Editing Central Asia (section)

=== Languages ===
[[Russian language|Russian]], as well as being spoken by around six million ethnic [[Russians]] and [[Ukrainians]] of Central Asia,<ref>Robert Greenall, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4420922.stm Russians left behind in Central Asia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911080317/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4420922.stm |date=11 September 2013 }}, [[BBC News]], 23 November 2005.</ref> is the de facto [[lingua franca]] throughout the former Soviet Central Asian Republics. [[Mandarin Chinese]] has an equally dominant presence in [[Inner Mongolia]], [[Qinghai]] and [[Xinjiang]].

The languages of the majority of the inhabitants of the former Soviet Central Asian Republics belong to the [[Turkic languages|Turkic language group]]. [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]] is mainly spoken in [[Turkmenistan]], and as a minority language in [[Afghanistan]], [[Russia]], [[Iran]] and [[Turkey]]. [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]] and [[Kyrgyz language|Kyrgyz]] are related languages of the [[Kipchaks|Kypchak]] group of Turkic languages and are spoken throughout [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], and as a minority language in [[Tajikistan]], [[Afghanistan]] and [[Xinjiang]]. [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]] and [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]] are spoken in [[Uzbekistan]], [[Tajikistan]], Kyrgyzstan, [[Afghanistan]] and [[Xinjiang]].

[[Middle Iranian languages]] were once spoken throughout Central Asia, such as the once prominent [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]], [[Khwarezmian language|Khwarezmian]], [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]] and [[Scythian language|Scythian]], which are now extinct and belonged to the [[Eastern Iranian]] family. The Eastern Iranian [[Pashto language]] is still spoken in [[Afghanistan]] and northwestern [[Pakistan]]. Other minor Eastern Iranian languages such as [[Shughni language|Shughni]], [[Munji language|Munji]], [[Ishkashimi language|Ishkashimi]], [[Sarikoli language|Sarikoli]], [[Wakhi language|Wakhi]], [[Yaghnobi language|Yaghnobi]] and [[Ossetic]] are also spoken at various places in Central Asia. Varieties of [[Persian language|Persian]] are also spoken as a major language in the region, locally known as [[Dari]] (in [[Afghanistan]]), [[Tajik language|Tajik]] (in [[Tajikistan]] and [[Uzbekistan]]), and [[Bukhori]] (by the [[Bukharan Jews]] of Central Asia).

[[Tocharian languages|Tocharian]], another [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language group]], which was once predominant in oases on the northern edge of the [[Tarim Basin]] of [[Xinjiang]], is now extinct.

Other language groups include the [[Tibetic languages]], spoken by around six million people across the [[Tibetan Plateau]] and into [[Qinghai]], [[Sichuan]] (Szechwan), [[Ladakh]] and [[Baltistan]], and the [[Nuristani languages]] of northeastern Afghanistan. [[Korean language|Korean]] is spoken by the [[Koryo-saram]] minority, mainly in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.<ref>Alekseenko, Aleksandr Nikolaevich (2000). Республика в зеркале переписей населения[Republic in the Mirror of the Population Censuses] (PDF). ''Population and Society: Newsletter of the Centre for Demography and Human Ecology'' (in Russian). Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences (47): 58–62. Retrieved 18 March 2019.</ref>