Central Asia Multilingual Contact Zone

300 BCE · Orta Asya (Fergana-Yedisu) · culture

In the 3rd century BCE Central Asia was a contact zone in which speakers of Iranian (Sogdian, Saka, Tocharian), Proto-Turkic and Proto-Mongolic were closely intertwined.

This multilingual environment accelerated the exchange of vocabulary. The Iranian loanwords that passed into Turkic (kan, beg, altun, bazaar) are evidence of the linguistic history of the steppe.

Frequently asked questions

What was Central Asia Multilingual Contact Zone?
In the 3rd century BCE Central Asia was a contact zone in which speakers of Iranian (Sogdian, Saka, Tocharian), Proto-Turkic and Proto-Mongolic were closely intertwined.
When did Central Asia Multilingual Contact Zone happen?
300 BCE
Where did Central Asia Multilingual Contact Zone take place?
Orta Asya (Fergana-Yedisu)