Turkmen (Türkmen dili / Түркмен дили)

Turkmen is a Turkic language spoken by about 6.4 million people in Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia (Asia), Tajikistan, Turkey (Asia), USA and Uzbekistan.

Turkmen only started to appear in writing at the beginning of the 20th century, when it was written with the Arabic script. Between 1928 and 1940 it was written with the Latin alphabet, and from 1940 it was written with the Cyrillic alphabet. Since Turkmenistan declared independence in 1991, Turkmen has been written with a version of the Latin alphabet based on Turkish.

Cyrillic alphabet for Turkmen (түркмен элипбийи)

Cyrillic alphabet for Turkmen

Latin alphabet for Turkmen (Türkmen elipbiýi)

Latin alphabet for Turkmen

Source: http://www.altynasyr.8m.com/portal/alphabet.htm

Sample text in Turkmen

Хемме адамлар өз мертебеси ве хукуклары бюнча дең ягдайда дүнйә инйәрлер. Олара аң хем выждан берлендир ве олар бир-бирлери билен доганлык рухундакы гарайышда болмалыдырлар.

Transliteration
Hemme adamlar öz mertebesi we hukuklary boýunça deň ýagdaýda dünýä inyärler. Olara aň hem wyždan berlendir we olar bir-birleri bilen doganlyk ruhundaky garaýyşda bolmalydyrlar.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Tower of Babel in Turkmen

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Links

Information about the Turkmen language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkmen_language
http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/profile.aspx?langid=68&menu;=004

Learn Turkic languages - Turkish, Turkmen and Uzbek
http://www.xs4all.nl/~iamback/turkic/

Online Turkmen dictionaries
http://www.ismanov.com
http://www.turkmendictionary.da.ru

An introduction to Turkmen grammar
http://www.altynasyr.8m.com/turkmen.htm

Turkmen Cyrillic-Latin converter
http://www.transliteration.kpr.eu/tk/

Online Turkmen radio
http://www.trtturkmen.com/international/news.aspx?dil=tu

Turkic languages

Altay, Äynu, Azerbaijani, Balkar, Bashkir, Chuvash, Crimean Tatar, Even, Evenki, Gagauz, Karakalpak, Kazak, Khakas, Kumyk, Kyrgyz, Nanai, Nogai, Old Turkic, Salar, Shor, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Tuvan, Uyghur, Uzbek, Yakut

Other languages written with the: Cyrillic, and Latin alphabets

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