The Turks and their language progressively gained influence, however, and Turkish dynasties eventually became the rulers of Transoxania in 999.

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Even after the Arab conquest, Persian remained the language of local rulers, as Iranian administrators, mullahs and traders settled in the cities of Transoxania (which covered much of today's Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan), and is the basis of the language spoken by the Tajiks today.

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Olivier Roy, a Paris-based specialist on Central Asia, points to the cultural split in the region between the nomads from the steppes and mountains, mainly Kirgizs, Kazakhs and Turkmens, and the sedentary, mainly urban Uzbeks and Tajiks who settled in the river basins of Transoxania.

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