 The Khitan spoken language is most closely related to the Mongolic language family ; some broader definitions of the Mongolic family include Khitan as a member . More broadly , Khitan is an Altaic language , although scholars are divided on the question whether the Altaic is a true language family or linguistic area in which originally distinct languages have influenced each other over a long period . Khitan shares some terms with the Altaic but non @-@ Mongolic Turkic spoken by the Uighur peoples , who shared the steppes of North Asia with the Khitans for several hundred years . 
