Kazakh language
| Kazakh (Қазақ тілі) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia |
| Region: | |
| Total speakers: | 8 million |
| Ranking: | 93 |
| Genetic classification: | Altaic
Turkic |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | Kazakhstan |
| Regulated by: | ? |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | kk |
| ISO 639-2 | kaz |
| SIL | KAZ |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
Kazak, also Kazakh and Qazaq (Қазақ тілі, Qazaq tilî) is a Turkic language with ISO 639 codes of kaz and kk.
It is the official language of Kazakhstan, and is also spoken traditionally in Afghanistan, China, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Germany has some Kazak speakers in the second half of the 20th century and onward. These are mainly descendants of the Volga Germans who were deported to Kazakstan, mixed with the local population and later returned to Germany.
There are approximately 8.5 million native speakers around the world. It is written using the Cyrillic, the Latin (Turkey), and modified Arabic (China, Iran, Afghanistan) scripts.
The Kazak Cyrillic script is based on the Russian alphabet with 9 additional letters: Ә, Ғ, Қ, Ң, Ө, Ұ, Ү, Һ, İ.
| Cyrillic | Qaydar Latin transliteration | Janga Latin transcription |
|---|---|---|
| А а | A a | A a |
| Ә ә | Ä ä | Ä ä |
| Б б | B b | B b |
| В в | V v | V v |
| Г г | G g | G g |
| Ғ ғ | Ğ ğ | Gh gh |
| Д д | D d | D d |
| Е е | E e | E e - ye word-initially or after a vowel |
| Ё ё | Yo yo | Yo yo |
| Ж ж | J j | J j |
| З з | Z z | Z z |
| И и | Iy iy | I i |
| Й й | Y y | Y y |
| К к | K k | K k |
| Қ қ | Q q | Q q |
| Л л | L l | L l |
| М м | M m | M m |
| Н н | N n | N n |
| Ң ң | Ñ ñ | Ng ng |
| О о | O o | O o |
| Ө ө | Ö ö | Ö ö |
| П п | P p | P p |
| Р р | R r | R r |
| С с | S s | S s |
| Т т | T t | T t |
| У у | W w | U u |
| Ұ ұ | U u | Û û |
| Ү ү | Ü ü | Ü ü |
| Ф ф | F f | F f |
| Х х | X x | Kh kh |
| Һ һ | H h | H h |
| Ц ц | C c | Ts ts |
| Ч ч | Ç ç | Ch ch |
| Ш ш | Ş ş | Sh sh |
| Щ щ | ? | Shy shy |
| Ъ ъ | ? | |
| Ы ы | I ı | Â â |
| İ і | İ i | Î î |
| Ь ь | ? | |
| Э э | E e | Ê ê |
| Ю ю | Yu yu | Yu yu |
| Я я | Ya ya | Ya ya |
See also: Kazakh, Languages of China
Reference
- This language's entry in the Ethnologue.