Klj

Also Known As: Khalaj Description: Khalaj is a language spoken primarily in Iran and Afghanistan. It belongs to the Turkic family of languages. There were approximately 42,000 speakers of this language as of 2000. ISO 639-3 uses the name Turkic Khalaj to distinguish it from the Indo-Iranian language called "Khalaj". Khalaj has traditionally been classified with Turkmen or Azerbaijani dialects, primarily because of its proximity to those languages. However, it is not a dialect of Azerbaijani, as previously supposed. Further, features such as preservation of three vowel lengths, preservation of word-initial Proto-Turkic *h, and lack of the sound change *d > y has led to a non-Oghuz classification of Khalaj. An example of these archaisms is present in the word hadaq, which has preserved the initial *h and medial *d. The equivalent form in nearby Oghuz dialects is ayaq. Therefore it is an independent language that became distinct very early from other extant Turkic languages. Because of the preservation of these archaic features, some scholars have speculated that the Khalaj are the descendants of the Arghu Turks. Khalaj is spoken mainly in Markazi Province in Iran. Doerfer cites the number of speakers as approximately..... full article at Wikipedia Location of Khalaj, Turkic Language Speakers http://llmap.org/languages/klj/static_map.png?width=400&height=300&kilroywashere=.png

Overview Main Country: Iran Spoken In: Regions: Asia ISO 639-3 Code: klj Classification Taxonomy All Languages   Altaic Group     Turkic Group       Southern Turkic Group         Azerbaijani Group           Khalaj, Turkic Language