Sart Kalmyk language

Sart Kalmyk (Oirat: Сарт хальмг келн, romanized: Sart xalmg keln) is an endangered and underdocumented Central Mongolic Oirat language variety spoken by the Sart Kalmyks in Ak-Suu District, Issyk-Kul Region, Kyrgyzstan.

Sart Kalmyk
Сарт хальмг келн Sart xalmg keln
Native to	Kyrgyzstan
Region	Issyk-Kul
Ethnicity	c. 12,000 Sart Kalmyks[1]
Native speakers	200
Language family	Mongolic Central Mongolic Buryat–Mongolian Mongolian Oirat Sart Kalmyk
Official status
Official language in	Issyk-Kul Region
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	sart1247
IETF	xal-x-HIS11428

History

Sart Kalmyk emerged as a distinct variety after its speakers separated from a larger Oirat-speaking community in today's Xinjiang around 1864 and moved to the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul. Since then, the language has been developing in isolation from other Mongolic varieties and in intense contact with Kyrgyz, a Turkic language. Recent research shows a significant influence of Kyrgyz morphology, phonology and lexicon on Sart Kalmyk.^[2]

Language situation

Sart Kalmyk is a severely threatened language. Its domains of use are largely confined to informal communication between the elderly in rural areas. Virtually all speakers are trilingual, having a good command of Kyrgyz and Russian in addition to their ethnic language. Younger members of the ethnic community often speak little to no Sart Kalmyk.^[3]

Orthography

Historically, Sart Kalmyk was written with the Clear script and, occasionally, a local version of the Arabic script. Both scripts have fallen out of use by the early 1940s. In 1934, a short-lived Latin alphabet-based orthography was introduced. Today, Sart Kalmyk is rarely used in writing, but when it is written, the Kalmyk version of Cyrillic is employed.^[4]