Uzbek

Where it’s spoken

Uzbek is the official state language of Uzbekistan, where about 34 million speakers live. It is also spoken by Uzbek minorities in Afghanistan (about 4 million), Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and the Russian Federation. Uzbek has lost some Turkic features — notably vowel harmony in the standard variety — due to centuries of contact with Persian (Tajik).

What it sounds like

Standard Uzbek has six vowels (a, i, o, u, e, plus a back ɔ-like o’) and 23 consonants. Unlike most Turkic languages, the standard variety has lost vowel harmony. The phonology shows strong Persian influence on the urban variety chosen as standard, while northern dialects preserve more typically Turkic features.

How it’s written

Uzbek has used several scripts: Perso-Arabic (until 1928), Latin (1928–1940), Cyrillic (1940–1992), and Latin again (since 1992, with revisions in 1995 and ongoing). Both Latin and Cyrillic are in active use, with full Latin transition still incomplete.

History

Uzbek descends from the Chagatai literary language of Timurid Central Asia (14th–16th centuries). The great Chagatai poet Alisher Navoiy (15th century) is considered the founder of Uzbek literature.