Turkic languages
The Turkic languages are a language family of some thirty languages. They are spoken by Turkic peoples across an area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western and Northern China. Traditionally people think that they are part of the Altaic language family.[1]
Turkic | |
---|---|
Geographic distribution: | Eastern Europe Caucasus West Asia Central Asia North Asia (Siberia) East Asia (Far East) |
Linguistic classification: | One of the world's primary language families |
Proto-language: | Proto-Turkic |
Subdivisions: |
Common Turkic
Oghur
|
ISO 639-5: | trk |
Distribution of Turkic languages |
Turkic languages are spoken by some 200 million people as a native language;[2] and the total number of Turkic speakers is about 230 million, including speakers as a second language. The Turkic language with the greatest number of speakers is the Turkish language, or Anatolian Turkish. The speakers of this language are about 40% of all Turkic speakers.[1]
History
The geographical distribution of Turkic-speaking peoples across Eurasia spreads from Turkey in the West to the North-East of Siberia.[3]
Classification
The number of speakers derived from statistics or estimates (2019) and were rounded:[4][5]
Number | Branch | Languages | Status | Native Speakers | Main Writing System |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Oghuz languages | 8 | Normal | 108,000,000 | Latin |
2 | Karluk languages | 4 | Normal | 69,000,000 | Latin |
3 | Kipchak languages | 12 | Normal | 31,300,000 | Latin |
4 | Siberian Turkic languages | 9 | Vulnerable | 800,000 | Cyrillic |
5 | Oghur languages | 1 | Vulnerable | 1,200,000 | Cyrillic |
6 | Arghu Turkic language | 1 | Vulnerable | 20,000 | Perso-Arabic |
Total | Turkic languages | 35 | Normal | 210,000,000 | Latin |
Languages by native speakers
The Turkic languages are a language family of at least 35 [6] documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples. The number of speakers derived from statistics or estimates (2019) and were rounded:[4][5]
Number | Name | Branch | Status | Native Speakers | Main Country | Main Writing System |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Turkish language | Oghuz languages | Normal | 76,000,000 | Turkey | Latin |
2 | Uzbek language | Karluk languages | Normal | 35,000,000 | Uzbekistan | Latin / Cyrillic |
3 | Azerbaijani language | Oghuz languages | Normal | 30,000,000 | Azerbaijan | Latin |
5 | Uyghur language | Karluk languages | Normal | 25,000,000 | China | Perso-Arabic |
4 | Kazakh language | Kipchak languages | Normal | 19,000,000 | Kazakhstan | Cyrillic / Latin |
6 | Turkmen language | Oghuz languages | Normal | 7,000,000 | Turkmenistan | Latin |
7 | Tatar language | Kipchak languages | Normal | 5,500,000 | Russia | Cyrillic / Latin |
8 | Kyrgyz language | Kipchak languages | Normal | 5,000,000 | Kyrgyzstan | Cyrillic |
9 | Bashkir language | Kipchak languages | Vulnerable | 1,500,000 | Russia | Cyrillic |
10 | Chuvash language | Oghur languages | Vulnerable | 1,200,000 | Russia | Cyrillic |
11 | Qashqai language | Oghuz languages | Normal | 1,000,000 | Iran | Perso-Arabic |
12 | Khorasani Turkic language | Oghuz languages | Vulnerable | 1,000,000 | Iran | Perso-Arabic |
13 | Karakalpak language | Kipchak languages | Normal | 650,000 | Uzbekistan | Latin |
14 | Crimean Tatar language | Kipchak languages | Severely endangered | 600,000 | Ukraine | Latin |
15 | Kumyk language | Kipchak languages | Vulnerable | 450,000 | Russia | Cyrillic |
16 | Karachay-Balkar language | Kipchak languages | Vulnerable | 400,000 | Russia | Cyrillic |
17 | Yakut language | Siberian Turkic languages | Vulnerable | 400,000 | Russia | Cyrillic |
18 | Tuvan language | Siberian Turkic languages | Vulnerable | 300,000 | Russia | Cyrillic |
19 | Urum language | Oghuz languages | Definitely endangered | 200,000 | Ukraine | Cyrillic |
20 | Gagauz language | Oghuz languages | Critically endangered | 150,000 | Moldova | Latin |
21 | Siberian Tatar language | Kipchak languages | Definitely endangered | 100,000 | Russia | Cyrillic |
22 | Nogai language | Kipchak languages | Definitely endangered | 100,000 | Russia | Cyrillic |
23 | Salar language | Oghuz languages | Vulnerable | 70,000 | China | Latin |
24 | Altai language | Siberian Turkic languages | Severely endangered | 60,000 | Russia | Cyrillic |
25 | Khakas language | Siberian Turkic languages | Definitely endangered | 50,000 | Russia | Cyrillic |
26 | Khalaj language | Arghu Turkic language | Vulnerable | 20,000 | Iran | Perso-Arabic |
27 | Äynu language | Karluk languages | Critically endangered | 6,000 | China | Perso-Arabic |
28 | Western Yugur language | Siberian Turkic languages | Severely endangered | 5,000 | China | Latin |
29 | Shor language | Siberian Turkic languages | Severely endangered | 3,000 | Russia | Cyrillic |
30 | Dolgan language | Siberian Turkic languages | Definitely endangered | 1,000 | Russia | Cyrillic |
31 | Krymchak language | Kipchak languages | Critically endangered | 200 | Israel | Hebrew |
32 | Ili Turki language | Karluk languages | Severely endangered | 100 | China | Cyrillic |
33 | Tofa language | Siberian Turkic languages | Critically endangered | 100 | Russia | Cyrillic |
34 | Karaim language | Kipchak languages | Critically endangered | 100 | Ukraine | Cyrillic |
35 | Chulym language | Siberian Turkic languages | Critically endangered | 50 | Russia | Cyrillic |
Total | Turkic languages | Common Turkic languages | Normal | 179,000,000 | Turkey | Latin |
References
- Katzner, Kenneth (March 2002). Languages of the World, Third Edition. Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd. ISBN 978-0415250047.
- Turkic Language family tree entries provide the information on the Turkic-speaking populations and regions.
- Turkic Language tree entries provide the information on the Turkic-speaking regions.
- https://www.ethnologue.com/
- https://glottolog.org/
- Dybo A.V., Chronology of Türkic languages and linguistic contacts of early Türks, Moscow, 2007, p. 766, "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2005-03-11. Retrieved 2005-03-11.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) (In Russian)
Further reading
- Johanson, Lars. 1998. "The history of Turkic." In: Johanson & Csató, pp. 81–125.
- Johanson, Lars. 1998. "Turkic languages." In: Encyclopaedia Britannica. CD 98. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 5 sept. 2007.
- Menges, K. H. 1968. The Turkic languages and peoples: An introduction to Turkic studies. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.