Uzbek language
| Uzbek | |
|---|---|
| oʻzbekcha, oʻzbek tili, ўзбекча, ўзбек тили, اۉزبېکچه، اۉزبېک تیلی | |
Uzbek in Latin, Perso-Arabic Nastaliq, and Cyrillic scripts | |
| Pronunciation | Uzbek pronunciation: [ɵzˈbektʃʰæ, ɵzˈbek tʰɪˈlɪ] |
| Native to | Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Mongolia and China |
| Region | Central Asia |
| Ethnicity | Uzbeks |
Native speakers | 60 million (incl. both Northern Uzbek, Southern Uzbek & Khwarazmian Uzbek)[1][2][3][4] (2024–2025)[5] |
Early forms | Karakhanid
|
| Dialects |
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| |
| Official status | |
Official language in |
|
Recognised minority language in | |
| Regulated by | Tashkent State University of Uzbek Language and Literature named after Navoi |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | uz |
| ISO 639-2 | uzb |
| ISO 639-3 | uzb – inclusive codeIndividual codes: uzn – Northernuzs – Southern |
| Glottolog | uzbe1247 |
| Linguasphere | db 44-AAB-da, db |
Dark blue = majority; light blue = minority | |
Uzbek[b] is a Karluk Turkic language spoken by Uzbeks. It is the official and national language of Uzbekistan and formally succeeded Chagatai, an earlier Karluk language endonymically called Türki or Türkçe, as the literary language of Uzbekistan in the 1920s.[8]
According to the Joshua Project, Southern Uzbek and Standard Uzbek are spoken as a native language by more than 34 million people around the world, making Uzbek the second-most widely spoken Turkic language after Turkish.[9] There are about 36 million Uzbeks around the world, and the reason why the number of speakers of the Uzbek language is greater than that of ethnic Uzbeks themselves is because many other ethnic groups such as Tajiks, Kazakhs, Russians who live in Uzbekistan speak Uzbek as their second language.
There are two major variants of the Uzbek language: Northern Uzbek, or simply "Uzbek", spoken in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and China; and Southern Uzbek, spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan.[10][11] Both Northern and Southern Uzbek are divided into many dialects. Uzbek and Uyghur are sister languages and they constitute the Karluk or "Southeastern" branch of Turkic.
External influences on Uzbek include Arabic, Persian, and Russian.[12] One of the most noticeable distinctions of Uzbek from other Turkic languages is the rounding of the vowel /ɑ/ to /ɒ/ under the influence of Persian. Unlike other Turkic languages, vowel harmony is almost completely lost in modern Standard Uzbek, though it is still observed to some degree in its dialects, as well as in Uyghur.
Different dialects of Uzbek show varying degrees of influence from other languages such as Kipchak and Oghuz Turkic (for example, in grammar) as well as Persian (in phonology), which gives literary Uzbek the impression of being a mixed language.[13]
In February 2021, the Uzbek government announced that Uzbekistan plans to fully transition the Uzbek language from the Cyrillic script to a Latin-based alphabet by 1 January 2023.[14][15] Similar deadlines had been extended several times.[16] As of 2024, most institutions still use both alphabets.[17]
- ^ "Number of Uzbek language speakers exceeds 60 million people worldwide". kun.uz. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
- ^ "The State Language – A Symbol of National Power!". https://www.cemc.uz/. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
{{cite news}}: External link in|agency= - ^ "Uzbek language as a bridge of influence: Is Uzbekistan doing enough?". Qalampir.uz. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
- ^ "Number of Uzbek language speakers exceeds 60 million people worldwide". https://newslineuz.com/. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
{{cite news}}: External link in|agency= - ^ Uzbek language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)
- ^ Scott Newton (20 November 2014). Law and the Making of the Soviet World: The Red Demiurge. Routledge. pp. 232–. ISBN 978-1-317-92978-9.
- ^ Ethnic Groups and Religious department, Fujian Provincial Government (13 September 2022). "少数民族的语言文字有哪些？". fujian.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
- ^ Yusuf Has Hacib. Kutadğu Bilig. Translated by Mustafa S. Kaçalin. T. C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Mudürlüğü. p. 3. ISBN 978-975-17-3359-7.
- ^ Uzbek language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)
- ^ "Uzbek, Southern". Ethnologue. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
- ^ "Uzbek, Northern". Ethnologue. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
- ^ Dalby, Andrew (1998). Dictionary of languages : the definitive reference to more than 400 languages. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 1-4081-0214-5. OCLC 320322204.
- ^ Turaeva, Rano (19 November 2015). Migration and Identity in Central Asia. Routledge. ISBN 9781317430070.
- ^ Uzbekistan Aims For Full Transition To Latin-Based Alphabet By 2023, 12 February 2021 12:54 GMT, RadioFreeEurope
- ^ "В Узбекистане в 2023 году узбекский алфавит в делопроизводстве переведут с кириллицы на латинскую графику". Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
- ^ "Uzbekistan: Keeping the Karakalpak Language Alive". 17 May 2019. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
- ^ "Uzbekistan's Drawn-out Journey From Cyrillic to Latin Script". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
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