Tuvan is linguistically classified as a Northeastern or Siberian Turkic language, closely related to several other Siberian Turkic languages including Khakas and Altai languages. Tuvan, as spoken in Tuva, is principally divided into four dialect groups:
Central: forms the basis of the literary language and includes Ovyur and Bii-Khem sub-dialects.
Western: can be found spoken near the upper course of the Khemchik River. It is influenced by interaction with the Altai language.
Northeastern, also known as the Todzhi dialect, is spoken near the upper course of the Bii-Khem River. The speakers of this dialect utilize nasalization. It contains a large vocabulary related to hunting and reindeer breeding that not found in the other dialects.
Southeastern: shows the most influence from the Mongolian language.
Other dialects include those spoken by the Dzungar, the Tsengel and the Dukha bands of Tuvans, but currently these uncommon dialects are not comprehensively documented.
Tuvan vocabulary is largely Turkic in origin but marked by a large number of Mongolian loanwords. The language has also borrowed several Mongolian suffixes. In addition, there exist Ketic and Samoyedic substrata.