![Koran Karachay language version](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Koran_Karachay_language_version.jpg)
Karachay-Balkar (, ), or Mountain Turkic (, ), is a
Turkic language
The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic languag ...
spoken by the
Karachays
The Karachays ( krc, Къарачайлыла, Qaraçaylıla or таулула, , 'Mountaineers') are an indigenous Caucasian Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus. They speak Karachay-Balkar, a Turkic language. They are mostly situated ...
and
Balkars
The Balkars ( krc, Малкъарлыла, Malqarlıla or Таулула, , 'Mountaineers') are a Turkic people of the Caucasus region, one of the titular populations of Kabardino-Balkaria. Their Karachay-Balkar language is of the Ponto-Casp ...
in
Kabardino-Balkaria
The Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (russian: Кабарди́но-Балка́рская Респу́блика, ''Kabardino-Balkarskaya Respublika''; kbd, Къэбэрдей-Балъкъэр Республикэ, ''Ķêbêrdej-Baĺķêr Respublik ...
and
Karachay–Cherkessia
The Karachay-Cherkess Republic (russian: Карача́ево-Черке́сская Респу́блика, ''Karachayevo-Cherkesskaya Respublika''; krc, Къарачай-Черкес Республика, ''Qaraçay-Çerkes Respublika''; Cir ...
,
European Russia
European Russia (russian: Европейская Россия, russian: европейская часть России, label=none) is the western and most populated part of Russia. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the cou ...
, as well as by an immigrant population in
Afyonkarahisar Province
Afyonkarahisar Province ( tr, ), also called more simply Afyon Province, is a province in western Turkey.
Adjacent provinces are Kütahya to the northwest, Uşak to the west, Denizli to the southwest, Burdur to the south, Isparta to the sout ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. It is divided into two dialects: Karachay-Baksan-Chegem, which pronounces two
phoneme
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
s as and and Malkar, which pronounces the corresponding phonemes as and . The modern Karachay-Balkar written language is based on the Karachay-Baksan-Chegem dialect. The language is closely related to
Kumyk.
Writing
Historically, the
Arabic alphabet had been used by first writers until 1924. Handwritten manuscripts of the Balkar poet Kazim Mechiev and other examples of literature have preserved to this day. First printed books in Karachay-Balkar language were published In the beginning of 20th century.
After the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
as part of a state campaign of
Latinisation Karachay and Balkar educators developed a new alphabet based on Latin letters. In 1930s, the official Soviet policy was revised and the process of
Cyrillization
Cyrillization or Cyrillisation is the process of rendering words of a language that normally uses a writing system other than Cyrillic script into (a version of) the Cyrillic alphabets, Cyrillic alphabet. Although such a process has often been ca ...
the languages of
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
peoples was started. In 1937–38 the new alphabet based on Cyrillic letters was officially adopted.
Alphabet
Modern Karachay-Balkar Cyrillic alphabet:
:
* Not found in native vocabulary
In Kabardino-Balkaria, they write ж instead of дж, while in Karachay-Cherkessia, they write нъ instead of нг. In some publications, especially during the Soviet period, the letter у́ or ў is used for the sound .
Karachay-Balkar Latin alphabet:
Phonology
Parentheses indicate allophones.
Grammar
Nominals
Cases
Possessive suffixes
Language example
Article 1 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...
in Karachay-Balkar:
Numerals
Loanwords
Loanwords from
Ossetian,
Kabardian,
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
, and
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
are fairly numerous.
In popular culture
Russian filmmaker Andrei Proshkin used Karachay-Balkar for ''
The Horde'', believing that it might be the closest language to the original
Kipchak language
Cuman or Kuman (also called Kipchak, Qypchaq or Polovtsian) was a Kipchak Turkic language spoken by the Cumans (Polovtsy, Folban, Vallany, Kun) and Kipchaks; the language was similar to today's various languages of the Kipchak-Cuman branch. Cu ...
which was spoken during the
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fr ...
.
Bibliography
* Chodiyor Doniyorov and Saodat Doniyorova. ''Parlons Karatchay-Balkar''. Paris: Harmattan, 2005. .
* Steve Seegmiller (1996) ''Karachay'' (LINCOM)
References
[Row 102 in ]
External links
Russian-Karachay-Balkar On-Line Dictionary (a)Russian-Karachay-Balkar On-Line Dictionary (b)"Заман" newspaper"Къарачай" newspaper"Минги Тау" magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karachay-Balkar Language
Agglutinative languages
Kipchak languages
Languages of Russia
Kabardino-Balkaria
Karachay-Cherkessia
Languages of the Caucasus
Western Kipchak
Languages written in Cyrillic script
Turkic languages