Mongolian is the best-known member of the Mongolic language family which is a group of languages spoken in Central Asia. It is the primary language spoken in Mongolia. The Khalkha dialect is the variety used by the majority of Mongolian speakers. A variety of alphabets have been used to write Mongolian over the years. Although it has undergone modifications and has even been been supplanted by other scripts for periods of time, the original Mongolian alphabet can be traced all the way back to the twelfth century and was used by Mongolians until the early 1940s, when it was replaced by the more popular Cyrillic alphabet. The traditional alphabet is currently being reintroduced in the public school system. Languages that are related to Mongolian include Buryat of East Siberia, Kalmyk spoken in the Caspian Sea region as well as a number of smaller languages in the Moghol of Afghanistan and China.