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Chuvash language facts for kids

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Chuvash
Чӑвашла, Čăvašla
Native to Russia
Region Chuvashia and adjacent areas
Ethnicity Chuvash
Native speakers 1.1 million  (2010 Russian Census 2010 census)e18
Language family
Turkic
  • Oghur (Lir)
    • Chuvash
Early forms:
Bulgar
  • Chuvash
Writing system Cyrillic
Official status
Official language in  Russia
  •  Chuvashia
This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Chuvash ([Чӑвашла, Čăvašla] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) is a special language spoken mainly in Chuvashia. This area is a part of central Russia. Chuvash is a member of the Turkic language family.

What makes Chuvash unique is that it's the only language still spoken from the Oghur branch of Turkic languages. While many Turkic languages are quite similar, Chuvash sounds very different. This means speakers of other Turkic languages might not easily understand Chuvash.

Writing Chuvash

Chuvash uses the Cyrillic script for writing. This alphabet is also used for the Russian language. The Chuvash alphabet includes all the letters found in the Russian alphabet. On top of that, it has four extra letters that are unique to Chuvash. These special letters are Ӑ, Ӗ, Ҫ, and Ӳ.

Who Speaks Chuvash?

About 1.08 million people speak Chuvash. Most of them live in the Chuvashia region of Russia. The people who speak Chuvash are called the Chuvash. They have a rich history and culture tied to their language.

Chuvash Language Family

Chuvash belongs to the Turkic language family. This family includes many languages spoken across Central Asia, Siberia, and parts of Europe. However, Chuvash is part of a smaller group within Turkic languages called Oghur. Long ago, the Oghur languages were spoken by ancient groups like the Bulgars. Chuvash is thought to have developed from the Bulgar language. This makes it a very old and important language for understanding the history of Turkic languages.

Images for kids

  • The Soviet Union 1933 CPA 431 stamp (Peoples of the Soviet Union. Chuvash people)

    Stamp of the Soviet Union, Chuvash people, 1933

  • Diachronic development of Chuvash vowels

    A possible scheme for how Chuvash vowels developed over time.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Idioma chuvasio para niños

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