Alexander Vovin (2007) identifies the Tuoba language as a
Mongolic language. On the other hand,
Juha Janhunen proposed that the Tuoba might have spoken an
Oghur Turkic language. However, Janhunen's position is ambiguous; he cautiously suggested that the Xianbei and Tabgach languages are Para-Mongolic. According to
Peter Boodberg, the Tuoba language was essentially Turkic with Mongolic admixture. Chen Sanping noted that, based on the new evidence uncovered from the Tuoba onomastic data, the core Tuoba clans now would seem more likely to have spoken a Turkic language. Liu Xueyao stated that Tuoba may have had their own language, which should not be assumed to be identical with any other known languages. Andrew Shimunek (2017) classifies Tuoba (Taghbach) as a "Serbi" (i.e.,
para-Mongolic) language. Shimunek's Serbi branch also consists of the
Tuyuhun and
Khitan languages. An-King Lim (2016, 2023) classifies Tuoba (Tabghatch) as Turkic language. ==Morphology==