Tatar language

Tatar language
Tatar
/ Tatara /
Spoken in

Russia, other former Soviet Union

Ethnicity

Tatars

Native speakers

6,496,600

Language family

Turkic

[1]

Kipchak
KipchakBolgar

Writing system

Tatar

Cyrillic alphabet, Latin alphabet and Arabic alphabet

Official status

Official language in
Regulated by

Tatarstan (Russia)

Institute of Language, Literature and Arts of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan

[2]

Language codes
ISO 639-1

tt

ISO 639-2

tat

ISO 639-3

tat

The Tatar language (Tatar tele, Tatara, , ), or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic
language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria.

Tatar language

Geographic distribution
Tatar is spoken in Russia (about 5.3 million people), Central Asia, Ukraine, Poland, China, Finland and Turkey.
Tatar is also native for some thousands of Maris. Mordva's Qaratay group also speak Tatar. 94% of ethnic Tatar
claimed knowledge of Tatar language during the 2002 census.[3]

Official status
Tatar, along with Russian, is the official language of the Republic
of Tatarstan. The official script of Tatar language is based on the
Cyrillic alphabet with some additional letters. 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 Soviet Socialist Republic.
Tatar is also considered the official language in short-lived
Idel-Ural State, briefly formed during the Russian Civil War. 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 era, Tatar was such a language in Bashkortostan, Mari El
and other regions of the Russian SFSR.

Bilingual guide in Kazan Metro.

The usage of Tatar declined from the 1930s onwards. In the 1980s
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 a university, because all higher education was in Russian.
Tatar is no longer classified as an endangered language,[4] although it is still a low prestige language. Higher
education in Tatar can only be found in Tatarstan, 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.

Dialects of Tatar
There are 3 main dialects of Tatar: Western (Mir or Mishar), Middle (Kazan), and Eastern (Siberian). All of these
dialects also have subdivisions.
Mir
In the Western (Mir) dialect is pronounced [t] (southern or lambir mishars) and as [ts] (northern mishars or
nizhgars). C is pronounced [d]. There are no differences between v and w, q and k, g and in the Mir dialect.
(The Cyrillic alphabet doesn't have special letters for q, and w, so Mir speakers have no difficulty reading Tatar
written in Cyrillic.)
This is the dialect spoken by the Tatar minority of Finland.

Tatar language
Middle
Minzl
In the Minzl subdialect of the Middle Dialect z is pronounced [], as opposed to other dialects where it is silent.
Slang
In bilingual cities people often pronounce h as [x], q as [k], as [], w as [v]. This could be due to Russian influence.
Another possibility is that these cities were places where both the western and middle dialects were used.
The influence of Russian 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 itrg. Some English words
and phrases are also used.
There was a distinct cryptolect, the Gp, spoken predominantly in Kazan, but now it is extinct or near extinction.
Siberian Tatar
Siberian Tatars pronounce as [ts], c as [j] and sometimes b as [p], d as [t], f as p, y and j as ch, t as d, z as s and h as
k. There are also grammatical differences within the dialect, scattered across Siberia.[5]
Many linguists claim the origins of Siberian Tatar dialects are actually independent of VolgaUral Tatar; these
dialects are quite remote both from Standard Tatar and from each other, often preventing mutual comprehension.
The claim that this language is part of the modern Tatar language is typically supported by linguists in Kazan and
denounced by Siberian Tatars.
Over time, some of these dialects were given distinct names and recognized as separate languages (e.g. the Chulym
language) after detailed linguistic study. A brief linguistic analysis shows that many of these dialects exhibit features
which are quite different from the VolgaUral Tatar varieties, and should be classified as Turkic varieties belonging
to several sub-groups of the Turkic languages, distinct from Kipchak languages to which VolgaUral Tatar belongs.

Phonology
Vowels
Phonemically, Tatar may be argued to have two vowel heights, high and low. The low vowels are two, front and
back, whereas the high vowels are eight: front and back, round and unround, long and short. However, phonetically,
the short high vowels are reduced: they are mid-centralized. They are therefore generally transcribed with mid vowel
letters such as e and o: high front i , high back u, reduced (mid) front e , reduced (mid) back o, and low , a.
The high back unrounded vowel is only found in Russian loans, though the native diphthong y, which only occurs
word-finally, has been argued to be phonemically ..[6]
Phonetically, the native vowels are approximately high [i] [] [u], reduced [] [] [~] [] ( may be mid-low), and
low [a~] []. In polysyllabic words, the front-back distinction is lost in reduced vowels: all become mid-central.[6]
Reduced vowels in unstressed position are frequently elided. Low back // is rounded [] word-initially and after
[], as in bala 'child'. In Russian loans there are also [], [], and [][7]
Historically, the Turkic high vowels have become the Tatar reduced series, whereas the Turkic mid vowels have
replaced them. Thus Kazakh til 'language' and kn 'day' correspond to Tatar tel and kn, while Kazakh men 'I', qol
'hand', and kk 'sky' are in Tatar min, qul, kk.
Old:
Tatar has 16 vowel symbols representing a variable number of sounds. Tatar exhibits vowel harmony, with some of
the vowels considered front and others back.
Front vowels: [~], [], e [e], [], i [i], [], [], [y]
Back vowels: a [~], [], [], [~], o [o~o], u [u]

Tatar language

The usage of , , , , , is not universal, and sometimes y, a, ya, yo, yu and e are used instead.
Some of them are found only in Slavic loanwords, such as , , long o, long . Acute in , , denotes palatalisation,
but sometimes a palatalised 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, u, i, o, e. The last two pairs are
considered to be short vowels. They also could mean long vowels, but only in loanwords. [] and [] are not
considered to be independent vowels. Loaned vowels are considered to be back vowels.

Consonants
The consonants of Tatar
Labial Labio- Alveolar Postvelar
alveolar
Nasals
Plosives

Palatal

Velar Uvular Glottal

m /m/

n /n/

//

[]

Voiceless

p /p/

t /t/

k /k/

q [q]

' //

Voiced

b /b/

d /d/

g //

f /f/

s /s/

//

/t~/

x //

h /h/

v /v/

z /z/

j //

c /d~/

[~]

Fricatives Voiceless
Voiced
Trill
Approximants

r /r/
w /w/

l /l/

y /j/ ([j~])

Uvular consonants are allophones of velars before back vowels.

Most of these phonemes are common to or have equivalents in all Turkic languages, but the phonemes /v/, /ts/, /h/
and // are only found in loanwords in Literary Tatar. /f/ is also of foreign origin, but is also found in native words,
e.g. yafraq "leaf".[8]

Pronunciation of loanwords
While the consonants [], [f] and [v] are not native to Tatar, they are well established. However, Tatars usually
substitute fricatives for affricates, for example [] for [t], [] or [] for [d], and [s] for [ts]. Nevertheless, literary
traditions recommend the pronunciation of affricates in loanwords.
[] (hamza) is a sound found in Arabic loanwords and Islamic prayers. It is usually pronounced [e] in loanwords.

Palatalisation
Palatalisation is not common in Tatar. As a result, speakers have no problem using the Arabic and Jaalif scripts,
neither of which has an accepted method for indicating palatalisation.
In general, Russian words with palatalisation have entered into the speech of bilingual Tatars since the 1930s. When
writing in the Cyrillic alphabet, Russian words are spelled as they are in Russian. 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.

Tatar language

Syllable types

V (-ls, u-ra, -r)

VC (at-law, el-ge, ir-k)
CV (qa-la, ki-, su-la)
CVC (bar-sa, sz-law, k-le, qo-q)
VCC (ant-lar, yt-te, ilt-kn)
CVCC (trt-te, qart-lar, 'qayt-qan)

Stress is on the final syllable.

Phonetic replacement
Tatar
phonotactics
pronunciation changes.

dictate

many

Unrounded vowels may be pronounced as

rounded after o or :
qor /qoro/
born /boron/
kzge /kzg/
sor /soro/)
Nasals are assimilated to following stops:
unber /umber/
menge /mege/
Voicing may also undergo assimilation:
kzsez /kssez/
Unstressed vowels may be syncopated or
reduced:

A subway sign in Tatar (top) and Russian

urn /urn/
kilene /kilne/
bezne /bzne/
kerdem /krdem/
qr /qr/
Vowels may also be elided:
qara urman /qar'urman/
kil ide /kil'yde/
tur uram /tur'uram/
bula almm /bul'almm/
In consonant clusters longer than two phones, or e (whichever is dictated by vowel harmony) is inserted into speech
as an epenthetic vowel.
tekst /tekest/
bank /bank/ (not /bak/)
Final devoicing is also frequent:
tabb (doctor) [tabp]

Tatar language

Grammar
Like other Turkic languages, Tatar is an agglutinative language.

Plural
After vowels, consonants, hard: -lar (bala-lar, ab-lar, kitap-lar, qaz-lar, malay-lar, qar-lar, aa-lar)
After vowels, consonants, soft: -lr (ni-lr, slge-lr, dftr-lr, kibet-lr, sz-lr, bbk-lr, mktp-lr,
xref-lr)
After nasals, hard: -nar (uram-nar, urman-nar, tolm-nar, mo-nar, ta-nar, alqan-nar)
After nasals, soft: -nr (ln-nr, kelm-nr, rm-nr, i-nr, ci-nr, isem-nr)

Declension of Pronouns [9]

Personal Pronouns
Case

Singular

Plural

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

Locative

Ablative

Demonstrative Pronouns
Case

Singular

Plural

Case

"This"

"That"

"These"

"Those"

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

Locative

Ablative

Interrogative Pronouns
Case

Who?

What?

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

Locative

Ablative

Tatar language

Writing system
Tatar has been written in a number of different alphabets.
Writing was adopted from the Bolgar language, which used the
Orkhon script, before the 920s. Later, the Arabic alphabet was also
used, as well as the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.
Before 1928 Tatar was written with a variant of the Arabic
alphabet (Iske imla to 1920; Yanga imla 19201928).
In the Soviet Union after 1928, Tatar was written with a Latin
orthography called Jaalif.
In Tatarstan (a republic of Russia where Tatar is most commonly
used) and all other parts of Russia a Cyrillic alphabet was
developed and is still used to write Tatar. It is also used in
Kazakhstan.
A Latin-based system has been used mostly in Tatarstan since
2000 and generally on the Internet, although this has been less
common more recently due to the Russian law that all official
languages of Russia must be written in Cyrillic.[10]
In China, Tatars still use the Arabic alphabet variant.

Some guides in Kazan are in Latin script, especially in

fashion boutiques

History
Tatar's ancestors are the extinct Bolgar and Kipchak languages. Crimean Tatar is not closely related, being more akin
to standard Turkish.
The literary Tatar language is based on Tatar's Middle dialect and the Old Tatar language (ske Tatar Tele). Both are
members of the Kipchak group of Turkic languages, although they are also partly derived from the ancient Volga
Bolgar language.
The Tatar language has been strongly influenced by most of the Uralic languages in the Volga River area,[11] as well
as Arabic, Persian and Russian languages.[12]

Examples

ye yes
yuq no
isnme(sez)/sawm(sz) hello
slm hi
sau bul(z)/xu(z) bye bye
znhar en please
rxmt thank you
afu it(egez) excuse me
min I
sin you (sg.)
ul he / she / it
bez we

sez you (pl.)

alar they

Tatar language
millt nation
ngliz() English

Further reading
Bukharaev, R., & Matthews, D. J. (2000). Historical anthology of Kazan Tatar verse: voices of eternity.
Richmond, Surrey: Curzon. ISBN 0700710779
PEN (Organization). (1998). Tatar literature today. Kazan: Magarif Publishers.
Poppe, N. N. (1963). Tatar manual: descriptive grammar and texts with a Tatar-English glossary. Bloomington:
Indiana University.

Notes
[1] Ethnologue report (http:/ / www. ethnologue. com/ show_language. asp?code=tat)
[2] http:/ / www. ijli. antat. ru/ language. html
[3] Russian Census 2002. 6. ( ) ,
(http:/ / www. perepis2002. ru/ ct/ doc/ TOM_04_06. xls)(Knowledge of languages
other than Russian by the population of republics, autonomous oblast and autonomous districts)(Russian)
[4] Wurm, S; Unesco. (2001). Atlas of the world's languages in danger of disappearing. Paris: Unesco Pub.,. ISBN9789231037986.
[5] Information about Siberian Tatar (http:/ / www. helsinki. fi/ ~tasalmin/ nasia_report. html#SibTatar)
[6] Harrison and Kaun, "Vowels and Vowel Harmony in Namangan Tatar", in Aronson, Holisky, & Tuite (2003) Current Trends in Caucasian,
East European and Inner Asian Linguistics
[7] rpd Berta, "Tatar and Bashkir". In Johanson & Csat (1998) The Turkic languages
[8] rpd Berta, "Tatar and Bashkir," The Turkic Languages (1998, Routledge), pg. 283
[9] Pronoun declensions based on or extrapolated from information contained on http:/ / www. tatar. com. ru/ grammatika. php (
)
[10] "Russia reconsiders Cyrillic law" (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/ hi/ europe/ 3718174. stm). BBC News. 2004-10-05. . Retrieved 2010-05-24.
[11] Tatar language Princeton University (http:/ / www. princeton. edu/ ~turkish/ aatt/ tatar. htm)
[12] (Russian) : (http:/ / www. languages-study. com/ tatar. html)

8. auevi, Ekrem: Kazantatarisch. (= Wieser Enzyklopaedie des Europaeischen Ostens / Okuka, Milo & Krenn,
Gerald (ur.). Klagenfurt-Wien-Ljubljana : Wieser Verlag, 2002.. Str. 793797.]; http:/ / www. uni-klu. ac. at/ eeo/
Kasantatarisch.pdf

External links
Tatar language on Ethnologue (http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=TTR)
Tatar language (http://www.dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Language_and_Linguistics/
Natural_Languages/Altaic/Turkic/Tatar//) at the Open Directory Project (English)
Tatar language (http://www.dmoz.org/World/Tatara/Fnnr/ctma_Fnnr/
Tel_w_Tel_beleme/Tatara//) at the Open Directory Project (Tatar), (Russian)
Tatar dictionaries (http://www.dmoz.org/Reference/Dictionaries/World_Languages/T/Tatar//) at the Open
Directory Project (English)
Web directory (http://www.dmoz.org/World/Tatara//) at the Open Directory Project (Tatar)
Tatar.Net (http://www.tatar.net/)
website of the National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan (http://www.kitaphane.ru/)

Tatar language

Language studies

Information about Tatar writing (http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tatar.htm)

Textbook on morphology of Tatar language (http://tugan-tel.at.tt/belem/sarif/) (Russian)
Course of Tatar language (http://tugan-tel.at.tt/belem/deres/) (Russian)
tatar.org.ru (http://tatar.org.ru/course/view.php?id=18)
Tatar tele turnda sxif (http://tugan-tel.noka.ru/forum/)
Tatar.com.ru: Tatar language course (http://www.tatar.com.ru) (Russian)

Forums
Tatar mailing list (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tatar-l/) (English)
Tatar forum (http://tugan-tel.noka.ru/forum/) (Tatar)
IRC channel #tatar (irc://irc.freenode.net/tatar) on the freenode network

History and literature

Tatar poetry (http://shigriyat.ru/) (Tatar)
Tatar myths (http://www.alabuga.ru/City/History/TatarMyths/), including the story of rle (Russian)
Tatar library (http://kitapxane.noka.ru/authors/)
Tatar Electronic Library (http://kitap.net.ru/) (Russian) (Tatar)
Links to other Tatar language resources (http://peoples.org.ru/eng_tatar.html)

Dictionaries

Russian-Tatar On-Line Dictionary (a) (http://www.suzlek.ru/suzlek/main.show)

Russian-Tatar On-Line Dictionary (b) (http://tatarisem.narod.ru/slovar.html)
Turkish-Tatar On-Line Dictionary (http://dictionary.suleyman.cc/tatarca.php)
Concise English-Tatar On-Line Dictionary (http://agidel.virtualave.net/frame.html)

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Tatar language Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443537999 Contributors: .:Ajvol:., 1297, AKeckarov, Absar, Abu Amal Bahraini, Aeusoes1, Ahoerstemeier, Ajhowey275,
Al Beri, Alaexis, Alansohn, Alaudo, Amire80, Ams80, Anclation, Andres65, Andrew Dalby, Andries, Ante Aikio, AtilimGunesBaydin, Avicennasis, Avram, AxelBoldt, Barefact, Baristarim,
Batisbatis, Beginning, Benne, Biruitorul, Bogdangiusca, Borovi4ok, Brianski, Burschik, CSWarren, Cassowary, Chapultepec, ChrisCork, Circeus, Cmdrjameson, Coemgenus, Coroboy, Crculver,
Croquant, Curps, DanMS, Danny, Dbachmann, Deb, DopefishJustin, E104421, Edwinstearns, Ekrem52, Embryomystic, Everyking, ExRat, Fazullin, FlyHigh, Garzo, Geneb1955, Glebchik,
Gr8opinionater, Graham87, Guslacerda, Gwalla, Hottentot, IceKarma, Ilgiz, Internedko, Ish ishwar, It's-is-not-a-genitive, Japo, Jeepo, Jmgonzalez, Jnestorius, Jon Harald Sby, JorisvS, Jose77,
Junes, Jyril, Khoikhoi, Kirill Skorobogat, KittySaturn, Kmoksy, Kneiphof, Kwamikagami, Lucyin, MK8, Mahlum, Mahmudmasri, Mani1, Markaci, Mayumashu, Megabyde, Mglovesfun,
MichaelBillington, Mick Knapton, Mike hayes, Mohsenkazempur, Monedula, Munferit, N-true, Ogress, Olivier, OwenBlacker, Parishan, Pasquale, Penthrift, PlatypeanArchcow, PuzzletChung,
Quigley, RetiredUser2, Riwnodennyk, Rogerb67, Rosiestep, Rudjek, Rursus, Ruslik0, Rustam, Salgueiro, Shaile, Silvermane, Spring01, StradivariusTV, Straughn, Sverdrup, Taivo, TarzanASG,
Timir2, Tomh009, Tothwolf, Tropylium, Tuluat, Ulric1313, Unoffensive text or character, Untifler, UtherSRG, Vassili Nikolaev, Vmenkov, Voyevoda, Wavelength, Whlee, Wikiacc,
Woohookitty, Wrathchild, XStandartX, Xophist, Yhlee1010, Zunaid, 93, , , 00, , 238 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:Flag of Tatarstan.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Tatarstan.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Fibonacci
Image:Sylmsk.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sylmsk.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Gleb Borisov, Man vyi, Obakeneko, Untifler
Image:Kazan metro sign.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kazan_metro_sign.JPG License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Man vyi, Palefire
Image:Tatar guide in Latin.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tatar_guide_in_Latin.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Untifler

License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
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