Karachay-Balkar

thumb|Karachay–Balkar-language version of the Quran|Koran Karachay–Balkar (, ), often referred to as the "mountaineer language" (, ) by its speakers, is a Turkic language spoken by the Karachays and Balkars in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, European Russia, as well as by an immigrant population in Afyonkarahisar Province, Turkey. It is divided into two dialects: Karachay-Baksan-Chegem, which pronounces two phonemes as and and Malkar, which pronounces the corresponding phonemes as and . The modern Karachay–Balkar written language is based on the Karachay–Baksan–Chegem dialect. The language is closely related to Kumyk.

== Phonology == {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+ Vowels |- ! !! Front !! Back |- ! Close | | |- ! Mid | | |- !Open | | |} {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+Consonants ! !Labial !Alveolar !Palatal !Velar !Uvular !Glottal |- align="center" !Plosive | | | | |() () | |- !Fricative |[] | | | () | | |- align="center" !Affricate | |[] | | | | |- align="center" !Nasal | | | | | | |- align="center" !Liquid | | | | | | |- align="center" !Approximant | | | | | | |} Parentheses indicate allophones, brackets indicate phonemes from loanwords.