Southern Altai

The Southern Altai language is a Turkic language spoken in the Altai Republic, Russia. It is closely related to the other Turkic languages, such as Turkish, Uzbek and Kazakh. The Southern Altai language is written in a Latin-based alphabet. It has three dialects, which are all mutually intelligible. The three dialects are: The Taryng dialect, spoken in the Taryng valley The Kosh-Agach dialect, spoken in the Kosh-Agach region The Moyun-Kuragan dialect, spoken in the Moyun-Kuragan region The Southern Altai language is spoken by about 200,000 people. Most of them live in the Altai Republic, but there are also speakers in the Khakassia Republic, Krasnoyarsk Krai and Tyva Republic. The Southern Altai language is not taught in schools, but there are some efforts to promote it. There is a Southern Altai radio station and a newspaper called "Алтай Тили" (Altai Language).