Let's Talk About It

I've said many times the best part of traveling around the world is meeting new people.  That can also be a bit challenging when you speak different languages.  I will be encountering at least five or six different languages as I travel through the cities and countryside of Central Asia.  Mr. Mitchell stopped by my room to talk about a few of the languages spoken in these countries and he also has a few questions for you to answer for house points.

Languages Most Spoken in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan , and Uzbekistan.

Tajik (Indo-European through Persian (Farsi))
Kazakh (Turkic)
Russian (Indo-European through Slavic)
Kyrgyz (Turkic)
Turkmen (Turkic)
Uzbek (Turkic)

When viewed from a large enough time frame, languages evolve rather dramatically. Some of these languages have evolved from a single language.

1. Can you find which of these languages are related and what language family they belong to?
2. Which ones are not related to the others?
3. What are two historical events that led the unrelated language or languages to be spoken so much in these places?
4. Which of these languages would you be more likely to likely find words that you recognize (cognates)? Why?
5. What is one cognate from the language you chose from question 4?