The Mongolic languages are a group of thirteen languages spoken in Central Asia. Some linguists propose the grouping of Mongolic with Turkic (of which Turkish is a member) and Tungusic as Altaic languages, but this hypothesis is not universally agreed upon. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Turkic languages constitute a language family of some thirty languages, spoken across a vast area from Eastern Europe to Siberia and Western China with an estimated 140 million native speakers and tens of millions of second-language speakers. ... Tungusic languages (or Manchu-Tungus languages) are spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria. ... Altaic is a proposed language family which includes 60 languages spoken by about 250 million people, mostly in and around Central Asia and Far East. ...

The best-known member of this language family, Mongolian (in Cyrillic orthography as used in Mongolia, Монгол Хэл, and in the vertical Uygur-derived script as used in Inner Mongolia, China, mongγol kele), is the primary language of most of the residents of Mongolia, and is spoken by around 2.5 million people in Mongolia, Russia, and Inner Mongolia. Inner Mongolia (Mongolian: ᠥᠪᠦᠷ ᠮᠣᠨᠺᠤᠯᠤᠨ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠺᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠣᠷᠤᠨ r Mongghul-un bertegen Jasaqu Orun; Chinese: 内蒙古自治区; Hanyu Pinyin: N i Měnggǔ Z qū) is an Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Classification

Mongolic

• Central Mongolic
  • Khalkha (Halh) Mongolian (official language of Mongolia)
  • Ordos (native form: Urdus)
• Western Mongolic (Oirat-Kalmyk-Darkhat)
  • Oirat (Kalmyk) (Dialects: Torgut, Dorbet, Olot [Ööld, Elyut, Eleuth], Khoshut [Khoshuud])
  • Darkhat
• Northern Mongolic
  • Buryat (Dialects: Bargu, Khori, Aga, Ekhirit, Unga, Ninzne-Udinsk, Barguzin, Tunda, Oka, Alar, Bohaan, Bulagat)
  • Khamnigan Mongol
• Northeastern Mongolic
  • Dagur (Daur)
• Southeastern Mongolic (i.e., the Qinghai-Gansu Sprachbund Mongolic languages)
  • Monguor (Also known as Tu, Dialects: Mongghul, Mangghuer)
  • Kangjia
  • Bonan
  • Dongxiang (Santa)
• South-Central Mongolic
  • Eastern Yugur (Shira Yugur)
• Southwestern Mongolic
  • Moghol (Mogholi, Mogol)

Mongolian (Монгол), is the best-known member of the Mongolic language family, and the primary language of most of the residents of Mongolia. ... The Kalmyk (Kalmuck, Calmouk, Oyirad) language of the Kalmyks is spoken in Kalmykia ( Russian Federation), Western China and Western Mongolia. ... The Buryat language is a Mongolic language spoken by the Buryats. ... The Tu language (also known as Mongour, Monguor, and Mongor) is closely related to Mongolian. ... Kangjia is a recently-discovered Mongolic idiom spoken by a Muslim population of around 300 people in cGan. ... Dongxiang is a Mongolian Altaic language spoken by the Dongxiang people of northwestern China. ... Moghol is a Mongolian language spoken in Afghanistan by a few people around Herat. ...

External links

• Ethnologue report on Mongolic languages
• Ethnic groups of Mongolia
• Ethnic map of Mongolia

References

• Janhunen, J. 2003. The Mongolic Languages. London.