Kazakh language

Kazakh
Region	Central Asia
Ethnicity	Kazakhs
Speakers	13 million
Language family	Altaic
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Kazakh_language

File:WIKITONGUES- Yernur speaking Kazakh.webm File:WIKITONGUES- Mereinur speaking Kazakh.webm

The Kazakh language (қазақ тілі, qazaq tili, قازاق ٴتىلى) is a member of the Turkic language family, specifically within the Kipchak branch. It is the official language of Kazakhstan and is also spoken by ethnic Kazakhs in parts of China, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey. The language has approximately 13 million speakers as of 2021.

History[edit | edit source]

The Kazakh language has its roots in the ancient Turkic languages spoken by the nomadic tribes of the Central Asian steppes. Over centuries, it has evolved and absorbed elements from neighboring languages, including Persian, Arabic, and Russian.

Phonology[edit | edit source]

Kazakh phonology is characterized by vowel harmony, a common feature in Turkic languages. The language has a rich system of vowels and consonants, and it employs both voiced and voiceless sounds.

Grammar[edit | edit source]

Kazakh grammar follows the typical Turkic structure, which includes agglutination, where suffixes are added to a base word to express grammatical relations and meanings. The language has a subject-object-verb (SOV) word order.

Writing System[edit | edit source]

Kazakh is currently written in the Cyrillic script, but there is an ongoing transition to the Latin script. In China, Kazakh is written using the Arabic script.

Dialects[edit | edit source]

There are several dialects of Kazakh, which can be broadly categorized into three groups: Western, Northern, and Southern. These dialects exhibit minor differences in pronunciation and vocabulary.

Usage[edit | edit source]

Kazakh is the official state language of Kazakhstan, and it is used in government, media, and education. Efforts are being made to increase its usage and proficiency among the population, especially in urban areas where Russian has been more dominant.