Pecheneg

Pecheneg 

(Petcheneg), the language of the Pechenegs. Many researchers assign Pecheneg to the Kipchak group of Turkic languages because the phonetic features of Pecheneg are similar to those of Kipchak. Similarities include the development of [g] to [j] and finally to [0] and the development of [γ] to [w], both changes taking place in the middle and at the end of words; the change of [a] to [a] under the influence of following [j] and [č]; the narrowing of [ä] to [e] and [e] to [í] in initial syllables; and the indeterminate distribution of labial vowels in initial syllables.

Mahmud Kaşgari refers to Pechenegs among the Oghuz clans and notes similar features in the Pecheneg, Bulgar, and Suvar languages. Among these features were the shortening of ends of words (loss of [γ]?), a [z] in medial and final word position, where other Turkic dialects had [δ] and [j]; and the participle ending in -asy. The Soviet scholar N. A. Baskakov includes Pecheneg in the Oghuz-Bulgar subgroup of the Oghuz group of Turkic languages. Byzantine, Hungarian, and Slavic sources record the names of Pecheneg tribes and clans, proper names, titles, and some toponyms.

REFERENCES

Shcherbak, A. M. “Znaki na keramike i kirpichakh iz Sarkela-Beloi Vezhi (K voprosu o iazyke i pis’mennosti pechenegov).” In Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii SSSR, no. 75. Moscow-Leningrad, 1959.
Baskakov, N. A. Vvedenie v izuchenie tiurkskikh iazykov, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1969.
Németh, J. Die Inschriften des Schatzes von Nagy-Szent-Miklos, appendix 1: Die Sprache der Petschenegen und Komanen. Budapest-Leipzig, 1932.
Györffy, G. “Monuments du lexique petchénègue.” In Acta Orientalia, vol. 18, fasc. 1–2. Budapest, 1965.

L. S. LEVITSKAIA