Karachay-Balkar

Karachay-Balkar
къарачай-малкъар тил
таулу тил
Native toNorth Caucasus
RegionKabardino-Balkaria, Karachay–Cherkessia, Turkey
EthnicityKarachays, Balkars
Native speakers
310,000 in Russia (2010 census)
Turkic
Dialects
  • Karachay
  • Balkar
Cyrillic
Latin in diaspora
Official status
Official language in
Kabardino-Balkaria (Russia)
Karachay-Cherkessia (Russia)
Language codes
ISO 639-2krc
ISO 639-3krc
Glottologkara1465
Karachay-Balkar is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Koran Karachay-Balkar-language version

Karachay-Balkar (Къарачай-Малкъар тил, Qaraçay-Malqar tıl), or Mountain Turkic (Таулу тил, Tawlu tıl), is a Turkic language spoken by the Karachays and Balkars in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay–Cherkessia, European Russia, as well as by an immigrant population in Afyonkarahisar Province, Turkey. It is divided into two dialects: Karachay-Baksan-Chegem, which pronounces two phonemes as /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ and Malkar, which pronounces the corresponding phonemes as /ts/ and /z/. 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 been preserved to this day. First printed books in Karachay-Balkar were published in the beginning of the 20th century.

After the October Revolution as part of a state campaign of Latinisation Karachay and Balkar educators developed a new alphabet based on Latin letters. In the 1930s, the official Soviet policy was revised and the process of Cyrillization of Soviet languages was started. In 1937–38 the new alphabet based on Cyrillic letters was officially adopted.

Alphabet

Modern Karachay-Balkar Cyrillic alphabet:

А а
/a/
Б б
/b/
В в
/v/
Г г
/g/
Гъ гъ
Д д
/d/
Дж дж
/dʒ/
Е е
/je/
Ё ё
/ø, jo/
Ж ж**
/ʒ/
З з
/z/
И и
/i/
Й й
/j/
К к
/k/
Къ къ
/q/
Л л
/l/
М м
/m/
Н н
/n/
Нг нг
/ŋ/
О о
/o/
П п
/p/
Р р
/r/
С с
/s/
Т т
/t/
У у
/u, w/
Ф ф*
/f/
Х х
/x/
Ц ц
/ts/
Ч ч
/tʃ/
Ш ш
/ʃ/
Щ щ
ъ
Ы ы
/ɯ/
ь
Э э
/e/
Ю ю
/y, ju/
Я я
/ja/
* 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 IPA: [w].

Karachay-Balkar Latin alphabet:

A a B в C c Ç ç D d E e F f G g
Ƣ ƣ I i J j K k Q q L l M m N n
Ꞑ ꞑ O o Ө ө P p R r S s Ş ş T t
Ь ь U u V v Y y X x Z z Ƶ ƶ

Comparison chart

Arabic
(1920–1924)
Latin
(1924–1938)
Cyrillic
(1961–1964)
Cyrillic
(1937–1961), (1964–present)
ا A a А а А а
ب B в Б б Б б
و V v В в В в
گ G g Г г Г г
غ Ƣ ƣ Ғ ғ Гъ гъ
د D d Д д Д д
ە E e Е е Е е
ۆ Ө ө Ө ө, Ё ё Ё ё
ژ Ƶ ƶ Ж ж Ж ж
ج Ç ç Җ җ Дж дж (Ж ж)
ز Z z З з З з
ي I i И и И и
ي J j Й й Й й
ك, ک K k К к К к
ق Q q Қ қ Къ къ
ل L l Л л Л л
م M m М м М м
ن N n Н н Н н
ڭ, ݣ Ꞑ ꞑ Ң ң Нг нг (Нъ нъ)
وٓ O o О о О о
پ P p П п П п
ر R r Р р Р р
س S s С с С с
ت T t Т т Т т
و U u У у У у
و W w Ў ў У у (Ў ў, У́ у́)
ف F f Ф ф Ф ф
خ X x Х х Х х
ح H h Һ һ -
S̷ s̷ Ц ц Ц ц
چ C c Ч ч Ч ч
ش Ş ş Ш ш Ш ш
Щ щ Щ щ
ъ ъ
ىٕ Ы ы Ы ы
ь ь
ئە, اە E e Э э Э э
ۉ Y y Ү ү, Ю ю Ю ю
- - Я я Я я

Phonology

Vowels
Front Back
Close i y ɯ u
Mid e ø o
Open ɑ
Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Plosive p b t d k ɡ (q) (ɢ)
Fricative [f] s z ʃ x (ɣ) h
Affricate [ts]
Nasal m n ŋ
Liquid l r
Approximant w j

Parentheses indicate allophones, brackets indicate phonemes from loanwords.

Grammar

Nominals

Cases

Case Suffix
Nominative
Accusative -НИ
Genitive -НИ
Dative -ГА
Locative -ДА
Ablative -дан

Possessive suffixes

Singular Plural
1st person -им -ибиз
2nd person -инг -игиз
3rd person -(s)I(n) -(s)I(n)

Language example

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Karachay-Balkar:

In Cyrillic In Cyrillic (1961-1964) Transliteration Yañalif Translation
Бютеу адамла эркин болуб эмда сыйлары бла хакълары тенг болуб тууадыла. Алагъа акъыл бла намыс берилгенди эмда бир-бирлерине къарнашлыкъ халда къараргъа керекдиле. Бүтеу адамла эркин болуб эмда сыйлары бла хақлары тең болуб тууадыла. Алаға ақыл бла намыс берилгенди эмда бир-бирлерине қарнашлық халда қарарға керекдиле. Bütew adamla erkin bolub emda sıyları bla haqları teñ bolub tuwadıla. Alağa aqıl bla namıs berilgendi emda bir-birlerine qarnaşlıq halda qararğa kerekdile. Byteu adamla erkin ʙoluʙ emda sьjlarь ʙla xalqlarь teꞑ ʙoluʙ tuuadьla. Alaƣa aqьl ʙla namьs ʙerilgendi emda ʙir-ʙirlerine qarnaşlьq xalda qararƣa kerekdile. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Numerals

Numeral Karachay-Balkar Kumyk Nogay
0 ноль ноль ноль
1 бир бир бир
2 эки эки эки
3 юч уьч уьш
4 тёрт дёрт доьрт
5 беш беш бес
6 алты алты алты
7 джети етти йети
8 сегиз сегиз сегиз
9 тогъуз тогъуз тогыз
10 он он он
100 бир джюз бир юз бир юз

Loanwords

Loanwords from Russian, Ossetian, Kabardian, Arabic, and Persian 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 which was spoken during the Golden Horde.

Bibliography

  • Chodiyor Doniyorov and Saodat Doniyorova. Parlons Karatchay-Balkar. Paris: Harmattan, 2005. ISBN 2-7475-9577-3.
  • Steve Seegmiller (1996) Karachay (LINCOM)

This page was last updated at 2024-03-26 07:52 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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