The standard language is written in the middle dialect (bağçasaray, orta yolaq), which is part of the Kipchak-Cuman branch.
Standard Crimean Tatar and its middle dialect are classified as a language of the Cuman (Russian: кыпчакско-половецкая) subgroup of the Kipchak languages and the closest relatives are Karachay-Balkar, Karaim, Krymchak, Kumyk, Urum and extinct Cuman.
The middle dialect, although thought to be of Kipchak-Cuman origin, combines elements of both Cuman and Oghuz languages.
Their dialects belong to the Oghuz group of the Turkic languages which includes Turkish, Azeri and Turkmen.
[1][page needed] Northern, Nogai or Desert dialect (noğay, çöl, şimaliy) is spoken by Crimean Tatars in Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and other countries.