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Quantitative Characteristics of Vowels in the Turkic Languages of Altai in Correlation with the Phonetic Context. Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2026. Issue 2 (52). P. 33-48

The article presents the results of a comparative analysis of the distribution of quantitative vowel characteristics across phonetic contexts in the Turkic languages of Altai. The study was conducted using a complex experimental phonetic method based on bisyllabic word forms from the Altai, Tuba, and Kumandy languages. The analysis identified two oppositely directed tendencies in the positional-combinatorial variation of vocal length, influenced by the syllabic structure of the word form, the nature of its vocal axis, and the type of intersyllabic consonant elements. In bisyllabic words with a heterogeneous vocal axis (wide–narrow) and an open first syllable, the wide vowel of the first syllable is lengthened to varying degrees, followed by a syllable with a narrow vowel separated from the first syllable by a noisy voiced or sonorous consonant. For the first time, in all the languages studied, the elongation of the narrow labialized soft vowel ӱ in the first open syllable of structures with narrow vowels in both syllables was recorded, contrary to the predicted lengthening of vowels at the end of the word form. The explanation for the spread in the Turkic languages of the pattern of positional elongation, previously characteristic only of wide vowels, to narrow vowels should be sought in the articulatory features of narrow rounded vowels in modern languages, rooted in the ancient Turkic state.

Keywords: Turkic Languages of Altai, experimental phonetics, vocalism, quantitative characteristics, positional duration