Kazakh language

Turkic language mostly spoken in Kazakhstan

Kazakh

Qazaq
қазақша or қазақ тілі
قازاقشا or قازاق ٴتىلى
qazaqşa or qazaq tılı

Kazakh in Cyrillic, Latin, and Perso-Arabic scripts.

Pronunciation| [qɑzɑqˈʃɑ]
[qɑˈzɑq tɘˈlɘ]
Native to| Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan
Region| Central Asia
(Turkestan)
Ethnicity| Kazakhs

Native speakers

| 16 million (2021 census)[1]

Language family

Turkic

* Common Turkic
* Kipchak
* Kipchak–Nogai
* Kazakh

Writing system

| Kazakh alphabets (Cyrillic script, Latin script, Arabic script, Kazakh Braille)
Official status

Official language in

| Kazakhstan
Russia

* Altai Republic[2]

China

* Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture
* Barköl Kazakh Autonomous County
* Mori Kazakh Autonomous County
* Aksay Kazakh Autonomous County

Organisations:

* Organization of Turkic States
Collective Security Treaty Organization

Regulated by| Ministry of Culture and Sports
Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Language codes
ISO 639-1| `kk`
ISO 639-2| `kaz`
ISO 639-3| `kaz`
Glottolog| `kaza1248`
Linguasphere| `44-AAB-cc`

The Kazakh-speaking world:

regions where Kazakh is the language of the majority

regions where Kazakh is the language of a significant minority

This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
A Kazakh speaker, recorded in Taiwan A Kazakh speaker, recorded in Kazakhstan

Kazakh or Qazaq[a] (pronounced [qɑzɑqˈʃɑ] or [qɑˈzɑq tɘˈlɘ])[3][4] is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch spoken in Central Asia by Kazakhs. It is closely related to Nogai, Kyrgyz and Karakalpak. It is the official language of Kazakhstan, and has official status in the Altai Republic of Russia. It is also a significant minority language in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang, China, and in the Bayan-Ölgii Province of western Mongolia. The language is also spoken by many ethnic Kazakhs throughout the former Soviet Union (some 472,000 in Russia according to the 2010 Russian census), Germany, and Turkey.

Like other Turkic languages, Kazakh is an agglutinative language and employs vowel harmony. Ethnologue recognizes three mutually intelligible dialect groups: Northeastern Kazakh—the most widely spoken variety, which also serves as the basis for the official language—Southern Kazakh, and Western Kazakh. The language shares a degree of mutual intelligibility with closely related Karakalpak while its Western dialects maintain limited mutual intelligibility with Altai languages.

In October 2017, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev decreed that the writing system would change from using Cyrillic to Latin script by 2025. The proposed Latin alphabet has been revised several times and as of January 2021 is close to the inventory of the Turkish alphabet, though lacking the letters C and Ç and having four additional letters: Ä, Ñ, Q and Ū (though other letters such as Y have different values in the two languages). It is scheduled to be phased in from 2023 to 2031.

## Geographic distribution

[edit]

Speakers of Kazakh (mainly Kazakhs) are spread over a vast territory from the Tian Shan to the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kazakh is the official state language of Kazakhstan, with nearly 10 million speakers (based on information from the CIA World Factbook[5] on population and proportion of Kazakh speakers).[6]

In China, nearly two million ethnic Kazakhs and Kazakh speakers reside in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang.

## History

[edit]

The Kipchak branch of Turkic languages, which Kazakh is borne out of, was mainly solidified during the reign of the Golden Horde. The modern Kazakh language is said to have originated in approximately 1465 AD during the formation of the Kazakh Khanate. Modern Kazakh is likely a descendant of both Chagatay Turkic as spoken by the Timurids and Kipchak Turkic as spoken in the Golden Horde.

Kazakh uses a high volume of loanwords from Persian and Arabic due to the frequent historical interactions between Kazakhs and Iranian ethnic groups to the south. Additionally, Persian was a lingua franca in the Kazakh Khanate, which allowed Kazakhs to mix Persian words into their own spoken and written vernacular. Meanwhile, Arabic was used by Kazakhs in mosques and mausoleums, serving as a language exclusively for religious contexts, similar to how Latin served as a liturgical language in the European cultural sphere.

The Kazakhs used the Arabic script to write their language until approximately 1929. In the early 1900s, Kazakh activist Akhmet Baitursynuly reformed the Kazakh-Arabic alphabet, but his work was largely overshadowed by the Soviet presence in Central Asia. At that point, the new Soviet regime forced the Kazakhs to use a Latin script, and then a Cyrillic script in the 1940s. Today, Kazakhs use the Cyrillic and Latin scripts to write their language, although a presidential decree from 2017 ordered the transition from Cyrillic to Latin by 2031.

## Phonology and orthography

[edit]

Kazakh exhibits tongue-root vowel harmony, with some words of recent foreign origin (usually of Russian or Arabic origin) as exceptions. There is also a system of rounding harmony which resembles that of Kyrgyz, but which does not apply as strongly and is not reflected in the orthography. This system only applies to the open vowels /e/, /ɪ/, /ʏ/ and not /ɑ/, and happens in the next syllables.[7] Thus, (in Latin script) jūldyz 'star', bügın 'today', and ülken 'big' are actually pronounced as jūldūz, bügün, ülkön.

### Consonants

[edit]

The following chart depicts the consonant inventory of standard Kazakh;[8] many of the sounds, however, are allophones of other sounds or appear only in recent loanwords. The 18 consonant phonemes listed by Vajda are without parentheses—since these are phonemes, their listed place and manner of articulation are very general, and will vary from what is shown. (/t͡s/ rarely appears in normal speech.) Kazakh has 19 native consonant phonemes; these are the stops /p, b, t, d, k, ɡ, q/, fricatives /s, z, ɕ, ʑ, ʁ/, nasals /m, n, ŋ/, liquids /ɾ, l/, and two glides /w, j/.[9] The sounds /f, v, χ, h, t͡s, t͡ɕ/ are found only in loanwords. /ʑ/ is heard as an alveolopalatal affricate [d͡ʑ] in the Kazakh dialects of Uzbekistan and Xinjiang, China. The sounds [q] and [ʁ] may be analyzed as allophones of /k/ and /ɡ/ in words with back vowels, but exceptions occur in loanwords.

Kazakh consonant phonemes[10] | Labials | Alveolar | (Alveolo-)
palatal | Velar | Uvular

|
|
|
|
|

Nasal | m ⟨м/m⟩ | n ⟨н/n⟩ |  | ŋ ⟨ң/ñ⟩
Stop | voiceless | p ⟨п/p⟩ | t ⟨т/t⟩ |  | k ⟨к/k⟩ | q ⟨қ/q⟩
voiced | b ⟨б/b⟩ | d ⟨д/d⟩ |  | ɡ ⟨г/g⟩ |
Fricative | voiceless |  | s ⟨с/s⟩ | ɕ ⟨ш/ş⟩ |  | (χ) ⟨х/h⟩
voiced |  | z ⟨з/z⟩ | ʑ ⟨ж/j⟩ |  | (ʁ) ⟨ғ/ğ⟩
Approximant |  | l ⟨л/l⟩ | j ⟨й/i⟩ | w ⟨у/u⟩ |
Tap |  | ɾ ⟨р/r⟩ |  |  |

* Voiced obstruents syllable-finally become devoiced.[7]

### Vowels

[edit]

Kazakh has a system of 12 phonemic vowels, 3 of which are diphthongs. The rounding contrast and /æ/ generally only occur as phonemes in the first syllable of a word, but do occur later allophonically; see the section on harmony below for more information. Moreover, the /æ/ sound has been included artificially due to the influence of Arabic, Persian and, later, Tatar languages during the Islamic period.[11] It can be found in some native words, however.

According to Vajda, the front/back quality of vowels is actually one of neutral versus retracted tongue root.[10]

Phonetic values are paired with the corresponding character in Kazakh's Cyrillic and current Latin alphabets.

Kazakh vowel phonemes  | Front
(Advanced tongue root)  | Central
(Relaxed tongue root)  | Back
(Retracted tongue root)

|
|
|

Close | ɪ̞ ⟨і/ı⟩ | ʉ ⟨ү/ü⟩ | o̙ ⟨ұ/ū⟩
Diphthong | je̘ ⟨е/e⟩ | əj ⟨и/i⟩ | ʊw ⟨у/u⟩
Mid | e ⟨э/e⟩ | ə ⟨ы/y⟩ | o̞ ⟨о/o⟩
Open | æ̝ ⟨ә/ä⟩ | ɵ ⟨ө/ö⟩ | ɑ̝ ⟨а/a⟩
Kazakh vowels by their pronunciation  | Front and central | Back

|
|

unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded
Close | ɪ̞ ⟨і/ı⟩ | ʏ̞ ⟨ү/ü⟩ | ə ⟨ы/y⟩ | o̙ ⟨ұ/ū⟩
Open | je̘ ⟨е/e⟩ / æ ⟨ә/ä⟩ | ɵ ⟨ө/ö⟩ | ɑ̝ ⟨а/a⟩ | o̞ ⟨о/o⟩

* There is significant debate over the Kazakh vowel phoneme chart, but all analysis agrees on an eight-vowel system with [æ] being artificially added due to influence from Arabic and Persian.
* The vowel /e̞/ is often pronounced /je̞/ at the beginning of the word, with exceptional root e-. Urban Kazakh tends to palatalize all /e̞/, caused by Russian influence.[12]

### Vowel harmony

[edit]

Kazakh exhibits tongue-root vowel harmony (also called soft-hard harmony), and arguably weakened rounding harmony which is implied in the first syllable of the word. All vowels after the first rounded syllable are the subject to this harmony with the exception of /ɑ/, and in the following syllables, e.g. өмір [ø̞mʏr], қосы [qɒso]. Notably, urban Kazakh tends to violate rounding harmony, as well as pronouncing Russian borrowings against the rules.[12]

### Stress

[edit]

Most words in Kazakh are stressed in the last syllable, except:[13]

* When counting objects, numbers are stressed in the first syllable, but stressed in the last syllable in collective numbers suffixed by -eu (bıreu, altau from bır, alty):

bır, ekı, üş, tört, bes, alty, jetı, ...
'one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, ...'

* Definite and negative pronouns are stressed in the first syllable:

bärıne eşkımge
'to everyone, to no one'

### Orthography

[edit]

Main article: Kazakh alphabets

Nowadays, Kazakh is mostly written in the Cyrillic script, with an Arabic-based alphabet being used by minorities in China. Since 26 October 2017, via Presidential Decree 569, Kazakhstan will adopt the Latin script by 2025.[14][15]

Cyrillic script was created to better merge the Kazakh language with other languages of the USSR, hence it has some controversial letter readings.

The letter У after a consonant represents a combination of sounds і /ɘ/, ү /ʉ/, ы /ə/, ұ /ʊ/ with glide /w/,[16] e.g. кіру [kɪ̞ˈrɪ̞w], су [so̙w], көру [kɵˈrʏ̞w], атысу [ɑ̝təˈsəw]. Ю undergoes the same process but with /j/ at the beginning.

The letter И represents a combination of sounds: i /ɘ/ (in front-vowel contexts) or ы /ə/ (in back vowel contexts) + glide /j/,[16] e.g. тиіс [tɪ̞ˈjɪ̞s], оқиды [wo̞qəjˈdə]. In Russian loanwords, it is realized as /ʲi/ (when stressed) or /ʲɪ/ (when unstressed), e.g. изоморфизм [ɪzəmɐrˈfʲizm].

The letter Я represents either /jɑ/ or /jæ/ depending on vowel harmony.

The letter Щ represents /ʃː/, e.g. ащы [ɑ̝ʃ.ˈʃə].

Meanwhile, the letters В, Ё, Ф, Х, Һ, Ц, Ч, Ъ, Ь, Э are only used in loanwords—mostly those of Russian origin, but sometimes of Persian and Arabic origin. They are often substituted in spoken Kazakh.

## Grammar

[edit]

Kazakh is generally verb-final, though various permutations on SOV (subject–object–verb) word order can be used, for example, due to topicalization.[17] Inflectional and derivational morphology, both verbal and nominal, in Kazakh, exists almost exclusively in the form of agglutinative suffixes. Kazakh is a nominative-accusative, head-final, left-branching, dependent-marking language.[18]

### Nouns

[edit]

Kazakh has no noun class or gender system. Nouns are declined for number (singular or plural) and one of seven cases:

* Nominative
* Accusative
* Genitive
* Dative
* Locative
* Ablative
* Instrumental[11]

The suffix for case is placed before the suffix for number.

Declension of nouns for case[18] Case  | Morpheme  | Possible forms  | keme 'ship' | aua 'air' | şelek 'bucket' | säbız 'carrot' | bas 'head' | tūz 'salt' | qan 'blood' | kün 'day'

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Nom  | — | — | keme | aua | şelek | säbız | bas | tūz | qan | kün
Acc  | -ny | -nı, -ny, -dı, -dy, -tı, -ty | kemenı | auany | şelektı | säbızdı | basty | tūzdy | qandy | kündı
Gen  | -nyñ | -nıñ, -nyñ, -dıñ, -dyñ, -tıñ, -tyñ | kemenıñ | auanyñ | şelektıñ | säbızdıñ | bastyñ | tūzdyñ | qannyñ | künnıñ
Dat  | -ga | -ge, -ğa, -ke, -qa | kemege | auağa | şelekke | säbızge | basqa | tūzğa | qanğa | künge
Loc  | -da | -de, -da, -te, -ta | kemede | auada | şelekte | säbızde | basta | tūzda | qanda | künde
Abl  | -dan | -den, -dan, -ten, -tan, -nen, -nan | kemeden | auadan | şelekten | säbızden | bastan | tūzdan | qannan | künnen
Inst  | -men | -men(en), -ben(en), -pen(en) | kememen | auamen | şelekpen | säbızben | baspen | tūzben | qanmen | künmen
Declension of nouns for number[11] | Morpheme  | Possible

Forms

| bala

'child'

| kirpi

'hedgehog'

| qazaq

'Kazakh'

| mektep

'school'

| adam

'person'

| gül

'flower'

| söz

'word'

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

singular  | –  | –  | bala | kirpi | qazaq | mektep | adam | gül | söz
plural  | -lar | -lar, -ler, -ter, -tar, -der, -dar | balalar | kirpiler | qazaqtar | mektepter | adamdar | gülder | sözder

### Pronouns

[edit]

There are eight personal pronouns in Kazakh:

Personal pronouns[18] | Singular  | Plural

|
|

1st person  | men | bız
2nd person  | informal | sen | sender
formal | sız | sızder
3rd person  | ol | olar

The declension of the pronouns is outlined in the following chart. Singular pronouns exhibit irregularities, while plural pronouns do not. Irregular forms are highlighted in bold.[18]

Number | Singular | Plural

|
|

Person | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd
Familiar | Polite | Familiar | Polite
Nominative  | men | sen | sız | ol | bız | sender | sızder | olar
Genitive  | menıñ | senıñ | sızdıñ | onyñ | bızdıñ | senderdıñ | sızderdıñ | olardyñ
Dative  | mağan | sağan | sızge | oğan | bızge | senderge | sızderge | olarğa
Accusative  | menı | senı | sızdı | ony | bızdı | senderdı | sızderdı | olardy
Locative  | mende | sende | sızde | onda | bızde | senderde | sızderde | olarda
Ablative  | menen | senen | sızden | odan | bızden | senderden | sızderden | olardan
Instrumental  | menımen | senımen | sızben | onymen | bızben | sendermen | sızdermen | olarmen

In addition to the pronouns, there are several more sets of morphemes dealing with person.[18]

Morphemes indicating person[18] | Pronouns | Copulas | Possessive endings | Past/Conditional

|
|
|
|

1st sg  | men | -mın/-myn | -(ı)m/-(y)m | -(ı)m/-(y)m
2nd sg  | sen | -sıñ/-syñ | -(ı)ñ/-(y)ñ | -(ı)ñ
2nd sg formal  | sız | -sız/-syz | -(ı)ñız/-(y)ñyz | -(ı)ñız/-(y)ñyz
3rd sg  | ol | – | -(s)ı/-(s)y | –
1st pl  | bız | -mız/-myz | -(ı)mız/-(y)myz | -(ı)k/-(y)q
2nd pl  | sender | -sıñder/-syñdar | -laryñ/-lerıñ | -(ı)ñder/-(y)ñdar
2nd pl formal  | sızder | -sızder/-syzdar | -(ı)ñız/-(y)ñyz | -(ı)ñızder/-(y)ñyzdar
3rd pl  | olar | – | -lary/-lerı | –

### Adjectives

[edit]

Adjectives in Kazakh are not declined for any grammatical category of the modified noun. Being a head-final language, adjectives are always placed before the noun that they modify. Kazakh has two varieties of adjectives:

* Qualitative – used to describe properties of the noun, such as color
* Relational – adjectives formed from words from other parts of speech[11]

#### Comparative

[edit]

The comparative form can be created by appending the suffix -(y)raq/-(ı)rek or -tau/-teu/-dau/-dau to an adjective.

#### Superlative

[edit]

The superlative form can be created by placing the morpheme eñ before the adjective.[11]

### Verbs

[edit]

Kazakh may express different combinations of tense, aspect and mood through the use of various verbal morphology or through a system of auxiliary verbs, many of which might better be considered light verbs. The present tense is a prime example of this; progressive tense in Kazakh is formed with one of four possible auxiliaries. These auxiliaries otyr 'sit', tūr 'stand', jür 'go' and jat 'lie', encode various shades of meaning of how the action is carried out and also interact with the lexical semantics of the root verb: telic and non-telic actions, semelfactives, durative and non-durative, punctual, etc. There are selectional restrictions on auxiliaries: motion verbs, such as бару 'go' and келу 'come' may not combine with otyr. Any verb, however, can combine with jat 'lie' to get a progressive tense meaning.[18]

Progressive aspect in the present tense[18] Kazakh | Aspect | English translation

|
|

Men jüzemın | non-progressive | 'I (will) swim [every day].'
Men jüzıp jatyrmyn | progressive | 'I am swimming [right now].'
Men jüzıp otyrmyn | progressive/durative | 'I am [sitting and] swimming. / I have been swimming.'
Men jüzıp tūrmyn | progressive/punctual | 'I am [in the middle of] swimming [this very minute].'
Men jüzıp jürmın | habitual | 'I swim [frequently/regularly]'

While it is possible to think that different categories of aspect govern the choice of auxiliary, it is not so straightforward in Kazakh. Auxiliaries are internally sensitive to the lexical semantics of predicates, for example, verbs describing motion:[18]

Selectional restrictions on Kazakh auxiliaries[18] Sentence  | Auxiliary Used

|

Suda

water-LOC

balyq

fish

jüzedı

swim-PRES-3

Suda balyq jüzedı

water-LOC fish swim-PRES-3

'Fish swim in water' (general statement)

| ∅ (present/future tense used)

Suda

water-LOC

balyq

fish

jüzıp

swim-CVB

jatyr

AUX.3

Suda balyq jüzıp jatyr

water-LOC fish swim-CVB AUX.3

'The/A fish is swimming in the water'

| jat－ 'to lie', general marker for progressive aspect.

Suda

water-LOC

balyq

fish

jüzıp

swim-CVB

jür

AUX.3

Suda balyq jüzıp jür

water-LOC fish swim-CVB AUX.3

'The fish is swimming [as it always does] in the water'

| jür – 'go', dynamic/habitual/iterative

Suda

water-LOC

balyq

fish

jüzıp

swim-CVB

tūr

AUX.3

Suda balyq jüzıp tūr

water-LOC fish swim-CVB AUX.3

'The fish is swimming in the water'

| tūr – 'stand', progressive marker to show the swimming is punctual

Suda

water-LOC

balyq

fish

jüzıp

swim-CVB

otyr

AUX.3

* Suda balyq jüzıp otyr

{} water-LOC fish swim-CVB AUX.3

*The fish has been swimming

Not a possible sentence in Kazakh

| otyr – 'sit', ungrammatical in this sentence; otyr can only be used for verbs that are stative in nature

In addition to the complexities of the progressive tense, there are many auxiliary-converb pairs that encode a range of aspectual, modal, volitional, evidential and action- modificational meanings. For example, the pattern verb + köru, with the auxiliary verb köru 'see', indicates that the subject of the verb attempted or tried to do something (compare the Japanese てみる temiru construction).[18]

## Annotated text with gloss

[edit]

From the first stanza and refrain of "Menıñ Qazaqstanym" ("My Kazakhstan"), the national anthem of Kazakhstan:

Менің Қазақстаным | Men-ıñ Qazaqstan-ym

|

Алтын күн

аспаны

{Алтын күн} аспаны

[ɑ̝ɫ̪ˈt̪ə̃ŋ‿kʰʏ̞̃n̪ ɑ̝s̪pɑ̝̃ˈn̪ə]

Altyn

gold

kün

sun

aspan-y

sky-3.POSS

Altyn kün aspan-y

gold sun sky-3.POSS

'Golden sun of the sky'

Алтын

дән

даласы

Алтын дән даласы

[ɑ̝ɫ̪ˈt̪ə̃n̪‿d̪æ̝̃n̪ d̪ɑ̝ɫ̪ɑ̝ˈs̪ə |]

Altyn

gold

dän

grain

dala-sy

steppe-3.POSS

Altyn dän dala-sy

gold grain steppe-3.POSS

'Golden grain of the steppe'

Ерліктің

дастаны

Ерліктің дастаны

[je̘r̪l̪ɪ̞kˈt̪ɪ̞̃ŋ̟ d̪ɑ̝s̪t̪ɑ̝̃ˈn̪ə]

Erlık-tıñ

courage legend-GEN

dastan-y

epic-3.POSS-NOM

Erlık-tıñ dastan-y

{courage legend-GEN} epic-3.POSS-NOM

'The legend of courage'

Еліме

қарашы!

Еліме қарашы!

[je̘l̪ɪ̞̃ˈmʲe̘ qʰɑ̝r̪ɑ̝ˈʃə ‖]

El-ım-e

country-1SG.DAT

qara-şy

look-IMP

El-ım-e qara-şy

country-1SG.DAT look-IMP

'Look at my country!'

Ежелден

деген

Ежелден ер деген

[je̘ʒʲe̘l̪ʲˈd̪ʲẽ̘n̪ je̘r̪ d̪ʲe̘ˈɡʲẽ̘n̪]

Ejel-den

antiquity-ABL

hero

de-gen

say-PTCP.PST

Ejel-den er de-gen

antiquity-ABL hero say-PTCP.PST

'Called heroes since ancient times'

Даңқымыз

шықты

ғой

Даңқымыз шықты ғой

[d̪ɑ̝̃ɴqə̃ˈməz̪ ʃəqˈt̪ə ʁo̞j |]

Dañq-ymyz

glory-1PL.POSS.NOM

şyq-ty

emerge-PST.3

ğoi

EMPH

Dañq-ymyz şyq-ty ğoi

glory-1PL.POSS.NOM emerge-PST.3 EMPH

'Our glory emerged!'

Намысын

бермеген

Намысын бермеген

[n̪ɑ̝̃məˈs̪ə̃m bʲe̘r̪mʲe̘ˈɡʲẽ̘n̪]

Namys-yn

honor-3.POSS-ACC

ber-me-gen

give-NEG-PTCP.PST

Namys-yn ber-me-gen

honor-3.POSS-ACC give-NEG-PTCP.PST

'They did not give up their honor'

Қазағым

мықты

ғой

Қазағым мықты ғой

[qʰɑ̝z̪ɑ̝ˈʁə̃m məqˈt̪ə ʁo̞j ‖]

Qazağ-ym

Kazakh-1SG.POSS

myqty

strong

ğoi

EMPH

Qazağ-ym myqty ğoi

Kazakh-1SG.POSS strong EMPH

'My Kazakhs are mighty!'

Менің

елім,

менің

елім

Менің елім, менің елім

[mʲẽ̘ˈn̪ɪ̞̃ŋ̟ je̘ˈl̪ɪ̞̃m | mʲẽ̘ˈn̪ɪ̞̃ŋ̟ je̘ˈl̪ɪ̞̃m |]

Men-ıñ

1SG.GEN

el-ım,

country-1SG.NOM

menıñ

1SG.GEN

el-ım

country-1SG.NOM

Men-ıñ el-ım, menıñ el-ım

1SG.GEN country-1SG.NOM 1SG.GEN country-1SG.NOM

'My country, my country'

Гүлің

болып,

егілемін

Гүлің болып, егілемін

[ɡʏ̞ˈl̪ʏ̞̃m bo̞ˈɫ̪ɤp | je̘ɣɪ̞l̪ʲẽ̘ˈmɪ̞̃n̪ |]

Gül-üñ

flower-2SG.NOM

bol-up,

be-CVB,

eg-ıl-e-mın

root-PASS-PRES-1SG

Gül-üñ bol-up, eg-ıl-e-mın

flower-2SG.NOM be-CVB, root-PASS-PRES-1SG

'As your flower, I am rooted in you'

Жырың

болып

төгілемін,

елім

Жырың болып төгілемін, елім

[ʒəˈr̪ə̃m bo̞ˈɫ̪ɤp | t̪ʰɵɣɪ̞l̪ʲẽ̘ˈmɪ̞̃n̪ je̘ˈl̪ɪ̞̃m |]

Jyr-yñ

song-2SG.NOM

bol-up,

be-CVB,

tög-ül-e-mın,

sing-PASS-PRES-1SG,

el-ım

country-1SG.POSS.NOM

Jyr-yñ bol-up, tög-ül-e-mın, el-ım

song-2SG.NOM be-CVB, sing-PASS-PRES-1SG, country-1SG.POSS.NOM

'As your song, I shall be sung abound'

Туған

жерім

менің

Қазақстаным

Туған жерім менің – Қазақстаным

[t̪ʰuˈʁɑ̝̃n̪ d͡ʒʲe̘ˈr̪ɪ̞̃m mʲẽ̘ˈn̪ɪ̞̃ŋ̟ | qʰɑ̝z̪ɑ̝q(χə)s̪t̪ɑ̝̃ˈn̪ə̃m ‖]

Tu-ğan

birth-PTCP-PST

jer-ım

place-1SG.POSS.NOM

menıñ

1SG.GEN

Qazaqstan-ym

Kazakhstan-1SG.POSS.NOM

Tu-ğan jer-ım menıñ – Qazaqstan-ym

birth-PTCP-PST place-1SG.POSS.NOM 1SG.GEN – Kazakhstan-1SG.POSS.NOM

'My native land – My Kazakhstan'

## See also

[edit]

* Languages portal

* BGN/PCGN romanization of Kazakh
* Turkic languages
* Kazakh literature
* Languages of Kazakhstan
* Kazakh Sign Language
* Help:IPA for Kazakh

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^

* Latin script: qazaqşa or qazaq tılı
* Cyrillic script: қазақша or қазақ тілі
* Arabic script: قازاقشا or قازاق ٴتىلى

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Kazakh at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
2. ^ "Статья 4. Правовое положение языков | ГАРАНТ".
3. ^ "Произношение букв – kazaktili.kz" (in Russian). kazaktili.kz. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
4. ^ "Kazakh (Қазақ тілі / Qazaq tili / قازاق ٴتىلى) – Omniglot". Retrieved 12 December 2022.
5. ^ "Central Asia: Kazakhstan". The 2017 World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 26 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
6. ^ "TITUS Didactica: Language Map: Turkic languages: Map frame". titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
7. ^ a b "Произношение букв | kaz-tili.kz". kaz-tili.kz. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
8. ^ Some variations occur in the different regions where Kazakh is spoken, including outside Kazakhstan; e. g. ж / ج (where a Perso-Arabic script similar to the current Uyghur alphabet is used) is read [ʑ] in standard Kazakh, but [d͡ʑ] in some places.
9. ^ Öner, Özçelik. Kazakh phonology (PDF) (Thesis). Cambridge University.
10. ^ a b Vajda, Edward (1994), "Kazakh phonology", in Kaplan, E.; Whisenhunt, D. (eds.), Essays presented in honor of Henry Schwarz, Washington: Western Washington, pp. 603–650
11. ^ a b c d e Wagner, John Doyle; Dotton, Zura. A Grammar of Kazakh (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 March 2023.
12. ^ a b Muhamedowa, Raihan (24 September 2016). Kazakh: A Comprehensive Grammar (1st ed.). London New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-82863-6.
13. ^ "Ударение". Казахский ясык. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
14. ^ О переводе алфавита казахского языка с кириллицы на латинскую графику [On the change of the alphabet of the Kazakh language from the Cyrillic to the Latin script] (in Russian). President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. 26 October 2017. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
15. ^ Illmer, Andreas; Daniyarov, Elbek; Rakhimov, Azim (31 October 2017). "Kazakhstan to Qazaqstan: Why would a country switch its alphabet?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
16. ^ a b "Произношение букв | kaz-tili.kz". kaz-tili.kz. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
17. ^ "Центр". www.beltranslations.com (in Russian). Retrieved 3 August 2023.
18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Mukhamedova, Raikhangul (2015). Kazakh: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge. ISBN 9781317573081.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Kara, Dävid Somfai (2002), Kazak, Lincom Europa, ISBN 9783895864704
* Mark Kirchner: "Kazakh and Karakalpak". In: The Turkic languages. Ed. by Lars Johanson and É. Á. Csató. London [u.a.] : Routledge, 1998. (Routledge language family descriptions). S.318–332.
* McCollum, Adam G.; Chen, Si (2021). "Kazakh". Illustrations of the IPA. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 51 (2): 276–298. doi:10.1017/S0025100319000185, with supplementary sound recordings.

## External links

[edit]

Kazakh edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikivoyage has a phrasebook for Kazakh.

* Kazakh Cyrillic–Latin (new) converter
* Kazakh Cyrillic–Latin (old)–Arabic converter
* Kazakh language, alphabet and pronunciation
* Aliya S. Kuzhabekova, "Past, Present and Future of Language Policy in Kazakhstan" (M.A. thesis, University of North Dakota, 2003)
* Kazakh language recordings Archived 23 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine, British Library
* Kazakh – Apertium
* Kazakh<>Turkish Dictionary
* Kazakhstan in the CIA World Factbook
* US Peace Corps Kazakh Language Courses transcribed to HTML

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|

*[LOC]: locative case
*[PRES]: present tense
*[3]: third person
*[CVB]: converb
*[AUX]: auxiliary verb
*[POSS]: possessive marker
*[GEN]: genitive case
*[NOM]: nominative case
*[1SG]: first person, singular
*[DAT]: dative case
*[IMP]: imperative mood
*[ABL]: ablative case
*[PTCP]: participle
*[PST]: past tense
*[1PL]: first person, plural
*[EMPH]: emphatic
*[ACC]: accusative case
*[NEG]: negation/negative
*[2SG]: second person, singular
*[PASS]: passive voice
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template