Editing Karaim language (section)

===Genetic affiliation of the Karaim language===
Karaim is a member of the [[Turkic languages|''Turkic language'']] family, a group of languages of Eurasia spoken by historically nomadic peoples. Within the Turkic family, Karaim is identified as a member of the [[Kipchak languages]], in turn a member of the Western branch of the Turkic language family.{{sfn|Dahl|Koptjevskaja-Tamm|2001}}{{sfn|Csató|2012}} Within the Western branch, Karaim is a part of the Ponto-Caspian subfamily.<ref>{{ethnologue15}}</ref> This language subfamily also includes the [[Crimean Tatar language|Crimean Tatar]] of Ukraine and Uzbekistan, and [[Karachay-Balkar language|Karachay-Balkar]] and [[Kumyk language|Kumyk]] of Russia. The close relation of Karaim to Kypchak and Crimean Tatar makes sense in light of the beginnings of the Lithuanian Karaim people in Crimea.

One hypothesis is that [[Khazars|Khazar]] nobility converted to [[Karaite Judaism]] in the late 8th or early 9th century and were followed by a portion of the general population. This may also have occurred later, under [[Mongols|Mongol rule]], during an influx of people from [[Byzantium]].{{sfn|Tütüncü|Bowman|1998}}

As all [[Turkic languages]], Karaim grammar is characterized by [[agglutinative language|agglutination]] and [[vowel harmony]]. Genetic evidence for the inclusion of the Karaim language in the Turkic language family is undisputed, based on common vocabulary and grammar. Karaim has a historically [[subject–object–verb]] word order, extensive suffixing agglutination, the presence of vowel harmony, and a lack of gender or noun classes. Lithuanian Karaim has maintained most of these Turkic features despite its history of more than six hundred years in the environment of the Lithuanian, Polish, Belarusian and Russian languages.

Most of the religious terminology in the Karaim language is [[Arabic]] in [[etymology]], showing the origins of the culture in the Middle East.{{sfn|Zajaczkowski|1961}} Arabic and [[Persian language|Persian]] had the earliest influences on the lexicon of Karaim, while later on in its history, the Russian, Ukrainian, and Polish languages made significant contributions to the lexicon of Karaims living in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania.