Languages of Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan is one of three former Soviet republics in Central Asia to have Russian as a de jure official language. The Kyrgyz language was adopted as the official language in 1991. After pressure from the Russian and other minorities in the country, the republic adopted Russian as an official language as well in 1997, to become an officially bilingual country.

Languages of Kyrgyzstan
OfficialKyrgyz (national/state language)
Russian (official and interethnic)[1]
MainKyrgyz language
IndigenousDialects of Kyrgyz language
MinorityTajik; Uzbek; Uyghur
ImmigrantTurkic languages
ForeignEnglish; Arabic (coming with Islam); Chinese; French
Keyboard layout
AlphabetKyrgyz alphabets
Kyrgyz Braille

Official languages

The languages of government in Kyrgyzstan are Russian as the official and interethnic language and Kyrgyz as the state/national language.

Kyrgyz is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch, closely related to Kazakh, Karakalpak, and Nogay Tatar. It was written in the Arabic alphabet until the twentieth century. Latin script was introduced and adopted in 1928, and was subsequently replaced on Stalin's orders by Cyrillic script in 1941. As a result of the pending language reform in neighboring Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan will be the only independent Turkic-speaking country in a few years that exclusively uses the Cyrillic script.[2]

According to the 2009 census,[3] 4.1 million people spoke Kyrgyz as native or second language and 2.5 million spoke Russian as native or second language. Russian is the most widely spoken second language, followed by Kyrgyz and Uzbek.

Russian TV media enjoy enormous popularity in Kyrgyzstan, especially in Russian-speaking city of Bishkek and Chüy Region. Russian media outlets have an enormous impact on public opinion in Kyrgyzstan, especially in areas such as human rights and international political developments.[4] The Russian dialects spoken in Kyrgyzstan are referred to as Kyrgyz(stani) Russian. There are some differences in orthography such as the use of Киргизская Республика instead of Киргизия officially and the use of сотка instead of мобильник to refer to a mobile cellular device.

Many business and political affairs are carried out in Russian. Until recently, Kyrgyz remained a language spoken at home and was rarely used during meetings or other events. However, most parliamentary meetings today are conducted in Kyrgyz, with simultaneous interpretation available for those not speaking Kyrgyz.

Minority languages

Uzbek is spoken by approximately 850 thousand residents of Kyrgyzstan and is the second most spoken native language, ahead of Russian and behind Kyrgyz.

Aside from Turkic languages, Tajik, an Iranian language, is also spoken by some.

Language by number of speakers
Language nameNative speakersSecond-language speakersTotal speakers
Kyrgyz3,830,556271,1874,121,743
Russian482,2432,109,3932,591,636
Uzbek772,56197,753870,314
English28,41628,416
French641641
German1010
Other277,43331,411

Bishkek

In Bishkek, Russian is the main language, while Kyrgyz continues losing ground, especially among the younger generations[5]

See also

References
  1. "Kyrgyzstan's Constitution of 2010 with Amendments through 2016" (PDF). Constitute Project. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  2. "'Only Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia insists on Cyrillic' — Tokayev - News of Kyrgyzstan, press and media".
  3. "Перепись населения и жилищного фонда Кыргызской Республики (Population and Housing Census of the Kyrgyz Republic), 2009". NSC of Kyrgyzstan. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  4. "Major Russian TV Channel Sidelined in Kyrgyzstan - Jamestown".
  5. Komlosi-Ferdinand, Flora; Ferdinand, Siarl (25 July 2016). "Vitality of the Kyrgyz Language in Bishkek". Ijors - International Journal of Russian Studies. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
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