80-460: Uzbek is a Karluk Turkic language spoken by Uzbeks . It is the official and national language of Uzbekistan and formally succeeded Chagatai , an earlier Karluk language also known as Turki , as the literary language of Uzbekistan in the 1920s. Uzbek is spoken as either a native or second language by around 32 million people around the world, making it the second-most widely spoken Turkic language after Turkish . There are two major variants of
160-634: A republic of the Soviet Union . It declared independence as the Republic of Uzbekistan in 1991. Uzbekistan is a secular state , with a semi-presidential constitutional government. Uzbekistan comprises 12 regions (vilayats), Tashkent City, and one autonomous republic, Karakalpakstan . While non-governmental organisations have defined Uzbekistan as "an authoritarian state with limited civil rights ", significant reforms under Uzbekistan's second president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev , have been made following
240-451: A 1995 reform, and brought the orthography closer to that of Turkish and also of Turkmen , Karakalpak , Kazakh (2018 version) and Azerbaijani . In 2021, it was proposed to change "sh", "ch", "oʻ" and "gʻ" to "ş", "ç", "ō" and "ḡ". These proposals were not implemented. In the western Chinese region of Xinjiang , in northern Afghanistan and in Pakistan , where there is an Uzbek minority,
320-474: A Turkic language, Uzbek is null subject , agglutinative and has no noun classes (gender or otherwise). Although Uzbek has no definite articles , it has indefinite articles bir and bitta . The word order is subject–object–verb (SOV). In Uzbek, there are two main categories of words: nominals (equivalent to nouns, pronouns, adjectives and some adverbs) and verbals (equivalent to verbs and some adverbs). Plurals are formed by suffix -lar ـلر. Nouns take
400-476: A catastrophic scenario with the agricultural industry being the main contributor to the pollution and devastation of both air and water in the country. The Aral Sea was once the fourth-largest inland sea on Earth, humidifying the surrounding air and irrigating the arid land. Since the 1960s, when the overuse of the Aral Sea water began, it has shrunk to about 10% of its former area and divided into parts, with only
480-572: A highly Oghuz-influenced variety of Karluk. All three dialects continue to exist within modern spoken Uzbek. After the independence of Uzbekistan, the Uzbek government opted to reform Northern Uzbek by changing its alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin in an attempt to stimulate the growth of Uzbek in a new, independent state. However, the reform never went into full application, and As of 2024 both alphabets are widely used, from daily uses to government publications and TV news. Uzbek language hasn't eclipsed Russian in
560-610: A lesser extent Kyrgyzstan ). When the U.S. joined in a call for an independent international investigation of the bloody events at Andijan , the relationship further declined, and President Islam Karimov changed the political alignment of the country to bring it closer to Russia and China. In late July 2005, the government of Uzbekistan ordered the United States to vacate an airbase in Karshi-Kanabad (near Uzbekistan's border with Afghanistan) within 180 days. Karimov had offered use of
640-578: A low GDP per capita . Uzbekistan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), United Nations (UN) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The name "Uzbegistán" appears in the 16th century Tarikh-i Rashidi . The origin of the word Uzbek remains disputed. All three have the middle syllable/phoneme being cognate with the Turkic title Beg . The name of
720-689: A part of the Persian empire of the day. Before the arrival of the Russians, present-day Uzbekistan was divided between the Emirate of Bukhara and the khanates of Khiva and Kokand . In the 19th century, the Russian Empire began to expand and spread into Central Asia . There were 210,306 Russians living in Uzbekistan in 1912. The " Great Game " period is generally regarded as running from approximately 1813 to
800-481: A quarter of its military budget), the government of Uzbekistan has recently restricted American military use of the airbase at Karshi-Khanabad for air operations in neighbouring Afghanistan. Uzbekistan was an active supporter of U.S. efforts against worldwide terrorism. The relationship between Uzbekistan and the United States began to deteriorate after the so-called " colour revolutions " in Georgia and Ukraine (and to
880-452: A rich Perso-Islamic culture. During his reign and the reigns of his immediate descendants, a wide range of religious and palatial construction masterpieces were undertaken in Samarkand and other population centres. Tamerlane also established an exchange of medical discoveries and patronised physicians, scientists and artists from the neighbouring regions such as India; His grandson Ulugh Beg
SECTION 10
#1732859558482960-684: A sub-branch of the Turkic language family that developed from the varieties once spoken by Karluks . Many Middle Turkic works were written in these languages. The language of the Kara-Khanid Khanate was known as Turki, Ferghani, Kashgari or Khaqani. The language of the Chagatai Khanate was the Chagatai language . Karluk Turkic was once spoken in the Kara-Khanid Khanate , Chagatai Khanate , Timurid Empire , Mughal Empire , Yarkent Khanate and
1040-416: Is expressed by adding -ma after the verb root, or with auxiliary verb emas . Examples: Koʻrmay(man) کورمهی(من) "(I) don't see" Koʻrmoqchi emas(man) کورماقچی ایمس(من) "(I) don't want to see" The particle yoʻq ـیوق is used to mark the absence or prohibition of a noun or action. The gerund is formed with the verb root + ish ـیش. Karluk languages The Karluk or Qarluq languages are
1120-458: Is no longer used in Uzbekistan except symbolically in limited texts or for the academic studies of Chagatai (Old Uzbek) . In 2019, an updated version of the Uzbek Latin alphabet was revealed by the Uzbek government, with five letters being updated; it was proposed to represent the sounds "ts", "sh", "ch", "oʻ" and "gʻ" by the letters "c", "ş", "ç", "ó" and "ǵ", respectively. This would've reversed
1200-585: Is opposed to reintegration and withdrew from the CIS collective security arrangement in 1999. Since that time, Uzbekistan has participated in the CIS peacekeeping force in Tajikistan and in UN-organized groups to help resolve the Tajikistan and Afghanistan conflicts, both of which it sees as posing threats to its own stability. Previously close to Washington (which gave Uzbekistan half a billion dollars in aid in 2004, about
1280-412: Is taught in more than fifty higher education institutions around the world. Historically, the language under the name Uzbek referred to a totally different language of Kipchak origin. The language was generally similar to the neighbouring Kazakh , more or less identical lexically, phonetically and grammatically. It was dissimilar to the area's indigenous and native language, known as Turki , until it
1360-492: The -ni ـنی suffix as a definite article; unsuffixed nouns are understood as indefinite. The dative case ending -ga ـگه changes to -ka ـکه when the noun ends in -k ـک, -g ـگ, or -qa ـقه when the noun ends in -q ـق, -gʻ ـغ (notice *tog‘qa → toqqa تاغقَّه). The possessive suffixes change the final consonants -k ـک and -q ـق to voiced -g ـگ and -gʻ ـغ, respectively ( yurak → yura g im یورک - یورگیم). Unlike neighbouring Turkmen and Kazakh languages, due to
1440-704: The Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers, was conquered by the Arabs ( Qutayba ibn Muslim ), becoming a focal point soon after the Islamic Golden Age . In the ninth and tenth centuries, Transoxiana was brought into the Samanid State. In the tenth century it was gradually dominated by the Turkic-ruled Karakhanids , as well as their Seljuk (Sultan Sanjar) overseer's. The Mongol conquest under Genghis Khan during
1520-532: The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 . A second, less intensive phase followed the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. At the start of the 19th century, there were some 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi) separating British India and the outlying regions of Tsarist Russia . Much of the land between was unmapped. In the early 1890s, Sven Hedin passed through Uzbekistan, during his first expedition. By
1600-476: The Aral Sea . He also invaded Russia before dying during an invasion of China in 1405. Timur was also known for his extreme brutality and his conquests were accompanied by genocidal massacres in the cities he occupied. Timur initiated the last flowering of Transoxiana by gathering together numerous artisans and scholars from the vast lands he had conquered into his capital, Samarkand, thus imbuing his empire with
1680-530: The CIS countries, it is the fourth largest by area and the second largest by population. Uzbekistan lies between latitudes 37° and 46° N , and longitudes 56° and 74° E . It stretches 1,425 kilometres (885 mi) from west to east and 930 kilometres (580 mi) from north to south. Bordering Kazakhstan and the Aralkum Desert (former Aral Sea ) to the north and northwest, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan to
SECTION 20
#17328595584821760-455: The December 2016 presidential election , winning 88.6% of the vote, and was sworn in on 14 December. Deputy Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov replaced him as prime minister. Mirziyoyev removed most of Karimov's officials and urged the government to employ "new, young people who love their country." After a year in office, Mirziyoyev moved away from many of his predecessor's policies. He visited all
1840-466: The Mughal Empire ). Chagatai contained large numbers of Persian and Arabic loanwords . By the 19th century, it was rarely used for literary composition and disappeared only in the early 20th century. Muhammad Shaybani ( c. 1451 – 2 December 1510), the first Khan of Bukhara , wrote poetry under the pseudonym "Shibani". A collection of Chagatai poems by Muhammad Shaybani is currently kept in
1920-513: The Oliy Majlis appointed Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev as interim president. Although the chairman of the Senate, Nigmatilla Yuldashev , was constitutionally designated as Karimov's successor, Yuldashev proposed that Mirziyoyev take the post of the interim president instead in light of Mirziyoyev's "many years of experience". Mirziyoyev was subsequently elected as the country's second president in
2000-713: The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It belongs to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) (comprising the five Central Asian countries, Azerbaijan , Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan). In 1999, Uzbekistan joined the GUAM alliance (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova ), which was formed in 1997 (making it GUUAM), but pulled out of
2080-556: The Osh Region of Kyrgyzstan (and mothertongue of the city Osh ), like the rest of Eastern, Southern and South-Eastern Kyrgyzstan ( Jalal-Abad Region ), the ethnic Kyrgyzes are, too, exposed to Uzbek, and some speak it fluently. This is a common situation in the rest of Central Asian republics, including: the Turkistan region of Kazakhstan , northern Daşoguz Welaýat of Turkmenistan , Sughd region and other regions of Tajikistan . This puts
2160-513: The Republic of Uzbekistan , is a doubly landlocked country located in Central Asia . It is surrounded by five countries: Kazakhstan to the north , Kyrgyzstan to the northeast , Tajikistan to the southeast , Afghanistan to the south , and Turkmenistan to the southwest , making it one of only two doubly landlocked countries on Earth, the other being Liechtenstein . Uzbekistan is part of
2240-644: The Silk Road , and became a center of the Islamic Golden Age . The local Khwarazmian dynasty was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in the 13th century, leading to a dominance by Mongol peoples. Timur (Tamerlane) in the 14th century established the Timurid Empire . Its capital was Samarkand , which became a centre of science under the rule of Ulugh Beg , giving birth to the Timurid Renaissance . The territories of
2320-575: The Soviet Union in 1991, an election was held, and Islam Karimov was elected as the first President of Uzbekistan on 29 December 1991. The elections of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament or Supreme Assembly) were held under a resolution adopted by the 16th Supreme Soviet in 1994. In that year, the Supreme Soviet was replaced by the Oliy Majlis. The third elections for the bicameral 150-member Oliy Majlis,
2400-603: The Timurid dynasty were conquered by Kipchak Shaybanids in the 16th century. Conquests by Emperor Babur towards the east led to the foundation of the Mughal Empire in India. Most of Central Asia was gradually incorporated into the Russian Empire during the 19th century, with Tashkent becoming the political center of Russian Turkestan . In 1924, national delimitation created the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic as
2480-682: The Topkapı Palace Museum manuscript collection in Istanbul . The manuscript of his philosophical and religious work, Bahr al-Khudā , written in 1508, is located in London. Shaybani's nephew Ubaydullah Khan (1486-1540) skillfully recited the Quran and provided it with commentaries in Chagatai. Ubaydulla himself wrote poetry in Chagatai, Classical Persian, and Arabic under the literary pseudonym Ubaydiy. For
Uzbek language - Misplaced Pages Continue
2560-613: The Turkic world, as well as a member of the Organization of Turkic States . Uzbek , spoken by the Uzbek people , is the official language and spoken by the majority of its inhabitants, while Russian and Tajik are significant minority languages. Islam is the predominant religion, and most Uzbeks are Sunni Muslims . The first recorded settlers in the land of what is modern Uzbekistan were Eastern Iranian nomads , known as Scythians , who founded kingdoms in Khwarazm , Bactria , and Sogdia in
2640-709: The failed coup attempt in Moscow. 1 September was proclaimed National Independence Day. The Soviet Union was dissolved on 26 December of that year. Islam Karimov , previously first secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan since 1989, was elected president of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he was elected president of independent Uzbekistan. An authoritarian ruler, Karimov died in September 2016. He
2720-484: The 13th century brought change to the region. The invasions of Bukhara, Samarkand, Urgench and others resulted in mass murders and unprecedented destruction, which saw parts of Khwarezmia being completely razed. Following the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, his empire was divided among his four sons and his family members. Despite the potential for serious fragmentation, there was an orderly succession for several generations, and control of most of Transoxiana stayed in
2800-498: The 22nd Congress of the Communist Party). However, in 2023, two mountaineers successfully summited the neighboring Alpomish peak, which they measured to be 4,668 metres (15,315 ft), 25 m higher than Khazret Sultan. The climate in Uzbekistan is continental, with little precipitation expected annually (100–200 millimetres, or 3.9–7.9 inches). The average summer high temperature tends to be 40 °C (104 °F) , while
2880-636: The 8th–6th centuries BC, as well as Fergana and Margiana in the 3rd century BC – 6th century AD. The area was incorporated into the Achaemenid Empire and, after a period of Greco-Bactrian rule and later by the Sasanian Empire , until the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century. The early Muslim conquests and the subsequent Samanid Empire converted most of the people into adherents of Islam . During this period, cities began to grow rich from
2960-863: The Arabic-based script is still used. In the early 21st century, in Afghanistan, standardization, publication of dictionaries, and an increase in usage (for example in News agencies' website, such as that of the BBC ) has been taking place. Words are usually oxytones (i.e. the last syllable is stressed), but certain endings and suffixal particles are not stressed. Consonants in brackets are only attested in loanwords. Standard Uzbek has six vowel phonemes. Uzbek language has many dialects: contrary to many Turkic languages, Standard Uzbek no longer has vowel harmony , but other dialects (Kipchak Uzbek and Oghuz Uzbek) retain vowel harmony. As
3040-513: The Aral Sea. The bulk of the nation's water resources is used for farming, which accounts for nearly 84% of the water use and contributes to high soil salinity . Heavy use of pesticides and fertilisers for cotton growing further aggravates soil contamination . According to the UNDP (United Nations Development Program), climate risk management in Uzbekistan should consider its ecological safety. Numerous oil and gas deposits have been discovered in
3120-578: The German side . As many as 263,005 Uzbek soldiers died in the battlefields of the Eastern Front , and 32,670 went missing in action. During the Soviet-Afghan War , a number of Uzbek troops fought in neighbouring Afghanistan . At least 1,500 lost their lives and thousands more paralysed. On 20 June 1990, Uzbekistan declared its state sovereignty. On 31 August 1991, Uzbekistan declared independence after
3200-683: The Great conquered the Persian Empire provinces of Sogdiana and Bactria, which contained the territories of modern Uzbekistan. Popular resistance to the conquest was fierce, causing Alexander's army to be bogged down in the region that became the northern part of the Macedonian Greco-Bactrian Kingdom . The kingdom was replaced with the Yuezhi-dominated Kushan Empire in the first century BC. For many centuries thereafter
3280-489: The Kazakh scholar Serali Lapin , who lived at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, "there is no special Sart language different from Uzbek. Russian researchers of the second half of the 19th century, like L. N. Sobolev, believed that "Sart is not a special tribe, as many tried to prove. Sart is indifferently called both Uzbek and Tajik, who live in the city and are engaged in trade. In Khanate of Khiva , Sarts spoke
Uzbek language - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-535: The Legislative Chamber, and the 100-member Senate for five-year terms, were held on 27 December 2009. The second elections were held from December 2004 to January 2005. The Oliy Majlis was unicameral up to 2004. Its size increased from 69 deputies (members) in 1994 to 120 in 2004–05 and currently stands at 150. Karimov's first presidential term was extended to 2000 via a referendum , and he was re-elected in 2000 , 2007 , and 2015, each time receiving over 90% of
3440-528: The Russian Federation. According to Russian government statistics, 4.5 million workers from Uzbekistan, 2.4 million from Tajikistan , and 920,000 from Kyrgyzstan were working in Russia in 2021, with around 5 million being ethnic Uzbeks. Estimates of the number of native speakers of Uzbek vary widely, from 35 up to 40 million. Ethnologue estimates put the number of native speakers at 35 million across all
3520-592: The Soviet era, is considered one of the world's worst environmental disasters. The rest is the vast Kyzylkum Desert and mountains. According to a 1981 Soviet study, the highest point in Uzbekistan is Khazret Sultan at 4,643 metres (15,233 ft) above sea level, in the southern part of the Gissar Range in the Surxondaryo Region on the border with Tajikistan, just northwest of Dushanbe (formerly called Peak of
3600-619: The Uzbek language: Northern Uzbek, or simply "Uzbek", spoken in Uzbekistan , Kyrgyzstan , Kazakhstan , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan and China ; and Southern Uzbek , spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan . Both Northern and Southern Uzbek are divided into many dialects. Uzbek and Uyghur are sister languages and they constitute the Karluk or "Southeastern" branch of Turkic. External influences on Uzbek include Arabic , Persian , and Russian . One of
3680-407: The Uzbek political elite of the 16th century, Chagatai was their native language. For example, the leader of the semi-nomadic Uzbeks, Sheibani Khan (1451–1510), wrote poems in Chagatai. The poet Turdiy (17th century) in his poems called for the unification of the divided Uzbek tribes: "Although our people are divided, but these are all Uzbeks of ninety-two tribes. We have different names – we all have
3760-489: The Uzbek regions and big cities to get acquainted with the implementation of the projects and reforms which he ordered. Many analysts and Western media compared his rule with Chinese Communist Party leader Deng Xiaoping or Soviet Communist Party general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev . His rule has been quoted as being an "Uzbek Spring". Uzbekistan joined the Commonwealth of Independent States in December 1991. However, it
3840-595: The Uzbek-speaking Khanate of Bukhara , Emirate of Bukhara , Kokand Khanate , Khiva Khanate , Maimana Khanate . Glottolog v.5.0 refers to the Karluk languages as "Turkistan Turkic" and classifies them as follows: Chagatai Ainu (China) Ili Turki Uighur Northern Uzbek Southern Uzbek This article about a Turkic language or related topic is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Uzbekistan Uzbekistan , officially
3920-480: The average winter low temperature is around −23 °C (−9 °F) . Uzbekistan is home to six terrestrial ecoregions: Alai-Western Tian Shan steppe , Gissaro-Alai open woodlands , Badghyz and Karabil semi-desert , Central Asian northern desert , Central Asian riparian woodlands , and Central Asian southern desert . Uzbekistan has a rich and diverse natural environment. However, decades of Soviet policies in pursuit of greater cotton production have resulted in
4000-686: The base to the U.S. shortly after 9/11 . It is also believed by some Uzbeks that the protests in Andijan were brought about by the UK and U.S. influences in the area of Andijan. This is another reason for the hostility between Uzbekistan and the West. Uzbekistan is a member of the United Nations (UN) (since 2 March 1992), the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), Partnership for Peace (PfP), and
4080-423: The beginning of 1920, Central Asia was firmly in the hands of Russia and, despite some early resistance to the Bolsheviks , Uzbekistan and the rest of Central Asia became a part of the Soviet Union . On 27 October 1924 the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was created. From 1941 to 1945, during World War II , 1,433,230 people from Uzbekistan fought in the Red Army against Nazi Germany . A number also fought on
SECTION 50
#17328595584824160-405: The country was often spelled as " Ўзбекистон " in Uzbek Cyrillic or " Узбекистан " in Russian during Soviet rule. The region currently known as the country of Uzbekistan has been referred to by many names over the millennia. The name, Uzbekistan first appears in 16th century literature. Other names for the region include: Transoxiana , Sogdia , and the Khanate of Bukhara . In the 14th century
4240-556: The country's currency became fully convertible at market rates. Uzbekistan is a major producer and exporter of cotton . With the gigantic power-generation facilities from the Soviet era and an ample supply of natural gas , Uzbekistan has become the largest electricity producer in Central Asia. From 2018 to 2021, the republic received a BB− sovereign credit rating by both Standard and Poor (S&P) and Fitch Ratings . The Brookings Institution described Uzbekistan as having large liquid assets, high economic growth, low public debt , and
4320-436: The death of Timur. The chronic internal fighting of the Timurids attracted the attention of the Uzbek nomadic tribes living to the north of the Aral Sea. In 1501, the Uzbek forces began a wholesale invasion of Transoxiana. The slave trade in the Emirate of Bukhara became prominent and was firmly established at this time. The Khanate of Bukhara was eventually invaded by the foreign government of Persia in 1510, and then became
4400-465: The death of the first president, Islam Karimov . Owing to these reforms, relations with the neighbouring countries of Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , and Afghanistan have drastically improved. A United Nations report of 2020 found much progress toward achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals . The Uzbek economy is in a gradual transition to the market economy , with foreign trade policy being based on import substitution . In September 2017,
4480-495: The eastern variant is Uyghur. Karluk is classified as a dialect continuum . Northern Uzbek was determined to be the most suitable variety to be understood by the most number of speakers of all Turkic languages despite it being heavily Persianized , excluding the Siberian Turkic languages . A high degree of mutual intelligibility found between certain specific Turkic languages has allowed Uzbek speakers to more easily comprehend various other distantly related languages. Uzbek, being
4560-510: The government sector since Russian is used widely in sciences, politics, and by the upper class of the country. However, the Uzbek internet, including Uzbek Misplaced Pages , is growing rapidly. Uzbek has been written in a variety of scripts throughout history: Despite the official status of the Latin script in Uzbekistan, the use of Cyrillic is still widespread, especially in advertisements and signs. In newspapers, scripts may be mixed, with headlines in Latin and articles in Cyrillic. The Arabic script
4640-411: The hands of the direct descendants of Chagatai Khan , the second son of Genghis Khan. Orderly succession, prosperity, and internal peace prevailed in the Chaghatai lands, and the Mongol Empire as a whole remained a strong and united kingdom, the Golden Horde . In the early 14th century, however, as the Persian empire began to break up into its constituent parts, the Chaghatai territory was disrupted as
4720-411: The impression of being a mixed language. In February 2021, the Uzbek government announced that Uzbekistan plans to fully transition the Uzbek language from the Cyrillic script to a Latin -based alphabet by 1 January 2023. Similar deadlines had been extended several times. As of 2024, most institutions still use both alphabets. Uzbek is the western member of the Karluk languages, a subgroup of Turkic;
4800-956: The loss of "pronominal -n- " there is no irregularity in forming cases after possessive cases ( uyida "in his/her/its house", as opposed to Turkmen öýü n de , though saying uyi n da اویینده is also correct but such style is mainly used in literary contexts). Uzbek verbs are also inflected for number and person of the subject, and it has more periphrases . Uzbek uses some of the inflectional (simple) verbal tenses: -(a)ylik (biz) ـهیلیک (بیز) -∅ (sen) ـ (سین) -(i)ng (siz) ـینگ (سیز) -(i)nglar (sizlar) ـینگلر (سیزلر) -sin (u) ـسین (او) -sinlar (ular) ـسینلر (اولر) koʻr aylik ! کورهیلیک (1st person plural) koʻr ! کور (2nd person informal singular) koʻr ing ! کورینگ (2nd person formal singular/plural) koʻr inglar ! کورینگلر (2nd person formal plural) koʻr sin ! کورسین (3rd person singular) koʻr sinlar ! کورسینلر (3rd person plural) Vowels marked with parentheses in
4880-540: The most noticeable distinctions of Uzbek from other Turkic languages is the rounding of the vowel / ɑ / to / ɒ / under the influence of Persian . Unlike other Turkic languages, vowel harmony is almost completely lost in modern Standard Uzbek, though it is still observed to some degree in its dialects, as well as in Uyghur. Different dialects of Uzbek show varying degrees of influence from other languages such as Kipchak and Oghuz Turkic (for example, in grammar) as well as Persian (in phonology), which gives literary Uzbek
SECTION 60
#17328595584824960-420: The most widely spoken indigenous language in Central Asia , is as well spoken by smaller ethnic groups in Uzbekistan and in neighbouring countries. The language is spoken by other ethnic groups outside Uzbekistan. The popularity of Uzbek media , including Uzbekfilm and RizanovaUz, has spread among the Post-soviet states , particularly in Central Asia in recent years. Since Uzbek is the dominant language in
5040-436: The number of L2 speakers of Uzbek at a varying 1–5 million speakers. The Uzbek language has a special status in countries that are common destination for immigration for Uzbekistani citizens. Other than Uzbekistan and other Central Asian Republics , the ethnic Uzbeks most commonly choose the Russian Federation in search of work. Most of them however, are seasonal workers, whose numbers vary greatly among residency within
5120-430: The princes of various tribal groups competed for influence. One tribal chieftain, Timur (Tamerlane), emerged from these struggles in the 1380s as the dominant force in Transoxiana. Although he was not a descendant of Genghis Khan, Timur became the de facto ruler of Transoxiana and proceeded to conquer all of western Central Asia, Iran , the Caucasus , Mesopotamia , Asia Minor , and the southern steppe region north of
5200-430: The province of Transoxiana , and further east in what is today Xinjiang , the Sogdian intermediaries became the wealthiest of these merchants. As a result of this trade on what became known as the Silk Road , Bukhara and Samarkand eventually became extremely wealthy cities, and at times Transoxiana (Mawarannahr) was one of the most influential and powerful provinces of antiquity. In 327 BC, Macedonian ruler Alexander
5280-486: The recognized dialects. The Swedish national encyclopedia, Nationalencyklopedin , estimates the number of native speakers to be 38 million, and the CIA World Factbook estimates 30 million. Other sources estimate the number of speakers of Uzbek to be 34 million in Uzbekistan, 4.5 million in Afghanistan, 1,630,000 in Pakistan, 1,500,000 in Tajikistan, about 1 million in Kyrgyzstan, 600,000 in Kazakhstan, 600,000 in Turkmenistan, and 300,000 in Russia. The Uzbek language
5360-411: The region of Uzbekistan was ruled by the Hephthalites and Sassanid Empires, as well as by other empires, for example, those formed by the Turkic Gokturk peoples. The Muslim conquests from the seventh century onward saw the Arabs bring Islam to Uzbekistan. In the same period, Islam began to take root among the nomadic Turkic peoples . In the eighth century, Transoxiana, the territory between
5440-434: The region served as the birthplace, home, and capital of Tamerlane . Under Tamerlane, the region was a part of the Timurid Empire which extended from the Black Sea to the Arabian Sea , and to just outside of Delhi, India The first people known to have inhabited Central Asia were Scythians who came from the northern grasslands of what is now Uzbekistan, sometime in the first millennium BC; when these nomads settled in
5520-425: The region they built an extensive irrigation system along the rivers. At this time, cities such as Bukhoro ( Bukhara ) and Samarqand ( Samarkand ) emerged as centres of government and high culture. By the fifth century BC, the Bactrian , Sogdian , and Tokharian states dominated the region. As East Asia began to develop its silk trade with the West, Using an extensive network of cities and rural settlements in
5600-408: The region was that of the Kara-Khanid Khanate from the 9th–12th centuries, a confederation of Karluks , Chigils , Yagma , and other tribes. Uzbek (along with Uyghur) can be considered the direct descendant of Chagatai, the language of great Turkic Central Asian literary development in the realm of Chagatai Khan , Timur (Tamerlane), and the Timurid dynasty (including the early Mughal rulers of
5680-532: The same blood. We are one people, and we should have one law. Floors, sleeves and collars – it's all – one robe, So the Uzbek people are united, may they be in peace." Sufi Allayar (1633–1721) was an outstanding theologian and one of the Sufi leaders of the Khanate of Bukhara. He showed his level of knowledge by writing a book called Sebâtü'l-Âcizîn . Sufi Allayar was often read and highly appreciated in Central Asia. The term Uzbek as applied to language has meant different things at different times. According to
5760-528: The south of the country. Uzbekistan has also been home to seismic activity, as evidenced by the 1902 Andijan earthquake , 2011 Fergana Valley earthquake , and 1966 Tashkent earthquake . A dam collapse at Sardoba Reservoir in May 2020 flooded 35,000 hectares of land. Six people died and 111,000 evacuated with recovery estimates over 1.5 trillion som. The devastation extended into areas inside neighbouring Kazakhstan . After Uzbekistan declared independence from
5840-533: The southern part of the narrow western lobe of the South Aral Sea remaining permanently in Uzbekistan. Much of the water was and continues to be used for the irrigation of cotton fields , a crop requiring a large amount of water to grow. Due to the Aral Sea loss, high salinity and contamination of the soil with heavy elements are especially widespread in Karakalpakstan , the region of Uzbekistan adjacent to
5920-408: The southwest, Tajikistan to the southeast, and Kyrgyzstan to the northeast, Uzbekistan is one of the largest Central Asian states and the only Central Asian state to border all the other four. Uzbekistan also shares a short border (less than 150 km or 93 mi) with Afghanistan to the south. Uzbekistan is a hot, dry, landlocked country . It is one of two doubly landlocked countries in
6000-422: The suffixes are dropped if the verb root already ends on a vowel. (e.g. Qara قره + (i)ng ـینگ = Qarang! قرهنگ; "Look!" ) Third person plural is commonly replaced by third person singular. In the simple past and conditional tenses, the possessive suffixes are used at the end of the verb. Otherwise, the full pronoun suffix is used, except in the imperative. The third person is usually not marked. Negative
6080-545: The vote. Most international observers refused to participate in the process and did not recognise the results, dismissing them as not meeting basic standards. The 2002 referendum also included a plan for a bicameral parliament consisting of a lower house (the Oliy Majlis) and an upper house (Senate). Members of the lower house are to be "full-time" legislators. Elections for the new bicameral parliament took place on 26 December. Following Islam Karimov's death on 2 September 2016,
6160-445: The world - that is, a landlocked country completely surrounded by other landlocked countries. The second doubly landlocked country is Liechtenstein . In addition, due to its location within a series of endorheic basins , none of its rivers lead to the sea. Less than 10% of its territory is intensively cultivated irrigated land in river valleys and oases. The Aral Sea , which has been largely desiccated by cotton production established in
6240-622: Was changed to Chagatai by western scholars due to its origins from the Chagatai Khanate . The ethnonym of the language itself now means "a language spoken by the Uzbeks ." Turkic speakers probably settled the Amu Darya , Syr Darya and Zarafshon river basins from at least 600–650 AD, gradually ousting or assimilating the speakers of the Eastern Iranian languages who previously inhabited Sogdia , Bactria and Khwarazm . The first Turkic dynasty in
6320-658: Was one of the world's first great astronomers. It was during the Timurid dynasty that Turkic, in the form of the Chaghatai dialect, became a literary language in its own right in Transoxiana, although the Timurids were Persianate in culture. The greatest Chaghataid writer, Ali-Shir Nava'i , was active in the city of Herat (now in northwestern Afghanistan) in the second half of the 15th century. The Timurid state quickly split in half after
6400-408: Was replaced by his long-time Prime Minister , Shavkat Mirziyoyev , on 14 December of the same year. On 6 November 2021, Mirziyoyev was sworn into his second term in office, after gaining a landslide victory in presidential election. Uzbekistan has an area of 448,978 square kilometres (173,351 sq mi). It is the 56th largest country in the world by area and the 40th by population. Among
#481518