Uzbek (O‘zbek tili in Latin script, Ўзбек тили in Cyrillic script) is an Eastern Turkic language and the official language of Uzbekistan. It has about 23.5 million native speakers, and it is spoken by the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Central Asia. Uzbek belongs to the Qarluq family of Turkic languages, and consequently its lexicon and grammar are most closely linked to the Uighur language, while other influences rose from Persian, Arabic and Russian. The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... Altaic is a proposed language family which includes 66 languages [1] spoken by about 348 million people, mostly in and around Central Asia and northeast Asia. ... Altaic is a putative language family which would include 60 languages spoken by about 250 million people, mostly in and around central Asia. ... 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. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... Not to be confused with the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning sound, voice) is the study of the sounds of human speech. ... Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ... This chart shows concisely the most common way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is applied to represent the English language. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... The Cyrillic alphabet (pronounced , also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is an alphabet used for several East and South Slavic languages—Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian, and Ukrainian—and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe. ... The Turkic languages are a group of closely related languages that are spoken by a variety of people distributed across a vast area from Eastern Europe to Siberia and Western China. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... The Qarluq (Karluk) were originally a nomadic turkic tribe based on the transoxania steppes (roughly east and south of the Aral Sea) in Central Asia. ... Look up lexicon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the surname, see Grammer. ... Uyghur (in Uyghur: ئۇغۇرچه Uyƣurqə or ئۇغۇر تىلى Uyƣur tili; in Chinese: 维吾尔语 Wéiwúěryǔ) is a Turkic language spoken by the Uyghur people in Xinjiang... Persian (Local names: فارسی Fârsi or پارسی Pârsi)* is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ...

History

Turkic speakers have probably settled in the Amu-Darya, Syr-Darya and Zeravshan river basins since at least AD600-700, gradually ousting the speakers of Indo-Iranian languages who previously inhabited Soghdiana, Bactria and Chorasmia, or else changing their linguistic habits. The first Turkic dynasty in the region was that of the Karakhanids in the 9th- 12th centuries AD, who were a Qarluq tribe. Map of area around the Aral Sea. ... Map of area around the Aral Sea. ... The Zeravshan or Zarafshan river, whilst smaller and less well-known than the two great rivers of Central Asia, the Oxus or Amu-Darya and the Jaxartes or Syr-Darya, is if anything more valuable as a source of irrigation in the region. ... Indo-Iranian can refer to: The Indo-Iranian languages The prehistoric Indo-Iranian people, see Aryan This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Sogdiana (Sug`ud,Sug`diyona -Uzbek, Sughd - Tajik, Sugdiane, Old Persian Sughuda, Persian:سغد, Chinese: Kang-Kü) ancient civilization of Iranian peoples, then was a province of the Achaemenian Empire, the eighteenth in the list in the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great (i. ... It has been suggested that Ta-Hsia be merged into this article or section. ... Khiva (alternative names include Khorasam, Khoresm, Khwarezm, Khwarizm, Khwarazm, Chiwa and Chorezm) is a city in present day Uzbekistan, in the Province of Khorezm. ... the karakhanids are one of the uighur kingdoom with capital called kahgar(uighur autonomous rigion) ...

The Chagatai language championed by Mir Ali-Sher Nawa'i in the 15th & 16th centuries is widely held to be the ancestor of modern literary Uzbek. Ultimately based on the Qarluq variant of the Turkic languages, it contained large numbers of Persian and Arabic loan-words. By the 19th century it was rarely used for literary composition. The Chagatai language is an extinct Turkic language which was once widely spoken in Central Asia. ... Nizamiddin Mir Alisher Navoi (1441-1501) Alisher Navoi (full name : Nizamiddin Mir Alisher Navoi, also known as Navoiy, Alishir Navai, Nawoi, Ali Sher Nawai; Persian: علیشیر نوایی 1441-1501) was a Central Asian poet of Uyghur heritage who lived in Herat (then Persia) during the 15th century. ... The Qarluq (Karluk) were originally a nomadic turkic tribe based on the transoxania steppes (roughly east and south of the Aral Sea) in Central Asia. ...

The term "Uzbek" as applied to language has meant different things at different times. Prior to 1921 "Uzbek" and "Sart" were considered to be different dialects; "Uzbek" was a vowel-harmonised Kipchak dialect (closely related to Kazakh) spoken by descendants of those who arrived in Transoxiana with Shaybani Khan in the 16th century, who lived mainly around Bukhara and Samarkand, although the Turkic spoken in Tashkent was also vowel-harmonised; "Sart" was a Qarluq dialect spoken by the older settled Turkic populations of the region in the Ferghana Valley and the Kashka-Darya region, and in some parts of the Samarkand Oblast; it contained a heavier admixture of Persian and Arabic, and did not use vowel-harmony. In Khiva Sarts spoke a form of highly Persianised Oghuz Turkic. After 1921 the Soviet regime abolished the term Sart as derogatory, and decreed that henceforth the entire settled Turkic population of Turkestan would be known as Uzbeks, even though many had no Uzbek tribal heritage. The standard written language that was chosen for the new republic in 1924, however, despite the protests of Uzbek Bolsheviks such as Faizullah Khojaev, was not pre-revolutionary "Uzbek" but the "Sart" language of the Samarkand region. All three dialects continue to exist within modern, spoken Uzbek. Sart is a name for the settled inhabitants of Central Asia which has had shifting meanings over the centuries. ... Kipchaks (also Kypchaks, Qipchaqs) are an ancient Turkic people, first mentioned in the historical chronicles of Central Asia in the 1st millennium BC. Their language was also known as Kipchak. ... Kazakh, also Kazak, Qazaq, Khazakh, Kosach, and Kaisak (Қазақ тілі in Cyrillic, Qazaq tili in the Latin alphabet, and قازاق تءىلءي in the Arabic alphabet) is a Western Turkic language closely related to Kyrgyz, Nogai and Karakalpak. ... Portrait of Muhammad Shaybani Abu I-Fath Muhammad Shaybani Khan (c. ... Bukhara (Tajik: Бухоро; Persian: ‎, Buxârâ; Uzbek: ; Russian: ), from the Soghdian βuxārak (lucky place), is the fifth-largest city in Uzbekistan, and capital of the Bukhara Province (viloyat). ... Samarkand (Tajik: Самарқанд, Persian: ‎ , Uzbek: , Russian: ), population 412,300 in 2005, is the second-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of Samarqand Province. ... The Fergana Valley (also Ferghana Valley) is a region of Central Asia spreading across Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. ... Qashqadaryo Province (Uzbek: ), old spelling Kashkadarya Province is a viloyat (province) of Uzbekistan, located in the southern part of the country in the basin of the Qashqadaryo River and the western slopes of the Pamir Mountains. ... Persianisation is a term used to describe a cultural change in which something non-Persian (or Iranian) is made to become Persian (or Iranian) It is commonly used in connection with Kurds and Arabs. ... The Oghuz languages, a major branch of the Turkic language family, are spoken by more than 90 million people in an area spanning from the Balkans to China. ... Sart is a name for the settled inhabitants of Central Asia which has had shifting meanings over the centuries. ... Faizullah Ubaidullaevich Khojaev (Uzbek: ; Russian: ; Persian: ‎). b. ...

Number of speakers

In the CIS countries, there are about 24.7 million people who speak dialects of Uzbek. In Uzbekistan, 21 million people speak Uzbek as their native language. There are about 1.2 million speakers in Tajikistan,1 million in Afghanistan, 550,096 in Kyrgyzstan, 332,017 in Kazakhstan, and 317,333 in Turkmenistan. According to the 1990 census, about 3,000 people in Xinjiang (China) speak Uzbek. For the county in Shanxi province, see Xinjiang County. ...

Loan words

The influence of Islam, and by extension, Arabic, is evident in Uzbek, as well as the residual influence of Russian, from the time when Uzbekistan was under czarist and Soviet domination. Most of the Arabic words have found their way into Uzbek through Persian. Uzbek shares much Persian and Arabic vocabulary with neighbouring languages such as Persian and its dialect (Tajik and Dari). Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... Persian (Local names: فارسی Fârsi or پارسی Pârsi)* is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... Tajikmay refer to: Tajiks, an ethnic group living in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and China The Tajik language, the official language of Tajikistan The Arabic-schooled, ethnically Persian administrative caste of the Turco-Persian society. ... Dari is a term used to denote one of several closely related Persian dialects spoken in what used to be Greater Khorasan: The official name for the Persian language in Afghanistan; see Dari (Afghanistan) One name used by Zoroastrians (the others being Gabri and Yazdi) to refer to the Northwestern...

Dialects

The Uzbek language has many dialects, varying widely from region to region. However, there is a commonly understood dialect which is used in mass media and in most printed material. Some linguists consider the language spoken in northern Afghanistan by ethnic Uzbeks to be a dialect of Uzbek. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language characteristic of a particular group of the languages speakers. ...

Writing systems

Before 1924, all Central Asian languages were written in the Arabic script. Between 1924 and 1940 the new official Uzbek language was written in the Latin script, before an enforced switch to Cyrillic under Stalin. Until 1992, Uzbek continued to be written using the Cyrillic alphabet, but now the Latin script has been officially introduced, although the use of Cyrillic is still widespread. The deadline for making this transition has been repeatedly changed. The latest deadline was 2005, but was shifted once again to provide a few more years. Some scholars are not convinced that the transition will be made at all. Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვი&#4314... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... The Cyrillic alphabet (pronounced , also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is an alphabet used for several East and South Slavic languages—Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian, and Ukrainian—and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ...

In the Xinjiang province of China, Uzbek speakers write using a modified Perso-Arabic alphabet, like that used for Uighur. For the county in Shanxi province, see Xinjiang County. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing the Arabic language, which is the language of the Quran, the holy book of Islam. ... Uyghurs (also called Uighurs, Uygurs, or Uigurs) (Chinese: 維吾爾 or 维吾尔 in pinyin: wéiwúěr) are a Turkic ethnic group of people living in northwestern China (mainly in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, where they are the dominant ethnic group together with Han people...

Table of Uzbek Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, and represented sounds^[2]

Text sample

References

• E. Allworth: Uzbek Literary Politics (The Hague, Mouton 1964).
• Vasily Bartold "Sart" Ency. of Islam Vol. IV S-Z (Leiden & London) 1934 pp175-6
• Yuri Bregel “The Sarts in the Khanate of Khiva” Journal of Asian History Vol.12 (1978) pp146-9
• András J. E. Bodrogligeti: Modern Literary Uzbek. A Manual for Intensive Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Courses (Munich, Lincom 2002), 2 vols.
• William Fierman: Language planning and national development. The Uzbek experience (Berlin etc., de Gruyter 1991).
• Khayrulla Ismatulla: Modern literary Uzbek (Bloomington, Indiana University Press 1995).
• Karl A. Krippes: Uzbek-English dictionary (Kensington, Dunwoody 1996).
• Andrée F. Sjoberg: Uzbek Structural Grammar (The Hague, 1963).
• A. Shermatov "A New Stage in the Development of Uzbek Dialectology" Essays on Uzbek History, Culture and Language Ed. Bakhtiyar A. Nazarov & Denis Sinor (Bloomington, Indiana) 1993 pp101-9
• Natalie Waterson (ed.): Uzbek–English dictionary (Oxford etc., Oxford University Press 1980).

1. ^ "[1] Ethnologue"
2. ^ http://www.oxuscom.com/New_Uzbek_Latin_Alphabet.pdf

Vasily Vladimirovich Bartold, also known as Wilhelm Barthold (1869-1930) was a Russian anthropologist who succeeded Wilhelm Radloff as the greatest authority in the field of Turcology. ... The doyen of Central Asian Historical Studies at the Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, Indiana University Bloomington, Yuri Bregel was born in the U.S.S.R., and studied in the Oriental Faculty of the University of St. ...

See also

Uzbek language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Chagatai language
• Sogdiana
• Uzbeks

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1058x1058, 477 KB) aa Wikipedia logo, version 1058px square, no text Wikipedia logo by Nohat (concept by Paullusmagnus); compare Wikipedia File links The following pages link to this file: Arabic language Talk:Anarcho-capitalism Talk:Algorithm Talk:Anno Domini Talk:The... Wikipedia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The Chagatai language is an extinct Turkic language which was once widely spoken in Central Asia. ... Sogdiana, ca. ...

External links

Wikibooks has more on the topic of

Uzbek language

• Mark Dickens: Introduction to the Uzbek Language (Oxus Communications)
• The Republic of Uzbekistan Cabinet of Ministers Resolution Concerning the Ratification of the Principal Orthographic Rules of the Uzbek Language (24 August 1995)
• Uzbek alphabet (Omniglot)
• Paul Rodrigues: Uzbek language Materials
• Uzbek Teachionary Word Sets
• Nigora Azimova: Language Materials/Teaching/Learning Uzbek
• Uzbek English online Dictionary http://www.ismanov.com
• Uzbek - Turkish online dictionary