Karachay-Balkar (Къарачай-Малкъар тил / Таулу тил)

Karachay-Balkar is a Turkic language spoken by about 310,000 Karachay and Balkar people mainly in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia in the southwest of the Russian Federation. There are also Karachay-Balkar speakers in Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.

Karachay-Balkar is also known as Mountain Turkic. There are two dialects: Karachay-Baksan-Chegem and Malkar. The name Balkar is derived fromBolgar orBulgar and it was relatives of the Balkar people who gave Bulgaria its name.

Written Karachay-Balkar

The modern Karachay-Balkar written language is based on Karachay-Baksan-Chegem dialect. Karachay-Balkar was written with the Perso-Arabic script until 1924. Then it was written withte the Latin script, and in 1937, the official alphabet of Karachay-Balkar became Cyrillic. This Cyrillic spelling system was reformed in the 1960s. In the 1994 moves were made to swith to the Latin script again, using a spelling system based on Turkish. One newspaper,Üyge igikik, which was published in the 1990s, used this alphabet.

Arabic alphabet for Karachay-Balkar (1920-1924)

Arabic alphabet for Karachay-Balkar

Latin alphabet for Karachay-Balkar (1924-1937)

Latin alphabet for Karachay-Balkar

Cyrillic alphabet for Karachay-Balkar (1937-)

Cyrillic alphabet for Karachay-Balkar

Notes

е = /je/ (word-initially), ё = /jo/, х = /x/, ю = /ju/ and я = /ja/ in Russian loanwords.
Initial /æ/ is written э or а, e.g. эмир = амир /æmir/
ж = /dʒ/ in the Kabard-Balkar dialect, /ʒ/ in the Karachay-Cherkess dialect
ў is sometimes written as у, e.g. таўуш > таууш
в, ц, щ, ъ & ь are only used in Russian loanwords.

Download Karachay-Balkar alphabet charts (Excel)

Sample text in the Arabic alphabet

بۉتەو اداملا‌ ئەركین بوۤلوب ئەمدا سىٕیلارىٕ بلا حاقلارىٕ تەڭ بوۤلوب تووادىٕلا. الاغا عاقىٕل بلا نامىٕس بەریلگەندی ئەمدا بیر-بیرلەرینە قارناشلىٕق حالدا قارارغا كەرەكدیلە.‎

Sample text in the Cyrillic alphabet

Бютёу адамла эркин болуб эмда сыйлары бла хакълары тенг болуб тууадыла. Алагъа акъыл бла намыс берилгенди эмда бир-бирлерине къарнашлыкъ халда къараргъа керекдиле.

Sample text in the Latin alphabet

Bütöw adamla erkin bolub emda sıyları bla haqları teñ bolub tuwadıla. Alağa aqıl bla namıs berilgendi emda bir-birlerine qarnaşlıq halda qararğa kerekdile.

Translation

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.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Improvements supplied by 이윤호

Sample videos in Karachay-Balkar

Information about Karachay-Balkar |Numbers

Links

Information about the Karachay-Balkar language and people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkar_language
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Карачаево-балкарский_язык
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karatschai-balkarische_Sprache
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkars

Turkic languages

Altay,Äynu,Azerbaijani,Baraba Tatar,Bashkir,Chagatai,Chelkan,Chulym,Chuvash,Crimean Tatar,Dolgan,Fuyu Kyrgyz,Gagauz,Ili Turki,Karachay-Balkar,Karaim,Karakalpak,Karamanli Turkish,Kazakh,Khakas,Khalaj,Khorasani Turkic,Krymchak,Kumandy,Kumyk,Kyrgyz,Lop,Nogai,Old Turkic,Qashqai,Romanian Tatar,Salar,Shor,Siberian Tatar,Soyot,Tatar,Teleut,Tofa,Turkish,Turkmen,Tuvan,Urum,Uyghur,Uzbek,Western Yugur,Yakut (Sakha)

Languages written with the Arabic script

Adamaua Fulfulde,Aer,Afrikaans,Arabic (Algerian),Arabic (Bedawi),Arabic (Chadian),Arabic (Egyptian),Arabic (Gulf),Arabic (Hassaniya),Arabic (Hejazi),Arabic (Lebanese),Arabic (Libyan),Arabic (Modern Standard),Arabic (Moroccan),Arabic (Najdi),Arabic (Sudanese),Arabic (Syrian),Arabic (Tunisian),Arwi,Äynu,Azeri,Balanta-Ganja,Balti,Baluchi,Beja,Belarusian,Bosnian,Brahui,Chagatai,Chechen,Chittagonian,Comorian,Crimean Tatar,Dameli,Dargwa,Dari,Dhatki,Dogri,Domari,Gawar Bati,Gawri,Gilaki,Hausa,Hazaragi,Hindko,Humburi Senni,Indus Kohistani,Kabyle,Kalkoti,Karachay-Balkar,Karakalpak,Kashmiri,Kazakh,Khowar,Khorasani Turkic,Khwarezmian,Konkani,Kumzari,Kurdish,Kyrgyz,Lezgi,Lop,Luri,Maasina Fulfulde,Maba,Maguindanao,Malay,Malay (Terengganu),Mandinka,Marwari,Mazandarani,Mogholi,Morisco,Mozarabic,Munji,Noakhailla,Nubi,Ormuri,Palula,Parkari Koli,Pashto,Persian/Farsi,Punjabi,Qashqai,Rajasthani,Rohingya,Salar,Saraiki,Sawi,Serer,Shabaki,Shina,Shughni,Sindhi,Somali,Soninke,Tatar,Tausūg,Tawallammat Tamajaq,Tayart Tamajeq,Ternate,Torwali,Turkish,Urdu,Ushoji,Uyghur,Uzbek,Wakhi,Wanetsi,Wolof,Xiao'erjing,Yidgha

Languages written with theCyrillic alphabet

Abaza,Abkhaz,Adyghe,Aghul,Akhvakh,Akkala Sámi,Aleut,Altay,Alyutor,Andi,Archi,Assyrian / Neo-Assyrian,Avar,Azeri,Bagvalal,Balkar,Baraba Tatar,Bashkir,Belarusian,Bezhta,Bosnian,Botlikh,Budukh,Bulgarian,Buryat,Chamalal,Chechen,Chelkan,Chukchi,Chulym,Chuvash,Crimean Tatar,Dargwa,Daur,Dolgan,Dungan,Enets,Erzya,Even,Evenki,Gagauz,Godoberi,Hinukh,Hunzib,Ingush,Interslavic,Itelmen,Juhuri,Kabardian,Kaitag,Kalderash Romani,Kalmyk,Karaim,Karakalpak,Karata,Karelian,Kazakh,Ket,Khakas,Khanty,Khinalug,Khorasani Turkic,Khwarshi,Kildin Sámi,Kili,Komi,Koryak,Krymchak,Kryts,Kubachi,Kumandy,Kumyk,Kurdish,Kyrgyz,Lak,Lezgi,Lingua Franca Nova,Lithuanian,Ludic,Macedonian,Mansi,Mari,Moksha,Moldovan,Mongolian,Montenegrin,Nanai,Negidal,Nenets,Nganasan,Nivkh,Nogai,Old Church Slavonic,Oroch,Orok,Ossetian,Pontic Greek,Romanian,Rushani,Russian,Rusyn,Rutul,Selkup,Serbian,Shor,Shughni,Siberian Tatar,Sirenik,Slovio,Soyot,Tabassaran,Tajik,Talysh,Tat,Tatar,Teleut,Ter Sámi,Tindi,Tofa,Tsakhur,Tsez,Tsudaqar,Turkmen,Tuvan,Ubykh,Udege,Udi,Udmurt,Ukrainian,Ulch,Urum,Uyghur,Uzbek,Veps,Votic,Wakhi,West Polesian,Xibe,Yaghnobi,Yakut,Yazghulami,Yukaghir (Northern / Tundra),Yukaghir (Southern / Kolyma),Yupik (Central Siberian)

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page last modified: 23.07.25

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