- Karakalpak language
language
name=Karakalpak
nativename=Qaraqalpaq tili, Қарақалпақ тили
familycolor=Altaic
states=Uzbekistan ,Kazakhstan ,Afghanistan ,Russia
region=Karakalpakstan
speakers=412,000 (1993)
fam2=Turkic
fam3=Kypchak
fam4=Kypchak-Nogay
nation=Uzbekistan (Karakalpakstan is the official area)
iso2=kaa|iso3=kaa|
Map showing locations of Karakalpak (red) within UzbekistanKarakalpak is a
Turkic language mainly spoken byKarakalpaks inKarakalpakstan (Uzbekistan ), as well as by Bashkirs and Nogay. Ethnic Karakalpaks who live in the "viloyatlar" of Uzbekistan tend to speak local Uzbek dialects.Fact|date=April 2007Classification
Karakalpak is a member of the Kypchak Turkic family of languages, which includes Tatar, Kumyk, and Kazakh in addition to Karakalpak. The Kipchak family is a subgroup of the
Turkic languages , which most linguists believe to be member of an Altaic language family.Within the Kipchak Turkic family, Karakalpak is most closely related to Kazakh and Nogai. Due to its proximity to theUzbek language areal, much of the vocabulary and grammar has an Uzbek influence.Like Finnish, Hungarian, and Turkish, Karakalpak has
vowel harmony , is agglutinative and has nogrammatical gender . Word order is usuallySubject Object Verb .Geographic Distribution
Karakalpak is spoken mainly in the
Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic ofUzbekistan . Approximately 2,000 people inAfghanistan speak Karakalpak and smaller diaspora in other parts ofRussia ,Kazakhstan ,Turkey , and other parts of the world speak Karakalpak as well.Official Status
Karakalpak has official status in the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic.
Dialects
The
Ethnologue identifies two dialects of Karakalpak: Northeastern and Southeastern. Menges mentions a third possible dialect spoken in theFergana Valley .ounds
Karakalpak has 21 native consonant phonemes and regularly uses 4 non-native phonemes in loan words. Non-native sounds are shown in parentheses.
References
* [http://karakalpak.com/ www.karakalpak.com]
External links
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=kaa Ethnologue report for Karakalpak]
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