A speaker of the Kyrgyz language in traditional dress, recorded on the Chunkurchak pasture on the outskirts of Bishkek during an interviewAzim, a speaker of the Kyrgyz language, recorded inTaiwan
Kyrgyz was originally written inGöktürk script,[2] gradually replaced by thePerso-Arabic alphabet (in use until 1928 in the USSR, still in use in China). Between 1928 and 1940, aLatin-script alphabet, theUniform Turkic Alphabet, was used. In 1940, Soviet authorities replaced the Latin script with theCyrillic 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.[3]
Kyrgyz is aCommon Turkic language belonging to theKipchak branch of the family. It is considered to be anEast Kipchak language, forming a subfamily with theSouthern Altai language within the greater Kipchak branch. Internally, Kyrgyz has three distinct varieties; Northern and Southern Kyrgyz.[4]
In 925, when theLiao dynasty defeated theYenisei Kyrgyz and expelled them from the Mongolian steppes, some Ancient Kyrgyz elites settled in Altai and Xinjiang where they mixed with the localKipchaks, resulting in a language shift.
Kyrgyz is divided into two main dialects, Northern and Southern. Northern having moreMongolian loanwords and Southern having moreUzbek ones. Standard Kyrgyz is based on Northern Kyrgyz.[8] There is also a third smaller dialect called Pamiri Kyrgyz.[9]
/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/.[11] In most dialects, its status as a vowel distinct from/ɑ/ is questionable.[12]
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 StatesPeace Corps trains its volunteers using a "Left-Right Shift" method when carrying out language training in Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyz has spent centuries in contact with numerous other languages, and as such has borrowed extensively from them. These languages include: Uzbek,Oirat, Mongolian,Russian, andArabic.[14][15][8][16][17]
Historically the Old Turkic Script was the first script used to write Kyrgyz.[18]
The Kyrgyz inKyrgyzstan use aCyrillic alphabet, which uses all the Russian letters plusң,ө andү. Though in theXinjiang region of China, anArabic alphabet is used. Between 1928 and 1940, aLatin 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 theTurkish alphabet, e.g. theCommon 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 PresidentSadyr Japarov, who later clarified that Kyrgyzstan had no plans to replace the Cyrillic alphabet.[19]
Normally the decision between thevelar ([ɡ~ɣ],[k]) anduvular ([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 andfront 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Bardyk adamdar öz bedelinde jana ukuktarynda erkin jana teng ukuktuu bolup jaralat. Alardyn ang-sezimi menen abiiri bar jana biri-birine bir tuugandyk mamile kyluuga tiish.
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.
^Кызласов И. Л.,Рунические письменности евразийских степей (Kyzlasov I.L.Runic scripts of Eurasian steppes), Восточная литература (Eastern Literature), Moscow, 1994, pp. 80 on,ISBN978-5-02-017741-3, with further bibliography.
^abJumabaeva, Guliam; Abylkasymove, Miriam (June 1996).Kyrgyz Language Manual (in English and kgz). Bishkek: Peace Corps, Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan). pp. 13–18.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
Krippes, Karl A. (1998).Kyrgyz: Kyrgyz-English/English-Kyrgyz: Glossary of Terms. Hippocrene Books, New York.ISBN978-0-7818-0641-1.
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. (ISBN978-92-3-103876-1).
