ABSTRACT
Introduction The present chapter will summarise the major features of the Kipchak dialects spoken between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries in the south Russian steppe and in the Near East.
The sources identified as Middle Kipchak are of heterogeneous origin. They are written in different scripts, Roman, Arabic, Cyrillic and Armenian, and they were created with various objectives over more than three centuries in different linguistic environments far from each other. The collection of 'Middle Kipchak' texts does not only reflect various Kipchak dialects. It also contains Oghuz elements, which sometimes differ significantly from the Kipchak material, and are sometimes difficult to distinguish from it.
