Kazakh alphabets (Cyrillic script, Latin script, Arabic script, Kazakh Braille)
Official status
Official language in
Kazakhstan Russia
Altai Republic[2]
China
Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture
Barköl Kazakh Autonomous County
Mori Kazakh Autonomous County
Aksay Kazakh Autonomous County
Organisations:
Organization of Turkic States Collective Security Treaty Organization
Regulated by
Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Language codes
ISO 639-1
kk
ISO 639-2
kaz
ISO 639-3
kaz
Glottolog
kaza1248
Linguasphere
44-AAB-cc
The Kazakh-speaking world:
regions where Kazakh is the language of the majority
regions where Kazakh is the language of a significant minority
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A Kazakh speaker, recorded in TaiwanA Kazakh speaker, recorded in Kazakhstan
Kazakh or Qazaq[a] (pronounced[qɑzɑqˈʃɑ], [qɑˈzɑqtɪˈlɪ][3][4]) is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch spoken in Central Asia by Kazakhs. It is closely related to Nogai, Kyrgyz and Karakalpak. It is the official language of Kazakhstan and a significant minority language in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang, north-western China, and in the Bayan-Ölgii Province of western Mongolia. The language is also spoken by many ethnic Kazakhs throughout the former Soviet Union (some 472,000 in Russia according to the 2010 Russian census), Germany, and Turkey.
Like other Turkic languages, Kazakh is an agglutinative language and employs vowel harmony. Ethnologue recognizes three mutually intelligible dialect groups: Northeastern Kazakh—the most widely spoken variety, which also serves as the basis for the official language—Southern Kazakh, and Western Kazakh. The language shares a degree of mutual intelligibility with closely related Karakalpak while its Western dialects maintain limited mutual intelligibility with Altai languages.
In October 2017, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev decreed that the writing system would change from using Cyrillic to Latin script by 2025. The proposed Latin alphabet has been revised several times and as of January 2021 is close to the inventory of the Turkish alphabet, though lacking the letters C and Ç and having four additional letters: Ä, Ñ, Q and Ū (though other letters such as Y have different values in the two languages). It is scheduled to be phased in from 2023 to 2031.
^Kazakh at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
^"Статья 4. Правовое положение языков | ГАРАНТ".
^"Произношение букв – kazaktili.kz" (in Russian). kazaktili.kz. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
^"Kazakh (Қазақ тілі / Qazaq tili / قازاق ٴتىلى) – Omniglot". Retrieved 12 December 2022.
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Kazakh or Qazaq (pronounced [qɑzɑqˈʃɑ], [qɑˈzɑq tɪˈlɪ]) is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch spoken in Central Asia by Kazakhs. It is closely related...
letters for sounds of the Kazakhlanguage: Ә, Ғ, Қ, Ң, Ө, Ұ, Ү, Һ, І (until 1951 Ӯ was used instead of Ұ). Initially, Kazakh letters came after letters...
The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: sg. қазақ, qazaq, [qɑˈzɑq] , pl. қазақтар, qazaqtar, [qɑzɑqˈtɑr] ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central...
and 1.1% Tatars. The official language of Kazakhstan is Kazakh. Kazakhlanguage is used on coequal grounds. Other languages natively spoken in Kazakhstan...
tourism market. Kazakh literature is defined as "the body of literature, both oral and written, produced in the Kazakhlanguage by the Kazakh people of Central...
The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Kazakhstan, the Kazakh SSR, or simply Kazakhstan, was one of the transcontinental constituent...
Kazakh Sign Language (KSL) or Kazakh–Russian Sign Language (KRSL) is a dialect of Russian Sign Language used in Kazakhstan. Kazakhlanguage Russian Sign...
alphabet used for the Kazakhlanguage is based on Russian Braille, with several additional letters found in the print Kazakh alphabet. Kazakh uses all of the...
The Kazakh Wikipedia (Kazakh Cyrillic: Қазақша Уикипедия, Latin: Qazaqşa Uikipediia, Arabic: قازاقشا ۋيكيپەديا) is the Kazakhlanguage edition of the free...
Qazaqstan Radio and Television Corporation (Kazakh: «Qazaqstan» Республикалық Телерадиокорпорациясы Акционерлік Қоғамы, romanized: «Qazaqstan» Respwblïkalıq...
the Soviet Union, they remain prominent in Kazakh society today. Russians formed a plurality of the Kazakh SSR's population for several decades. The first...
The Kazakh Khanate (Kazakh: Қазақ Хандығы, Qazaq Handyğy), in eastern sources known as Ulus of the Kazakhs, Ulus of Jochi, Yurt of Urus, was a Kazakh state...
Kazakh literature is defined as 'the body of literature, both oral and written, produced in the Kazakhlanguage by the Kazakh people of Central Asia'...
The Kazakh Steppe (Kazakh: Қазақ даласы, romanized: Qazaq dalasy, also Uly dala, Ұлы дала "Great Steppe"), also called the Great Dala, is a vast region...
Traditional Kazakh cuisine is the traditional food of the Kazakh people. It is focused on mutton and horse meat, as well as various milk products. For...
territories where Russian is an official language: Geographical distribution of Russian speakers "Lost in translation? Kazakh leader bans cabinet from speaking...
Kazakhs are a Turkic ethnic group and one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. There is one Kazakh autonomous...
alphabet throughout the country. Karakalpak, is also a Turkic language, but it is closer to Kazakh. It is spoken in the Republic of Karakalpakstan by close...
The 2022 Kazakh unrest, also known as January Events (Kazakh: Қаңтар оқиғасы, romanized: Qañtar oqiğasy; Russian: Январские события, romanized: Janvarskie...
The Kazakh Air Defense Forces (Kazakh: Қазақстан Әуе қорғаныс күштері, Qazaqstan Äwe qorğanıs küşteri, Russian: Силы воздушной обороны Казахстана/Sily...
The national flag of Kazakhstan, also called the Kazakh flag (Kazakh: Қазақстан туы, Qazaqstan tuy, [qʰɑzɑqsˈtʰɑn to̙wɯ]; Russian: Флаг Казахстана, romanized: Flag...
Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in northern Xinjiang, China. Its capital is Yining, also known as Ghulja or Kulja. Covering...
Kazakh Americans (Kazakh: АҚШ-тағы қазақтар, romanized: AQŞ-tağy qazaqtar) are Americans of full or partial Kazakh ancestry. Although in the 1960s the...
An IETF BCP 47 language tag is a standardized code that is used to identify human languages on the Internet. The tag structure has been standardized by...
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