Kipchak Languages

An accurate representation of the areas in which Turkic languages are spoken.

  Southwestern (Oghuz)

  Southeastern (Karluk) 

   Khalaj (Arghu) 

   Northwestern (Kipchak) 

   Chuvash (Oghur)

   Northeastern (Siberian)

The Kipchak languages (also known as the Kypchak, Qypchaq or the Northwestern Turkic languages) are a sub-branch of the Turkic language family spoken by approximately 31.3 million people in much of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, spanning from Ukraine  to China. 

Some of the most widely spoken languages in this group are Kazakh , Kyrgyz and Tatar.

The Kipchak languages may be broken down into four groups, based on geography and shared features: Note: Languages in bold are still spoken today.

Proto-Turkic	Common Turkic	Kipchak	Kipchak–Bulgar (Uralian, Uralo-Caspian)	·         Bashkir ·         Tatar ·         Old Tatar language †
			Kipchak–Cuman (Ponto-Caspian)	·         Karachay-Balkar ·         Kumyk ·         Karaim ·         Krymchak ·         Urum* ·         Crimean Tatar ·         Cuman †
			Kipchak–Nogai (Aralo-Caspian)	·         Kazakh ·         Karakalpak ·         Siberian Tatar ·         Nogai
			Kyrgyz–Kipchak (Kyrgyz)	·         Kyrgyz
			South Kipchak	·         Fergana Kipchak †

*Note: Kipchak–Cuman base, but have been heavily influenced by Oghuz languages.

There are some 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples. The number of speakers derived from statistics or estimates (2019) and were rounded.

Number	Name	Status	Native speakers	Main Country
1	Kazakh language	Normal	14,000,000	Kazakhstan
2	Tatar language	Normal	5,500,000	Russia
3	Kyrgyz language	Normal	5,000,000	Kyrgyzstan
4	Bashkir language	Vulnerable	1,500,000	Russia
5	Karakalpak language	Normal	650,000	Uzbekistan
6	Crimean Tatar language	Endangered	600,000	Russia * (previously Ukraine SSR)
7	Kumyk language	Vulnerable	450,000	Russia
8	Karachay-Balkar language	Vulnerable	400,000	Russia
9	Siberian Tatar language	Endangered	100,000	Russia
10	Nogai language	Definitely endangered	100,000	Russia
11	Krymchak language	Critically endangered	200	Israel
12	Karaim language	Critically endangered	100	Ukraine
Total	Kipchak languages		31,300,000

The Kipchak languages share a number of features that have led linguists to classify them together. Some of these features are shared with other Common Turkic languages; others are unique to the Kipchak family. These include:

• Loss of initial *h (preserved only in Khalaj), *d to /j/ (e.g. *hadaq > ajaq "foot").
• Extensive labial vowel harmony (e.g. olor vs. olar "them")
• Frequent fortition (in the form of assibilation) of initial */j/ (e.g. *jetti > ʒetti "seven")
• Diphthongs from syllable-final */ɡ/ and */b/ (e.g. *taɡ > taw "mountain", *sub > suw "water")

 Bibliography

• Johanson, Lars; Csató, Éva Ágnes (1998). The Turkic Languages. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-08200-5.
• Menges, Karl H. (1995). The Turkic Languages and Peoples (2nd ed.). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-03533-1.
• Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Kipchak". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
•  Dybo A.V., Chronology of Türkic languages and linguistic contacts of early Türks, Moscow, 2007, p. 766, "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2005-03-11. Retrieved 2005-03-11. (In Russian)
• https://www.ethnologue.com/
• https://glottolog.org/

Source

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kipchak_languages