KARACHAY-BALKAR (Russia, Europe)

Family
Central-(Kipchak)-Turkish

Country
Russia, Europe

Language code
KRC

Continent
Europe

Alternate language names
KARACHAY, KARACHAI, KARACHAYLA, KARACHAITSY, KARACAYLAR

Dialect names
BALKAR, KARACHAY

Genetic affiliation
Altaic, Turkic, Western, Ponto-Caspian

Geographical region
Karachi-Cherkess AO. Some in USA

Population
191,000 mother tongue speakers (97%) out of an ethnic population of 197,000 including 131,000 Karachay, 66,000 Balkar (1979 census)

Printings of whole books of Bible
1978

Status
Work in progress

Remarks
As a literary language a common Kar- achay-Balkar language was created. Balkar and Karachay are almost identical. Cyrillic alphabet

Total speakers
191,000

Religion
Sunni Muslim

Also in
USA