The relationship between fortis/lenis consonantal distinctions and historical vowel length in Turkic shows up in a handful of languages on the eastern edge of the Turkic world as a kind of vocalic glottalization. This suprasegmental phenomenon, also referred to as consonantal “preaspiration”, occurs in Tuva, Tofalar/Karagas, Sarïgh Yoghur, Salar, and the Kälpin vernacular of Uyghur.
This article provides evidence that a seemingly unrelated process of spirantization in the easternmost subset of this group is part of the same synchronic processes. Similar consonantalizing processes in neighboring languages suggests it has become an areal phenomenon.Alexander von Humboldt Foundatio
