The Altaic language grouping is controversial and not recognised by all linguists. There is some speculation that Japanese is Altaic and that Korean may be distantly related to Altaic languages. However, these classifications are in dispute.
Those that recognise the Altaic family of languages define it as a grouping of languages spoken in Eurasia extending from Turkey in the west to the Sea of Okhotsk in the east. It consists of three main subfamilies: Turkic , Mongol , and Manchu-Tungus.
Turkish (spoken in Turkey and the Balkans) is the principal Turkic language. Other Turkic languages include Azerbaijani (spoken in Azerbaijan and Northwest Iran), Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkoman, and Kirghiz (spoken in Central Asia), Tatar (spoken in Turkey, the Balkans, the former USSR and China), Uighur (spoken in China), and Yakut (mainly spoken in Northeast Siberia).
The Mongol languages include Buryat (spoken in Eastern Siberia), Kalmuck and Mongolian (spoken in the Mongolian Republic and the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of China).
Among the Manchu-Tungus group, Manchu (Manchuria in China) has the greatest number of speakers. Other languages of this group include Evenki (spoken in China and the former USSR), Lamut (spoken in a region near the Sea of Okhotsk), and Tungus (spoken in Eastern Siberia).
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