Karachay-Balkar (, ), or Mountain Turkic (, ), is a Turkic language spoken by the Karachays and Balkars in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay–Cherkessia, European Russia, as well as by an immigrant population in Afyonkarahisar Province, Turkey. It is divided into two dialects: Karachay-Baksan-Chegem, which pronounces two phonemes as and and Malkar, which pronounces the corresponding phonemes as and . The modern Karachay-Balkar written language is based on the Karachay-Baksan-Chegem dialect. The language is closely related to Kumyk. Writing Historically, the Arabic alphabet had been used by first writers until 1924. Handwritten manuscripts of the Balkar poet Kazim Mechiev and other examples of literature have preserved to this day. First printed books in Karachay-Balkar language were published In the beginning of 20th century. After the October Revolution as part of a state campaign of Latinisation Karachay and Balkar educators developed a new alphabet based on Latin letters. In 1930s, the official Soviet policy was revised and the process of Cyrillization the languages of USSR peoples was started. In 1937–38 the new alphabet based on Cyrillic letters was officially adopted. Alphabet Modern Karachay-Balkar Cyrillic alphabet: * Not found in native vocabulary In Kabardino-Balkaria, they write ж instead of дж, while in Karachay-Cherkessia, they write нъ instead of нг. In some publications, especially during the Soviet period, the letter у́ or ў is used for the sound . Karachay-Balkar Latin alphabet: Phonology Parentheses indicate allophones. Grammar Nominals Cases Possessive suffixes Language example Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Karachay-Balkar: Numerals Loanwords Loanwords from Ossetian, Kabardian, Arabic, and Persian are fairly numerous. In popular culture Russian filmmaker Andrei Proshkin used Karachay-Balkar for The Horde, believing that it might be the closest language to the original Kipchak language which was spoken during the Golden Horde. Bibliography Chodiyor Doniyorov and Saodat Doniyorova. Parlons Karatchay-Balkar. Paris: Harmattan, 2005. . Steve Seegmiller (1996) Karachay (LINCOM) References External links Russian-Karachay-Balkar On-Line Dictionary (a) Russian-Karachay-Balkar On-Line Dictionary (b) "Заман" newspaper "Къарачай" newspaper "Минги Тау" magazine Agglutinative languages Kipchak languages Languages of Russia Kabardino-Balkaria Karachay-Cherkessia Languages of the Caucasus Western Kipchak Languages written in Cyrillic script Turkic languages