Douglas |title=The Old Khotanese Metanalysis |date=2016 |access-date= |type= |publisher=Harvard University |url=https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/33493273 |oclc= |chapter= |docket=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Emmerick |first1=R. E. |title=A Chinese text in Central Asian Brahmi script: new evidence for the pronunciation of Late Middle Chinese and Khotanese |last2=Pulleyblank |first2=E. G. |date=1993 |publisher=Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente |location=Roma |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Maggi |first=M. |date=2022 |title=Some remarks on the history of the Khotanese orthography and the Brāhmī script in Khotan |journal=Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University |language=en |volume=25 |pages=149–172}}</ref>
! colspan="3" |
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Dental consonant|Dental]]/[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Retroflex]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]/
[[Postalveolar consonant|postalveolar]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="3" |[[Plosive]]
! rowspan="2" |<small>Voiceless</small>
!<small>Unaspirated</small>
|''p'' {{IPAslink|p}}
|''tt'', ''t'' {{IPAslink|t}}
|''ṭ'' {{IPAslink|ʈ}}
|
|''k'' {{IPAslink|k}}
|(''t'', ''g'' {{IPAblink|ʔ}}){{efn|name = c|From older ð and ɣ}}
|-
!<small>Aspirated</small>
|''ph'' {{IPAslink|pʰ}}
| ''th'' {{IPAslink|tʰ}}
|''ṭh'' {{IPAslink|ʈʰ}}
|
|''kh'' {{IPAslink|kʰ}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" |<small>Voiced</small>
| ''b'' {{IPAslink|b}}
|''d'' {{IPAslink|d}}
|''ḍ'' {{IPAslink|ɖ}}
|
| ''gg'' {{IPAslink|ɡ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="3" |[[Affricate]]
! rowspan="2" |<small>Voiceless</small>
!<small>Unaspirated</small>
|
|''tc'' {{IPAslink|ts}}
|''kṣ'' {{IPA|/ʈʂ/}}
|''c'', ''ky'' {{IPAslink|tʃ}}
|
|
|-
!<small>Aspirated</small>
|
|''ts'' {{IPAslink|tsʰ}}
|
|''ch'' {{IPAslink|tʃʰ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |<small>Voiced</small>
|
|''js'' {{IPAslink|dz}}
|
|''j'', ''gy'' {{IPAslink|dʒ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="3" |[[Fricative]]
! colspan="2" |<small>Non-Sibilant</small>
|
|''t'' {{IPAslink|ð}} (later > ʔ)
|
|
| ''g'' {{IPAslink|ɣ}} (later > ʔ)
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |<small>Sibilant</small>
!<small>Voiceless</small>
|
|''s'' {{IPAslink|s}}
|''ṣṣ'', ''ṣ'' {{IPAslink|ʂ}}
|''śś'', ''ś'' {{IPAslink|ʃ}}
|
|''h'' {{IPAslink|h}}
|-
!<small>Voiced</small>
|
|''ys'' {{IPAslink|z}}
|''ṣ'' {{IPAslink|ʐ}}
|''ś'' {{IPAslink|ʒ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="3" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|''m'' {{IPAslink|m}}
|''n'', ''ṃ'', ''ṅ'' {{IPAslink|n}}
|''ṇ'' {{IPAslink|ɳ}}
|''ñ'' {{IPAslink|ɲ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Approximant]]
! colspan="2" |<small>Central</small>
|''v'' {{IPAslink|w}} <br /> ''hv'' {{IPAslink|wʰ}}, {{IPAslink|hʷ}}
|''rr'', ''r'' {{IPAslink|ɹ}}
|''r'' {{IPAslink|ɻ}}
|''y'' {{IPAslink|j}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |<small>Lateral</small>
|
|''l'' {{IPAslink|l}}
|
|
|
|
|}

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:60%"
!Khotanese <br>Transliteration<ref>{{cite thesis |last= Hitch|first= Douglas|date= 2016|title= The Old Khotanese Metanalysis|type= |chapter= |publisher= Harvard University|docket= |oclc= |url= https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/33493273|access-date=}}</ref>
![[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] Phonemic
!IPA Phonetic
|-
|''a''
|{{IPA|/a/}}
|{{IPA|[a]}}
|-
|''ā''
|{{IPA|/a:/}}
|{{IPA|[a:]}}
|-
|''i''
|{{IPA|/i/}}
|{{IPA|[i]}}
|-
|''ī''
|{{IPA|/i:/}}
|{{IPA|[i:]}}
|-
|''u''
|{{IPA|/u/}}
|{{IPA|[u]}}
|-
|''ū''
|{{IPA|/u:/}}
|{{IPA|[u:]}}
|-
|''ä''
|{{IPA|/ə/}}
|{{IPA|[ə]}}
|-
|''e''
|{{IPA|/e:/}}{{efn|name = a|In non-final positions}}
|{{IPA|[æ~æ:]}}{{efn|name = b|Mostly in final positions}}
|-
|''o''
|{{IPA|/o:/}}{{efn|name = a}}
|{{IPA|[o~o:]}}{{efn|name = b}}
|-
|''ai''
|{{IPA|/ai̯/}}
|
|-
|''au''
|{{IPA|/au̯/}}
|
|-
|''ei''
|{{IPA|/ae̯/}}
|
|}

=== Sound changes ===
Khotanese was characterized by pervasive [[lenition]], developments of retroflexes and voiceless aspirated consonants.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/30130317|title=Einführung ins Ostmitteliranische|first=M. J.|last=Kümmel|year=2016}}</ref>
; Changes shared in common Sakan
* ''*ć'', ''*j́'' → ''s'', ''ys'', but ''*ćw'', ''*j́w'' → ''śś'', ''ś''
* ''*ft'', ''*xt'' → ''*βd'', ''*ɣd''
* Lenition of ''*b'', ''*d'', and ''*g'' → ''*β'', ''ð'', ''ɣ'' when initially or after vowels or ''*r''
* Nasals + voiceless consonants → nasals + voiced consonants (''*mp'', ''*nt'', ''*nč'', ''*nk'' → ''*mb'', ''*nd'', ''*nj'', ''*ng'')
* ''*ər'' (syllabic consonant) → ''*ur'' after labials ''*m'', ''*p'', ''*b'', ''*β''; then ''*ir'' or ''*ar'' elsewhere
* ''*rn'', ''*rm'' → ''rr''
* ''*sr'' → ''ṣ''
* ''*č'', ''*ǰ'' → ''tc'', ''js''
; Changes shared in East Sakan
* Nasals + voiced consonants → geminate nasals (''*mb'', ''*nd'' → ''*mm'', ''*nn'', but ''*ng'' remained)
* Questionable umlaut of ''*a'' into ''i'' and ''u'' before syllables with ''*i'' and ''*u'', respectively (''*masita'' → ''*misita'' → ''mista'' ~ ''mästa'' "big")
* Lenition of ''*p'', ''*t'', ''*č'', and ''*k'' → ''b'', ''d'', ''ǰ'', and ''g'' after vowels or ''*r''
* ''*f'', ''*x'' → ''*β'', ''*ɣ'' before consonants
* ''*ɣ'' → ''*i̯'' between vowels ''a'', ''i'' and a consonant (''*daxsa-'' → ''*daɣsa-'' → ''*daisa-'' → ''dīs-'' "to burn")
* ''*β'' → ''w''; ''*ð'', ''*ɣ'' → ''∅'' after vowels
* ''*rð'' → ''l''
* ''*f'', ''*θ'', ''*x'' → ''*h'' after vowels
* ''*w'', ''*j'' → ''*β'', ''*ʝ'' initially
* ''*f'', ''*θ'', ''*x'' → ''*β'', ''ð'', ''ɣ'' initially before ''*r'' (''θrayah'' → ''ðrayi'' → ''drai'' "three")
* Lengthening of stressed vowels before clusters ''*rC'' and ''*ST'' (sibilants + dentals) (''*sarta'' → ''*sārta'' → ''sāḍa'' "cold", ''*astaka'' → ''āstaa'' "bone" but not ''*aštā́'' → ''haṣṭā'' "eight").
** [[Compensatory lengthening]] of vowels, before clusters containing non-sibilant fricatives and ''*r'' (''*puhri'' → ''pūrä'' "son", ''darɣa'' → ''dārä'' "long"), however, ''-ir-'' and ''-ur-'' from earlier ''*ər'' were unaffected (''*mərɣa-'' → ''mura-'' "fowl").
* Reduction of internal unstressed short and long vowels (''*hámānaka'' → ''*haman<s>a</s>ka'' → ''hamaṅgä'')
* ''*uw'' → ''u''
* ''*β'', ''ð'', ''ʝ'', ''ɣ'' > ''b'', ''d'', ''ɟ'', ''g'' initially
* ''*f'', ''*θ'', ''*x'' → ''ph'', ''th'', ''kh'' (remaining instances)
* ''*rth'' → ''ṭh''; ''*rt'', ''*rd'' → ''ḍ''
* Lenition of ''b'', ''d'', ''g'' (from earlier voiceless consonants) → ''β'' (→ ''w''), ''ð'', ''ɣ'' after vowels or ''*r''
** ''ḍ'' also phonetically became ''ḷ'' or ''ṛ'' in this position.
* Palatalization of certain consonants:
{| class="wikitable"
! Earlier
! Later
|-
| ''*ky''
| ''c'', ''ky''
|-
| ''*gy''
| ''j'', ''gy''
|-
| ''*khy''
| ''ch''
|-
| ''*tcy''
| ''c''
|-
| ''*jsy''
| ''j''
|-
| ''*tsy''
| ''ch''
|-
| ''*ny''
| ''ñ'', ''ny''
|-
| ''*sy''
| ''śś''
|-
| ''*ysy''
| ''ś''
|-
| ''*st'', ''*ṣṭ''
| ''śt'', ''śc''
|}

== Texts ==
[[File:Dandan Uiliq Khotanese ms British Library Khot 4-1.jpeg|thumb|300px|Manuscript in [[Khotanese language|Khotanese]] from [[Dandan Oilik]], NE of Khotan. Now held in the British Library.]]
Other than an [[Issyk inscription|inscription]] from [[Issyk kurgan]] that has been tentatively identified as Khotanese (although written in [[Kharosthi]]), all of the surviving documents originate from Khotan or Tumshuq. Khotanese is attested from over 2,300 texts<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wilson |first=Lee |date=2015-01-26 |title=Preliminary Proposal to Encode the Khotanese Script |url=https://unicode.org/L2/L2015/15022-khotanese.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190614224436/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2015/15022-khotanese.pdf |archive-date=2019-06-14 |access-date=2019-05-21 |language=en |via=unicode.org}}</ref> preserved among the [[Dunhuang manuscripts]], as opposed to just 15 texts<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brāhmī |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/brahmi-indian-script |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517031654/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/brahmi-indian-script |archive-date=2019-05-17 |access-date=2019-05-21 |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica |language=en}}</ref> in Tumshuqese. These were deciphered by [[Harold Walter Bailey]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bailey, Harold Walter |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bailey-harold-walter-1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814100318/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/bailey-harold-walter-1 |archive-date=2021-08-14 |access-date=2019-05-21 |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica |language=en}}</ref> The earliest texts, from the fourth century, are mostly religious documents. There were several [[vihara]]s in the [[Kingdom of Khotan]] and Buddhist translations are common at all periods of the documents. There are many reports to the royal court (called ''haṣḍa aurāsa'') which are of historical importance, as well as private documents. An example of a document is {{IDP|Or.6400/2.3}}.

== See also ==
* [[Harold Walter Bailey]]
* [[Duan Qing]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
*{{Cite web |url=http://idp.bl.uk/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720084858/http://idp.bl.uk/ |archive-date=2011-07-20 |title=International Dunhuang Project |language=en}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Bailey |first=H. W. |date=1944 |title=A Turkish-Khotanese Vocabulary |url=http://altaica.ru/LIBRARY/2013/Bailey_1944.pdf |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |language=en |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=290–296 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00072475 |jstor=609315 |s2cid=163021887 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115231240/http://altaica.ru/LIBRARY/2013/Bailey_1944.pdf |archive-date=2013-01-15}}

== Further reading ==
{{Wiktionary|Khotanese}}
* {{Cite web |title="Prothetic H-" in Khotanese and the Reconstruction of Proto-Iranic |url=https://ia801704.us.archive.org/32/items/prag2020.pdf/prag2020.pdf.pdf|website=Martin Kümmel |publisher=Script and Reconstruction in Linguistic History―Univerzita Karlova v Praze, March 2020 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bailey |first=H. W. |title=Dictionary of Khotan Saka |date=1979 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |language=en}}
* {{Cite web |title=Iranian Languages |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/central-asia-xiii |website=Encyclopædia Iranica |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Emmerick |first1=R. E. |title=A Chinese text in Central Asian Brahmi script: new evidence for the pronunciation of Late Middle Chinese and Khotanese |last2=Pulleyblank |first2=E. G. |date=1993 |publisher=Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente |location=Roma |language=en}} (On connections between Chinese and Khotanese, such as loan words and pronunciations)
* {{Cite conference |last1=Litvinsky |first1=Boris Abramovich |last2=Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya |first2=M. I. |author-link2=Margarita Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya |date=1999 |title=Religions and Religious Movements |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |pages=421–448 |isbn=8120815408 |book-title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Maggi |first=M. |date=2022 |title=Some remarks on the history of the Khotanese orthography and the Brāhmī script in Khotan|journal=Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University |language=en |volume=25 |pages=149–172}}

{{Iranian languages}}
{{Languages of China}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]
[[Category:Eastern Iranian languages]]
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 11th century]]