Phonetic and Morphonological Parallels between Azerbaijani and Japanese in the Context of Altaic Studies: The Limits of Genetic Interpretation
Ogtay Jalilbayli
Abstract. This article examines phonetic and morphonological correspondences between Azerbaijani Turkic and Japanese within the broader framework of Altaic and, more recently, Transeurasian studies. Adopting a historical-comparative perspective, the study revisits the development of the Altaic hypothesis – from the foundational work of Ramstedt and Poppe to subsequent contributions in the Russian tradition, including Syromyatnikov, Starostin, and Dybo – while also engaging with contemporary approaches such as the Transeurasian model. The analysis demonstrates that the two languages display several structural convergences, including agglutinative morphology, suffix chaining, and the central role of the verb in grammatical organization. At the same time, significant differences emerge at the phonetic and morphonological levels: Azerbaijani Turkic is characterized by systematic vowel harmony, person-number marking, and stress-based prosody, whereas Japanese exhibits moraic organization, pitch-accent, the absence of person-number categories, and class-based morphonological alternations. The findings suggest that such parallels, while analytically valuable, cannot in themselves be treated as conclusive evidence of genetic relatedness. More decisive criteria – regular sound correspondences, stable cognate sets in the core lexicon, shared grammatical morphemes, and the exclusion of borrowing – remain essential for establishing genealogical relationships.
Keywords: Altaic theory, Transeurasian hypothesis, Azerbaijani Turkic, Japanese, phonetics, morphonology, comparative-historical linguistics, genetic relatedness