Kyrgyz language

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Kyrgyz
кыргыз тили

Spoken in

Afghanistan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , Uzbekistan , People's Republic of China
speaker 4,300,000 (2009)
Linguistic
classification
Official status
Official language in KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

ky

ISO 639 -2

kir

ISO 639-3

kir

The Kyrgyz language (kirg. Кыргыз тили / kyrgyz tili /), short form Kyrgyz (kirg. Кыргызча / kyrgyzča /), is an individual language belonging to the Turkic language family , which is generally assigned to the Kipchak group and which has numerous similarities with neighboring Turkic languages . It is the official and national language of the Kyrgyz Republic .

Name variants

For a long time, Kyrgyz was incorrectly referred to as " Tatar " and assigned to it. The actual Kyrgyz language was often referred to as “Kyrgyz Tatar”. An old self-designation of the language was to the 1930 year and which has been used "Kara-Kyrgyz" (Schwarzkirgisisch) to the language of the neighboring Kazakh delineate, also "Kyrgyz" was called.

An older name written in Arabic was also Qırğız tili (قىرغىز تىلى). This language name is still used by those Kyrgyz people who live in Afghanistan and China today and who still use the Arabic alphabet. In today's Turkey , this language is often referred to only as "Kyrgyz Turkish" ( Turkish Kırgız Türkçesi ).

Main distribution area

Distribution area of ​​the Kyrgyz

Kyrgyz is spoken by millions of people in Kyrgyzstan (2.3 million), Kazakhstan (14,112), China (113,000 in Xinjiang ), Afghanistan (25,000), Tajikistan (63,832), Turkey (1137) and Uzbekistan (174.907) spoken.

In the last census of the USSR ( 1989 ), of the 2.5 million Kyrgyz, around 2.4 million gave Kyrgyz as their mother tongue and 5261 as a second language.

On the night of September 22-23, 1989, Kyrgyz was made the state language in Kyrgyzstan, while Russian remained the working language of the republic.

Today, Russian is still the main language in major cities like Bishkek , while Kyrgyz continues to lose ground, especially among younger Kyrgyz people.

Classification options

The Kyrgyz language has been classified in many ways. For example, the "Fischer Lexikon Sprachen" (1987) lists the Kyrgyz language as follows:

  • Turkic languages
    • Western branch
      • Bulgarian group
      • The oghous group
      • Kipchak group
    • Eastern branch
      • Uighur group
      • Kyrgyz-Cypchak group
        • Kyrgyz

The Turkologist Menges assigned Kyrgyz to the Aralo-Caspian group of Turkic languages:

  • Turkic languages
    • Aralo-Caspian group
      • Kazakh
      • Karakalpak
      • Nogaisch
      • Kipchak-Ozbek
      • Kyrgyz

In contrast, the "Metzler Lexikon Sprache" (1993) lists Kyrgyz outside of each group. The current classification is given in the article Turkic languages .

Dialects and alphabets

Kyrgyz has a strong dialectal structure. Today the approx. 40 Kyrgyz dialects are divided into five main groups, which are strongly influenced by the neighboring Turkic languages:

  1. North Kyrgyz (with influences from the Altaic Turkic languages )
  2. East Kyrgyz (with influences from Uyghur )
  3. Central Kyrgyz (which is a transitional dialect between the groups)
  4. South Kyrgyz (with influences from Uzbek )
  5. West Kyrgyz (with influences from Kazakh )

Kyrgyz has only been an independent written language since the 1920s, when the native intelligentsia began to record their own mother tongue with a modified Arabic alphabet . The basis of the new high Kyrgyz language became the central Kyrgyz dialect, which was understood by all Kyrgyz people. Before that, the Kyrgyz had written with an idiom from the 15th century that was widespread at the time: the Chagatai . This idiom was written using a Persian-Arabic alphabet .

As early as 1926, the Kyrgyz people were latinized when the new Turkic alphabet was introduced. To this end, the 1930s began to enrich the vocabulary of the new High Kyrgyz language with numerous derivations from Azerbaijani . Many Kyrgyz people, who later formed the country's intelligentsia, received their higher education at Baku University . Since the first Kyrgyz universities were not established until the 1930s, several generations of the Kyrgyz intellectual class received their education at the universities in Baku. But Kyrgyz people also studied at the University of Gəncə.

The latinization of the country was reversed in 1940. In the course of compulsory Russian lessons imposed by Moscow among the non-Slavic peoples of the USSR, the Latin writing system used at the time was replaced by a modified Cyrillic alphabet . The Kyrgyz where to China belonging Xinjiang took the modern Kyrgyz Cyrillic long from 1949/1950 a time. But after Beijing's break with Moscow, China's Kyrgyz returned to an Arabic alphabet.

With the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union , the Kyrgyz minister of education took part in the first Turkic summit in Ankara , Turkey, in October 1990 . At this summit, among other things, the renewed Latinization of the Central Asian Turkic states and Azerbaijan was decided. They were supposed to create a Latin alphabet based on the modern Turkish alphabet for their countries within 15 years . In 1995, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Culture presented a “Kazakh-Kyrgyz model alphabet” to the public. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan had jointly drafted a Latin alphabet valid for both countries for reasons of cost. The final introduction of a western Latin alphabet has been postponed by the Kyrgyz government until further notice, and it has not given an official introduction date. Rather, like the neighboring Kazakhs, the Kyrgyz remain as the only Turkic states to date with the Cyrillic alphabet, which is justified by both countries with the Russian minority .

From pantürkisch oriented parts of the Kyrgyz population, the reintroduction of the abolished Arabic alphabet, and the Tchaghatai demanded unsuccessfully between 1988 and 1994. (see also: Alasch - Party of National Independence and Islamic Turkestan Party )

Kyrgyz
Cyrillitsa		 German
transcription		 IPA
А a A a a
Б б B b b
В в W w v
Г г G g g ~ ʁ
Д д D d d
Е е E e / 1 each e, ever
Ё ё Yo yo jo
Ж ж Dsch dsch dʒ
З з S s z
И и I i i
Й й I i / J j 2 j
К к K k k ~ q
Л л L l l
М м M m m
Н н N n n
Ң ң Ng ng ŋ
О о O o O
Ө ө Ö ö O
П п P p p
Р р R r r
С с S s (ss) 3 s
Т т T t t
У у U u u
Ү ү Ü ü y
Ф ф F f f
Х х Ch ch x
Ц ц Z z ʦ
Ч ч Tsch Tsch ʧ
Ш ш Sh sh ʃ
Щ щ Shch Shch ʃ
Ъ ъ - -
Ы ы Y y ɯ
Ь ь - -
Э э E e e
Ю ю Ju ju ju
Я я Yes / Yes Yes

1 : At the beginning of the word and after the vowel Depending on the consonant e .
2 : At the end of the word and before the following consonant I i , before the following vowel J j .
3 : Between vowels ss , otherwise S s .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kyrgyz to Ethnologue
  2. ↑ a b K. H. Menges: The Aralo-Caspian group. In: Philologiae Turcicae Fundamenta. Volume 1. Wiesbaden 1959.
  3. ↑ Heinz-Gerhard Zimpel: Lexicon of the world population. P. 276.
  4. ↑ a b Helmut Glück: Metzler Lexicon Language. P. 306.
  5. ↑ Flora Komlosi, Siarl Ferdinand: Vitality of the Kyrgyz Language in Bishkek . In: International Journal of Russian Studies . No. 5 , February 2016, ISSN  2158-7051 , p. 210–226 ( academia.edu [accessed September 10, 2016]).
  6. ^ Heinz F. Wendt: Fischer Lexicon Languages. Pp. 328-331.
  7. ↑ Helmut Glück: Metzler Lexikon Sprache , p. 657

literature

Web links

Wikipedia in Kyrgyz