Kipchak languages
family of Turkic languages of Central Asia and Europe
The Kipchak languages (also known as the Kypchak, Qypchaq, Qypshaq or the Northwestern Turkic languages) are a sub-branch of the Turkic language family spoken by approximately 30 million people in much of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, spanning from Bulgaria and Romania in Southeastern Europe to China in East Asia. Some of the most widely spoken languages in this group are Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Tatar.
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
Change of Proto-Turkic *d to /j/ (e.g. *hadaq > ajaq "foot")
Loss of initial *h, see above example
Unique features
Family-specific
Frequent fortition (in the form of assibilation) of initial */j/ (e.g. *jetti > ʒetti "seven")
Diphthongs from syllable-final */ɡ/ and */b/ (e.g. *taɡ > taw "mountain", *sub > suw "water")
Language-specific
In both Tatar and Bashkir, the original mid and high vowels are swapped in position by vowel raising and lowering:
Classification
The Kipchak languages may be broken down into four groups based on geography and shared features (languages in bold are still spoken today):
See also
Kipchaks
Kipchaks in Georgia
Cuman people
Cuman language
Cumania
Kalpak
Notes
References
Bibliography
Johanson, Lars; Csató, Éva Ágnes (1998). The Turkic Languages. London: Routledge.
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