Britannica Sources used in this answer

How closely related are Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Karakalpak?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Karakalpak are closely related languages that belong to the northwestern, or Kipchak, branch of the Turkic language family.123

Within this branch, they are specifically classified together in the South Kipchak group (NW $^{s}$ ). Linguistically, Karakalpak is noted as a close relative of Kazakh. Similarly, the Kyrgyz language is described as being closely related to Kazakh, Karakalpak, and Nogay.12