The
Karachay-Balkar language or
Karachay-Balkar Turkish ( or ) is a
Turkic language spoken by the
Karachays and
Balkars. It is divided into two dialects: Karachay-Baksan-Chegem, which pronounces two
phonemes as and , and Balkar, 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.