Karachay-Balkar (Къарачай-Малкъар тил / Таулу тил)

Karachay-Balkar is a Turkic language spoken by about 240,000 people mainly in Kabardino-Balkaria in Russia, and also in Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.

The name Balkar is derived from Bolgar or Bulgar and it was relatives of the Balkar people how gave Bulgaria its name.

The modern Karachay-Balkar written language is based on Karachay-Baksan-Chegem dialect.

Cyrillic alphabet for Karachay-Balkar

Balkar alphabet

Notes

е = /je/ (word-initially), ё = /jo/, х = /x/, ю = /ju/ and я = /ja/ in Russian loanwords.
Initial /æ/ is written э or а, e.g. эмир = амир /æmir/
ж = /dʒ/ in the Kabard-Balkar dialect, /ʒ/ in the Karachay-Cherkess dialect
ў is sometimes written as у, e.g. таўуш > таууш
в, ц, щ, ъ & ь are only used in Russian loanwords.

Latin alphabet for Karachay-Balkar (non-official)

Latin alphabet for Karachay-Balkar

Sample text in the Cyrillic alphabet in Karachay-Balkar

Бютёу адамла эркин болуб эмда сыйлары бла хакълары тенг болуб тууадыла. Алагъа акъыл бла намыс берилгенди эмда бир-бирлерине къарнашлыкъ халда къараргъа керекдиле.

Sample text in the Latin alphabet in Karachay-Balkar

Bütöw adamla erkin bolub emda sıyları bla haqları teñ bolub tuwadıla. Alağa aqıl bla namıs berilgendi emda bir-birlerine qarnaşlıq halda qararğa kerekdile.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

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