Ruanruan (; also called Rouran) is an unclassified

extinct language An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, especially if the language has no living descendants. In contrast, a dead language is one that is no longer the native language of any community, even if it is still in use, l ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

and northern China, spoken in the Rouran Khaganate from the 4th to the 6th centuries AD, considered a likely early precursor to Mongolic. Peter A. Boodberg claimed in 1935 that the Ruanruan language was Mongolic by analysing Chinese transcriptions of Ruan-ruan names. Atwood (2013) notes that Rourans

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language w ...

d the Sogdian word ''pūr'' "son" into their language as *''k’obun'' (Chinese transliteration: 去汾 MC *''kʰɨʌ^H-bɨun'' >

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

''qùfén''); which, according to Atwood, is cognate with Middle Mongol ''kö'ün'' "son".

Alexander Vovin Alexander (Sasha) Vladimirovich Vovin (russian: Александр Владимирович Вовин; 27 January 1961 – 8 April 2022) was a Soviet-born Russian-American linguist and philologist, and director of studies at the School for Ad ...

noted that

Old Turkic Old Turkic (also East Old Turkic, Orkhon Turkic language, Old Uyghur) is the earliest attested form of the Turkic languages, found in Göktürk and Uyghur Khaganate inscriptions dating from about the eighth to the 13th century. It is the old ...

had borrowed some words from an unknown non-Altaic language that might have been Ruan-ruan, arguing that if so, the language would be non-

Altaic Altaic (; also called Transeurasian) is a controversial proposed language family that would include the Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic language families and possibly also the Japonic and Koreanic languages. Speakers of these languages are ...

language, unrelated to its neighbours and possibly a language isolate, though evidence was scant. In 2019, with the emergence of new evidence through the analysis of the '' Brāhmī Bugut'' and '' Khüis Tolgoi'', Vovin changed his view, suggesting Ruan-ruan was, in fact a

Mongolic language The Mongolic languages are a language family spoken by the Mongolic peoples in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Asia and East Asia, mostly in Mongolia and surrounding areas and in Kalmykia and Buryatia. The best-known member of this language ...

, close but not identical to

Middle Mongolian Middle Mongol or Middle Mongolian, was a Mongolic koiné language spoken in the Mongol Empire. Originating from Genghis Khan's home region of Northeastern Mongolia, it diversified into several Mongolic languages after the collapse of the empire ...

Pamela Kyle Crossley Pamela K Crossley (born 18 November 1955) is a historian of modern China, northern Asia, and global history and is the Charles and Elfriede Collis Professor of History, Dartmouth College. She is a founding appointment of the Dartmouth Society of ...

(2019) wrote that the Rouran language itself has remained a puzzle, and leading linguists consider it a possible isolate.

Phonology

Features of Ruan-ruan included: *no mid vowels *presence of initial ''l-'' *final consonantal cluster ''-nd'' unusual for any "Altaic" languages

Morphology

Ruan-ruan had the feminine gender suffix ''-tu-''.

Lexicon

Ruan-ruan vocabulary included: *''küskü'' – 'rat' *''ud'' – 'ox' *''luu'' – 'dragon' <

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...

''luŋ'' – 'dragon' *''yund'' – 'horse' < otk, 𐰖𐰆𐰣𐱃, yunt - 'horse' *''laγzïn'' – 'pig' *''qaγan'' – 'emperor' *''qan'' – 'khan' *''qaγatun'' – 'empress' *''qatun'' – 'khan's wife' *''aq'' – 'dung' *''and'' – 'oath' < otk, 𐰦, ant 'oath' *''beg'' – 'elder' *''bitig'' – 'inscription' *''bod'' – 'people' *''drö'' – 'law' *''küǰü'' – 'strength' < otk, 𐰚𐰇𐰲, küč 'strength, power' *''ordu'' – 'camp' *''tal-'' – 'to plunder' *''törö'' – 'to be born' *''türǖg'' – ' Turk'

References

{{Eurasian languages Unclassified languages of Asia Languages of China Medieval languages Extinct languages of Asia Rouran Xianbei