tatar alphabet

Alphabet for Kazan Tatar language Two versions of the Tatar alphabet are currently used. The first one is based on the Cyrillic alphabet and another one is based on the Latin alphabet.

Latin version

The Latin version of the Tatar alphabet contains 35 letters. There are 10 vowels and 25 consonants. There are 10 extra letters, namely; , Ğğ, Şş, , , , , Iı, İi and . The other letters are the same in both alphabets, but they are pronounced differently. A, , B, C, , D, E, F, G, Ğ, H, I, İ, , J, K, L, M, N, , O, , P, Q, R, S, Ş, T, U, , V, W, X, Y, Z. Tatar vowels: a/, o/, u/, /i, ı/e. The symbol ' is used for the Arabic sound glottal stop (known as hamza in Tatar). It's possible to use these letters for writing words of non-Tatar origin: , , , , In publishing the Ə letter can be used instead of , Ө instead of and Ŋ instead of Crimean Tatar has its own written form, with some differences from the Kazan Tatar orthography: there are no x, w, and .

Pronunciation

(for SAMPA see the table in the next chapter) Tatar writing is completely phonetic, full WYSIWYS (what you see is what you say).

A – a as in "ugly"
– as in "man", but less open
B – be as in "bell"
C – ce as in "jet" but without first d
– e as in "chair" but without first t
D – de as in "decade"
E – e as in "six"
F – fe as in "federal"
G – ge as in "get"
Ğ – ğı is back version of g
H – he as in "helicopter"
I – ı as in "number"
İ – i as in "kiss"
– as in "mankey"
J – je as in "azure" (garaj = garage, pronounced as in French & English)
K – ke as in "kettle"
L – le as in "leg"
M – me as in "men"
N – ne as in "never"
- e as in "English"
O – o as in "orchestra"
– as in "urge" and like German
P – pe as in "pen"
Q – qu as in "Iraq"
R – re as in "carramba"
S – se as in "sell"
Ş – şe as in "shelf"
T – te as in "telephone"
U – u as in "oops!"
– as in "fruit, nude" and linke German
V – ve as in "vegetable"
W - we as in "wall"
Y – ye as in "yes"
X – xa as "kh", or like Scottish "ch" in "loch"
Z – ze as in "zebra"

Cyrillic version

The Cyrilic version of the Tatar alphabet contains 39 letters: А Ә Б В Г Д Е (Ё) Ж Җ З И Й К Л М Н Ң О Ө П Р С Т У Ү Ф Х Һ Ц Ш Щ Ь Ы Ъ Э Ю Я Unlike Tatar Latin, Tatar Cyrillic is not WYSWYS.

Changing of alphabets

A a	A	А
\|\| á \|\| A hämzä belän \|\| А һәмзә белән \|\|
Ä ä	Ä, noqtalı A	Ә, нокталы А
\|\|Â â \|\|A dulqın belän \|\| А дулкын белән \|\|
B b	Bé	Бэ	b
C c	Cé	Җэ
Ç ç	Çé	Чэ
D d	Dé	Дэ	d
E e	E	Э	e
\|\| É é \|\| E hämzä belän, ozın E \|\| Э һәмзә белән, озын э \|\|
F f	Éf	Эф	f
G g	Gé	Ге	g
0	Ğ ğ	Ğé	Гъэ
1	H h	Hé	Һэ	h
2	İ i	İ	И	i
3	Í í	Í	Ый
4	I ı	I	Ы
5	J j	Jé	Жэ
6	K k	Ké	Ке	k
7	L l	El	Эль	l
8	M m	Ém	Эм	m
9	N n	Én	Эн	n
0	Ñ ñ	Éñ	Эң
1	O o	O	О	o, o:
\|\| ó \|\| O hämzä belän \|\| О һәмзә белән \|\|
2	Ö ö	Ö, noqtalı O	Ө, нокталы О
3	P p	Pé	Пэ	p
4	Q q	Qu	Ку	q
5	R r	Ér	Эр	r
6	S s	És	Эс	s
7	Ş ş	Şa	Ша
8	T t	Té	Тэ	t
9	U u	U	У	u
\|\| ú \|\| U hämzä belän \|\| У һәмзә белән \|\|
0	Ü ü	Ü, noqtalı U	Ү, нокталы У	Y
1	V v	Vé	Вэ	v
2	W w	Wé	Вэ (Уэ)	w
3	X x	Éx	Эх	x
4	Y y	Yé	Йэ
5	Z z	Zet	Зет	z
\|\| ' - hämzä \|\| Hämzä \|\| Һәмзә \|\| ?

History of Tatar writing

Before 1928, the Tatar language was usually written using the Arabic alphabet (or, more correctly, Persian alphabet) when it was written at all. The writing system was legaced from Bolgar. See Iske imla. The most ancient of Tatar literature (in Bolgar) was created in the beginning of the 13th century. (Qssai Yosıf by Qol-Ğli). Until 1905 all literature was in Old Tatar, which was evolved from Bolgar, which differed from modern Tatar. Since 1905 gazettes became to use modern Tatar in publishing. In 1918 the alphabet was renovated (see: Yanga imla; some letters for Tatar sounds were added, some Arabic letters were deleted). A Latin alphabet (Janalif) was created for it in 1927. However, from 1939 until 2000, the Tatar language was written in a modified Cyrillic alphabet. The transition to a revised Latin alphabet (another version, differ from Janalif) should be complete in 2011, if current legal obstacles do not prevent it. Tatarstan's government as well as human rights groups strongly oppose to the Russian Federal Law On Languages of Peoples of the Russian Federation passed in 2002. The first printed Tatar book used the Armenian alphabet in the 17th century and was printed in Leipzig (However, this is disputed). Another is Peter the Great's Manifest, printed in Arabic script at tsar's ship during his voyage to Astrakhan. Printed books appeared in mass in 1801 when the first private typography ("Oriental typography") in Kazan appeared. The first typing machine in the Arabic alphabet was created in Tatarstan in 1920's. See Janalif (typing machine) The Tatar Cyrillic script requires the Russian alphabet plus 6 extra letters: Әә, Өө, Үү, Җҗ, Ңң, Һһ. Before the 1980s, extra letters were placed after the original Russian ones, but in the 1990s the extra letters was inserted after their pairmates. Kerşen Tatar ethnic group used (uses) another Cyrillic alphabet, based on Russian, since 19th century. This alphabet requires Russian alphabet with before-1917 orthography for Russian Christian religious words and Cyrillic letters А, О, У (U) with umlauts for Tatar vowels + ligature НГ (Ng). This alphabet is related to Mari alphabet and was used because Christianizated Tatars couldn't use Arabic script.

External links

Information about Tatar writing

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