Tiny Wiki :
Fast loading, text only version of Wikipedia.
Kypchak Languages
The Kypchak languages (also known as the Kipchak, Qypchaq, or Northwestern Turkic languages), are a major branch of the Turkic language family spoken by more than 12 million people in an area spanning from Lithuania to China.
Linguistic Features
The Kypchak languages share a number of features that have led linguists to classify them together. Some of these features are shared with other Turkic languages; others are unique to the Kypchak language family.
Shared Features
*Change of Proto-Turkic *d to /j/ (e.g. *''hadaq'' > ''ajaq'' "foot")
*Loss of initial *h sound (preserved only in Khalaj. See above example.)
Unique Features
*Extensive labial vowel harmony (e.g. ''olor'' vs. ''olar'' "them")
*Frequent assibilation of initial */j/ (e.g. *' > ' "seven")
*Diphthongs from syllable-final */g/ and */b/ (e.g. *' > ' "mountain", *' > ')
Classification
The Kypchak languages may be broken down into three groups, based on geography and shared features:
*Kypchak-Bolgar (Uralo-Caspian), including Bashkir and Tatar (including Siberian Tatar, Mishar Tatar, Astrakhan Tatar, Baraba Tatar, etc.)
*Kypchak-Cuman (Ponto-Caspian), including Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Karaim, Krymchak, and the extinct Cuman and Kipchak languages. Urum and Crimean Tatar appear to have a Kypchak-Cuman base, but have been heavily influenced by Oghuz languages.
*Kazakh-Nogay, including Kazakh, Karakalpak, and Nogay
Literary Kyrgyz has been heavily influenced by the Kypchak languages, especially Kazakh, but it appears that it belongs in a separate family with Altay.
The Uzbek language's Kypchak dialect contains the remainder of Kypchak languages that were once spoken in Uzbekistan, and there is a dialect continuum between Uzbek and Kazakh.
The language of the Mamluks in Egypt appears to have been a Kypchak language, probably one belonging to the Kypchak-Cuman group.
Kypchak_languages
Source: Wikipedia