Anthroponyms in the endangered Hoton language

Abstract

One of the pressing issues in contemporary anthropology is the loss of ethnic identity and the extinction of minority languages. This article examines anthroponyms in the endangered Hoton language, historically a Uyghur dialect within the Karluk branch of Turkic languages. The ethnic foundation of Karluk languages traces back to Karluk-Uyghur Turkic tribes, which consolidated within the Western Turkic Khaganate and later in the Uyghur and Karakhanid states. Turkic tribes later migrated eastward, adopting a sedentary or nomadic lifestyle and shaping state formations in Eastern Turkestan. Today, Hoton speakers reside in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China and western Mongolia (Bayangol Prefecture), experiencing linguistic and cultural assimilation, leading to the gradual erosion of their language.
The study focuses on the Hoton people living in Mongolia. The origins of the ethnonym ‘Hoton’ remain a subject of debate, with connections drawn to the Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, Kalmyks, and Oirat Mongols. Based on Russian, European, Mongolian, and Chinese sources, the authors of the article explore various perspectives on the origin of the Hotons, addressing their migration history, religious beliefs, and the challenges of preserving traditions, language, and identity within a Mongolic-speaking environment. To achieve this goal, field expeditions, interviews, and surveys of informants were conducted, along with a lexical analysis of the language, focusing particularly on anthroponyms. The study revealed that traditional Turkic naming customs persist among the Hotons, including name taboos, clan-based naming, regional ethnic interactions, and naming linked to zoonymy and social status (Altaic-Turkic suffixoids: -khan, -bai, -tai, -dai). Typical Hoton names feature long final vowels (aa, oo, ee: Shaldaa, Shövöö, Choydoo, Javaa), attributed to Mongolic influence. Further phonetic
changes under Mongolic influence are observed in derivational suffixoids: khan shifts to khaan/khon, bai > boi/voi/bo, dai/tai > daa, etc. It is likely that the Hoton language is undergoing strong assimilation by Mongolic languages and is now on the verge of extinction.
The Hoton language has also been influenced by Russian, Indo-Tibetan, and Arabic-Persian linguistic contacts.
The anthroponyms identified in this study can serve as a valuable resource for documenting and enriching the lexical database of the endangered Hoton language.