Karaim | |
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къарай тили karaj tili | |
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Native to | Crimea, Lithuania, Poland |
Ethnicity | Crimean Karaites (2014)[1] |
Native speakers | 80 (2014)[2] |
Turkic
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Cyrillic script, Latin script, Hebrew alphabet | |
Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | kdr |
Glottolog | kara1464 |
ELP | Karaim |
The Karaim language (Crimean dialect: къарай тили, qaray tili; Trakai dialect: karaj tili), also known by its Hebrew name Lashon Kedar (Hebrew: לשון קדר, “language of the nomads"),[6] is a Turkic language belonging to the Kipchak group, with Hebrew influences, similarly to Yiddish or Judaeo-Spanish.[7] It is spoken by only a few dozen Crimean Karaites (Qrimqaraylar) in Lithuania, Poland, Crimea, and Galicia in Ukraine.[8] The three main dialects are those of Crimea, Trakai-Vilnius and Lutsk-Halych,[9] all of which are critically endangered. The Lithuanian dialect of Karaim is spoken mainly in the town of Trakai (also known as Troki) by a small community living there since the 14th century.
There is a chance the language will survive in Trakai as a result of official support and because of its appeal to tourists coming to the Trakai Island Castle, where Crimean Karaites are presented as the castle's ancient defenders.[10]
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