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Turkic

Eurasian Language Families

Turkic groups roughly thirty five languages spoken across a broad belt from Turkey and the Caucasus through Central Asia to Siberia, including Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tatar and Yakut. A twentieth century hypothesis grouped Turkic with Mongolic and Tungusic, and sometimes Japonic and Koreanic, as a broader Altaic family; most comparative linguists now consider this a rejected or fringe proposal, attributing the shared features to prolonged contact rather than common descent.

Facts
Disputed
Proto-Language Status
Proto-Turkic is reconstructed via the comparative method and is securely established. Its proposed deeper unity with Mongolic and Tungusic under an Altaic macrofamily is a disputed and largely rejected hypothesis, not standard classification. 2
The internal Proto-Turkic reconstruction is not in dispute; the external Altaic hypothesis linking it to Mongolic and Tungusic is.
Region
Anatolia and the Caucasus, Central Asia and Siberia 1
Speaker Count
180,000,000 1
Aggregate total across the Turkic languages, dominated by Turkish; mid-2020s estimate.
Turkic
Filter Results9 entries
Connections

Ancestor Of

Common Turkic groups every Turkic language apart from Khalaj and Chuvash, which each split off earliest from the family.

Held Differently

Altaic, Language Families

Why this is disputed. Turkic is one of the three core families the Altaic hypothesis proposes to unite; most specialists attribute the resemblance to areal contact rather than common descent.

Source Wikipedia: Altaic Languages

Includes

Azerbaijani, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Azerbaijani Language
Kazakh, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Kazakh Language
Kyrgyz, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Kyrgyz Language
Old Turkic, Languages
Source Old Turkic language (Wikipedia)
Old Uyghur, Languages
Source Old Uyghur language (Wikipedia)
Turkish, Languages
Source Ethnologue: Languages of the World
Turkmen, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Turkmen Language
Source Encyclopedia.com: Uighur
Uzbek, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Uzbek Language
In the Other Atlases

Includes

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Found In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources
1. Ethnologue: Languages of the World
SIL International, 2024View the Source
2. Glottolog
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary AnthropologyComments on family membership section, glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/turk1311
Quote, Comments on family membership section, glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/turk1311
for critique on the Altaic hypothesis.
View the Source
Wikidata: Turkic
Wikidata Q34090, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
Wikipedia: Altaic Languages
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Altaic, IntroductionView the Source
Wikipedia: Azerbaijani Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Azerbaijani, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Azerbaijani, Infobox, Language family
Top family: Turkic languages; immediate branch: Oghuz languages (Western Oghuz).
View the Source
Wikipedia: Uzbek Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Uzbek, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Uzbek, Infobox, Language family
Turkic
View the Source
Wikipedia: Kazakh Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Kazakh, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Kazakh, Infobox, Language family
Turkic
View the Source
Wikipedia: Turkmen Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Turkmen, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Turkmen, Infobox, Language family
Turkic
View the Source
Wikipedia: Kyrgyz Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Kyrgyz, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Kyrgyz, Infobox, Language family
Turkic
View the Source
Old Uyghur language (Wikipedia)
Includes: Old Uyghur, Lead, first sentence
Quote, Includes: Old Uyghur, Lead, first sentence
was a Turkic language
View the Source
Old Turkic language (Wikipedia)
Includes: Old Turkic, Introduction
Quote, Includes: Old Turkic, Introduction
was a Siberian Turkic language spoken around East Turkistan and Mongolia
View the Source
Encyclopedia.com: Uighur
Includes: Uyghur language, Language section
Quote, Includes: Uyghur language, Language section
The Uighur language has been classified as belonging to the Southeastern or Eastern ("Turki") Subgroup of Turkic languages.
View the Source

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