Khitan language

E723614

The Khitan language was the now-extinct tongue of the Khitan people of Northeast Asia, written in unique scripts and used by the ruling elite of the Liao dynasty.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Khitan language canonical 7

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf extinct language
language
associatedDynasty Liao dynasty
associatedPeople Khitan people
coexistedWith Chinese language
Classical Chinese
deciphermentBasedOn bilingual inscriptions with Chinese
deciphermentStatus grammar not fully reconstructed
phonology not fully understood
extinctionPeriod 13th century
geopoliticalContext northern Chinese frontier
hasEthnologueEntry no
historicalPeriod 10th century
11th century
12th century
Liao dynasty
ISO639-3 zkt
languageFamily Para-Mongolic
region Manchuria
eastern Inner Mongolia
northern China
relatedTo Mongolian language
linked to: Mongolian

Mongolic languages
scriptType logographic-syllabic script (large script)
syllabic or alphabetic script (small script)
scriptUniqueness distinct from Chinese characters
distinct from later Jurchen and Mongolian scripts
scriptUsage large script used mainly for monumental inscriptions
small script used for more cursive or everyday writing
spokenBy Khitan people
spokenIn Northeast Asia
status partially deciphered
successorLanguage languages of successor Jurchen and Mongol elites (sociopolitical)
timeDepth attested roughly from late 9th century
attested until early 13th century
usedBy Khitan ruling class
administration of the Liao dynasty
ruling elite of the Liao dynasty
usedFor administrative records
royal edicts
tomb inscriptions
usedIn Liao dynasty inscriptions
epitaphs
official documents of the Liao dynasty
writingDirection vertical (for many inscriptions)
writingInfluence influenced by Chinese script
writingSystem Khitan large script
Khitan small script

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (7)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Liao dynasty officialLanguage Khitan language
Qara Khitai languageUsed Khitan language
Western Liao usesLanguage Khitan language
Khitan large script developedFor Khitan language
Yelü clan language Khitan language
Khitan people languageSpoken Khitan language
Khitan language Khitan language