Soyot language

Soyot (or Soyot–Tsaatan) is an extinct and revitalizing Turkic language of the Siberian Sayan branch similar to the Dukhan language and closely related to the Tofa language. Two dialects/languages are spoken in Russia and Mongolia: Soyot in the Okinsky District of the Republic of Buryatia (Russia) and Tsaatan (Uriankhai Uyghur) in the Darkhad valley of Mongolia.

The language is revitalizing in primary schools. In 2002, V. I. Rassadin published a Soyot–Buryat–Russian dictionary. In 2020, he published a children's picture dictionary in the Soyot language, along with Russian, Mongolian, and English translations.

Soyot belongs to the Turkic family of languages. Within this family, it is placed in the Sayan Turkic branch. According to some researchers, the Sayan Turkic branch has five languages:

According to Glottolog, Soyot is a dialect of the Taiga Sayan Turkic language:

Ragagnin similarly divides the Sayan languages into two branches: Steppe and Taiga, but makes certain distinctions not made by Glottlog:

Soyot has no official recognition in any of the countries where it is spoken. Until 1993, they were counted as part of the Buryat nationality in Russia. At this point, they were acknowledged as a separate nationality by the People's Khural of the Republic of Buryatia. After applying to the Russian Duma for official recognition, they were acknowledged as an ethnic minority in 2001. Most Soyots in Russia live in Buryatia's Okinsky District.

Rassadin reports that the Soyot and Tsaatan dialects, have very similar phonological systems. Information here is from Soyot.

Vowels may be short, long, or short pharyngealized, e.g. /ɯt/ "send", /ɯˁt/ "dog", /ɯːt/ "sound, voice".