Karachay-Balkar Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids

Karachay-Balkar

къарачай-малкъар тил
таулу тил

Native to

North Caucasus

Region

Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay–Cherkessia, Turkey

Ethnicity

Karachays, Balkars

Native speakers

310,000 in Russia (2010 census)

Language family

Turkic

Common Turkic
- Kipchak
  - Kipchak–Cuman [ru]
    - Karachay-Balkar

Dialects

Karachay

Balkar

Writing system

Cyrillic
Latin in diaspora

Official status

Official language in

Kabardino-Balkaria (Russia)
Karachay-Cherkessia (Russia)

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.

Koran Karachay-Balkar-language version

Karachay-Balkar (Къарачай-Малкъар тил, Qaraçay-Malqar til), or Mountain Turkic (Таулу тил, Tawlu til), is a Turkic language spoken by the Karachays and Balkars in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay–Cherkessia, European Russia, as well as by an immigrant population in Afyonkarahisar Province, Turkey. It is divided into two dialects: Karachay-Baksan-Chegem, which pronounces two phonemes as /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ and Malkar, which pronounces the corresponding phonemes as /ts/ and /z/. The modern Karachay-Balkar written language is based on the Karachay-Baksan-Chegem dialect. The language is closely related to Kumyk.

Writing
- Alphabet
Comparison chart
Phonology
Grammar
- Nominals
  - Cases
  - Possessive suffixes
Language example
Numerals
Loanwords
See also

Writing

Historically, the Arabic alphabet had been used by first writers until 1924. Handwritten manuscripts of the Balkar poet Kazim Mechiev and other examples of literature have preserved to this day. First printed books in Karachay-Balkar language were published In the beginning of 20th century.

After the October Revolution as part of a state campaign of Latinisation Karachay and Balkar educators developed a new alphabet based on Latin letters. In 1930s, the official Soviet policy was revised and the process of Cyrillization the languages of USSR peoples was started. In 1937–38 the new alphabet based on Cyrillic letters was officially adopted.

Alphabet

Modern Karachay-Balkar Cyrillic alphabet:

А а /a/	Б б /b/	В в /v/	Г г /g/	Гъ гъ	Д д /d/	Дж дж /dʒ/	Е е /je/
Ё ё /ø, jo/	Ж ж** /ʒ/	З з /z/	И и /i/	Й й /j/	К к /k/	Къ къ /q/	Л л /l/
М м /m/	Н н /n/	Нг нг /ŋ/	О о /o/	П п /p/	Р р /r/	С с /s/	Т т /t/
У у /u, w/	Ф ф* /f/	Х х /x/	Ц ц /ts/	Ч ч /tʃ/	Ш ш /ʃ/	Щ щ
ъ	Ы ы /ɯ/	ь	Э э /e/	Ю ю /y, ju/	Я я /ja/

* Not found in native vocabulary

In Kabardino-Balkaria, they write ж instead of дж, while in Karachay-Cherkessia, they write нъ instead of нг. In some publications, especially during the Soviet period, the letter у́ or ў is used for the sound IPA: [w].

Karachay-Balkar Latin alphabet:

A a	B в	C c	Ç ç	D d	E e	F f	G g
Ƣ ƣ	I i	J j	K k	Q q	L l	M m	N n
Ꞑ ꞑ	O o	Ө ө	P p	R r	S s	Ş ş	T t
Ь ь	U u	V v	Y y	X x	Z z	Ƶ ƶ

Comparison chart

Arabic (1920–1924)	Latin (1924–1938)	Cyrillic (1961–1964)	Cyrillic (1937–1961), (1964–present)
ا	A a	А а	А а
ب	B в	Б б	Б б
و	V v	В в	В в
گ	G g	Г г	Г г
غ	Ƣ ƣ	Ғ ғ	Гъ гъ
د	D d	Д д	Д д
ە	E e	Е е	Е е
ۆ	Ө ө	Ө ө, Ё ё	Ё ё
ژ	Ƶ ƶ	Ж ж	Ж ж
ج	Ç ç	Җ җ	Дж дж (Ж ж)
ز	Z z	З з	З з
ي	I i	И и	И и
ي	J j	Й й	Й й
ك, ک	K k	К к	К к
ق	Q q	Қ қ	Къ къ
ل	L l	Л л	Л л
م	M m	М м	М м
ن	N n	Н н	Н н
ڭ, ݣ	Ꞑ ꞑ	Ң ң	Нг нг (Нъ нъ)
وٓ	O o	О о	О о
پ	P p	П п	П п
ر	R r	Р р	Р р
س	S s	С с	С с
ت	T t	Т т	Т т
و	U u	У у	У у
و	W w	Ў ў	У у (Ў ў, У́ у́)
ف	F f	Ф ф	Ф ф
خ	X x	Х х	Х х
ح	H h	Һ һ	-
—	S̷ s̷	Ц ц	Ц ц
چ	C c	Ч ч	Ч ч
ش	Ş ş	Ш ш	Ш ш
—	—	Щ щ	Щ щ
—	—	ъ	ъ
ىٕ		Ы ы	Ы ы
—	—	ь	ь
ئە, اە	E e	Э э	Э э
ۉ	Y y	Ү ү, Ю ю	Ю ю
-	-	Я я	Я я

Phonology

Vowels
	Front	Back
Close	i y	ɯ u
Mid	e ø	o
Open		ɑ

Consonants
	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Plosive	p b	t d		k ɡ	(q) (ɢ)
Fricative	[f]	s z	ʃ	x (ɣ)		h
Affricate		[ts]	tʃ dʒ
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Liquid		l r
Approximant	w		j

Parentheses indicate allophones.

Grammar

Nominals

Cases

Case	Suffix
Nominative	-ø
Accusative	-НИ
Genitive	-НИ
Dative	-ГА
Locative	-ДА
Ablative	-дан

Possessive suffixes

	Singular	Plural
1st person	-им	-ибиз
2nd person	-инг	-игиз
3rd person	-(s)I(n)	-(s)I(n)

Language example

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Karachay-Balkar:

In Cyrillic	In Cyrillic (1961-1964)	Transliteration	Yañalif	Translation
Бютеу адамла эркин болуб эмда сыйлары бла хакълары тенг болуб тууадыла. Алагъа акъыл бла намыс берилгенди эмда бир-бирлерине къарнашлыкъ халда къараргъа керекдиле.	Бүтеу адамла эркин болуб эмда сыйлары бла хақлары тең болуб тууадыла. Алаға ақыл бла намыс берилгенди эмда бир-бирлерине қарнашлық халда қарарға керекдиле.	Bütew adamla erkin bolub emda sıyları bla haqları teñ bolub tuwadıla. Alağa aqıl bla namıs berilgendi emda bir-birlerine qarnaşlıq halda qararğa kerekdile.	Byteu adamla erkin ʙoluʙ emda sьjlarь ʙla xalqlarь teꞑ ʙoluʙ tuuadьla. Alaƣa aqьl ʙla namьs ʙerilgendi emda ʙir-ʙirlerine qarnaşlьq xalda qararƣa kerekdile.	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.

Numerals

Numeral	Karachay-Balkar	Kumyk	Nogay
0	ноль	ноль	ноль
1	бир	бир	бир
2	эки	эки	эки
3	юч	уьч	уьш
4	тёрт	дёрт	доьрт
5	беш	беш	бес
6	алты	алты	алты
7	джети	етти	йети
8	сегиз	сегиз	сегиз
9	тогъуз	тогъуз	тогыз
10	он	он	он
100	бир джюз	бир юз	бир юз

Loanwords

Loanwords from Ossetian, Kabardian, Arabic, and Persian are fairly numerous.

Karachay-Balkar facts for kids

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