See Also

Tatar language

The Tatar language is a Turkic Turkic languages

The Turkic languages constitute a language family [i] of some thirty languages, spoken across a vast are ... 

 language Language

A language is a system [i] of [i]s, such as voice sounds, gestures or written symbol [i] ... 

 spoken by the Tatars Tatars

Tatars , often misspelled Tartar, is a collective name applied to the Turkic speaking [i] ... 

. Some linguists believe that Turkic is a member of the hypothetical Altaic language family.

Discussions

  Discussion Features

   Ask a question about 'Tatar language'

   Start a new discussion about 'Tatar language'

   Answer questions about 'Tatar language'

   'Tatar language' discussion forum


Encyclopedia

The Tatar language is a Turkic Turkic languages

The Turkic languages constitute a language family [i] of some thirty languages, spoken across a vast are ... 

 language Language

A language is a system [i] of [i]s, such as voice sounds, gestures or written symbol [i]... 

 spoken by the Tatars Tatars

Tatars , often misspelled Tartar, is a collective name applied to the Turkic speaking [i] ... 

. Some linguists believe that Turkic is a member of the hypothetical Altaic language family.

Classification

Tatar is a Turkic language Turkic languages

The Turkic languages constitute a language family [i] of some thirty languages, spoken across a vast are ... 

, which is considered part of the disputed Altaic language family.

Other European , Caucasian Languages of the Caucasus

The languages of the Caucasus are a large and extremely varied array of languages spoken by more than te... 

 and West-Siberian Turco-Tatar languages are quite similar to Kazan Tatar, but not necessarily mutually intelligible with it.

Geographic distribution

Tatar is spoken in some parts of Europe Europe

Europe is one of the seven traditional continent [i]s of the Earth [i]. ... 

, Russia Russia

Russia , also the Russian Federation , is a country [i] that stretches over a vast expanse of Eurasia [i] ... 

, Siberia Siberia

Siberia is a vast region of Russia [i] constituting almost all of Northern Asia [i]. ... 

, China China

China is a cultural region [i] and ancient civilization [i] in East Asia [i]. ... 

, Turkey Turkey

Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a Eurasia [i]n country that stretches across the Anatolia [i] ... 

, Poland Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country located in Central Europe [i]. ... 

, Ukraine Ukraine

Ukraine is a country [i] in Eastern Europe [i]. ... 

, Finland Finland

The Republic of Finland , is one of the Nordic countries [i]. ... 

, Estonia Estonia

Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia , is a country in Northern Europe [i]. ... 

 and Central Asia Central Asia

Central Asia is a vast landlocked [i] region of Asia [i]. ... 

.

Kazan Tatar is also native for 400,000 Bashkirs Bashkirs

The Bashkirs, a Turkic people [i], live in Russia [i], mostly in the republic of Bashkortostan [i]. ... 

, especially those living in Ufa Ufa

Ufa is the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan [i], Russia [i]. ... 

, and some thousands of Maris. Mordva's Qaratay group also speak Tatar. The Tatar language is an international communication language between Tatars Tatars

Tatars , often misspelled Tartar, is a collective name applied to the Turkic speaking [i] ... 

, Bashkirs, Chuvashs, Kazakh Kazakhs

The Kazakhs, are a Turkic people [i] of the northern parts of Central Asia [i]. ... 

s, Maris, Mordvins, and Udmurts.

Official status



Tatar is the official language of the Republic of Tatarstan Tatarstan

The Republic of Tatarstan or, unofficial, Tataria is a federal subject [i]... 

. The official script of Tatar language is based on the Cyrillic alphabet Cyrillic alphabet

The Cyrillic alphabet is an alphabet [i] used for several East and South Slavic languages [i]; and many other languages [i] ... 

 with some additional letters not used in Slavic languages. Sometimes other scripts are used, mostly Latin and Arabic. All official sources in Tatarstan use Cyrillic at their web-sites and publishing. In other cases, where Tatar has no official status, the use of a specific alphabet depends on the preference of the author. Guides in Tatarstan are published in two alphabets.

The Tatar language was made a de facto official language in Russia in 1917 , but only in the Tatar-Bashkir Soviet Socialist Republic. Tatar is also considered the only official language in Idel-Ural State Idel-Ural State

Idel-Ural literally means "Volga-Ural" in Tatar [i].
... 

.

One should note however, that Bolshevist Russia did not recognize official languages as such; however, there were a number of languages that could be used in trial in some republics. In the Soviet Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , more commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a Communist state [i] ... 

 epoch, Tatar was such a language in Bashkortostan Bashkortostan

The Republic of Bashkortostan, or Bashkiria is a federal subject [i] of ... 

, Mari El Mari El

The Mari El Republic is a federal subject [i] of Russia [i]. ... 

 and other regions of the Russian SFSR .

The usage of Tatar declined from the 1930s 1930s

... 

 onwards. In the 1980s 1980s

The 1980s [i] officially refers to the years from 1980 [i] to 1989 [i]. ... 

 it was not studied in city schools, not even by Tatar pupils. Although the language was used in rural schools, Tatar-speaking pupils had little chance to enter university, because all higher education was in Russian.

In the beginning of the 1990s 1990s

The 1990s [i] decade [i] refers to the years from 1990 [i] to 1999 [i], inclusive, sometimes informally ... 

 most Russia Russia

Russia , also the Russian Federation , is a country [i] that stretches over a vast expanse of Eurasia [i] ... 

n republics declared their titular nation's language as official. In Bashkortostan Bashkortostan

The Republic of Bashkortostan, or Bashkiria is a federal subject [i] of ... 

, the Tatar population exceeds that of the Bashkir; however, Tatar does not have an official status, even though 0.5 million Bashkirs and all Bashkortostan Tatars speak it. At the last presidential election current president Murtaza Rakhimov was supported by Tatars only because he promised to make Tatar the third official language of Bashkortostan Bashkortostan

The Republic of Bashkortostan, or Bashkiria is a federal subject [i] of ... 

.

According to some, Tatar is no longer an endangered language, although it is still a low prestige language. Higher education in Tatar can only be found in Tatarstan Tatarstan

The Republic of Tatarstan or, unofficial, Tataria is a federal subject [i]... 

, and is restricted to the humanities. In other regions Tatar is primarily a spoken language and the number of speakers as well as their proficiency tends to decrease. Tatar is popular as a written language only in Tatar-speaking areas where schools with Tatar language lessons are situated. On the other hand, Tatar is the only language in use in rural districts of Tatarstan Administrative divisions of Tatarstan

*Cities and towns under republic's jurisdiction
... 

.

Dialects of Kazan Tatar


There are 3 main dialects of Tatar: Western , Middle , and Eastern . All of these dialects also have subdivisions.
Misär
In the Western dialect Ç is pronounced as and as . C is pronounced as . There are no differences between v and w, q and k, g and g in Misär dialect. So, modern Tatar Cyrillic alphabet represent Mishar pronunciation WYSIWYS, but for the main speakers of the language Cyrillic has difficult rules to pronounce right.
Middle

Minzälä
In the Minzälä subdialect of the Middle Dialect z is pronounced as , as opposed to other dialects where it is silent.
Slang
In bilingual city people often pronounce x instead of h, k instead of q, g instead of g , v instead of w - or making the distinction is less common than it used to be. This could be viewed as an influence of the Russian language. Another theory is that these cities were places where both the Western and Middle dialects were used.

The influence of Russian language is significant. Russian words and phrases are used with Tatar grammar or Russian grammar in Tatar texts. Some Russian verbs are taken entirely, un-nativized, and followed with itärgä. Some English words and phrases are also used.
Siberian Tatar

The Siberian Tatars use a different language than literary Kazan Tatar. Kazan Tatar was used as literary writing language before 1930, but since then only Russian has been used as a written language.

Siberian Tatars pronounce [ts] instead of ç, [j] instead of c and sometimes [p] and [t] instead of b and d. There are also grammatical differences within the dialect, scattered across Western Siberia.

The language of the Chulym Tatars is considered to be an independent language, as are the other "Tatar" languages to the East of them.

Tatar in Russia


There are ~5,300,000 Tatar speakers in Russia. Only ~4,500,000 of them are Tatars. . Other speakers are Bashkirs , Russians , Chuvashs , Maris , Udmurts and Mordvins. There are local Tatar language speakers in Tatarstan, this number includes Azeri Azerbaijani people

The Azerbaijanis are an ethnic group [i] mainly found in northwestern Iran [i] and the Republic of Azerbaijan [i] ... 

, Armenia Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked [i] mountainous country in the South ... 

n, Kazakh Kazakhs

The Kazakhs, are a Turkic people [i] of the northern parts of Central Asia [i]. ... 

 and Jew Jew

Jews are followers of Judaism [i] or, more generally, members of the Jewish people , an ethno [i]... 

ish communities.

Phonology


Vowels


Tatar has 16 vowel symbols representing a variable number of sounds. As a Turkic language, Tatar exhibits vowel harmony Vowel harmony

Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory [i] phonological [i] ... 

, with some of the vowels considered front and others back.

Front vowels: ä , â , e , é , i , ó , ö , ü

Back vowels: , á , í , i , o , u-ú

The usage of í, â, á, ó, ú, é is not universal, and sometimes iy, a, ya, yo, yu and e are used instead.

Some of them are found only in Slavic loanwords, such as é, ó, long o, long i. Acute in á, ó, ú denotes palatalisation, but sometimes a palatalisated consonant is marked by following y before the vowel. This is only a problem for Russian loanwords.

The commonly pronounced 10 vowels are native Tatar vowels: a-ä, u-ü, í-i, o-ö, i-e. The last two pairs considered to be short vowels. They also could mean a long vowels, but only in loanwords. and are not considered to be an independent vowels. Loaned vowels considered to be back vowels.

Consonants

caption | The consonants of Tatar
Bilabial Bilabial consonant

In phonetics [i], a bilabial consonant is a consonant [i] articulated with both lip [i]s.... 

Labio-
dental
Labiodental consonant

In phonetics [i], labiodentals are consonants [i] articulated with the lower lip and the upper... 

Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Postalveolar consonant

Postalveolar consonants are consonant [i]s articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of ... 

Palatal Palatal consonant

Palatal consonants are consonant [i]s articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate [i] ... 

Velar Velar consonant

Velars are consonant [i]s articulated with the back part of the tongue
... 

Uvular Uvular consonant

Uvulars are consonant [i]s articulated with the back of the tongue [i] against or near the uvula [i], t ... 

Glottal Vocal folds

The vocal folds, also known popularly as vocal cords, are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane [i] ... 

Plosives p /p/ b /b/  t /t/ d /d/    k /k/ g /g/ q /q/ 
Nasals m /m/  n /n/    ñ /?/ 
Fricatives  f /f/ v /v/ s /s/ z /z/  s /?/
ç /?/
j /?/
c /?/
   g /?/  h /h/
Trill    r /r/     
Approximant      y /j/   
Lateral
approximant
Lateral consonant

Laterals are "L"-like consonant [i]s pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the t ... 

     l /l/    


Most of these phonemes are common to or have equivalents in all Turkic languages.

The phonemes , and were borrowed from Arabic and European languages in the Middle Ages, while /v/ was borrowed in the beginning of 20th century. Differentiation between /h/ and /x/ appeared in the 10th century with the appearance of the word Allah Allah

Allah is the Arabic language [i] word referring to "God [i]", "the Lord" and, literally according to the ... 

and the strongest influence of Arabic and Persian languages. During the atheist Atheism

Atheism, in its broadest sense, is the absence of belief in the existence of deities [i]. ... 

ic Soviet Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , more commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a Communist state [i] ... 

 period, the occurrence of greatly reduced.

Pronunciation of loanwords

While the consonants , and are not native to Tatar, they are well established. However, Tatars usually substitute fricatives for affricates, for example for , or for and for . Nevertheless, literary traditions recommend pronunciation of affricates in loanwords.

is a sound found in Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

 loanwords and Islamic prayer Salat

Salat, meaning to pray, or to bless, generally refers to prayers that Muslim [i]s offer to God and most ... 

s. It is usually pronounced as in loanwords.

Palatalisation


Palatalisation is not common in the Tatar language. As a result, Tatar speakers have no problem using the Arabic and Ja?alif Ja?alif

... 

 scripts, neither of which has an accepted method for indicating palatisation.

In general, Russian words with palatalisation have entered into the speech of bilingual Tatars since the 1930s 1930s

... 

. When writing in the Cyrillic alphabet Russian words were spelled as they were in the Russian language. In today's Latin orthography, palatalisation is sometimes represented by an acute diacritic under the vowel.

Some Tatars speak Russian without palatalisation, which is known as a Tatar accent.

Syllable types


  • V
  • VC
  • CV
  • CVC
  • VCC
  • CVCC

Phonetic replacement


Tatar phonotactics dictate many pronunciation changes.

Unrounded vowels may be pronounced as rounded after o or ö:

qori /qoro/

borin /boron/

közge /közgö/

sori /soro/)

Nasals are assimilated to following stops:

unber /umber/

mengeç /meñgeç/

Voicing may also undergo assimilation:

küzsez /küssez/

Unstressed vowels may be syncopated or reduced:

urini /urni/

kilene /kilne/

bezne /bezne/

kerdem /kerdem/

qirgiç /qirgiç/

Vowels may also be elided:

qara urman /qar'urman/

kilä ide /kilä'yde/

turi uram /tur'uram/

bula almím /bul'almím/

In consonant clusters longer than two phones, i or e is inserted into speech as an epenthetic vowel.

tekst ? /tekest/

bank ? /banik/

Final devoicing is also frequent:

tabíb ? [tabíp]

Grammar


Like other Turkic languages, Tatar is an agglutinative language.

Plural


  • After vowels, consonants, hard: -lar
  • After vowels, consonants, soft: -lär
  • After nasals, hard: -nar
  • After nasals, soft: -när

Writing system



Tatar has been written in a number of different alphabets.

Writing was adopted from the Bolgar language, which used the Orkhon script Orkhon script

The Orkhon script is the earliest known Turkic [i] alphabet [i]. ... 

, before the 920s. Later, the Arabic alphabet Arabic alphabet

The Arabic alphabet is the script [i] used for writing Arabic [i] and var... 

 was also used, as well as the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.

Pre-1928

Before 1928 Tatar was written with a variant of the Arabic alphabet .

1927-1938

In Soviet Union Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , more commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a Communist state [i] ... 

 Tatar was written with a Latin Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabet [i]ic writing system [i] ... 

 orthography called Ja?alif Ja?alif

... 

.

Cyrillic

In Tatarstan Tatarstan

The Republic of Tatarstan or, unofficial, Tataria is a federal subject [i]... 

  and all other parts of Russia Russia

Russia , also the Russian Federation , is a country [i] that stretches over a vast expanse of Eurasia [i] ... 

 a Cyrillic alphabet Cyrillic alphabet

The Cyrillic alphabet is an alphabet [i] used for several East and South Slavic languages [i]; and many other languages [i] ... 

 is used to write Tatar; also in Kazakhstan.

Modern Latin

A Latin alphabet Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabet [i]ic writing system [i] ... 

-based system has been used mostly in Tatarstan Tatarstan

The Republic of Tatarstan or, unofficial, Tataria is a federal subject [i]... 

 since 2000 and generally on the Internet Internet

The Internet is the worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer network [i]s that ... 

, although this has been less common more recently due to the Russia Russia

Russia , also the Russian Federation , is a country [i] that stretches over a vast expanse of Eurasia [i] ... 

n law that all languages of Russia must be written in Cyrillic.

History

Tatar's ancestors are the extinct Bolgar and Kipchak Kipchaks

Kipchaks are an ancient Turkic people [i], first mentioned in the historical chronicles of Central Asia [i] ... 

 languages.

The literary Tatar language is based on Kazan Tatar's Middle dialect and the Old Tatar language . Both are members of the Kypchak Kipchaks

Kipchaks are an ancient Turkic people [i], first mentioned in the historical chronicles of Central Asia [i] ... 

  group of Turkic languages Turkic languages

The Turkic languages constitute a language family [i] of some thirty languages, spoken across a vast are ... 

, although they are also partly derived from the ancient Volga Bolgar language.

The Tatar language strongly influenced most of the Caucasian Languages of the Caucasus

The languages of the Caucasus are a large and extremely varied array of languages spoken by more than te... 

, Slavic Slavic languages

The Slavic languages , a group of closely related language [i]s of the Slavic peoples [i] and a subgroup ... 

 and Finnic languages in the Volga River Volga River

The Volga, widely viewed as the national river of Russia [i], flows through the western part of the coun... 

 area.

Examples


  • äye - yes
  • yuq - no
  • isänme/sawmi - hello
  • sälâm - hi
  • saw bul/xus - bye bye
  • zínhar öçen - please
  • min - I
  • sin - you
  • ul - he / she / it
  • bez - we
  • sez - you
  • alar - they
  • millät - nation
  • Ingliz - English

See also


  • Tatars Tatars

    Tatars , often misspelled Tartar, is a collective name applied to the Turkic speaking [i] ... 

  • Tatar alphabet Tatar alphabet

    Two scripts are currently used for the Tatar language [i]: Cyrillic [i] and Latin [i]. ... 

  • Russification

External links



Language studies







Forums


  • IRC Internet Relay Chat

    Internet Relay Chat is a form of realtime internet [i] chat [i]. ... 

     channel [irc://irc.freenode.net/tatar #tatar] on the FreeNode network

History and literature


  • , including the story of


Dictionaries