Northern Altai language
Northern Altai or Northern Altay is the several tribal Turkic dialects spoken in the Altai Republic of Russia. Though traditionally considered one language, Southern Altai and the Northern varieties are not fully mutually intelligible. Written Altai is based on Southern Altai, and is rejected by Northern Altai children. Northern Altai is written in Cyrillic. In 2006, in the Altay kray, an alphabet was created for the Kumandin variety. Demographics. According to data from the 2002 Russian Census, 65,534 people in Russia stated that they have command of the Altay language. Only around 10% of them speak Northern  Altay varieties, while the remaining speak Southern Altay varieties. Furthermore, according to some data, only 2% of Altays fluently speak the Altay language. Varieties. Northern Altay consists of the following varieties: Closely related to the northern varieties of Altay are and the of Chulym language. Linguistic features. The following features refer to the outcome of commonly used Turkic isoglosses in Northern Altay.