Editing Samarkand (section)

==People==
According to official reports, a majority of Samarkand's inhabitants are [[Uzbeks]], while many sources refer to the city as majority [[Tajiks|Tajik]],<ref>Akiner, Shirin; Djalili, Mohammad-Reza; Grare, Frederic (2013). Tajikistan: The Trials of Independence. Routledge. {{ISBN|978-1-136-10490-9}} p.&nbsp;78, "Bukhara and Samarkand, inhabited by a marked Tajik majority (...)"</ref><ref name="Lena Jonson 2006. pg 108">Lena Jonson (1976) "Tajikistan in the New Central Asia", I.B.Tauris, p.&nbsp;108: "According to official Uzbek statistics there are slightly over 1 million Tajiks in Uzbekistan or about 3% of the population. The unofficial figure is over 6 million Tajiks. They are concentrated in the Sukhandarya, Samarqand and Bukhara regions."</ref><ref name="catoday.org">{{cite web |url=http://catoday.org/tjru/11180-uzbekistan-tadzhikskiy-yazyk-podavlyaetsya |title=Узбекистан: Таджикский язык подавляется |website=catoday.org — ИА "Озодагон" |access-date=22 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322114708/http://catoday.org/tjru/11180-uzbekistan-tadzhikskiy-yazyk-podavlyaetsya |archive-date=22 March 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="news.tj">{{cite web |url=https://news.tj/ru/news/opinion/20190318/tadzhiki-irantsi-vostoka-retsenziya-knigi-ot-kamoliddina-abdullaeva |title=Таджики – иранцы Востока? Рецензия книги от Камолиддина Абдуллаева |website=«ASIA-Plus» Media Group / Tajikistan — news.tj |access-date=22 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327090939/https://news.tj/ru/news/opinion/20190318/tadzhiki-irantsi-vostoka-retsenziya-knigi-ot-kamoliddina-abdullaeva |archive-date=27 March 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> up to 70 percent of the city's population.<ref name="Foltz">{{cite journal |author-link=Richard Foltz |author=Richard Foltz |title=The Tajiks of Uzbekistan |journal=Central Asian Survey |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=213–216 |year=1996 |doi=10.1080/02634939608400946}}</ref> Tajiks are especially concentrated in the eastern part of the city, where the main architectural landmarks are.

According to various independent sources, Tajiks are Samarkand's majority ethnic group. Ethnic [[Uzbek people|Uzbeks]] are the second-largest group<ref name="PB">[[Paul Bergne]]: ''The Birth of Tajikistan. National Identity and the Origins of the Republic''. International Library of Central Asia Studies. [[I.B. Tauris]]. 2007. Pg. 106</ref> and are most concentrated in the west of Samarkand. Exact demographic figures are difficult to obtain since some people in Uzbekistan identify as "Uzbek" even though they speak [[Tajik language|Tajiki]] as their first language, often because they are registered as Uzbeks by the central government despite their Tajiki language and identity. As explained by [[Paul Bergne]]:

<blockquote>During the census of 1926 a significant part of the Tajik population was registered as Uzbek. Thus, for example, in the 1920 census in Samarkand city the Tajiks were recorded as numbering 44,758 and the Uzbeks only 3301. According to the 1926 census, the number of Uzbeks was recorded as 43,364 and the Tajiks as only 10,716. In a series of kishlaks [villages] in the Khojand Okrug, whose population was registered as Tajik in 1920 e.g. in Asht, Kalacha, Akjar i Tajik and others, in the 1926 census they were registered as Uzbeks. Similar facts can be adduced also with regard to Ferghana, Samarkand, and especially the Bukhara oblasts.<ref name="PB" /></blockquote>

Samarkand is also home to large ethnic communities of "[[Iranian peoples|Iranis]]" (the old, [[Persian language|Persian]]-speaking, [[Shia]] population of [[Merv]] city and oasis, deported en masse to this area in the late 18th century), [[Russians]], [[Ukrainians]], [[Belarusians]], [[Armenians]], [[Azeris]], [[Tatars]], [[Koryo-saram|Koreans]], [[Polish people|Poles]], and [[Germans]], all of whom live primarily in the centre and western neighborhoods of the city. These peoples have emigrated to Samarkand since the end of the 19th century, especially during the Soviet Era; by and large, they speak the [[Russian language]].

In the extreme west and southwest of Samarkand is a population of [[:ru:Среднеазиатские арабы|Central Asian Arabs]], who mostly speak Uzbek; only a small portion of the older generation speaks [[Central Asian Arabic]]. In eastern Samarkand there was once a large mahallah of [[Bukharian Jews|Bukharian (Central Asian) Jews]], but starting in the 1970s, hundreds of thousands of Jews left Uzbekistan for [[Israel]], [[United States]], [[Canada]], [[Australia]], and [[Europe]]. Only a few Jewish families are left in Samarkand today.

Also in the eastern part of Samarkand there are several quarters where [[:ru:Среднеазиатские цыгане|Central Asian "Gypsies"]]<ref>{{cite conference |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266387780 |title=Migrations and Identities of Central Asian 'Gypsies' |doi=10.1057/ces.2008.3 |author1=Marushiakova |last2=Popov |first2=Vesselin |date=January 2014 |s2cid=154689140 |accessdate=2022-02-28 |conference=Asia Pacific Sociological Association (APSA) Conference "Transforming Societies: Conestations and Convergences in Asia and the Pacific"}}</ref> ([[Lyuli]], Djugi, [[Parya language|Parya]], and other groups) live. These peoples began to arrive in Samarkand several centuries ago from what are now [[India]] and [[Pakistan]]. They mainly speak a dialect of the Tajik language, as well as their own languages, most notably [[Parya language|Parya]].

===Language===
[[File:Bilingual Samarkand.jpg|thumb|right|Greeting in two languages: Uzbek (Latin) and Tajik (Cyrillic) at the entrance to one of the [[mahallah]]s (Bo'zi) of Samarkand]]
The state and official language in Samarkand, as in all Uzbekistan, is the [[Uzbek language]]. Uzbek is one of the [[Turkic languages]] and the mother tongue of [[Uzbeks]], [[Turkmens]], [[:ru:Среднеазиатские иранцы|Samarkandian Iranians]], and most [[:ru:Среднеазиатские арабы|Samarkandian Arabs]] living in Samarkand.

As in the rest of Uzbekistan, the [[Russian language]] is the [[de facto]] second official language in Samarkand, and about 5% of signs and inscriptions in Samarkand are in this language. [[Russians]], [[Belarusians]], [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Germans]], [[Koryo-saram|Koreans]], the majority of [[Ukrainians]], the majority of [[Armenians]], [[Greeks]], some [[Tatars]], and some [[Azerbaijanis]] in Samarkand speak Russian. Several Russian-language newspapers are published in Samarkand, the most popular of which is "[[:ru:Самаркандский вестник|Samarkandskiy vestnik]]" (Russian: Самаркандский вестник, lit. the Samarkand Herald). The Samarkandian TV channel STV conducts some broadcasts in Russian.

De facto, the most common native language in Samarkand is [[Tajik language|Tajik]], which is a dialect or variant of the [[Persian language]]. Samarkand was one of the cities in which the Persian language developed. Many classical Persian [[poetry|poets]] and writers lived in or visited Samarkand over the millennia, the most famous being [[Ferdowsi|Abulqasem Ferdowsi]], [[Omar Khayyam]], [[Jami|Abdurahman Jami]], [[Rudaki|Abu Abdullah Rudaki]], [[Suzani Samarqandi]], and [[Kamal Khujandi]].

While the official stance is that Uzbek is the most common language in Samarkand, some data indicate that only about 30% of residents speak it as a native tongue. For the other 70%, Tajik is the native tongue, with Uzbek the second language and Russian the third. However, as no population census has been taken in Uzbekistan since 1989, there are no accurate data on this matter. Despite Tajik being the second most common language in Samarkand, it does not enjoy the status of an official or regional language.<ref name="Karl Cordell 1999. pg 201">Karl Cordell, "Ethnicity and Democratisation in the New Europe", Routledge, 1998. p.&nbsp;201: "Consequently, the number of citizens who regard themselves as Tajiks is difficult to determine. Tajikis within and outside of the republic, Samarkand State University (SamGU) academic and international commentators suggest that there may be between six and seven million Tajiks in Uzbekistan, constituting 30% of the republic's 22 million population, rather than the official figure of 4.7% (Foltz 1996: 213; Carlisle 1995: 88).</ref><ref name="Lena Jonson 2006. pg 108"/><ref name="catoday.org"/><ref name="lingvomania.info">{{cite web |url=http://lingvomania.info/2016/status-tadzhikskogo-yazyka-v-uzbekistane.html |title=Статус таджикского языка в Узбекистане |website=Лингвомания.info — lingvomania.info |access-date=22 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029222029/http://lingvomania.info/2016/status-tadzhikskogo-yazyka-v-uzbekistane.html |archive-date=29 October 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="news.tj"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.profi-forex.org/novosti-mira/novosti-sng/uzbekistan/entry1008185843.html |title=Есть ли шансы на выживание таджикского языка в Узбекистане — эксперты |website="Биржевой лидер" — pfori-forex.org |access-date=22 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322113157/http://www.profi-forex.org/novosti-mira/novosti-sng/uzbekistan/entry1008185843.html |archive-date=22 March 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Nevertheless, at Samarkand State University ten faculties offer courses in Tajiki, and the Tajik Language and Literature Department has an enrolment of over 170 students.<ref name="Bloomsbury Publishing">{{cite book|last1=Foltz|first1=Richard|author-link=Richard Foltz|title=A History of the Tajiks: Iranians of the East, 2nd edition |date=2023|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-7556-4964-8|page=186}}</ref> Only one newspaper in Samarkand is published in Tajiki, in the [[Tajik alphabet|Cyrillic Tajik alphabet]]: ''[[:ru:Овози Самарканд|Ovozi Samarqand]]'' (Tajik: ''Овози Самарқанд'' —''Voice of Samarkand''). Local Samarkandian STV and "Samarkand" TV channels offer some broadcasts in Tajik, as does one regional radio station. In 2022 a quarterly literary magazine in Tajiki, ''Durdonai Sharq'', was launched in Samarkand.<ref name="Bloomsbury Publishing"/>

In addition to Uzbek, Tajik, and Russian, native languages spoken in Samarkand include [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]], [[Tatar language|Tatar]], [[Crimean Tatar language|Crimean Tatar]], [[Arabic]] (for a very small percentage of Samarkandian Arabs), and others.

Modern Samarkand is a vibrant city, and in 2019 the city hosted the first Samarkand Half Marathon.<ref>[https://worldsmarathons.com/marathon/samarkand-marathon Samarkand Marathon].</ref> In 2022 this also included a full marathon for the first time.