Bulgun Lapsina, About the Language of the Tersk Kalmyks

Bulgun talks about some interjections, words and pronunciations peculiar to the dialect of the Tersk Kalmyks: Interjections, which enrich any language, are already disappearing in the Kalmyk language. For example, when a Kalmyk stumbles, he/she says yaah-yaah. When Kalmyks have pity on children, they express this feeling by saying koork-koork. The younger generation already does not use these words any more. I have a friend, originally from Tsagan-Aman, who speaks the Terek Kalmyk dialect. It turns out that her mother-in-law taught her that dialect. Dialects are different from each other. Tersk Kalmyks say myangsrn (onion) instead of mengrsn, tyamk (tobacco) instead of tamk. For ‘where’, the Terek Kalmyks say kham or khamaran, whereas the Torghuts say al’d or al’daran. There is a joke that the Buzavas say kudaran (deriving from the Russian word kuda ‘where’). Under the influence of the Don Cossacks, the Buzavas say grubka (oven), tsibarka (bucket) and sern’g (matches, deriving from the Russian word serniki). We, Tersk Kalmyks, also used these same words.Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwi