Information about the Turkic languages

Where are the Turkic languages spoken?

These languages are spoken in a vast geographical area ranging from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to northeastern Siberia and western China.

A map of the Turkic languages is available on the website of the University of Frankfurt

http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/didact/karten/turk/turklm.htm

Total number of speakers (estimated):

Approximately 180 000 000 according to ethnologue.com (SIL)

Classification

The Turkic language family consists of 39 languages.

Southern Common Turkic or Oghuz languages

Western Oghuz Branch

Azeri

Turkish

Gagauz

Balkan Gagauz

Eastern Oghuz Branch

Khorasani Turkish

Turkmen

Southern Oghuz Branch

Afshar

Qashqai (alternate name: Kachkai) (dialect Cluster)

Salar

Northwestern Turkic or Kipchak languages

Western Kipchak or Ponto-Caspian branch

Karaim

Karachay-Balkar

Krymchaks

Kumak

Crimean Tatar-Urum

Northern Kipchak or Ural-Caspian branch

Bashkir

Kazan Tatar

Siberian Tatar

Southern Kipchak Branch

Kazakh

Kara-Kalpak

Uzbek Kipchak

Kirgiz (alternate spelling: Kyrgyz)

Nogay

Northeastern Turkic or Siberian languages

Northern Siberian Branch

Dolgan

Sakha (alternate name: Yakut)

Southern Siberian Branch

Southern Altai

Northern Altai

Chulym

Sayan Turkic

Tofa

Tuvan (alternate name: Soyot)

Yenissei Turkic

Fuyu Girgis

Khakas

Shor (alternate name: Qizil)

Southeastern Turkic or Uyghur Languages

Uzbek

Eastern Branch

Lli Turki

Uyghur

Sari-yughur

Salar

Oghour Languages

Chuvash

Isolate:

Khalaj

Comments on the classification of Turkic languages:

This family is often presented as part of the super-Altaic family. The three main branches of this proposed family are: the Turkish family, the Tungus family, and the Mongolian family. But the existence and the exact delineation of the Altaic languages is an object of debate in the linguistic community. Particularly the question of whether the similarities between the three branches originate from a common proto-language (mother language) in which case they would indeed represent a linguistic family, or whether these similarities are due to exchange interactions between languages due to their geographical proximity. In the latter case they would be considered to be three independent families.

We do not attempt to settle this ongoing debate between “pro-Altaic” and “anti-Altaic”. We have chosen to present them separately here only for the sake of “prudence” and without taking a position in the debate. This classification could therefore evolve if and when it can be shown with a high degree of certainty that these languages are related. In the same manner, we have also chosen to separate the Japanese and Korean languages which are also sometimes considered to be part of the Altaic languages.

Are Turkic languages in danger?

This section will be developed later.

Sources:

http://www.turkiclanguages.com/index.html