[7] Thus, based on their significant multifactorial differences, Eastern, Northern and Southern Khanty may be considered separate but closely-related languages.

The Khanty written language was first created after the October Revolution on the basis of the Latin script in 1930 and then with the Cyrillic alphabet (with the additional letter ⟨ң⟩ for /ŋ/) from 1937.

Khanty literary works are usually written in three Northern dialects, Kazym, Shuryshkar and Middle Ob.

Khanty is divided in three main dialect groups, which are largely mutually unintelligible and therefore best considered three languages: Northern, Southern and Eastern.

That corresponds to an actual length distinction in Khanty's close relative, Mansi.

According to scholars who posit a common Ob-Ugric ancestry for both, that was also the original Proto-Ob-Ugric situation.

The Vasjugan dialect still retains the distinction word-initially and instead has shifted *ɬ > /j/ in this position.

Similarly, the palatalized lateral *ľ developed to /lʲ/ in Far Eastern and Obdorsk, /ɬʲ/ in Kazym and Surgut, and /tʲ/ elsewhere.

Note also the regularity of [xot]-[haːz] "house" and [sot]-[saːz] "hundred".

ɬʉβət miːnɐt miːntem minɐti məŋɐti niŋɐti nʉŋɐtenɐ nʉŋɐtijɐ ɬʉβɐtinɐ ɬʉβɐtɐ miːntemɐ niːnɐtenɐ niːnɐtijɐ ɬiːnɐtinɐ məŋɐtemɐ nəŋɐtenɐ nəŋɐtijɐ ɬəɣɐtinɐ mɐːnə, mɐːnnə mɐːn nʉŋnə nʉŋən, nʉŋn ɬʉβɐtinə ɬʉβnə, ɬʉβən miːntemnə miːnnə, miːnən niːnən ɬiːnɐtinnə ɬiːnnə, ɬiːnən məŋɐtinnə məŋnə, məŋən nəŋən, niŋnə ɬəɣɐtinnə ɬəɣnə, ɬəɣən mɐːni nʉŋɐteni nʉŋi ɬʉβɐtini ɬʉβɐti, ɬʉβi miːntemi miːnɐti, miːni niːnɐteni niːni ɬiːnɐtini ɬiːnɐti, ɬiːni məŋɐtini məŋɐti, məŋi nəŋɐteni niŋɐtiji, nəŋi ɬəɣɐtini ɬəɣɐti, ɬəɣi mɐːnnɐm nʉŋɐtinɐm nʉŋɐtenɐm nʉŋnɐm ɬʉβɐtinɐm ɬʉβnɐm miːnɐtimənɐ miːnɐm niːnɐtenɐm niːnɐnɐm ɬiːnɐtinɐm ɬiːnɐtijɐt məŋɐtinɐm məŋnɐm niŋɐtinɐm nəŋɐtenɐm nəŋɐtijɐ ɬəɣɐtinɐm ɬəɣnɐm mɐːnɣə nʉŋɐtiɣə nʉŋɐtenɣə nʉŋkə ɬʉβɐtinɣə ɬʉβɐtiɣə ɬʉβkə Khanty verbs must agree with the subject in person and number.

[17] Khanty has present and past tenses, indicative and imperative moods and passive and active voices.

Both Khanty and Mansi are basically nominative–accusative languages but have innovative morphological ergativity.

[23] On the sentence level, case alignment in Surgut Khanty clauses follows a nominative-accusative pattern.

[25] Imperative clauses have the same structure as declarative sentences, apart from complex predicates, whose verb may precede the preverb.

Schiefer (1972)[28] summarizes the etymological sources of Khanty vocabulary, as per Steinitz et al., as follows: Futaky (1975)[29] additionally proposes a number of loanwords from the Tungusic languages, mainly Evenki.