The Chagatai language (جغتای - Jaĝatāy; Uyghur: چاغاتاي Chaghatay; Uzbek: ﭼﯩﻐﻪتاي Chag'atoy; Turkish: Çağatay) is an extinct Turkic language which was once widely spoken in Central Asia, and remained the shared literary language there until the early twentieth century. It was also spoken by the Mughal rulers in India.
The word Chagatai relates to the Chagatai Khanate, a descendant empire of the Mongol Empire, which was left to Genghis Khan's seco...
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The Chagatai language (جغتای - Jaĝatāy; Uyghur: چاغاتاي Chaghatay; Uzbek: ﭼﯩﻐﻪتاي Chag'atoy; Turkish: Çağatay) is an extinct Turkic language which was once widely spoken in Central Asia, and remained the shared literary language there until the early twentieth century. It was also spoken by the Mughal rulers in India.
The word Chagatai relates to the Chagatai Khanate, a descendant empire of the Mongol Empire, which was left to Genghis Khan's second son, Chagatai Khan. Many of the Chagatai Turks and Tatars who were the speakers of this language claimed descent from Chagatai Khan.
Chagatai belongs to the Uyghur branch of the Turkic language family. It is descended from the Old Uyghur that served as a lingua franca in Central Asia, with a strong infusion of Arabic and Persian words and turns of phrase. It was developed as a sophisticated written language using the Perso-Arabic alphabet. It can be divided into three periods:
The first period is a transitional phase characterized by the...
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