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 languages.^[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 150 million people as a native language;^[2] and the total number of Turkic speakers is about 180 million, including speakers as a second language. The Turkic language with the greatest number of speakers is the Turkish, or Anatolian Turkish. Its speakers are about 40% of all Turkic-speakers.^[1]

History

The geographical distribution of Turkic-speaking peoples across Eurasia spreads from Turkey to Siberia.^[3]

Classification

The number of speakers derived from statistics or estimates (2019) and were rounded:^[4][5]

Relative numbers of speakers of Turkic languages (2007)

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

Main article: List of Turkic languages

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 ^[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

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.

Other websites

• Turkic Languages: Resources - University of Michigan
• Map of Turkic languages
• Classification of Turkic Languages Archived 2011-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
• Online Uyghur-English Dictionary
• Turkic languages at the Open Directory Project