Khitan language

Khitan
Kitan

Native toNortheastern China, southeastern Mongolia, eastern Siberia
RegionNorthern
Extinctliterary form in 1244 with the death of Yelü Chucai, last person known who could speak and write Khitan
Khitan large script and Khitan small script
Official status
Official language in
Liao dynasty, Qara Khitai
Language codes
ISO 639-3zkt
zkt
Glottologkita1247

Khitan or Kitan ( in large script or in small, Khitai;[2] Chinese: 契丹語, Qìdānyǔ), also known as Liao, is an extinct language once spoken in Northeast Asia by the Khitan people (4th to 13th century CE). It was the official language of the Liao Empire (907–1125) and the Qara Khitai (1124–1218). Owing to a narrow corpus of known words and a partially undeciphered script, the language has yet to be completely reconstructed.[3]

  1. ^ Janhunen 2006, p. 393.
  2. ^ "Khitan". Omniglot. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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