# Turkic languages

| 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
 |
| Language codes |
| ISO 639-5 | ``trk`` |
| Glottolog | `turk1311` |
| Distribution of 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.

Turkic languages are spoken by some 150 million people as a native language; 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.

## History

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

## Classification

The number of speakers derived from statistics or estimates (2019) and were rounded:

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

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

| 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** |

* 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