Kalmyk

Kalmyk, or Kalmuck, is spoken in the Russian Republic of Kalmyk (capital: Elista), located just to the west of the Volga River delta, northwest of the Caspian Sea. Its speakers, the Kalmyks, who number about 150,000, are descendants of a Mongol people who migrated to this region from central Asia in the 17th century. The language is thus most closely related to modern Mongolian, as well as to Buryat, of southern Siberia, the three belonging to the Mongolian branch of the Altaic family. ***