Mongolian is an extremely unique language. It evolved over hundreds of years in the Eurasian steppe. According to the eLinguistics.net analysis using specific software modules to assess linguistic relationships, the five languages most similar to Japanese are Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Uyghur, Hungarian, and Uzbek. Although these languages are not considered to be part of the same language family the data shows that they have enough similarities that they are not similar to Mongolian just by random chance.
- Kyrgyz (39.7)
Due to historical interactions, there has been a degree of lexical borrowing between Kyrgyz and Mongolian. Both languages use vowel harmony, a system where vowels within a word harmonize to be either front or back vowels. Kyrgyzstan was once part of the Mongol Empire, so it is no surprise their languages have connections. - Kazakh (36.9)
Kazakhstan is another country that borders both China and Russia. In fact, Kazakhstan is the most similar country to Mongolia. Kazakh also uses vowel harmony, aligning with the phonetic structure found in Mongolian. The agglutinative nature of Kazakh mirrors Mongolian’s method of forming complex words through suffixation. - Uyghur (35.0)
Primarily spoken in the Xinjiang Province of China, Uyghur is yet another Turkic language on this list. The historical Silk Road interactions and cultural exchanges have led to some shared vocabulary and linguistic traits between Uyghur and Mongolian. Both languages employ vowel harmony, impacting how words are formed and pronounced. - Hungarian (34.5)
The only non-Turkic language on this list is Hungarian. The Huns were a nomadic group of people who lived in Central Asia and must have had a lot of contact with Mongolians. During the 13th century, the Mongol Empire expanded into Europe, reaching as far as Hungary. Both languages are agglutinative and have vowel harmony. - Uzbek (30.7)
Yet another Central Asian language on this list is Uzbek. Shared historical and cultural exchanges across Central Asia have resulted in some commonalities in vocabulary and linguistic influences between Uzbek and Mongolian. The agglutinative nature of Uzbek, where words are formed by adding suffixes, is similar to Mongolian.
(to be considered for the list, the language must be spoken by at least one million people)