Chulym language

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Chulym
Spoken in: Russia
Total speakers: ca. 426
Language family: Altaic
 Turkic
  Northeastern Turkic
   Chulym 
Official status
Official language of: -
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: -
ISO 639-2: tut
ISO/FDIS 639-3: clw

Chulym (Russian: Чулымский язык), also known as Chulim, Chulym-Turkic, Küerik, Chulym Tatar or Melets Tatar (not to be confused with the Tatar language) is the language of the Chulyms. The name the people use to refer to themselves, and also to their langugae, is "Ös". It is also spoken by the Kacik (Kazik, Kuarik).

This name originated from a now extinct tribe.

The language is closely related to Shor and to dialects of Khakass (Kaxas). Though considered by some as one language, the Os speakers themselves do not believe this to be the case.

Chulym comprises distinct dialects, corresponding to locaitons along the Chulym river: Lower Chulym (now believed extinct), Middle Chulym, and Upper Chulym.

Chulym is a moribund language and will most likely be extinct within 25 years. It is listed in the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages. K. David Harrison, Ph.D. of Swarthmore College has interviewed and recorded 20 speakers and estimates there may be between 35-40 fluent speakers out of a community of overall 426 members, according to an NPR interview (2004, Feb. 3). The youngest fluent speaker is in his 50s.

The speakers are located in Russia, in central Siberia, north of the Altay Mountains, in the basin of the Chulym River, a tributary of the Ob River. All speakers are bilingual in Russian. In Soviet times, children were discouraged and/or punished for using the language in schools.[citation needed]

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Turkic languages
West Turkic
Bolgar Bolgar* | Chuvash | Hunnic* | Khazar*
Chagatay Aini2| Chagatay* | Ili Turki | Lop | Uyghur | Uzbek
Kypchak Baraba | Bashkir | Crimean Tatar1 | Cuman* | Karachay-Balkar | Karaim | Karakalpak | Kazakh | Kipchak* | Krymchak | Kumyk | Nogay | Tatar | Urum1
Oghuz Afshar | Azerbaijani | Crimean Tatar1 | Gagauz | Khorasani Turkish | Ottoman Turkish* | Pecheneg* | Qashqai | Salar | Turkish | Turkmen | Urum1
East Turkic
Khalaj Khalaj
Kyrgyz-Kypchak Altay | Kyrgyz
Uyghur Chulym | Dolgan | Fuyü Gïrgïs | Khakas | Northern Altay | Shor | Tofa | Tuvan | Western Yugur | Sakha / Yakut
Old Turkic*
Notes: 1 Listed in more than one group, 2 Mixed language, * Extinct