Language Information
Kazakh is a Turkic language spoken primarily in Kazakhstan, in the heart of nomadic Central Asia. Kazakhstan is the biggest country by landmass and the largest economy in Central Asia. For centuries, the cities of southern Kazakhstan participated in the cultural renaissance of the Silk Roads, while nomadic conquerors have repeatedly come out from the Kazakh steppes to build great empires. Kazakhstan was deeply influenced by the Mongol world empire, and many Kazakhs honor Genghis Khan as a national hero.
The Kazakh language has its speakers (mainly Kazakhs) spread over a vast territory from the Tian Shan mountains to the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kazakh is the official state language of Kazakhstan, with 10 million speakers.
In the People's Republic of China, more than one million ethnic Kazakhs and Kazakh speakers reside in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. There are around 5 million Kazakh speakers in Russia. Other sizable populations of Kazakh-speakers live in Mongolia (fewer than 200,000), Uzbekistan, other parts of the former Soviet Union, as well as in Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, and Germany.
At Indiana University, Kazakh language courses are offered by the Department of Central Eurasian Studies. Additionally, the Inner Asian & Uralic National Resource Center at Indiana University offers resources for Kazakh language and others, its culture, history, and society.