Southern Uzbek language

Southern Uzbek
اۉزبېکچه, اۉزبېکی, اۉزبېک تورکچه سی
Native toAfghanistan
EthnicityUzbeks
Native speakers
L1: 3.5 million (2017)[1]
L2: 1.1 million (2022)[1]
Early forms
Perso-Arabic
Official status
Official language in
Afghanistan (3rd most spoken language)
Recognised minority
language in
  • China
Regulated byAfghan Ministry of Education
Language codes
ISO 639-3uzs
Glottologsout2699
Linguaspheredb 44-AAB-da, db
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Southern Uzbek, also known as Afghan Uzbek, is the southern variant of the Uzbek language, spoken chiefly in Afghanistan with up to 4.6 million speakers including first and second language speakers.[1] It uses the Perso-Arabic writing system in contrast to the language variant of Uzbekistan.

Southern Uzbek is intelligible with the Northern Uzbek spoken in Uzbekistan to a certain degree. However, it has differences in grammar and also many more loan words from Dari, the local New Persian variety, in which many Southern Uzbek speakers are proficient.[3]

  1. ^ a b c Southern Uzbek at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Scott Newton (20 November 2014). Law and the Making of the Soviet World: The Red Demiurge. Routledge. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-317-92978-9.
  3. ^ "Uzbek, Southern".