TURKMEN (Turkmenistan)

Family
Western-(Oghuz)-Turkic languages 

Country
Turkmenistan

Language code
TCK

Continent
Asia

Alternate language names
TURKOMANS, TURKMENLER, TURKMA- NIAN, TRUKHMEN, TRUKHMENY, TURKMANI

Dialect names
NOKHURLI, ANAULI, KHASARLI, NERE- ZIM, YOMUD, TEKE (TEKKE), GOKLEN, SALYR, SARYQ, ESARI, CAVDUR

Genetic affiliation
Altaic, Turkic, Southern, Turkmenian

Geographical region
Turkmenistan. Also in Uzbek- istan, Pakistan, USA, and Germany

Population
2,028,000 in Turkmenistan (1979 census), 99% speak it as mother tongue; 721,600 in Iran (1986); 380,000 in Afghanistan (1983); 925 in Turkey (1982); 3,131,000 total

Bilingual in
Russian

New Testament printings
in press (1988)

Printings of whole books of Bible
1880-1982

Remarks
The literary language is based on the dialect of the Yomuts; some dialects differ sharply from it. Strong literary traditi- on. Cyrillic script used in Turkmenistan. 25.4% claim a good knowledge of Russian. Radio broadcasts in Turkmen in Turkmenistan and Iran. The so-called 'Turkmen' in Syria, and possibly Iraq, and Jordan, actually speak Azerbaijani; so-called 'Turkmen' in Tibet may speak a different Turkic language

Geological type
Black sand desert, narrow oases

Subsistence type
Agriculturalists: cotton; stock breeders: sheep; carpet weavers; traditionally pastoralists: sheep

Radio use
Yes

Total speakers
3,131,000

Religion
Sunni Muslim

Also in
Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Germany, USA, Uzbekistan