Karakhanid, also known asKhaqani Turkic (lit. meaning 'imperial'[1] or 'royal',^[2] self referring to as 'Türki' or 'Türkçe'),^[3] was aTurkic language developed in the 11th century during theMiddle Turkic period under theKara-Khanid Khanate. It has been described as the firstliteraryIslamic Turkic language. It is sometimes classified under theOld Turkic category, rather than Middle Turkic, as it is contemporary to the East Old Turkic languages ofOrkhon Turkic andOld Uyghur. Eastern Middle Turkic languages, namelyKhorezmian Turkic and laterChagatai are descendants of the Karakhanid language.^[4]

Karakhanid vocabulary was influenced byArabic andPersian loanwords, but the language itself was still noted to be similar to the Old Uyghur language. The language was written using theArabic script.Mahmud al-Kashgari'sDīwān Lughāt al-Turk andYūsuf Balasaguni'sKutadgu Bilig are considered to be important literary works written in Karakhanid language.^[4]

It was spoken between the 5th-15th centuries. It is one of the three parts of the Old Turkic period. According to Ligeti's classification, it is divided into three periods:

1. Mani and Buddha translations and the foundation period of Uyghur written language
2. Chagatai writing language period
3. Kipchak and Oghuz language relics period

Ḥāqāni Turkic (Khāghānī/Khāqānī Türkī) can also be called theOld Kashgar language. It was the literary language used by the Turks in this area until the beginning of the 14th century. Karakhanid Turkic and Khorezmian Turkic in the west were replaced by Chaghatai Turkic in the Timurid period.

Turkic elders valued the native language and left 21 works.^{[5][clarification needed]} The most important and valuable of these that have reached our hands are: the famous workKutadgu Bilig written byYusuf Khass Hajib, which was written in Karakhanid Turkic for the first time during theKarakhanid State, and the famous workDīwān Lughāt al-Turk written in the same century byMahmud al-Kashgari. Other works of Karakhanid literature are mentioned by contemporary authors but have not survived to the present. There was also a Turkic poet named Çuçu during the Karakhanid period.^{[citation needed]}

Vowels are found in Karakhanid Turkic, as in all periods of Turkic language.

• Thiesen, Finn (1982).A Manual of Classical Persian Prosody, with chapters on Urdu, Karakhanidic and Ottoman prosody. Belgium, Wiesbaden.

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