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Kipchak languages

Sub-branch of the Turkic language family

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Through Central Asia, Eastern Europe and China

Linguistic features

The Kipchak languages share a number of features that have led linguists to classify them together. Some of these features are shared with other Common Turkic languages; others are unique to the Kipchak family.

Shared features

  • Change of Proto-Turkic *d to (e.g. *hadaq > ajaq "foot")
  • Loss of initial *h, see above example

Unique features

Family-specific

  • Frequent fortition (in the form of assibilation) of initial (e.g. *etti > etti "seven")
  • Diphthongs from syllable-final and (e.g. *taɡ > taw "mountain", *sub > suw "water")

Language-specific

  • In both Tatar and Bashkir, the original mid and high vowels are swapped in position by vowel raising and lowering:

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