Kipchak languages


The Kipchak languages are a sub-branch of the Turkic language family spoken by approximately 31.3 million people in much of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, spanning from Ukraine to China. Some of the most widely spoken languages in this group are Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Tatar.

Kipchak languages by native speakers

The Turkic languages are a language family of at least 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples. The number of speakers derived from statistics or estimates and were rounded:
NumberNameStatusNative speakersMain Country
1Kazakh languageNormal14,000,000
2Tatar languageNormal5,500,000
3Kyrgyz languageNormal5,000,000
4Bashkir languageVulnerable1,500,000
5Karakalpak languageNormal650,000
6Crimean Tatar languageSeverely endangered600,000
7Kumyk languageVulnerable450,000
8Karachay-Balkar languageVulnerable400,000
9Siberian Tatar languageDefinitely endangered100,000
10Nogai languageDefinitely endangered100,000
11Krymchak languageCritically endangered200
12Karaim languageCritically endangered100
TotalKipchak languagesNormal31,300,000

Linguistic features

The Kipchak languages share a number of features that have led linguists to classify them together. Some of these features are shared with other Common Turkic languages; others are unique to the Kipchak family.

Shared features

The Kipchak languages may be broken down into four groups, based on geography and shared features: Languages in bold are still spoken today.
*Note: Kipchak–Cuman base, but have been heavily influenced by Oghuz languages.