Kipchak languages

The Kipchak languages (also known as the Kypchak, Qypchaq or the Northwestern Turkic languages) are a sub-branch of the Turkic language family spoken by approximately 28 million people in much of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, spanning from Ukraine to China. Some of the most widely spoken languages in this group are Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Tatar.

Kipchak
Northwestern Turkic
EthnicityKipchaks
Geographic
distribution		Central Asia, Russia, Northern Caucasus, Ukraine
Linguistic classificationTurkic
Subdivisions
  • Kipchak–Bulgar
  • Kipchak–Cuman
  • Kipchak–Nogai
  • Kyrgyz–Kipchak
Glottologkipc1239
  Kipchak–Bulgar
  Kipchak–Cuman
  Kipchak–Nogai and Kyrgyz–Kipchak

Kipchak languages by native speakers
Further information: Lists of endangered languages, List of endangered languages in Russia, and List of endangered languages in China

The Turkic languages are a language family of at least 35 [1] documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples. The number of speakers derived from statistics or estimates (2019) and were rounded:[2][3]

NumberNameStatusNative speakersMain Country
1 Kazakh languageNormal14,000,000 Kazakhstan
2 Tatar languageNormal5,500,000 Russia
3 Kyrgyz languageNormal5,000,000 Kyrgyzstan
4 Bashkir languageVulnerable2,000,000 Russia
5 Karakalpak languageNormal650,000 Uzbekistan
6 Crimean Tatar languageSeverely endangered600,000 Ukraine
7 Kumyk languageVulnerable450,000 Russia
8 Karachay-Balkar languageVulnerable400,000 Russia
9 Siberian Tatar languageDefinitely endangered100,000 Russia
10 Nogai languageDefinitely endangered100,000 Russia
11 Southern Altai languageDefinitely endangered55,000 Russia
12 Krymchak languageCritically endangered200 Israel
13 Karaim languageCritically endangered100 Lithuania
Total Kipchak languagesNormal28,400,000 Kazakhstan

Linguistic features

The Kipchak languages share a number of features that have led linguists to classify them together. Some of these features are shared with other Common Turkic languages; others are unique to the Kipchak family.

Shared features
  • Change of Proto-Turkic *d to /j/ (e.g. *hadaq > ajaq "foot")
  • Loss of initial *h (preserved only in Khalaj), see above example

Unique features
  • Extensive labial vowel harmony (e.g. olor vs. olar "them")
  • Frequent fortition (in the form of assibilation) of initial */j/ (e.g. *jetti > ʒetti "seven")
  • Diphthongs from syllable-final */ɡ/ and */b/ (e.g. *taɡ > taw "mountain", *sub > suw "water")

Classification

The Kipchak languages may be broken down into four groups, based on geography and shared features (languages in bold are still spoken today):

Proto-Turkic Common Turkic Kipchak Kipchak–Bulgar (Uralian, Uralo-Caspian)
Kipchak–Cuman (Ponto-Caspian)
Kipchak–Nogai (Aralo-Caspian)
Kyrgyz–Kipchak (Kyrgyz)
South Kipchak

See also

Notes
  1. Except for the Southern "dialect", which is classified among the Western Oghuz languages despite its dialect status.[4]

References
  1. 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.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) (In Russian)
  2. https://www.ethnologue.com/
  3. https://glottolog.org/
  4. Языки мира. 2. Indirk: Институт языкознания (Российская академия наук). 1997. pp. 19–20.

Bibliography
  • Johanson, Lars; Csató, Éva Ágnes (1998). The Turkic Languages. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-08200-5.
  • Menges, Karl H. (1995). The Turkic Languages and Peoples (2nd ed.). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-03533-1.
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