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Khakas

A language of Russian Federation (Asia)

ISO 639-3: kjh

Population	20,000 in Russian Federation (2007 SIL), decreasing. Stable population; noticeable urbanization. Population total all countries: 20,010. Ethnic population: 75,600 in the Russian Federation.
Region	Khakassia (Khakasia) Republic, north of Altai Mountains; Krasnoyarsk Territory, north of Khakassia Republic; Tuva Republic; scattered throughout the federation. Also in China.
Language map	Western Asian Russia, reference number 16
Alternate names	Abakan Tatar, Khakhas, Khakhass, Hakass, Xakas, Yenisei, Yennisej Tatar
Dialects	Sagai (Saghai, Sagaj), Kachina (Kacha, Kaca, Khaas, Xaas), Kyzyl (Khyzyzl, Xyzyl), Shor. Nearly extinct: Beltir, Koibal (Khobal, Xoibal), Kamass (Kamassian).
Classification	Altaic, Turkic, Northern
Language use	Struggle to maintain culture and language. Home, community. All ages. Positive, especially in urban areas. Also use Russian at work, school, public transport, government, and most written communication.
Language development	Literacy rate in L1: 50% (2007 SIL estimate). Literacy rate in L2: 95% in Russian. Khakas books often self-published and difficult to obtain. Medium in a few schools, a subject in about 100 primary schools. A subject in selected secondary schools. Newspapers. Radio programs. TV. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible portions: 1995–2007.
Writing system	Cyrillic script.
Comments	Animal husbandry: sheep, goats, cattle, horses; industrialists. Traditional religion, Christian.

Also spoken in:

China

Language name	Khakas
Population	10 in China (1982 census). Ethnic population: 875.
Region	Heilongjiang Province, Fuyu County, north of Qiqihar.
Language map	China
Alternate names	Abakan Tatar, Khakhas, Khakhass, Yenisei Tatar
Dialects	Sagai, Beltir, Kacha, Kyzyl, Shor, Kamassian.
Language use	In 1980s, only about 10 very old people were fluent, others used some words, but mainly spoke Mongolian or Chinese. Young people are monolingual in Chinese.
Comments	Classified as Kyrghyz nationality. People came from the Altay Mountains in the Russian Federation in 1761. Buddhist (Lamaist), traditional religion.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

BORGOYAKOVA, Tatyana; KNAPP, Peter; TOPOYEV, Ilya, authors. 2002. "Khakas interlinear text with comments on discourse features."

BORGOYAKOVA, Tatyana; KNAPP, Peter; TOPOYEV, Ilya, authors. 2002. "Participant reference in Khakas narrative discourse."

CLIFTON, Deborah A.; CLIFTON, John M., editors. 2002. Comments on discourse structures in ten Turkic languages.

CLIFTON, John M., author. 2002. "Alphabets of ten Turkic languages."