23,377,000 (1995). Formerly part of USSR. Capital: Tashkent. 172,700 square miles. Literacy rate 99%. Also includes Tajiki Arabic, Armenian 50,000, North Azerbaijani 44,000, Bashkir 35,000, Belorussian 29,000, Chechen, Chuvash 8,868, Dargwa 1,337, Domari (Luli, Maznoug), Dungan 1,400, Erzya 14,176, Western Farsi 31,300, Georgian 4,000, German 40,000, Ingush, Karachay-Balkar 254, Kazakh 808,000, Kirghiz 175,776, Korean 183,000, Lak 1,762, Lezgi 1,585, Lithuanian 1,040, Nogai 151, Osetin 6,000, Rumanian 3,152, Russian 1,661,000, Tabassaran 224, Tajiki 934,000, Tatar 468,000, Tsakhur 73, Turkmen 228,000, Ukrainian 153,000, Uyghur 36,000. Data accuracy estimate: B\REL Muslim, Jewish (102,855). Muslim, Jewish (102,855). The number of languages listed for Uzbekistan is 7.
ARABIC, UZBEKI SPOKEN (JUGARI) [AUZ] 700 in Uzbekistan; 1,000 in Tajikistan; 5,000 in Afghanistan (1967 Farhadi); 6,700 in all countries. These may be members of the ethnic group, not speakers. Uzbekistan, Bukhara Province; middle and lower Zerafshan Valley in Samarkand Province, and a few in Katta-Kurgan town. They mainly live in small villages. Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic. Few members of the ethnic group now speak Arabic. Others speak Uzbek as mother tongue. The language is close to North Mesopotamian Spoken Arabic. Sharp dialect differences between Bukhara and Kashkadarya regions. Bukhara is strongly influenced by Tajiki; Kashkadarya by Uzbek and other Turkic languages. Speakers use Uzbek to communicate with each other, and as literary language. No diglossia with Modern Standard Arabic. They are endogamous and do not mix with speakers of other languages. Agriculturalists; cattle raisers. Hanafi Sunni Muslim. Survey needed.
BUKHARIC (BOKHARIC, BUKHARIAN, BOKHARAN, BUKHARAN, JUDEO-TAJIK) [BHH] 10,000 in Uzbekistan (1995); 50,000 in Israel (1995); 60,000 in all countries. Various parts of Uzbekistan. The cultural center is Bokhara (Buchara). Also in USA. Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Southwestern, Persian. Related to Tajiki Persian. It may be easily intelligible with Tajiki or Farsi. Also close to Judeo-Persian. Written in Hebrew script. Jewish. Survey needed.
CRIMEAN TURKISH (CRIMEAN TATAR) [CRH] 189,000 in Uzbekistan (1993); 38,000 in Kyrghyzstan, 1,859 Crimean Nogai in Moldova, 200,000 in Ukraine (1993); 25,000 in Romania (1982 estimate); 6,000 in Bulgaria (1990); 460,000 in all countries. Removed from southern shore of Crimean Peninsula to Uzbekistan in 1944. Only isolated families in Turkey. Some in USA. Altaic, Turkic, Southern. Dialects: NORTHERN CRIMEAN (CRIMEAN NOGAI, STEPPE CRIMEAN), CENTRAL CRIMEAN, SOUTHERN CRIMEAN. The census counted them with the Tatar, but the languages are distinct. A literary language. Cyrillic script. Muslim. NT 1666-1825. Bible portions 1659-1996. Work in progress.
JUDEO-CRIMEAN TATAR (JUDEO-CRIMEAN TURKISH) [JCT] Uzbekistan (most), Georgia, Kazakhstan. Altaic, Turkic, Western, Ponto-Caspian. There may only be older speakers now. Jewish. Survey needed.
KARAKALPAK (KARAKLOBUK, TCHORNY, KLOBOUKI) [KAC] 407,000 mother tongue speakers (96%) out of an ethnic population of 424,000 in the former USSR (1993 UBS); 2,542 in Turkmenistan; 2,000 in Afghanistan; 409,000 in all countries. Karakalpak ASSR, Uzbekistan, along the lower Amu Darya and around the southern part of the Aral Sea. Also in Kazakhstan and Kyrghyzstan. Altaic, Turkic, Western, Aralo-Caspian. Dialects: NORTHEASTERN KARAKALPAK, SOUTHEASTERN KARAKALPAK. It has literary status; some literature. Cyrillic script. Speakers use Uzbek or Russian as second language. Fishermen in Aral Sea, agriculturalists, craftsmen. Sunni Muslim. Bible portions 1996. Work in progress.
TURKISH (OSMANLI) [TRK] 197,000 estimate in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrghyzstan (based on 1979 census, not counting 56,000 'Turks of Fergana', who speak an Uzbek dialect); 46,278,000 in Turkey; 120,000 in Cyprus; 2,570 in Iran; 24,123 in USA (1970); 8,863 in Canada (1974); 59,000,000 in all countries (1995 WA). Also in Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Germany, Yugoslavia, Belgium, France, Sweden, Netherlands. Altaic, Turkic, Southern, Turkish. Dialects: DANUBIAN, ESKISEHIR, RAZGRAD, DINLER, RUMELIAN, KARAMANLI, EDIRNE, GAZIANTEP, URFA. The Danubian dialect is western, other dialects are eastern. Some speak Turkish; others Azerbaijani. Meskhetian Georgians, Khemshel Armenians, and Kurds in Uzbekistan speak Turkish. Sunni Muslim. Bible 1827-1941. NT 1819-1991. Bible portions 1782-1985.
UZBEK, NORTHERN (ÖZBEK) [UZB] 16,539,000 in Uzbekistan (1995 UN); 332,000 in Kazakhstan; 550,000 in Kyrghyzstan; 61,588 in Russia; 873,000 in Tajikistan; 317,000 in Turkmenistan; 10,563 in Ukraine; 3,000 in China (1990); 18,386,000 in all countries. Uzbekistan and throughout Asian republics of the former USSR. East of the Amu Darya and around the southern Aral Sea. Also in Australia; New York, USA; Tel Aviv, Israel; possibly Munich, Germany. Altaic, Turkic, Eastern. Dialects: KARLUK (QARLUG), KIPCHAK (KYPCHAK), OGHUZ. Arabic and Roman scripts used formerly, now Cyrillic script is used. Used in schools, publishing, radio, television, theater. Children speak Uzbek at home. Many speakers are bilingual in Russian, but rural people have limited proficiency. People are highly literate and about one-third urbanized. Much Persian influence in language and culture. Increasing ethnic pride. Patrilineal. 'Sart' is an obsolete name for sedentary Uzbek, possibly those who are ethnically Tajik. 49% understand Russian. Turks of Fergana and Samarkand speak Uzbek. There are Uzbek-speaking Gypsy communities in Soviet central Asia. Distinct from Southern Uzbek of Afghanistan and Turkey. Oghuz may be a dialect of Khorasani Turkish (see Turkey) rather than Uzbek. Dictionaries. Grammars. Used for radio broadcasts. National language. Desert, semi-arid; fertile valleys. Agriculturalists: cotton, fruit, vegetables, grain; pastoralists: sheep; silk production; technicians, professionals, industrialists, communications, medicine, educators, administrators. Hanafi Sunni Muslim. Braille code available. NT 1992-1995. Bible portions 1891-1992.
Part of the Ethnologue, 13th Edition, Barbara F. Grimes, Editor.
Copyright © 1996, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc. All rights reserved.
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