Established in 1990 as a convergence of the Turkic and Mongolic Languages Section and the Finno-Ugric Languages Section (that existed as separate units from 1950 to 1990).
Starting from 1950, the sections and the departments were a workplace for many outstanding scholars, like Nikolay Dmitriev, Fazyl Iskhakov, Ervand Sevortian, Trofim Bertagaev, Boris Serebrennikov, Vasily Lytkin, Klara Maytinskaia, Elizaveta Ubriatova, Nikolai Baskakov, Edkhiam Tenishev, Liia Levitskaia. In the USSR the unit was undoubtedly the centre of Turkic and Mongolian studies, it united the main turkological forces of the country. Fundamental collective works that defined the developmental direction of Turkic and Mongolian studies were created under its auspices.
Today's research programme of the department includes fundamental historical and comparative-historical research (including the creation of historical grammars), as well as areal-dialectological, grammatical, lexicological, etymological and typological studies. Among the objects of study are grammar, lexicology, lexicography and history of written Turkic, Mongolic and Finno-Ugric languages, as well as the language of folklore, literary artefacts, and terminology. Researching linguistic contacts of Ural-Altaic languages with other groups and within themselves is one of the department's important functions. Among the newer directions is the development of prosodic research based on a community's living language, which led to an increase in fieldwork. In the last few years the department started working again on a map of Turkic dialects. This includes updating data on dialects, streamlining the genealogical classification of Turkic languages and dialects and building a more precise comparative-historical grammar. This grammar includes tree-like models of the process of transition from earlier linguistic situations to later ones. This type of work is interrelated with compiling electronic corpora and electronic dictionaries of sounds of Turkic minority languages and dialects.
The department is home to the Russian Turkologist Committee at the Department of Historical-philological Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Ilya Gruntov, one of the researchers in the department, has developed and is now maintaining the website Monumenta altaica (altaic linguistics). See Mongolic languages.
The department is also issuing the "Ural-Altaic Research" journal.
The Finno-Ugric Languages Group is functioning as part of the department.
The department's main collective works
• «Issledovanija po sravnitel’noj grammatike tjurkskix jazykov» [Turkic Languages Comparative Grammar Studies]: «Fonetika» [Phonetics] (1955), «Morfologija» [Morphology] (1956), «Sintaksis» [Syntax] (1961) i «Leksika» [Lexis] (1962).
• Sravnitel’no-istoričeskaja grammatika tjurkskix jazykov: Fonetika. [Comparative-historical Grammar of Turkic Languages: Phonetics.] Moscow. 1984. (http://www.altaica.ru)
• Sravnitel’no-istoričeskaja grammatika tjurkskix jazykov: Morfologija. [Comparative-historical Grammar of Turkic Languages: Morphology.] Moscow. 1989. (http://www.altaica.ru)
• Sravnitel’no-istoričeskaja grammatika tjurkskix jazykov: Sintaksis. [Comparative-historical Grammar of Turkic Languages: Syntax.] Moscow. 1987. (http://www.altaica.ru)
• Sravnitel’no-istoričeskaja grammatika tjurkskix jazykov: Leksika. [Comparative-historical Grammar of Turkic Languages: Lexis.] Moscow. 2000.
• Sravnitel’no-istoričeskaja grammatika tjurkskix jazykov: Regional’nye rekonstrukcii. [Comparative-historical Grammar of Turkic Languages: Regional Reconstructions] Moscow. 2002.
• Sravnitel’no-istoričeskaja grammatika tjurkskix jazykov. Pratjurkskij jazyk-osnova. Kartina mira pratjurka. [Comparative-historical Grammar of Turkic Languages. Common Proto-Turkic Language. The Worldview of Proto-Turks.] Moscow. Nauka, 2006.
• Sevortjan È.V. Ètimologičeskij slovar’ tjurkskix jazykov. Občšetjurkskie i mežtjurkskie osnovy na glasnye. [Etymological Dictionary of Turkic Languages. Common Turkic and Interturkic Stems with Vowels.] Moscow. 1974. (http://www.altaica.ru)
• Sevortjan È.V. Ètimologičeskij slovar’ tjurkskix jazykov. Občšetjurkskie i mežtjurkskie osnovy na bukvu «B». [Etymological Dictionary of Turkic Languages. Common Turkic and Interturkic Stems with "B".] Moscow. 1978. (http://www.altaica.ru)
• Sevortjan È.V. Ètimologičeskij slovar’ tjurkskix jazykov. Občšetjurkskie i mežtjurkskie osnovy na «G», «D». [Etymological Dictionary of Turkic Languages. Common Turkic and Interturkic Stems with "G" and "D".] Moscow. 1980. (http://www.altaica.ru)
• Ètimologičeskij slovar’ tjurkskix jazykov: Občšetjurkskie i mežtjurkskie osnovy na bukvy «Җ», «Ž», «J». [Etymological Dictionary of Turkic Languages. Common Turkic and Interturkic Stems with "Җ", "Ž", "J".] È.V. Sevortjan, L.S. Levitskaja. Moscow. 1989. (http://www.altaica.ru)
• Ètimologičeskij slovar’ tjurkskix jazykov: Občšetjurkskie i mežtjurkskie osnovy na bukvy «K», «Қ». [Etymological Dictionary of Turkic Languages. Common Turkic and Interturkic Stems with "K" and "Қ".] L.S. Levitskaja, A.V. Dybo, V.I. Rassadin. Moscow. 1997. (http://www.altaica.ru)
• Ètimologičeskij slovar’ tjurkskix jazykov: Občšetjurkskie i mežtjurkskie osnovy na bukvu «Қ». [Etymological Dictionary of Turkic Languages. Common Turkic and Interturkic Stems with "Қ".] L.S. Levitskaja, A.V. Dybo, V.I. Rassadin. Moscow. 2000. (http://www.altaica.ru)
• Ètimologičeskij slovar’ tjurkskix jazykov: Občšetjurkskie i mežtjurkskie osnovy na bukvy «L», «M», «N», «P», «S». [Etymological Dictionary of Turkic Languages. Common Turkic and Interturkic Stems with "L", "M", "N", "P", "S".] L.S. Levitskaja, G.F. Blagova, A.V. Dybo, D.M. Nasilov, E.A. Poceluevskij. Moscow. 2003. (http://www.altaica.ru)
• Ètimologičeskij slovar’ tjurkskix jazykov: Občšetjurkskie i mežtjurkskie osnovy na bukvy «T», «Č». [Etymological Dictionary of Turkic Languages. Common Turkic and Interturkic Stems with "T", "Č".] L.S. Levitskaja, G.F. Blagova, A.V. Dybo, D.M. Nasilov, E.A. Poceluevskij. Manuscript.
• Jazyki mira. Tjurkskie jazyki. [Languages of the World. Turkic languages.] Moscow. 1997.
• Jazyki mira. Mongol’skie, tunguso-man’čžurskie, korejskij i japonskij jazyki. [Languages of the World. Mongolic, Manchu-Tungus, Korean and Japanese Languages.] Moscow.
• An Etymological Dictionary of Altaic Languages. Leiden, 2003.
• Osnovy tjurkskogo jazykoznanija: Dialekty tjurkskix jazykov. [Basics of Turkic Linguistics: Turkic Dialects.] 1. Moscow. 2010
• Bol’šoj akademičeskij mongol’sko-russkij slovar’. [Big Academic Mongolian-Russian Dictionary.] Editor G. C. Pjurbeev. V. 1—4. Moscow. 2001—2002.
• Osnovy Finno-Ugorskogo jazykoznanija. 1.Voprosy proisxoždenija i razvitija Finno-Ugorskix jazykov. [Basics of Finno-Ugric Linguistics. 1. Questions of the Genesis and Development of Finno-Ugric Languages.] Moscow. 1974; 2.Pribaltjsko- finskie, saamskij i mordovskie jazyki. [2. Balto-Finnic, Saami and Mordvinic Languages.] Moscow. 1975; 3.Marijskij, permskie, ugorskie jazyki. [Mari, Permyak and Ugric Languages.] Moscow. 1976.
The department's researchers' selected works
• G.C.Pjurbeev. Istoriko-sopostavitel’nye issledovanija po grammatike mongol’skix jazykov. Sintaksis slovosočetanija. [Contrastive-Historical Study of Mongolic Languages' Grammar. Syntax of Collocations.] Moscow. 1993.
• Ju.V. Normanskaja. Genezis i razvitie sistem cvetooboznačenij v drevnix indoevropejskix jazykax. [Genesis and Development of Colour Coding Systems in Ancient Indo-European Languages.] Moscow. Interprint. 2005.
• R.A. Tadinova. Glagol’nye tjurkizmy v kavkazskix jazykax. [Turkic Features of Verbs in Caucasian Languages.] Editors M. E. Alekseev, K.M. Musaev. Moscow. Sovetskij pisatel’. 2005
• A.N. Samojlovič. Tjurkskoe jazykoznanie. Filologija. Runika. [Turkic Linguistics. Philology. Runes.] Editors G.F. Blagova, D.M. Nasilov. Moscow. Vostočnaja literatura. 2005.
• Dybo A.V. Semantičeskaja rekonstrukcija v altajskoj ètimologii. [Semantic Reconstruction in Altaic Etymology.] Moscow. 1996 (E-book)
• Dybo A.V. Assimiljacija i akkomodacija glasnyx v singarmonističeskix potomkax desingarmonističeskogo jazyka: refleksacija odnoj vokaličeskoj struktury v tunguso-man’čžurskix jazykax. [Assimilation and Accomodation of Vowels in Synharmonic Descendants of a Desynharmonic Language: Reflexes in One Vocalic Structure in Manchu-Tungus Languages.] (E-book)
• Dybo A.V. Lingvističeskie kontakty tjurkskix jazykov. Pratjurkskij period. [Linguistic Contacts of Turkic Languages. Proto-Turkic Period.] Moscow. 2007.
• N.A. Baskakov. Altajskaja sem’ja jazykov i ee izučenie. [The Altaic Language Family and the Study of It.] (E-book)
• L.S.Levitskaja. Istoričeskaja morfologija čuvašskogo jazyka. [Historical Morphology of the Chuvash Language.] (E-book)
• Musaev K.M. Sintaksis karaimskogo jazyka. [Karaim Syntax.] (E-book)
• O.A. Mudrak. Razvitie sočetanij s *ɫ v praaltajskom jazyke [Development of Clusters with *ɫ in the Proto-Altaic Language.] // Aspekty komparativistiki 2 [Comparativistics Aspects 2], Orientalia et Classica VI, RGGU, Moscow. 2007 (E-book)
• O.A. Mudrak, F.G. Xisamitdinova. Kypčakskie jazyki Uralo-Povolž’ja. [Kipchak Languages of the Volga-Urals Region.] Astana. "Gylym", 2018
• Ašnin F.D. Pervaja pečatnaja naučnaja grammatika altajskogo jazyka. Problema avtorstva. [The First Printed Scientific Grammar of the Altaic Language. The Problem of Authorship.] // Tjurkologičeskij sbornik [Turkological Compilation]. 1975. Moscow. Nauka, 1978, str. 34-62. (E-book)
• N.A.Baskakov. Istoriko-tipologičeskaja fonologija tjurkskix jazykov [Historico-Typological Phonology of Turkic Languages.] (E-book)
• Normanskaja Ju.V., Dybo A.V. Tezaurus. Leksika prirodnogo okruženija v ural’skix jazykax [Lexis of the Natural Environment of Ural Languages.] (E-copy [13.4 Mb] of the preliminary, pre-publishing version of the book.The final version can be bought at the "Tesaurus" publishing house. 8-916-200-38-12)
Contacts
Moscow 125009
Bolshoy Kislovsky Lane, 1/1
Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 44 (3rd floor)
The Department of Ural-Altaic Languages
+7 (495) 691-63-06