Editing Dialect continuum (section)

== Turkic ==

[[Turkic languages]] are best described as a dialect continuum.<ref>{{cite book | last=Grenoble | first=Lenore A. | title=Language policy in the Soviet Union | publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers | publication-place=Dordrecht | date=2003 | isbn=0-306-48083-2 | oclc=53984252}}</ref> Geographically this continuum starts at the [[Balkans]] in the west with [[Balkan Gagauz Turkish language|Balkan Turkish]], includes [[Turkish language|Turkish]] in [[Turkey]] and [[Azerbaijani language]] in [[Azerbaijan]], extends into [[Iran]] with [[Azerbaijani language|Azeri]] and [[Turkic Khalaj language|Khalaj]], into [[Iraq]] with [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]], across [[Central Asia]] to include [[Turkmenistan]], [[Uzbekistan]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], to southern Regions of [[Tajikistan]] and into [[Afghanistan]]. In the south, the continuum starts in northern Afghanistan, northward to [[Chuvashia Republic|Chuvashia]]. In the east it extends to the Republic of [[Tuva]], the [[Xinjiang]] autonomous region in Western China with the [[Uyghur language]] and into [[Mongolia]] with [[Khoton]]. The entire territory is inhabited by Turkic speaking peoples. There are three varieties of Turkic geographically outside the continuum: [[Chuvash language|Chuvash]], [[Sakha language|Yakut]] and [[Dolgan language|Dolgan]]. They have been geographically separated from the other Turkic languages for an extensive period of time, and Chuvash language stands out as the most divergent from other Turkic languages.

There are also [[Gagauz language|Gagauz]] speakers in [[Moldavia]] and [[Urum language|Urum]] speakers in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]].

The Turkic continuum makes internal genetic classification of the languages problematic. [[Chuvash language|Chuvash]], Khalaj and [[Sakha language|Yakut]] are generally classified as significantly distinct, but the remaining [[Turkic languages]] are quite similar, with a high degree of mutual intelligibility between not only geographically adjacent varieties but also among some varieties some distance apart.{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}} Structurally, the Turkic languages are very close to one another, and they share basic features such as [[Subject–object–verb|SOV]] word order, [[vowel harmony]] and [[agglutination]].<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Grenoble
  | first = Lenore A.
  | title = Language Policy in the Soviet Union
  | publisher = [[Springer-Verlag]]
  | volume = 3
  | year = 2003
  | isbn = 978-1-4020-1298-3 }}</ref>