Jump to content

Uzbek language

From Niidae Wiki

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox language

UzbekTemplate:Efn is a Karluk Turkic language spoken by Uzbeks. It is the official and national language of Uzbekistan and formally succeeded Chagatai, an earlier Karluk language endonymically called Template:Lang or Template:Lang, as the literary language of Uzbekistan in the 1920s.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

According to the Joshua Project, Southern Uzbek and Standard Uzbek are spoken as a native language by more than 34 million people around the world, making Uzbek the second-most widely spoken Turkic language after Turkish.<ref>Template:E28</ref> There are about 36 million Uzbeks around the world, and the reason why the number of speakers of the Uzbek language is greater than that of ethnic Uzbeks themselves is because many other ethnic groups such as Tajiks, Kazakhs, Russians who live in Uzbekistan speak Uzbek as their second language.

There are two major variants of the Uzbek language: Northern Uzbek, or simply "Uzbek", spoken in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and China; and Southern Uzbek, spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan.<ref name="Uzbek, Southern">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Both Northern and Southern Uzbek are divided into many dialects. Uzbek and Uyghur are sister languages and they constitute the Karluk or "Southeastern" branch of Turkic.

External influences on Uzbek include Arabic, Persian, and Russian.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> One of the most noticeable distinctions of Uzbek from other Turkic languages is the rounding of the vowel Template:IPAslink to Template:IPAslink under the influence of Persian. Unlike other Turkic languages, vowel harmony is almost completely lost in modern Standard Uzbek, though it is still observed to some degree in its dialects, as well as in Uyghur.

Different dialects of Uzbek show varying degrees of influence from other languages such as Kipchak and Oghuz Turkic (for example, in grammar) as well as Persian (in phonology), which gives literary Uzbek the impression of being a mixed language.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In February 2021, the Uzbek government announced that Uzbekistan plans to fully transition the Uzbek language from the Cyrillic script to a Latin-based alphabet by 1 January 2023.<ref>Uzbekistan Aims For Full Transition To Latin-Based Alphabet By 2023, 12 February 2021 12:54 GMT, RadioFreeEurope</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Similar deadlines had been extended several times.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As of 2024, most institutions still use both alphabets.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Classification

[edit]

Template:Main Uzbek is the western member of the Karluk languages, a subgroup of Turkic; the eastern variant is Uyghur. Karluk is classified as a dialect continuum. Northern Uzbek was determined to be the most suitable variety to be understood by the most number of speakers of all Turkic languages despite it being heavily Persianized,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> excluding the Siberian Turkic languages.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A high degree of mutual intelligibility found between certain specific Turkic languages has allowed Uzbek speakers to more easily comprehend various other distantly related languages.

Number of speakers

[edit]

Uzbek, being the most widely spoken indigenous language in Central Asia, is as well spoken by smaller ethnic groups in Uzbekistan and in neighbouring countries.

The language is spoken by other ethnic groups outside Uzbekistan. The popularity of Uzbek media, including Uzbekfilm and RizanovaUz, has spread among the post-Soviet states, particularly in Central Asia in recent years. Since Uzbek is the dominant language in the Osh Region of KyrgyzstanTemplate:Citation needed (and mothertongue of the city Osh), like the rest of Eastern, Southern and South-Eastern Kyrgyzstan (Jalal-Abad Region), the ethnic Kyrgyzes are, too, exposed to Uzbek, and some speak it fluently. This is a common situation in the rest of Central Asian republics, including: the Turkistan region of Kazakhstan, northern Daşoguz Welaýat of Turkmenistan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sughd region and other regions of Tajikistan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This puts the number of L2 speakers of Uzbek at a varying 1–5 million speakers.

The Uzbek language has a special status in countries that are common destination for immigration for Uzbekistani citizens. Other than Uzbekistan and other Central Asian Republics, the ethnic Uzbeks most commonly choose the Russian Federation<ref name="themoscowtimes.com">Template:Cite web</ref> in search of work. Most of them however, are seasonal workers, whose numbers vary greatly among residency within the Russian Federation. According to Russian government statistics, 4.5 million workers from Uzbekistan, 2.4 million from Tajikistan, and 920,000 from Kyrgyzstan were working in Russia in 2021, with around 5 million being ethnic Uzbeks.<ref name="themoscowtimes.com"/>

Estimates of the number of native speakers of Uzbek vary widely, from 35 up to 40 million. Ethnologue estimates put the number of native speakers at 33 million across all the recognized dialects. The Swedish national encyclopedia, Template:Lang, estimates the number of native speakers to be 38 million,<ref name="Nationalencyklopedin">"Världens 100 största språk 2007" ("The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007"), Nationalencyklopedin</ref> and the CIA World Factbook estimates 30 million. Other sources estimate the number of speakers of Uzbek to be 34 million in Uzbekistan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 4.5 million in Afghanistan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 1,630,000 in Pakistan,<ref name="Uzbek, Southern"/> 1,500,000 in Tajikistan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> about 1 million in Kyrgyzstan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 600,000 in Kazakhstan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 600,000 in Turkmenistan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and 300,000 in Russia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Uzbek language is taught in more than fifty higher education institutions around the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Etymology

[edit]

Historically, the language under the name Uzbek referred to a totally different language of Kipchak origin. The language was generally similar to the neighbouring Kazakh, more or less identical lexically, phonetically and grammatically. It was dissimilar to the area's indigenous and native language, known as Turki, until it was changed to Chagatai by western scholars due to its origins from the Chagatai Khanate.<ref>Vladimir Babak; Demian Vaisman; Aryeh Wasserman (23 November 2004). Political Organization in Central Asia and Azerbaijan: Sources and Documents. Routledge. pp. 343–. ISBN 978-1-135-77681-7.</ref> The ethnonym of the language itself now means "a language spoken by the Uzbeks."

History

[edit]

Turkic speakers probably settled the Amu Darya, Syr Darya and Zarafshon river basins from at least 600–650 AD, gradually ousting or assimilating the speakers of the Eastern Iranian languages who previously inhabited Sogdia, Bactria and Khwarazm. The first Turkic dynasty in the region was that of the Kara-Khanid Khanate from the 9th–12th centuries,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a confederation of Karluks, Chigils, Yagma, and other tribes.<ref name="sinor">Template:Citation</ref>

Uzbek (along with Uyghur) can be considered the direct descendant of Chagatai, the language of great Turkic Central Asian literary development in the realm of Chagatai Khan, Timur (Tamerlane), and the Timurid dynasty<ref name="allworth">Template:Cite book</ref> (including the early Mughal rulers of the Mughal Empire). Chagatai contained large numbers of Persian and Arabic loanwords. By the 19th century, it was rarely used for literary composition and disappeared only in the early 20th century.

Muhammad Shaybani (Template:Circa – 2 December 1510), the first Khan of Bukhara, wrote poetry under the pseudonym "Shibani". A collection of Chagatai poems by Muhammad Shaybani is currently kept in the Topkapı Palace Museum manuscript collection in Istanbul. The manuscript of his philosophical and religious work, Bahr al-Khudā, written in 1508, is located in London.<ref>A.J.E.Bodrogligeti, «Muhammad Shaybanî’s Bahru’l-huda : An Early Sixteenth Century Didactic Qasida in Chagatay», Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher, vol.54 (1982), p. 1 and n.4</ref>

Shaybani's nephew Ubaydullah Khan (1486–1540) skillfully recited the Quran and provided it with commentaries in Chagatai. Ubaydulla himself wrote poetry in Chagatai, Classical Persian, and Arabic under the literary pseudonym Ubaydiy.<ref>B. V. Norik, Rol shibanidskikh praviteley v literaturnoy zhizni Maverannakhra XVI v. // Rakhmat-name. Sankt Petersburg, 2008, p.230</ref>

For the Uzbek political elite of the 16th century, Chagatai was their native language. For example, the leader of the semi-nomadic Uzbeks, Sheibani Khan (1451–1510), wrote poems in Chagatai.<ref>A.J.E.Bodrogligeti, «MuÌammad Shaybænî’s Bahru’l-huda : An Early Sixteenth Century Didactic Qasida in Chagatay», Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher, vol.54 (1982), p. 1 and n.4</ref>

The poet Turdiy (17th century) in his poems called for the unification of the divided Uzbek tribes: "Although our people are divided, but these are all Uzbeks of ninety-two tribes. We have different names – we all have the same blood. We are one people, and we should have one law. Floors, sleeves and collars – it's all – one robe, So the Uzbek people are united, may they be in peace."<ref>Turdy. Izbrannyye proizvedeniya. Tashkent, 1951, p.33</ref>

Sufi Allayar (1633–1721) was an outstanding theologian and one of the Sufi leaders of the Khanate of Bukhara. He showed his level of knowledge by writing a book called Sebâtü'l-Âcizîn. Sufi Allayar was often read and highly appreciated in Central Asia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The term Uzbek as applied to language has meant different things at different times.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth century, Chagatai remained the main literary language in most of Central Asia, but it faced a phase of decay.<ref name="Clark, Larry p. 318">Clark, Larry, Michael Thurman, and David Tyson. "Turkmenistan." Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan: Country Studies. p. 318. Comp. Glenn E. Curtis. Washington, D.C.: Division, 1997</ref> Eventually, Chagatai was mostly referred to as the language of the Sarts, the settled Turkic-speaking populations of the Fergana Valley, although the definition of this term shifted through the decades. According to the Kazakh scholar Serali Lapin, who lived at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, "there is no special Sart language different from Uzbek".<ref>Bronnikova O. M., Sarty v etnicheskoy istorii Sredney Azii (k postanovke problemy) Etnosy i etnicheskiye protsessy. Moskva: Vostochnaya literatura, 1993, s. 153.</ref> Russian researchers of the second half of the 19th century, like L. N. Sobolev, believed that "Sart is not a special tribe, as many tried to prove. Sart is indifferently called both Uzbek and Tajik, who live in the city and are engaged in trade".<ref>Sobolev L. N. Geograficheskiye i statisticheskiye svedeniya o Zeravshanskom okruge (s prilozheniyem spiska naselonnykh mest okruga), Zapiski IRGO po otdeleniyu statistiki. SPb., 1874. T.4. S. 299. Prim. 1.</ref>

As part of the preparation for the 1924 establishment of the Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan, Chagatai was officially renamed "Old Uzbek",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Newton2014" /><ref name="Grenoble2006">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Dalby1998">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Bergne2007">Template:Cite book</ref> which Edward A. Allworth argued "badly distorted the literary history of the region" and was used to give authors such as Ali-Shir Nava'i an Uzbek identity.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

After the independence of Uzbekistan, the Uzbek government opted to reform Northern Uzbek by changing its alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin in an attempt to stimulate the growth of Uzbek in a new, independent state. However, the reform never went into full application, and Template:As of both alphabets are widely used, from daily uses to government publications and TV news. Uzbek language hasn't eclipsed Russian in the government sector since Russian is used widely in sciences, politics, and by the upper class of the country. However, the Uzbek internet, including Uzbek Wikipedia, is growing rapidly.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Writing systems

[edit]
File:Adib-i sani.jpg
A 1911 text in the Arabic alphabet
File:Fiction book in uzbek2.jpg
Covers of translated books in Uzbek. As can be seen, both Latin and Cyrillic scripts are widely used in the country. Most names are also transliterated, for example Template:Random item.

Template:Main

Uzbek has been written in a variety of scripts throughout history:

  • 1000–1920s: The traditional Arabic script, first in the Qarakhanid standard and next in the Chagatai standard. This is seen as the golden age of the Uzbek language and literary history.
  • 1920–1928: the Arabic-based Yaña imlâ alphabet.<ref name=Batalden>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • 1928–1940: the Latin-based Yañalif was imposed officially.
  • 1940–1992: the Cyrillic script was used officially.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Since 1992: Switch back to Latin script, with heavy holdover usage of Cyrillic.

Despite the official status of the Latin script in Uzbekistan, the use of Cyrillic is still widespread, especially in advertisements and signs. In newspapers, scripts may be mixed, with headlines in Latin and articles in Cyrillic.<ref name=Euro>Template:Cite book</ref> The Arabic script is no longer used in Uzbekistan except symbolically in limited texts<ref name=Euro /> or for the academic studies of Chagatai (Old Uzbek).<ref name=Batalden />

In 2019, an updated version of the Uzbek Latin alphabet was revealed by the Uzbek government, with five letters being updated; it was proposed to represent the sounds "ts", "sh", "ch", "oʻ" and "gʻ" by the letters "c", "ş", "ç", "ó" and "ǵ", respectively.<ref name="eurasianet.org">Template:Cite web</ref> This would have reversed a 1995 reform, and brought the orthography closer to that of Turkish and also of Turkmen, Karakalpak, Kazakh (2018 version) and Azerbaijani.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2021, it was proposed to change "sh", "ch", "oʻ" and "gʻ" to "ş", "ç", "ō" and "ḡ".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="eurasianet.org"/> These proposals were not implemented.Template:Citation needed

In the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, in northern Afghanistan and in Pakistan,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> where there is an Uzbek minority, the Arabic-based script is still used. In the early 21st century, in Afghanistan, standardization, publication of dictionaries, and an increase in usage (for example in News agencies' website, such as that of the BBC) has been taking place.

Modern Latin alphabet
А а B b D d Е е F f G g
H h I i J j K k L l М m
N n О о P p Q q R r S s
Т t U u V v X x Y y Z z
Oʻ oʻ Gʻ gʻ Sh sh Ch ch Ng ng
Cyrillic alphabet
А а Б б В в Г г Ғ ғ Д д Е е
Ё ё Ж ж З з И и Й й К к Қ қ
Л л М м Н н О о П п Р р С с
Т т У у Ў ў Ф ф Х х Ҳ ҳ Ц ц
Ч ч Ш ш Ъ ъ Ь ь Э э Ю ю Я я
Modern Arabic alphabet
ا ب پ ت ث ج چ ح
خ د ذ ر ز ژ س ش
ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق
ک گ ل م ن و ه ی

Phonology

[edit]

Words are usually oxytones (i.e. the last syllable is stressed), but certain endings and suffixal particles are not stressed.Template:FixTemplate:Citation needed Consonants in brackets are only attested in loanwords.

Vowels

[edit]

Standard Uzbek has six vowel phonemes.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Uzbek language has many dialects: contrary to many Turkic languages, Standard Uzbek no longer has vowel harmony, but other dialects (Kipchak Uzbek and Oghuz Uzbek) retain vowel harmony.

Front Central Back
Close Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Mid Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Open Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link Template:IPA link

Consonants

[edit]
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Plosive/
Affricate 		voiceless Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link) Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link)
voiced Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Fricative voiceless Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
voiced Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link) Template:IPA link
Approximant Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Tap / Flap Template:IPA link

Grammar

[edit]

As a Turkic language, Uzbek is null subject, agglutinative and has no noun classes (gender or otherwise). Although Uzbek Template:Clarify, it has indefinite articles bir بِیر and bitta بِیتَّه. The word order is subject–object–verb (SOV).

In Uzbek, there are two main categories of words: nominals (equivalent to nouns, pronouns, adjectives and some adverbs) and verbals (equivalent to verbs and some adverbs).

Nouns

[edit]

Plurals are formed by suffix -lar ـلر. Nouns take the -ni ـنی suffix as a definite article; unsuffixed nouns are understood as indefinite. The dative case ending -ga ـگه changes to -ka ـکه when the noun ends in -k ـک, -g ـگ, or -qa ـقه when the noun ends in -q ـق, -gʻ ـغ (notice *tog‘qa → toqqa تاغقَّه). The possessive suffixes change the final consonants -k ـک and -q ـق to voiced -g ـگ and -gʻ ـغ, respectively (yurak → yuragim یورک - یورگیم).<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Unlike neighbouring Turkmen and Kazakh languages, due to the loss of "pronominal -n-" there is no irregularity in forming cases after possessive cases (uyida اویی‌ده "in his/her/its house", as opposed to Turkmen öýünde اویونده, though saying uyinda اویینده is also correct but such style is mainly used in literary contexts).<ref name="CEOLOFTW">Template:Cite book</ref>

Cases
Case Suffix Example
nominative -∅ Template:Interlinear اوی
house
genitive -ning نینگ Template:Interlinear اوی‌نینگ
house-GEN
of (the) house
dative -ga گه Template:Interlinear اوی‌گه
house-DAT
to the house
definite accusative -ni نی Template:Interlinear اوی‌نی
house-DEF.ACC
the house
locative -da ده Template:Interlinear اوی‌ده
house-LOC
in the house
ablative -dan دن Template:Interlinear اوی‌دن
house-ABL
from the house
instrumental (literary) -la له Template:Interlinear اوی‌له
house-INS
with the house
similative -day, -dek, -daqa دی، دیک، دقه Template:Interlinear اوی‌دی، اوی‌دیک، اوی‌دقه
house-SIM
like (a) house
Possessive cases
Possessor
number 		Singular Plural
1st -(i)m ـم، ـیم -(i)miz ـمیز، ـیمیز
2nd -(i)ng ـنگ، ـینگ -(i)ngiz ـنگیز، ـینگیز
3rd -(s)i ـی، ـسی

Verbs

[edit]

Uzbek verbs are also inflected for number and person of the subject, and it has more periphrases. Uzbek uses some of the inflectional (simple) verbal tenses:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Non-finite tense suffixes
Function Suffix Example
Infinitive -moq ـماق Template:Interlinear کورْماق
to see
Finite tense suffixes
Function Suffix Example
Present-future -a/-y ـَه، ـَه‌ی Template:Interlinear کورَه
see/will see
Focal present -yap ـیَپ Template:Interlinear کورْیَپ
(currently) seeing
Momentary present -yotir ـیاتِیرTemplate:Refn Template:Interlinear کورْیاتِیر
seeing (at the moment)
Progressive present -moqda ـماقْدَه Template:Interlinear کورْماقْدَه
am seeing
Present perfect -gan ـگَن Template:Interlinear کورْگَن
have seen
Simple past -di ـدِی Template:Interlinear کورْدِی
saw
Indirective past -ib ـِیب Template:Interlinear کورِیب کیلْدِی
came (to see)
Definite future -(y)ajak ـَه‌جَک، ـیَه‌جَکTemplate:Refn Template:Interlinear کورَه‌جَک
will see (at a defined point in the future)
Obligatory future -adigan/ydigan ـَه‌دِیگَن، ـیْدِیگَن Template:Interlinear کورَه‌دِیگَن
(shall) see
Conditional -sa ـسَه Template:Interlinear کورْسَه
if (it) sees
Intentional -moqchi ـماقْچِی Template:Interlinear کورْماقْچِی
(want to) see
Imperative -(a)y (men) ـَه‌ی (مین)

-(a)ylik (biz) ـَه‌یْلِیک (بِیز)

-∅ (sen) ـ (سین)

-(i)ng (siz) ـِینْگ (سِیز)

-(i)nglar (sizlar) ـِینْگْلَر (سِیزْلَر)

-sin (u) ـسِین (اُو)

-sinlar (ular) ـسِینْلَر (اُولَر)

Template:Interlinear کورَه‌ی
(1st person singular)


Template:Interlinear کورَه‌یْلِیک
(1st person plural)
Template:Interlinear کور
(2nd person informal singular)
Template:Interlinear کورِینْگ
(2nd person formal singular/plural)
Template:Interlinear کورِینْگْلَر
(2nd person formal plural)
Template:Interlinear کورْسِین
(3rd person singular)
Template:Interlinear کورْسِینْلَر
(3rd person plural)

Template:Reflist

Notes

[edit]

Vowels marked with parentheses in the suffixes are dropped if the verb root already ends on a vowel. (e.g. Qara قَرَه‌ + (i)ng ـِینْگ = Qarang! قَرَه‌نْگ; "Look!")

Third person plural is commonly replaced by third person singular.

In the simple past and conditional tenses, the possessive suffixes are used at the end of the verb. Otherwise, the full pronoun suffix is used, except in the imperative. The third person is usually not marked.

Copula verb

[edit]

Conjugations of the verb ermoq (to be) with regard to tenses (except for future tense), serve as copula verbs. Future conjugation of ermoq, (Old Turkic ergäy) is not present in Uzbek.

Negation

[edit]

Negative is expressed by adding -ma after the verb root, or with auxiliary verb emas. Examples:

Koʻrmay(man) کورمه‌ی(من) "(I) don't see"

Koʻrmoqchi emas(man) کورماقچی ایمس(من) "(I) don't want to see"

The particle yoʻq ـیوق is used to mark the absence or prohibition of a noun or action.

Gerund

[edit]

The gerund is formed with the verb root + ish ـیش.

Chekish mumkin emas چیکیش ممکن ایمس "Smoking is not allowed"

Pronouns

[edit]
Pronoun Suffix Translation
men مین -man ـمن I
biz بیز -miz ـمیز we
sen سین -san ـسن you
(formal singular and informal singular without respect)
senlar سین‌لر -sanlar سن‌لر you
(informal plural without respect)
siz سیز -siz ـسیز you
(formal plural and informal singular with respect)
sizlar سیزلر -sizlar ـسیزلر you
(informal plural with respect)
u او -∅ ـ he/she/it
ular اولر -lar ـلر they

Word order

[edit]

The word order in the Uzbek language is subject–object–verb (SOV), like all other Turkic languages. Unlike in English, the object comes before the verb and the verb is the last element of the sentence.

Template:Interlinear

Influences

[edit]

The influence of Islam, and by extension, Arabic, is evident in Uzbek loanwords. There is also a residual influence of Russian, from the time when Uzbeks were under the rule of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. There are a large number of Russian loanwords in Uzbek, particularly when related to technical and modern terms, as well everyday and sociopolitical terms. Most importantly, Uzbek vocabulary, phraseology and pronunciation has been heavily influenced by Persian through its historic roots. It is estimated that Uzbek contains about 60 Mongolian loanwords,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> scattered among the names of birds and other animals, household items, chemical elements and especially military terms.

Dialects

[edit]
File:WIKITONGUES- Nataev speaking Uzbek.webm
A man speaking Uzbek

Uzbek can be roughly divided into three dialect groups. The Karluk dialects, centered on Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, and the Ferghana Valley, are the basis for the standard Uzbek language. This dialect group shows the most influence of Persian vocabulary, particularly in the important Tajik-dominated cities of Bukhara and Samarkand. The Kipchak dialect, spoken from the Surxondaryo region through north-central Uzbekistan into Karakalpakstan, shows significant influence from the Kipchak Turkic languages, particularly in the mutation of [j] to [ʑ] as in Kazakh and Kyrgyz. The Oghuz dialect, spoken mainly in Khorezm along the Turkmenistan border, is notable for the mutation of word-initial [k] to [g].

By country

[edit]

Turkmenistan

[edit]

In Turkmenistan since the 2000s the government conducted a forced "Turkmenization" of ethnic Uzbeks living in the country.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the Soviet years and in the 1990s, the Uzbek language was used freely in Turkmenistan. There were several hundred schools in the Uzbek language, many newspapers were published in this language. Now there are only a few Uzbek schools in the country, as well as a few newspapers in Uzbek. Despite this, the Uzbek language is still considered to be one of the recognized languages of national minorities in this country. Approximately 300,000–600,000 Uzbeks live in Turkmenistan. Most of the Uzbek speakers live in Dashoghuz Velayat, as well as in Lebap Velayat and partly in Ashghabad.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Russia

[edit]

Uzbek is one of the many recognized languages of national minorities in Russia. More than 400 thousand Uzbeks are citizens of the Russian Federation and live in the country. Also in Russia there are 2 to 6 million Uzbeks from the Central Asian republics (mainly Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) who are immigrants and migrants. Large diasporas of Uzbeks live in large cities of Russia such as Saint Petersburg. Signs in Uzbek are often found in these cities. Signs refer mainly to various restaurants and eateries, barbershops, shops selling fruits, vegetables and textile products. There is a small clinic, where signs and labels are in the Uzbek language. Uzbeks in Russia prefer to use the Cyrillic Uzbek alphabet, but in recent years Uzbek youth in Russia are also actively using the Latin Uzbek alphabet. Small newspapers in Uzbek are published in large cities of Russia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Some instructions for immigrants and migrants are duplicated, including in Uzbek. Uzbek language is studied by Russian students in the faculties of Turkology throughout Russia.Template:Citation needed The largest Uzbek language learning centers in Russia are located in the universities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. There are also many Russians who are interested in and love the Uzbek language and culture and who study this language for themselves. Uzbek is one of the most studied languages among the many languages of the former USSR in Russia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Uzbek language researchers

[edit]

Scientific interest in the history of the Uzbek language arose in the 19th century among European and Russian orientalists. A. Vambery, V. Bartold, Sh. Lapin and others wrote about the history of the Uzbek language. Much attention was paid to the study of the history of the language in the Soviet period. E. Polivanov, N.Baskakov,<ref>Baskakov N. A. Istoriko-tipologicheskaya fonologiya tyurkskikh yazykov M.: Nauka, 1988.</ref> A.Kononov,<ref>Kononov A. N. Grammatika sovremennogo uzbekskogo literaturnogo yazyka. M., L.: Izdatel'stvo AN SSSR, 1960</ref> U. Tursunov, A. Mukhtarov, Sh. Rakhmatullaev and others wrote about the history of the Uzbek language among famous linguists.

Development

[edit]

1900: Early 20th Century Speakers: Approximately 2–4 million. The Uzbek-speaking population was primarily concentrated in Central Asia, within the territories of the Russian Empire, including present-day Uzbekistan, parts of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Global Rank: Likely around 30–40th place. Uzbek was not widely recognized globally as it was primarily spoken in rural and regional areas.

1950: Soviet Era Speakers: Around 7–8 million. The population grew due to natural growth and urbanization under the Soviet Union. Uzbek became one of the officially recognized languages of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. Global Rank: Approximately 25–30th place. As a regional language in the USSR, Uzbek gained institutional support in education and media, increasing its influence within Central Asia.

1991: Post-Soviet Independence Speakers: Around 16–20 million. After Uzbekistan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Uzbek was declared the official language of the Republic of Uzbekistan. This led to a revival of Uzbek culture and a shift away from Russian dominance in education and government. Global Rank: Around 20–25th place. With the fall of the USSR, Uzbek gained prominence as a national language, and its number of speakers increased due to population growth.

2024: Current Status Speakers: Estimated 35–40 million. Uzbek is primarily spoken in Uzbekistan but also in neighboring countries like Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, as well as by diaspora communities worldwide. Global Rank: 18–20th place. Uzbek is now one of the top 20 most spoken languages globally, thanks to Uzbekistan's large population (over 36 million) and Uzbek-speaking minorities in surrounding countries. It is increasingly recognized on digital platforms, in media, and in academia.

Sample text

[edit]

The following is a sample text in Uzbek Arabic script of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (with English version in the bottom), contrasted with a version of the text in Uzbek written in Latin script.

Uzbek Arabic Template:Lang
Uzbek Latin Barcha odamlar erkin, qadr-qimmat va huquqlarda teng boʻlib tugʻiladilar. Ular aql va vijdon sohibidirlar va bir-birlari ila birodarlarcha muomala qilishlari zarur.
Uzbek Cyrillic Барча одамлар эркин, қадр-қиммат ва ҳуқуқларда тенг бўлиб туғиладилар. Улар ақл ва виждон соҳибидирлар ва бир-бирлари ила биродарларча муомала қилишлари зарур.
IPA [bæ̞ɾˈt͡ʃʰæ̞ ɒd̪æ̞mˈlæ̞ɾ eɾˈkʰɪ̞n qäˈd̪ɨ̞ɾ qɨ̞mˈmät̪ ʋæ̞ hŭquqläɾˈd̪æ̞ t̪ʰeŋ bɵˈlɪ̞p t̪ʰuʁɨ̞läd̪ɪ̞ˈlæ̞ɾ ‖ uˈlæ̞ɾ äˈqɨ̞l ʋæ̞ ʋɪ̞d͡ʒˈd̪ɒn sɒhɪ̞bɪ̞dɪ̞ɾˈlæ̞ɾ ʋæ̞ bɪ̞ɾ bɪ̞ɾlæ̞ˈɾɪ̞ iˈlæ̞ bɪ̞ɾɒdæ̞ɾlæ̞ɾˈt͡ʃʰæ̞ muɒmæ̞ˈlæ̞ qɨ̞lɨ̞ʃlæ̞ˈɾɪ̞ zæ̞ˈɾuɾ ‖]
English original 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.

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]

Template:Notelist

References

[edit]

Template:Reflist

Sources

[edit]

Template:Refbegin

Template:Refend

[edit]

Template:InterWiki Template:Wikibooks Template:Wikivoyage

Converters
Dictionaries
Grammar and orthography
Learning/teaching materials

Template:Languages of Uzbekistan Template:Languages of Afghanistan Template:Languages of Pakistan Template:Languages of China Template:Turkic languages

Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://wiki.niidae.com/index.php?title=Uzbek_language&oldid=53527"