Tocharian script

Infobox Writing system
name=Tocharian script
type=Abugida
languages=Tocharian language
time=8th century
fam1=Proto-Canaanite alphabet
fam2=Phoenician alphabet
fam3=Aramaic alphabet
fam4=Brāhmī script
sisters=Gupta, Pallava
children=
iso15924 =
sample=Tocharian.jpg
imagesize=250px

The Tocharian language is documented in manuscript fragments, mostly from the 8th century (with a few earlier ones) that were written on palm leaves, wooden tablets and Chinese paper, preserved by the extremely dry climate of the Tarim Basin. Samples of the language have been discovered at sites in Kucha and Karasahr, including many mural inscriptions.

Tocharian A and B are not intercomprehensible. Properly speaking, based on the tentative interpretation of "twqry" as related to "Tokharoi", only Tocharian A may be referred to as "Tocharian", while Tocharian B could be called "Kuchean" (its native name may have been "kuśiññe"), but since their grammars are usually treated together in scholarly works, the terms A and B have proven useful. A common Proto-Tocharian language must precede the attested languages by several centuries, probably dating to the 1st millennium BC. Given the small geographical range of and the lack of secular texts in Tocharian A, it might alternatively have been a liturgical language, the relationship between the two being similar to that between Classical Chinese and Mandarin. It must be noted however that the lack of a secular corpus in Tocharian A is by no means definite, due to the fragmentary preservation of Tocharian texts in general.

The alphabet the Tocharians were using is derived from the Brahmi alphabetic syllabary (abugida) and is referred to as "slanting Brahmi". It soon became apparent that a large proportion of the manuscripts were translations of known Buddhist works in Sanskrit and some of them were even bilingual, facilitating decipherment of the new language. Besides the Buddhist and Manichaean religious texts, there were also monastery correspondence and accounts, commercial documents, caravan permits, and medical and magical texts, and one love poem. Many Tocharians embraced Manichaean duality or Buddhism.

In 1998, Chinese linguist Ji Xianlin published a translation and analysis of fragments of a Tocharian Maitreyasamiti-Nataka discovered in 1974 in Yanqi. [" [http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/01/29/fragments_of_the_tocharian/index.html Fragments of the Tocharian] ", Andrew Leonard, "How the World Works", Salon.com, January 29, 2008] , [" [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0041-977X%281999%2962%3A2%3C367%3AFOTTAM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage Review of 'Fragments of the Tocharian A Maitreyasamiti-Nataka of the Xinjiang Museum, China. In Collaboration with Werner Winter and Georges-Jean Pinault by Ji Xianlin'] ", J. C. Wright, "Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies", University of London, Vol. 62, No. 2 (1999), pp. 367-370] , [" [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/3110149044 Fragments of the Tocharian a Maitreyasamiti-Nataka of the Zinjiang Museum, China] ", Ji Xianlin, Werner Winter, Georges-Jean Pinault, "Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs"]

Tocharian script probably died out after 840, when the Uyghurs were expelled from Mongolia by the Kyrgyz, retreating to the Tarim Basin. This theory is supported by the discovery of translations of Tocharian texts into Uyghur. During Uyghur rule, the peoples mixed with the Uyghurs to produce much of the modern population of what is now Xinjiang.

References

External links

* [http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/database/titusinx/tochvb.asp Conjugation tables for Tocharian A and B]
* [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tocharian.htm Tocharian alphabet (from Omniglot)]
* TITUS: Tocharian [http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/didact/idg/toch/tochbr.htm alphabets] & [http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/tocharic/tht.htm Manuscripts from the Berlin Turfan Collection]
* [http://www.oxuscom.com/eyawtkat.htm Mark Dickens, 'Everything you always wanted to know about Tocharian']
* [http://www.wordgumbo.com/ie/cmp/toch.htm A Tocharian-to-English dictionary with nearly 200 words]
* [http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/tokol-0-X.html Tocharian Online] from the University of Texas at Austin
* [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tocharian.htm Tocharian alphabet.]
* [http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/didact/idg/toch/tochbr.htm Tocharian alphabet]
* [http://www.wordgumbo.com/ie/cmp/toch.htm Modern studies are developing a Tocharian dictionary.]
* [http://www.oxuscom.com/eyawtkat.htm Mark Dickens, 'Everything you always wanted to know about Tocharian'.]
* [http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-1362674044731979808&q=tocharians&total=10&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2 "Mysterious Mummies of China"] by Nova on Google Video