Kyrgyz language

Not to be confused with Fuyu Kyrgyz language.

Kyrgyz
Кыргыз тили قىرعىز تىلى‎
Kyrgyz written in Cyrillic and Perso-Arabic scripts
Pronunciation	[qɯɾʁɯzˈtʃɑ]
Native to	Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, China
Region	Central Asia
Ethnicity	Kyrgyz
Native speakers	5.15 million (2009 census)
Language family	Turkic Common Turkic Kipchak Kyrgyz–Kipchak Kyrgyz
Dialects	Pamiri Kyrgyz
Writing system	Kyrgyz alphabets (Cyrillic script, Perso-Arabic script, Kyrgyz Braille)
Official status
Official language in	Kyrgyzstan China Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture Organisations: Organization of Turkic States Collective Security Treaty Organization
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ky
ISO 639-2	kir
ISO 639-3	kir
Glottolog	kirg1245
Linguasphere	44-AAB-cd
Places where Kyrgyz is spoken

A speaker of the Kyrgyz language in traditional dress, recorded on the Chunkurchak pasture on the outskirts of Bishkek during an interview

Azim, a speaker of the Kyrgyz language, recorded in Taiwan

Kyrgyz is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch spoken in Central Asia. Kyrgyz is the official language of Kyrgyzstan and a significant minority language in the Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang, China and in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan. There is a very high level of mutual intelligibility between Kyrgyz, Kazakh, and Altay. A dialect of Kyrgyz known as Pamiri Kyrgyz is spoken in north-eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. Kyrgyz is also spoken by many ethnic Kyrgyz through the former Soviet Union, Afghanistan, Turkey, parts of northern Pakistan, and Russia.

Kyrgyz was originally written in Göktürk script, gradually replaced by the Perso-Arabic alphabet (in use until 1928 in the USSR, still in use in China). Between 1928 and 1940, a Latin-script alphabet, the Uniform Turkic Alphabet, was used. In 1940, Soviet authorities replaced the Latin script with the Cyrillic alphabet for all Turkic languages on its territory. When Kyrgyzstan became independent following the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, a plan to adopt the Latin alphabet became popular. Although the plan has not been implemented, it remains in occasional discussion.

Classification

Kyrgyz is a Common Turkic language belonging to the Kipchak branch of the family. It is considered to be an East Kipchak language, forming a subfamily with the Southern Altai language within the greater Kipchak branch. Internally, Kyrgyz has three distinct varieties; Northern and Southern Kyrgyz.

Language should not be confused with Old Kyrgyz (Yenisei Kyrgyz) language which classified as a member of the South Siberian branch of Turkic languages. The successor of the Yenisei Kyrgyz language today are the Khakas in Russian Federation and Fuyu Kyrgyz in Northeastern China.

History

In 925, when the Liao dynasty defeated the Yenisei Kyrgyz and expelled them from the Mongolian steppes, some Ancient Kyrgyz elites settled in Altai and Xinjiang where they mixed with the local Kipchaks, resulting in a language shift.

After the Mongol conquest in 1207 and a series of revolts against the Yuan dynasty, Kyrgyz-speaking tribes started to migrate to Tian Shan, which was already populated by various Turco-Mongol tribes. As Chaghatai Ulus subjects, the Kyrgyz converted to Islam. Persian and Arabic vocabulary loaned to the Kyrgyz language, but to a much lesser extent than Kazakh, Uzbek and Uighur.

Phonology

Main article: Kyrgyz phonology

Kyrgyz vowel phonemes

	Front		Back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
Close	i	y	ɯ	u
Mid	e	ø		o
Open	(a)		ɑ

/a/ appears only in borrowings from Persian or when followed by a front vowel later in the word (regressive assimilation), e.g. /ajdøʃ/ 'sloping' instead of */ɑjdøʃ/. In most dialects, its status as a vowel distinct from /ɑ/ is questionable.

Vowel Harmony (Peace Corps Method)

Left Shift (<)	Right Shift (>)	Shift Direction
а	ы	Straight Across Left-Right Shift
о	у	("y" Left-shifts up-diagonally to "a")
е (э)	и	Straight Across Left-Right Shift
ө	ү	Straight Across Left-Right Shift

The United States Peace Corps trains its volunteers using a "Left-Right Shift" method when carrying out language training in Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyz consonant phonemes

		Labial	Dental/ alveolar	Post- alveolar	Dorsal
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		t͡s	t͡ʃ
	voiced			d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ	x
	voiced	v	z
Approximant			l		j
Trill			r

Writing system

Main article: Kyrgyz alphabets

The Kyrgyz in Kyrgyzstan use a Cyrillic alphabet, which uses all the Russian letters plus ң, ө and ү.

In the Xinjiang region of China, an Arabic alphabet is used.

Between 1928 and 1940, a Latin alphabet was used for many minority languages in the USSR, including Kyrgyz. There have been attempts after 1990 to introduce other Latin alphabets which are closer to the Turkish alphabet, e.g. the Common Turkic Alphabet. There are political shades to the Cyrillic-Latin debate. In April 2023, Russia suspended dairy exports to Kyrgyzstan after a proposal by the chairman of Kyrgyzstan's National Commission for the State Language and Language Policies, Kanybek Osmonaliev, to change the alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin to bring the country in line with other Turkic nations. Osmonaliev was reprimanded by President Sadyr Japarov, who later clarified that Kyrgyzstan had no plans to replace the Cyrillic alphabet.

Cyrillic script	Perso-Arabic script	Latin script	IPA transcription	English translation
Бардык адамдар өз беделинде жана укуктарында эркин жана тең укуктуу болуп жаралат. Алардын аң-сезими менен абийири бар жана бири-бирине бир туугандык мамиле кылууга тийиш.	باردىق ادامدار ۅز بەدەلينده جانا وُقوُقتارىندا ەرکین جانا تەڭ ۇقۇقتۇۇ بولۇپ جارالات. الاردىن اڭ-سەزیمی مەنەن ابئییری بار جانا بئرى-بئرینه بئر توُوُعاندىق مامئلە قىلوُوُعا تئییش.‎	Bardık adamdar öz bedelinde jana ukuktarında erkin jana teñ ukuktuu bolup jaralat. Alardın añ-sezimi menen abiyiri bar jana biri-birine bir tuugandık mamile kıluuga tiyiş.	[bɑr.ˈdɯq ɑ.dɑm.ˈdɑr øz be.de.lɪn.ˈde d͡ʑɑ.nɑ ʊ.ˌqʊχ.tɑ.rɯn.ˈdɑ er.ˈkɪn d͡ʑɑ.ˈnɑ teŋ ʊ.qʊχ.ˈtuː bɔ.ˈɫʊp d͡ʑɑ.rɑ.ˈɫɑt ‖ ɑ.ɫɑr.ˈdɯn ɑŋ se.zɪ.ˈmɪ me.ˈnen ɑ.bɪ.ʝɪ.ˈrɪ bɑr d͡ʑɑ.ˈnɑ bɪ.ˈrɪ bɪ.rɪ.ˈne bɪr tuː.ʁɑn.ˈdɯq mɑ.mɪ.ˈle qɯ.ɫuː.ˈʁɑ tɪ.ˈʝɪɕ ‖]	All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Morphology and syntax

Case

Nouns in Kyrgyz take a number of case endings that change based on vowel harmony and the sort of consonant they follow (see the section on phonology).

Case	Underlying form	Possible forms	"boat"	"air"	"bucket"	"hand"	"head"	"salt"	"eye"
Nominative	—		кеме	аба	челек	кол	баш	туз	көз
Genitive	-NIn	-нын, -нин, -дын, -дин, -тын, -тин, -нун, -нүн, -дун, -дүн, -тун, -түн	кеменин	абанын	челектин	колдун	баштын	туздун	көздүн
Dative	-GA	-га, -ка, -ге, -ке, -го, -ко, -гө, -кө	кемеге	абага	челекке	колго	башка	тузга	көзгө
Accusative	-NI	-ны, -ни, -ды, -ди, -ты, -ти, -ну, -нү, -ду, -дү, -ту, -тү	кемени	абаны	челекти	колду	башты	тузду	көздү
Locative	-DA	-да, -де, -та, -те, -до, -дө, -то, -тө	кемеде	абада	челекте	колдо	башта	тузда	көздө
Ablative	-DAn	-дан, -ден, -тан, -тен, -дон, -дөн, -тон, -төн	кемеден	абадан	челектен	колдон	баштан	туздан	көздөн

Normally the decision between the velar ([ɡ ~ ɣ], [k]) and uvular ([ɢ ~ ʁ] and [χ ~ q]) pronunciation of ⟨г⟩ and ⟨к⟩ is based on the backness of the following vowel—i.e. back vowels imply a uvular rendering and front vowels imply a velar rendering—and the vowel in suffixes is decided based on the preceding vowel in the word. However, with the dative suffix in Kyrgyz, the vowel is decided normally, but the decision between velars and uvulars can be decided based on a contacting consonant, for example банк /bank/ 'bank' + GA yields банкка /bankka/, not /bankqa/ as predicted by the following vowel.

Pronouns

Kyrgyz has eight personal pronouns:

Personal pronouns

		singular	plural
1st person		Мен (Men)	Биз (Biz)
2nd person	informal	Сен (Sen)	Силер (Siler)
	formal	Сиз (Siz)	Сиздер (Sizder)
3rd person		Ал (Al)	Алар (Alar)

The declension of the pronouns is outlined in the following chart. Singular pronouns (with the exception of сиз, which used to be plural) exhibit irregularities, while plural pronouns don't. Irregular forms are highlighted in bold.

Declension of pronouns

	Singular				Plural
	1st	2nd		3rd	1st	2nd		3rd
		informal	formal			informal	formal
Nom	мен	сен	сиз	ал	биз	силер	сиздер	алар
Acc	мени	сени	сизди	аны	бизди	силерди	сиздерди	аларды
Gen	менин	сенин	сиздин	анын	биздин	силердин	сиздердин	алардын
Dat	мага	сага	сизге	ага	бизге	силерге	сиздерге	аларга
Loc	менде	сенде	сизде	анда	бизде	силерде	сиздерде	аларда
Abl	менден	сенден	сизден	андан	бизден	силерден	сиздерден	алардан

In addition to the pronouns, there are several more sets of morphemes dealing with person.

Morphemes indicating person

		pronouns	copulas	present tense	possessive endings	past/conditional	imperative
1st sg		мен	-mIn	-mIn	-(I)m	-(I)m	-AyIN
2nd sg	informal	сен	-sIŋ	-sIŋ	-(I)ŋ	-(I)ŋ	—, -GIn
	formal	сиз	-sIz	-sIz	-(I)ŋIz	-(I)ŋIz	-GIlA
3rd sg		ал	—	-t	-(s)I(n)	—	-sIn
1st pl		биз	-BIz	-BIz	-(I)bIz	-(I)K	-AyIK
2nd pl	informal	силер	-sIŋAr	-sIŋAr	-(I)ŋAr	-(I)ŋAr
	formal	сиздер	-sIzdAr	-sIzdAr	-(I)ŋIzdAr	-(I)nIzdAr
3rd pl		алар	—	-(I)şAt	-(s)I(n)	—	-sIn, -IşsIn

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated by analyzing the root verb: 1) determine whether the end letter is a vowel or consonant 2) add appropriate suffix while following vowel-harmony/shift rules.

Simple present tense conjugations (Peace Corps)

		Per. Pronoun	Vowel	Consonant
1st sg		Мен	-м	-м
2nd pl	informal	Сен	-йс<ң	-йс<ң
	formal	Сиз	-йс<з	-йс<з
3rd sg		Ал	-йт	-йт
1st pl		Биз	-йб>з	-<б>з
2nd pl	informal	Силер
	formal	Сиздер
3rd pl		Алар

Subordinate clauses

To form complement clauses, Kyrgyz nominalises verb phrases. For example, "I don't know what I saw" would be:

Мен

Men

I

эмнени

emneni

what-ACC.DEF

көргөнүмдү

körgönümdü

see-ing-1SG-ACC.DEF

билбейм

bilbeym

know-NEG-1SG

Мен эмнени көргөнүмдү билбейм

Men emneni körgönümdü bilbeym

I what-ACC.DEF see-ing-1SG-ACC.DEF know-NEG-1SG

roughly "I don't know my having seen what," where the verb phrase "I saw what" is treated as a nominal object of the verb "to know."

The sentence above is also an excellent example of Kyrgyz vowel harmony; notice that all the vowel sounds are front vowels.

Several nominalisation strategies are used depending on the temporal properties of the relativised verb phrase: -GAn(dIK) for general past tense, -AAr for future/potential unrealised events, and -A turgan(dɯq) for non-perfective events are the most common. The copula has an irregular relativised form экен(дик) which may be used equivalently to forms of the verb бол- be (болгон(дук), болор). Relativised verb forms may, and often do, take nominal possessive endings as well as case endings.

See also

• BGN/PCGN romanization of Kyrgyz
• Kyrgyz people
• Romanization of Kyrgyz

Bibliography

• Kara, Dávid Somfai (2003), Kyrgyz, Lincom Europa, ISBN 978-3-89586-843-6
• Krippes, Karl A. (1998). Kyrgyz: Kyrgyz-English/English-Kyrgyz: Glossary of Terms. Hippocrene Books, New York. ISBN 978-0-7818-0641-1.
• Library of Congress, Country Studies, Kyrgyzstan.
• Comrie, Bernard. 1983. The languages of the Soviet Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Beckwith, Christopher I. 1987/1993. "The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia." Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Tchoroev, Tyntchtykbek. 2003. The Kyrgyz.; in: The History of Civilisations of Central Asia, Vol. 5, Development in contrast: from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century /Editors: Ch. Adle and Irfan Habib. Co-editor: Karl M. Baipakov. – UNESCO Publishing. Multiple History Series. Paris. – Chapter 4, p. 109–125. (ISBN 978-92-3-103876-1).
• Washington, Jonathan North (2006b), Root Vowels and Affix Vowels: Height Effects in Kyrgyz Vowel Harmony (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-01-13, retrieved 2007-04-12
• Washington, Jonathan North (2007), Phonetic and Phonological Problems in Kyrgyz: A Fulbrighter's plans for gathering data in the field (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-13, retrieved 2015-06-29

External links

• Language Policies, Attitudes, and Beliefs in Kyrgyzstan
• El-Sozduk – English-Kyrgyz online dictionary, phrasebook, Android app
• Ferdinand, S. & Komlósi, F. 2016. Vitality of the Kyrgyz Language in Bishkek. IJORS, 5/2, pp. 210–226.
• Kyrgyz language
• Root Vowels and Affix Vowels: Height Effects in Kyrgyz Vowel Harmony
• (in Japanese) "事前学習補助教材Кыргыз тили （キルギス語）" (Kyrgyz exercises; Archive) - Japan International Cooperation Agency
• The Talking Kyrgyz Phrasebook
• Кыргыз тили – Kyrgyz language resources (in Russian)
• Кербен Translit – Easy Kyrgyz-Cyrillic–Latin converter
• Kyrgyz Cyrillic–Arabic–Latin converter
• Kyrgyz–Russian–English Dictionary
• Kyrgyz Latin Alphabet
• Kyrgyz-Turkish Dictionary
• Kyrgyz<>Turkish dictionary (Pamukkale University)
• Russian-Kyrgyz Kyrgyz-Russian Dictionary
• Kyrgyz – Apertium