Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Kyrgyz

Source: Permanent Mission of the Kyrgyz Republic to the United Nations Office in Geneva

Profile

Native Name
None

Total Speakers
2,631,420

Usage By Country
Official Language: Kyrgystan Home Speakers: Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China and Afghanistan

Background
Kyrgyz is spoken principally in the Kyrgyz Republic, which borders on China. Like Turkmen, Uzbek, and Kazakh, it is one of the Turkic languages, belonging to the Altaic family of languages (Kipchak branch). Kyrgyz was written in the Arabic script until 1928 when the Latin alphabet was introduced, which in turn was replaced by the Cyrillic in 1940. The names 'Eastern Kyrgyz' and 'Western Kyrgyz' have been erroneously applied to Kazakh.

Received 10/26/1998
Posted 10/26/1998
Checked 11/12/1998