SOUTHERN UZBEK LANGUAGE

(Linguistic Characteristics of the Uzbeks of Afghanistan)

Dr. Azizullah Aral

Abstract: It is well known that the global Uzbek population exceeds 50 million

and ranks 32nd in terms of global ethnolinguistic presence. Of this number, nearly

8 million Uzbeks reside in 14 provinces of Afghanistan. Southern Uzbek, the

language of these 8 million people, is a historical language that has withstood the

test of time and fulfills the demands of literature, art, culture, and science. It has its

own unique script and alphabet.

Today, Southern Uzbek is used in various domains, including technology,

education, diplomacy, banking, and commerce. It is officially recognized as

Afghanistan's third national language in the country's Constitution. At present,

Southern Uzbek departments exist in at least seven national universities in

Afghanistan. According to documents from the Ministry of Education, Southern

Uzbek is the medium of instruction in 970 schools, including: 9 schools in

Badakhshan , 80 in Balkh, 450 in Faryab, 50 in Samangan, 300 in Sar-e Pol, 80 in

Takhar province.

Furthermore, the Southern Uzbek language is actively broadcast by international

media outlets such as BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Ozodlik), Voice of

America, Voice of Iran, TRT Avaz, and Sputnik, as well as Afghan media channels

like Oyna, Botur, Almas, Orzu, Nur, Oriano, Kalid, and National Radio and

Television. Its presence continues to expand across major online platforms

including Wikipedia, Google, Facebook, and other social networks.

Keywords: Southern Uzbek language, Afghanistan, Turkic languages, Turkish,

affixes, Uzbek script, Arabic scriptIntroduction:

Centuries ago, the speakers of today's more than 20 distinct Turkic languages -

now diverse in phonetics, grammar, and lexicon - once spoke a common ancestral

language, often referred to as "Old Turkic," which is now classified as an extinct

language (not to be confused with modern Turkish of Turkey). Over time,

significant linguistic divergence occurred among these peoples, a fact supported by

linguistic and Turkological studies. Today, each group is recognized as a distinct

ethnicity with its own language - such is the case for Uzbeks and, notably,

Southern Uzbeks of Afghanistan, whose language has independently developed

into a literary and cultural entity.

Poets such as Khwarizmi, Lutfi, Atayi, Sakkaki, Navoi, Babur, Mashrab, and

Ogahi, though they did not identify themselves as "Uzbek," wrote in a language

that forms the foundation of what is now known as Southern Uzbek. Contemporary

Southern Uzbeks can understand their works without the need for a glossary,

illustrating that this language has long matured into an independent linguistic

system. While Southern and Northern Uzbek share grammatical structures, there

are notable lexical differences. Both varieties are rooted in Karluk-Chigil-Uyghur

dialects, with partial influence from Kipchak and Oghuz branches.

In the early 20th century, the modern Republic of Turkey emerged as an

independent Turkic state with its own national language, Turkish. Historically, the

term "Turkestan" has encompassed present-day Central Asia, China, and

Afghanistan, often divided into Northern, Eastern, and Southern Turkestan.

Writing System of Southern Uzbek:

The Southern Uzbek script is based on the Arabic alphabet, which has been in use

for over a thousand years and remains the official writing system for Afghanو ,)a/o( ا - languages, including Uzbek. This script includes only three vowel letters

(u/o'), and ی (i/y) - leading many learners to mistakenly believe that Uzbek has

only three vowel sounds. In reality, the difference in vowel quality becomes

evident in examples such as:

)کوز( vs. kuz )کۉز( ko'z •

)یېل( vs. yel )ییل( yil •

)قورال( vs. qurol )مره ل( maral •

Standard Northern Uzbek literary language contains six vowels (with even more if

dialectal variants are considered), yet the Arabic script lacks direct representation

for half of them. These vowels must be indicated using diacritical marks (fatha,

damma, kasra), which are often omitted in writing, thus complicating reading and

pronunciation. Even the Arabic letter "ه" (h) functions dually as a vowel and

consonant, e.g., in:

بیلدیره دی - bildiradi •

کۉچه - ko'cha •

In Arabic-based Uzbek writing, letters like "و" and "ی" (waw and ya) may also

function as consonants ("v" and "y"), depending on context, e.g.:

وطن - vatan •

وامق - vomiq •

قوم - qavm •

ول - yo'l •

وق - yo'q •یماق - qaymoq •

بای - boy •

سای - soy •

یای - yoy •

Mispronunciations commonly arise due to the absence of vowel indicators. For

example, even among literate speakers, commonly used Arabic-origin words are

mispronounced:

• tasliyat (تسلیت) is often read as tasalliyat

• mujozat (مجازات) as majozat

• Faridun (فریدون) as Firaydun-a significant error

Another challenge is the connected nature of Arabic script, where each letter

changes shape based on position. This complicates reading for learners, e.g.:

ق ا ر - qor •

س ک ک ی ز - sakkiz •

ی ی غ ی ل ی ش - yig'ilish •

Additionally, inserting vowels directly (rather than using diacritics) can lead to

visual clutter and confusion, as seen in:

خواطرلنماق / خه ‌واتیر ‌له نماق - xavotirlanmoq •

Arabic and Persian loanwords are written in their original forms, typically without

vowel markings, e.g.:صابون - sobun •

صالون - solon •

طوفان - to'fon •

طوره - to'ra •

Orthographic Rules in Southern Uzbek:

Like the standard Uzbek language of Uzbekistan, Southern Uzbek is rich in

suffixation. These suffixes can be classified into various categories, including:

Nominalizers (noun-forming suffixes)

Adjectival suffixes

Verb formers

Tense and aspect markers,

And other functional or derivational affixes.

It is essential that the written forms of these suffixes be standardized in Southern

Uzbek when using the Arabic script. One such standard concerns how affixes are

attached to words ending in vowels versus those ending in consonants.

For example, suffixes such as:

-chi, -chilik, -lik, -li, -ma, -win, -g'in, -gich, -kich, -qich, -ish, -im, -la, -ga, -da, -ni, -

dan, -ning, -lan, -moq, -lash, -ay, -kash, -choq, -chiq, -chai, -lar, -larcha, -cha, -

siga, -lab, -aki, -parvar, -an, -namo, -qoq, -g'oq, -mas, -loq, -garchilik, -zor, -siton,

-goh, -don, -gar, -dik, -boz, -xo'r, -soz, -paz, -dor, -mand, -bon, -dosh, -guy, -g'on, -

mon, -noma, -xona, -obod, -ki, -gi, -qi, -g'i, -xon, -shunos, -kore, -siz, -roq, -inch, -oq, -man, -san, -miz, -siz, -mas, -ekan, -mikan, -degan, -dir, -giz, -qiz, -g'iz

-should be written with a half-space when added to a base word ending in a vowel

(represented by the Arabic letters:( ه، و، ا). When the base word ends in a

consonant, the suffix is written as a connected part of the word (with some

exceptions as needed).

Examples of the suffix "-chi":

When the root word ends in a vowel (requires half-space):

‌چی > a'lochi

اَعلا

ساتو ‌چی > sotuvchi

‌چی > choyxonachi

چایخانە

When the root ends in a consonant (written joined):

اویینچی > o'yinchi

ادبیاتچی > adabiyotchi

عصیانچی > usyonchi

قوشچی > qushchi

سببچی > sababchi

فالچی > folchi

چقیمچی > chaqimchi

کویچی > ko'ychi

ساقچی > soqchiلافچی > litchi

رشکچی > rashkchi

...and others.

Prefixes in Southern Uzbek:

Some prefixes, commonly found in words of Persian or Arabic origin, are used to

form adjectives or adverbs and are written with a half-space before the base word.

These include prefixes like:

be-, no-, xo'sh-, ser-, ba-, ham-, bad-

Examples:

بې ‌تشویش > )betashvish (carefree

ناانصاف > )noinsaf (unjust

خو ٛ ش ‌نویس > )xo'shnavis (good calligrapher

بداخلاق > )badaxloq (ill-mannered

سېرحاصل > )serhosil (fertile/productive

به ‌هیبت > )bahaybat (grand, majestic

هم ‌راز > )hamroz (confidant

These examples and rules illustrate the importance of standardized orthography in

Southern Uzbek when using the Arabic script-particularly in distinguishing

whether suffixes and prefixes should be connected or separated by a half-space

based on phonetic and grammatical structure.Conclusion:

Southern Uzbek has been the native language of Turkic peoples in Afghanistan

since ancient times, long before the formation of the Afghan state. Some historical

accounts even suggest that the Turan capital was located in Qozdar, in the Kuwaita

region of Pakistan's Balochistan province. Dynasties such as the Yaftids, Kushans,

Ghaznavids, Seljuks, Timurids, and Mughals governed territories across

Afghanistan and India for centuries using this language and left a profound cultural

legacy.

However, over the past three centuries, Afghanistan's Turkic peoples were

politically marginalized and deprived of their own kingdoms. They were sidelined

in governance and forced to receive education in foreign languages.

Progress began around the 1970s, when Uzbek parliamentary representatives

secured the right to broadcast in Uzbek on Afghan national radio. After the 1978

rise of the People's Democratic Party, the Yulduz newspaper began publishing in

Southern Uzbek. This led to more poetry and articles in the local press. A

department of Uzbek Language and Literature was established in Kabul's teachers'

college, and books began to be published in Uzbek. Local schools began offering

instruction in Uzbek up to the fourth grade.

In 2001, with the onset of democratic reforms in Afghanistan, Southern Uzbek was

formally granted official status.

Recommendations:

• Reform the Arabic-based script to better represent the full phonetic range of

the language

• Develop and enforce standardized spelling and reading rules• Require compliance with these standards among educators, journalists,

artists, and publishers

• Expand use of the Latin alphabet-initially through social media-to help the

younger generation adapt to modern technologies

References:

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Language. Tashkent: O'qituvchi, 1982

• Aral Azizullah. Navoi Studies in Afghanistan. Tashkent: BookmanyPrint,

2025

• Tursunov U., O'rinboyev B. History of the Uzbek Literary Language.

Tashkent: O'qituvchi, 1982

• Labib Olim, Aral Azizullah, Oltoy Nurullah. 29th Criterion - National Day

of Uzbek Language. Voja, Kabul, 2019

• Aral Azizullah. Uzbek-English-Turkish-Persian-Pashto Phrasebook.

AkademSpace, Tashkent, 2024

• Collected Articles: Unforgettable - Academic Seminar on Afghan Uzbek and

Turkmen Languages. Voja, Kabul, 2020

• Habibi Aral Fouzia. Brief History of the Uzbek Language. Ozodiy, Kabul,

2021