The only surviving Oghur Turkic language — official in the Russian Republic of Chuvashia, spoken by about 1 million people and a key piece of Turkic linguistic history.
Where it’s spoken
Chuvash is the official language of the Chuvash Republic in Russia, where the capital is Cheboksary. About 1 million people speak it, with significant diaspora communities in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and across the Russian Federation. Use has declined steadily, with UNESCO listing the language as definitely endangered.
What it sounds like
Chuvash is the sole surviving representative of the Oghur (or Lir-Turkic) branch of Turkic, distinct from the Common Turkic of all other modern Turkic languages — Tatar, Bashkir, Uzbek, Kazakh, Turkish, etc. — which are Shaz-Turkic. It preserves features that ancient Turkic ancestors had, like /l/ where other Turkic languages have /š/. Vowel harmony operates, and the vowel system has nine distinct qualities.
How it’s written
Chuvash uses a Cyrillic alphabet of 37 letters, developed in 1873 by Ivan Yakovlev. Four letters are added to the standard Russian alphabet: Ӑ, Ӗ, Ҫ, Ӳ.
History
Chuvash is the direct descendant of the language of the medieval Volga Bulgars (8th–13th centuries CE) and ultimately of the western branch of ancient Turkic. Its preservation makes it invaluable for the historical comparative study of Turkic languages.
Find more languages by letter
Chuvash starts with C and ends with H. Browse other languages along the same letter.
Languages that contain a letter from "Chuvash":