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Kyrgyz language

Кyrgyz
кыргызча
قىرگىچه
qırğızça
кыргыз тили
قىرگىز تيلى
qırğız tili
Pronunciation IPA: [qɯɾʁɯztʃɑ], IPA: [qɯɾʁɯz tili]
Native to Kyrgyzstan (official), Afghanistan, Xinjiang (China), Tajikistan, Russia, Pakistan
Native speakers
4.3 million (2009 census)
Turkic
Kyrgyz alphabets (Cyrillic script, Perso-Arabic script, formerly Latin, Kyrgyz Braille)
Official status
Official language in
Kyrgyzstan
Language codes
ISO 639-1 ky
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3
Glottolog kirg1245
Linguasphere 44-AAB-cd
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Kyrgyz or Kirghiz /kɪərˈɡz/ (natively кыргызча, قىرعىزچه, kyrgyzcha, pronounced [qɯɾʁɯztʃɑ] or кыргыз тили, قىرعىز تيلى, kyrgyz tili, pronounced [qɯɾʁɯz tili]) is a Turkic language spoken by about four million people in Kyrgyzstan as well as China, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Russia. Kyrgyz is a member of the Kyrgyz–Kipchak subgroup of the Kypchak languages, and modern-day language convergence has resulted in an increasing degree of mutual intelligibility between Kyrgyz and Kazakh.

Kyrgyz was originally written in the Turkic runes, gradually replaced by an Arabic alphabet (in use until 1928 in USSR, still in use in China). Between 1928 and 1940, the Latin-based Uniform Turkic Alphabet was used. In 1940 due to general Soviet policy, a Cyrillic alphabet eventually became common and has remained so to this day, though some Kyrgyz still use the Arabic alphabet. When Kyrgyzstan became independent following the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, there was a popular idea among some Kyrgyz people to make transition to the Latin alphabet (taking in mind a version closer to the Turkish alphabet, not the original alphabet of 1928–40), but the plan has not been implemented yet.


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