Turkmen (Türkmen/Түркmен)

Turkmen is a Turkic language spoken by about 6.4 million people in Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia (Asia), Tajikistan, Turkey (Asia), USA and Uzbekistan.

Turkmen only started to appear in writing at the beginning of the 20th century, when it was written with the arabic script. Between 1928 and 1940 it was written with the Latin alphabet, and from 1940 it was written with the Cyrillic alphabet. Since Turkmenistan declared independence in 1991, Turkmen has been written with a version of the Latin alphabet based on Turkish.

Cyrillic alphabet for Turkmen

Latin alphabet for Turkmen (Türkmen elipbiýi)

Sample text in Turkmen

Хемме адамлар өз мертебеси ве хукуклары бюнча дең ягдайда дүнйә инйәрлер. Олара аң хем выждан берлендир ве олар бир-бирлери билен доганлык рухундакы гарайышда болмалыдырлар.

Transliteration
Xemme adamlar öz mertebesi ve xukuklary bjunča deṇ jagdajda dünjä injärler. Olara aṇ xem vyždan berlendir ve olar bir-birleri bilen doganlyk ruxundaky garajyšda bolmalydyrlar.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)