Correspondence of the Tatar Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. Tatar writing. Typography in Arabic script

introductory course

In order to master the target language, knowledge of words alone is, of course, not enough. It is necessary to master the rules of combining words, forming word forms, or, in other words, the grammar of a new language. The introductory course of this tutorial pursues precisely this goal: to acquaint the Russian-speaking reader with the basic rules of Tatar grammar in the simplest and most understandable way. We constantly relied on the reader's knowledge of Russian grammar and paid more attention to the contrasting elements of the Tatar and Russian languages.

The introductory part consists of ten paragraphs and will serve as a kind of grammar reference for you when working with the Main course. In addition to this tutorial, you will need Tatar-Russian educational dictionary and patience.

♫ audio material for the lesson

§ 1. Phonetics

1.1. The graphics of the Tatar language are based on the Cyrillic alphabet. This gives some advantage to the Russian reader, but on the other hand, it contributes to the appearance of errors due to the inconsistency of some letters.

The graphics of the Tatar language for 1000 years were based on Arabic writing, until 1927. From 1927 to 1939, the Latin alphabet was used, on the basis of which spelling rules were carefully developed. The basic principles of spelling were also used in the transition to Russian graphics. In modern Tatar writing, all letters of the Russian alphabet are used with the addition of special characters for specific Tatar phonemes: ә, ө, ү, җ, ң, һ.

Changes of two alphabets within one century could not but affect the state of the spelling of the language. The phonetic system of the Tatar language was replenished with Russian phonemes<ч>, <ц>- , . And in the spelling of the Tatar language, the principle of graphic design of Russians and borrowings that came through the Russian language, i.e. new Russian and European words in the Tatar language are written similarly to their Russian version.

Tatar alphabet

A a F f N n U y y y

Ә ә Җ җ ң Y ү ъ

B b Z z O o F s

B in I and Ө ө X x b

G g Y y P p Һ һ E e

D d K k R r ts y u

E e L l S s h h i i

Yo yo M m T t Sh w

The pronunciation of the six specific letters of the Tatar alphabet, of course, is best practiced under the guidance of an experienced teacher. But if you learn their approximate pronunciation with the help of these tips and the following exercises, this will not be an obstacle to learning the language.

[ә] = [æ] - this sound can otherwise be denoted as [''a], that is, very soft [a]. It is close to Russian ['a] in the words 'sit', 'look', 'row'. When pronouncing [''a], lower the tip of the tongue to the lower teeth, and you will get the sound [æ]. By the way, he is in English language: black, hat - , .

[ү] = [ü] - soft and more rounded ['y]. A sound close to it is found in the Russian words "bale", "ditch", "lute". Say these words, giving ['u] even more rounding (curl your lips into a tube), and you will approximately get the sound you are looking for.

[ө] = [ә:°] - this vowel is the most difficult for the Russian-speaking reader. The closest variant of the Tatar [ө] can be found in the words "maple", "honey", "Peter". But in the Tatar language [ө] is short, and Russian [’o] is found only under stress. Try to pronounce these Russian words as shortly as possible and with a big round, and you will be close to the desired sound. It looks like a frequent sound in English: bird, work. But English sound lack of ugliness.

[җ] - this sound is also often found in English, and in borrowings from English in Russian it is transmitted by the letter combination j: "jumper", "Jack". Tatar borrowings are also drawn up: dzhilyan - җilәn, Jalil - Җәlil. The sound [zh] in Russian is always hard, but it is usually not difficult for a Russian-speaking reader to form a soft version from it. It should be noted that the hard [zh] is also uncharacteristic for the Tatar language, as ['zh] is for Russian. Therefore, mixing of these sounds, as a rule, does not occur.

[ң] - a nasal sound formed with the help of a small tongue. The closest in Russian can be considered the sound combination [ng] in the word "gong" when pronouncing it through the nose. This sound is often found in French: jardin, bien, chien [òjeŋ]. It has been noticed that mastering this sound with the help of a consultant teacher is not at all difficult. And if you have the opportunity to check your pronunciation, do not neglect this opportunity.

[h] = [h] - pharyngeal sound. It is formed in the pharynx and pronounced with a breath. There is a sound close to it in English: hat, hand, hare. In Russian, the closest sound can be considered [x] in the words robe, chill, if you pronounce it without a guttural overtone. It must be remembered that the Tatar [һ] is of more posterior, pharyngeal origin.

EXERCISES

a) Say several times each row:

ak-әk, az-әz, at-әt, ar-әr, am-әm;

ak-әk-uk-үk, az-az-uz-үz, uky-үke;

he-өn, om-öm, ok-ök, as-әs-us-үs-os-өs;

zhi-җi, zhe-җe, zhu-җu;

un-un, an-an, in-yin;

ham-һәm, khas-һәs, hat-һava.

b) Read, paying attention to the new sound letters (try to guess the meaning of the highlighted words):

mәk, rәt, shәp, fәn, bәlesh, tәrtә, chәynek, tәlinkҙ, eshlәpә, kәbestә;

mүk, kүk, kүl, kүp, bүre, kүrәgә, kusәk, bүrәnә;

kөn, tөn, köl, tölke, örpäk, köräk, ästäl;

kәҗә, җen, җil, җir, җәй, җyyu, җyly, җyr, rәnҗү;

son, in, an, un, tan, tanre, barange;

һava, һich, һәr, һөнәр.

When performing the exercise, pronounce the last syllable clearly.

1.2. The complexities of the sound system of the Tatar language are not limited to specific Tatar letters. In addition, there is a discrepancy between common letters for the Tatar and Russian alphabets.

a - in the Tatar language, this letter denotes a more rear, wider and somewhat rounded sound [аү]. When pronouncing it in the word pencil, try to create as much space in your mouth as possible, and you will approximately get Tatar [a].

o, e, s - for these vowels of the Tatar alphabet, in comparison with Russian, brevity is characteristic. Since in the Russian language there is no meaningful opposition of vowels in longitude, for a Russian-speaking reader at first this will seem insignificant. But getting used to this phenomenon is not difficult. It is important to pay attention to this from the very beginning of training, until the use of these sounds becomes the norm.

v - this letter in the Tatar language serves to designate two sounds: [v] and [w]. The second sound is in English, and in borrowings it is transmitted in two ways: William - William. The same is with regional borrowings from the Tatar language: avyl - aul, karavyl - guard. In the Tatar language itself, this sound can be denoted by the letter y: sorau [soraw] - soravy [sorawy].

g - this letter also denotes two sounds. These are quite different sounds. This sound, formed with the help of a small tongue, is familiar to the Russian-speaking reader: it is obtained when a person burrs and does not pronounce [r].

k - similarly to the letter g, it denotes two sounds [k] and [қ]. The sound [k] is a deaf pair [g].

h - Russian affricate, that is, there is practically no complex sound [tsh '] in the Tatar language. It is used only in borrowings due to the knowledge of the Russian language by the majority of Tatars, as well as in some dialects. The letter h in the Tatar language approximately denotes the sound [sh ’], or what in Russian is denoted by the letter u.

THE EXERCISE

Read the transcription:

how [how] - how [қaқ]; court [kort] - court [қŏrt]; syrt [sĭrt] - sort [sort] - sort [sort]; without [without] - without [bĕz]; son [son] - son [sĭn]; gөl [gөl] - goal [goal]; cards [cards] - cards [қart]: count [count] - count [kol]; chana [sh'ana] - chan [tsh'an]; chyk [sh'ĭk] - brush [sh'otka] - clearly [tsh'otka]; koch [kosh '] - tussock [kotsh'ka].

1.3. Now you practically know the pronunciation of all Tatar letters(there are a few more peculiar moments of the Tatar sound system, but they are not of fundamental importance at the initial stage). You also need to know the fundamental laws of Tatar phonetics. They are in any language, and they must be constantly remembered during the first classes. In the Tatar language, the three main rules of practical phonetics are:

- the law of synharmonism;

- the rule of striving for an open syllable;

- clear pronunciation of the last syllable.

In the Tatar language, all words are divided by pronunciation into hard and soft. We call hard words those in which non-front vowels are used: [a], [o], [y], [s]. And soft are words in which front vowels are used: [ә], [ө], [ү], [e], [i].

Soft sounds: [ә], [ө], [ү], [e], [and].

Solid sounds: [a], [o], [y], [s].

Pay attention to the paired opposition of hardness-softness.

This law has great importance, since not only all words, but also all suffixes obey this law of synharmonism. Accordingly, almost all suffixes, particles have two options: hard and soft. Therefore, you need to learn how to determine the softness or hardness of Tatar words by ear.

Read aloud several times, try to hear the difference between the pronunciation of different columns:

Soft words - Hard words

өstәl (table) -arysh (rye)

bүrәnә (log) -balyk (fish)

eslәpә (hat) -san (number)

kharef (letter) -bash (head)

suz (word) -avyl (village)

rәsem (drawing) -altyn (gold)

ber (one) -alty (six)

ike (two) -tugyz (nine)

өch (three) -syynif (class)

kon (day) - shoe (shoe)

tәrҗemә (translation) -kaida (where)

nәrsә (what) -kaichan (when)

nichek (as) -bara (goes)

whom (who) -katyk (katyk, a national drink resembling kefir)

eskämiya (bench) -torba (pipe)

For the Tatar language, the neighborhood of two or more consonants is uncharacteristic. Of course. they are found, but compared with the Russian language, they are very few in number. Most often, consonants coexist with sonants (sonants: [p], [l], [m], [n], [th], [w]) or at the junction of the root and the suffix.

To better understand the phonetic psychology of the Tatar language, you can refer to the mastered borrowings from Russian: table - өstәl, furrow - brown, stack - eskert, cage - kelәt, pipe - sack, resin - sumala, rye - arysh, ditch - kanau.

As for stress, in the Tatar language it is qualitatively different from Russian. Remember that all syllables in the Tatar language must be pronounced clearly. Therefore, from the very beginning of training, you should make a weak accent on the last syllable, so you will get rid of the common mistake of Russian speakers who study foreign languages: "swallow the endings of words."

Another important law of the Tatar language is the phonetic principle of spelling, i.e. “As we hear, so we write.” There are quite a few exceptions to this law: first of all, these are borrowings from Arabic and new borrowings from Russian. But, despite this, the rule “as it is heard, so it is written” must be remembered, since it is fundamentally different from Russian spelling.

Compare:

Russian language Tatar language

kolobok [kalabok] kitap [kitap]

kolobok [kalapka] kitabyn [kitabyn]

milk [malako] kolagym [kolagym]

drill [swirl '] colactan [kolaktan]

THE EXERCISE

a) Write these words in two columns and read them aloud several times:

soft words hard words

ishek (door), өstәl, uryndyk (chair), nәrsә, bu (this), kara (black), ber, berenche (first), kөl (ash), stake (slave), Idel (Volga), bәrәңge (potato) , һөnәr (craft), karama (elm), chәchәk (flower), eskәmiya, esketer (tablecloth), bashlyk (hood), altyn (gold), saryk (sheep), kolak (ear), avyz (mouth).

When possessive suffixes are added to words ending in deaf sounds, voicing occurs, which is reflected in the letter.

b) Write the missing words:

kitap - kitabym, saryk - ..., uryndyk - uryndygym, ... - kolagym, ishek - ..., balyk - ..., cockroach (comb) - ... .

kitap - kitabyn, ... - sarygyn, uryndyk - ..., ... - kolagyn, ... - ishegen, ... - balygyn, ... - ....

Even before the resettlement in the Volga region, the ancestors of the Tatars - the Turks - had their own written language. This is runic writing. Turkic-language monuments of runic writing were found on the banks of the Orkhon, Yenisei, Azov, Don, Altai, East Turkestan, Central Asia, and Mongolia.

The ancient Turkic language had 8 vowels: [a], [ә], [s], [i], [o], [u], [ү], [ө].

In writing, they were expressed using 4 characters.

To designate consonants, in the runic alphabet, 27 characters were used: [b], [b], [g], [g], [d], [d], [h], [yb], [yb], [ kb], [kb], [l], [l], [m], [nb], [n], [n], [n], [p], [rb], [pb], [sb] , [s], [tb], [t], [h], [w].

Runic texts were written from right to left, horizontally.

Since the 10th century, the Turko-Tatars have used the Arabic script. The Tatars have been using Arabic script for over a thousand years. This alphabet had 28 letters. Of these, 3 letters served to designate vowel sounds. The direction of Arabic writing is from right to left.

For many years, the Arabic alphabet was used unchanged. It was only in the 19th century that the question of the need to bring Arabic graphics into line with the system of sounds of the Tatar language was raised.

Numerous monuments are written in Arabic script Tatar people, scientific works.

Since 2013, the use of Arabic and Latin alphabets has been allowed when citizens apply to state bodies. According to the law on languages, approved by the Parliament of Tatarstan on December 24, 2012, the Tatar alphabet based on Arabic is as follows:

The Tatar language has vowels and consonants that cannot be written in Arabic letters.

In the early 1920s, a single Latin alphabet was compiled for all Turkic-speaking peoples.

In 1927, the Latin script was introduced into studying proccess. In 1928, some changes were made to the unified Latin alphabet, after which it was in official use for twelve years.

This alphabet was called "yanalif".

There were 33 letters in the yanalif. Of these, 9 denoted vowels, the remaining 24 were consonants.

The Latin-based alphabet looks like this:

In 1938, the first version of the Tatar alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet was presented, where the letters ә, ө, ү, җ, ң, һ were added. This alphabet has been introduced into official use since 1939.

The Tatar alphabet, based on the Cyrillic alphabet, has a total of 39 letters. Two of them - "ь" and "ъ" - also serve to designate the sound of hamza. The letters ё, e, u, i denote combinations of sounds [yṓ], [yḗ], [y͝͝e], [y͝͝y], [yu], [yү], [ya°], [yә].

To express 12 vowel sounds in writing, 10 letters are used: a, ә, o, ө, y, ү, s, e, and, e. Of these, the letters o, s, e denote vowels [͝͝o], [͝͝ы], [ ͝͝e] and vowels used in Russian borrowings - [ō], [ы̄], [ē]. The letter e at the beginning of a word expresses a combination of the sounds [yḗ], [y͝͝e], [y͝͝y], in other cases - the sounds [͝͝e] and [ē].

24 letters are used to designate consonants. Of these, v, u, c are used only in Russian borrowings. There are no letters in the alphabet for the sounds [қ], [ғ], [w].

Below is the Tatar alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet, in which the located order of letters was fixed in January 1997 by the Decree of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan.

© All rights to the article (news) belong to the Tatar online magazine "Kara Akkosh" (website). In case of full or partial copying of the material, a direct link to the Tatar online magazine "Kara Akkosh" (website) is required.

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Cyrillic			arabica		Latin
Cyrillic (since 1939)	Name	Alphabet Ilminsky (XIX century)	Iske imla (until 1920)	Yana imla (1920-1927) arabica (2012)	Yanalif (1927-1939)	Yanalif-2 (1999)	Latin (2012)
A a	a	A a	ا ,آ	ﯪ	A a	A a	A a
Ә ә	ә	Ӓ ӓ	ا ,ه	ﺋﻪ	Ə ə	Ə ə	Ä ä
B b	would	B b	ب	ب	Bʙ	Bb	Bb
in in	you	in in	ۋ	ۋ	Vv	Vv	Vv
-	ve (y)	-	و	و	-	W w	W w
G g	ge	G g	گ	ﮒ	G g	G g	G g
-	gee	-	ع ,غ	ﻉ	Ƣ ƣ	Ğ ğ	Ğ ğ
D d	dy	D d	د	ﺩ	D d	D d	D d
Her	e	Her	ي	ى	E e (Je je)	E e (Ye ye)	E e, ye ye
Her	yo	Her	يو	يؤ	Jo jo	Yo yo	Yo yo
F	zhy	F	ژ	ژ	Ƶ ƶ	J j	J j
Җ җ	җе	F	ج	ﺝ	Ç ç	c c	c c
W h	PS	W h	ز	ﺯ	Zz	Zz	Zz
And and	and	And and	ي	ئی	I i	I i	I i
th	yy	th	ي	ي	J j	Y y	Y y
K to	ke	K to	ﮎ	ﮎ	K k	K k	K k
-	ky	-	ق	ق	Q q	Q q	Q q
L l	ly	L l	ل	ل	l l	l l	l l
Mm	we	Mm	م	م	M m	M m	M m
N n	us	N n	ن	ن	N n	N n	N n
Ң ң	you	Ҥ ҥ	نک ,ڭ	ڭ	Ꞑ ꞑ	Ꞑ ꞑ	Ñ ñ
Oh oh	O	Oh oh	و	ﯰ ِ	O o	O o	O o
Ө ө	ө	Ӧ ӧ	و	ﯰ	Ɵ ɵ	Ɵ ɵ	Ö ö
P p	py	P p	پ	ﭖ	Pp	Pp	Pp
R p	ry	R p	ﺭ	ﺭ	R r	R r	R r
C with	sy	C with	ﺱ	ﺱ	S s	S s	S s
T t	you	T t	ت	ت	T t	T t	T t
u u	at	u u	و	ﯮ ِ	U u	U u	U u
Ү ү	ү	Ӱ ӱ	و	ﯮ	Y y	Ü ü	Ü ü
f f	ff	f f	ف	ف	F f	F f	F f
x x	hey	x x	خ ,ﺡ	ﺡ	X x	X x	X x
Һ һ	ge	x x	ه	ه	H h	H h	H h
C c	tsy	C c	-	تس	Ts ts	Ts ts	Ts ts
h h	chy	h h	چ	ﭺ	c c	Ç ç	Ç ç
W w	shy	W w	ش	ﺵ	Ş ş	Ş ş	Ş ş
u u	shchi	u u	-	شچ	Şc şc	Şç şç	Şç şç
b b	b	b b	ء	-	’	-	-
s s	s	s s	ي	ئ ِ	b b	I	I
b b	b	b b	-	-	-	’	-
uh uh	uh	uh uh	ي	ئ	e e	e e	e e
yu yu	Yu	yu yu	يو	يو	Ju Ju (Jy yy)	Yu yu (Yu yu)	Yu yu (Yu yu)
I am	I am	I am	يا	يا	Ja Ja (Jə jə)	Ya ya (Yə yə)	Ya ya (Ya ya)

Notes

In Modern Cyrillic for consonants and q digraphs are sometimes used gj and to.
In the suit imlya, at the beginning of words for a vowel sound, the obligatory alif was written with the hamza أ, إ.
The Yml suit and modern Arabic script use the Arabic letters ﺡ خ ذ ص ض ظ ط ع to write Arabic loanwords.
In yana imlya, at the beginning of words, the obligatory ya with hamza ئ was written for a vowel sound.
In Ilminsky's alphabet, the letters yat, fita and and decimal can be used.

Modern alphabet[ | ]

Tatar ASSR. 1930s. Foreman in the barley field. The inscription on the peg in Tatar is made in Latin

May 5, 1939 Presidium Supreme Council The Tatar ASSR adopted a decree "On the transfer of the Tatar script from the Latinized alphabet to the alphabet based on Russian graphics", which was approved by the Law of the TASSR of August 17 of the same year. According to it, a single state Tatar alphabet was established in the amount of 38 letters. Despite the fact that most of the Tatars lived outside the Tatar autonomy, this alphabet also became obligatory for them.

The initial project of Professor M. Fazlullin assumed a complete rejection of diacritics and the use of digraphs: a, zh, n, o, y, x. However, this option was rejected as extremely inconvenient. After that, according to the project of Kurbangaliev and Ramazanov, an alphabet was adopted with the addition of six additional letters ( Ө , Ә , Ү , and Һ were borrowed from yanalif, and Җ and Ң were created from similar Cyrillic letters), which is still used today.

A a	Ә ә	B b	in in	G g	D d	Her	Her
F	Җ җ	W h	And and	th	K to	L l	Mm
N n	Ң ң	Oh oh	Ө ө	P p	R p	C with	T t
u u	Ү ү	f f	x x	Һ һ	C c	h h	W w
u u	b b	s s	b b	uh uh	yu yu	I am

This order of letters in the alphabet was fixed in January 1997 by the Decree of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan. Prior to this, additional letters Әә , Өө , Үү , Җҗ , Ңң , Һһ located at the end of the alphabet. 8 years earlier, in 1989, it was decided to introduce additional letters Ққ , Ғғ and Ўў to indicate uvular sounds to (q) and gj (ğ ), as well as the non-syllabic semivowel v (w). However, this decision was not implemented partly because of the expectation of an early transition to the Latin alphabet, partly because the introduction of these letters would completely change the spelling of the Tatar language.

With the widespread use of the Internet, there was a problem with writing texts, caused by the absence of additional Cyrillic letters in standard layouts. One of the widely accepted solutions on Tatnet was the use of the Kazanowitz practical transcription system [ ] . But starting from the first version of Windows XP, released in 2001, all subsequent operating systems of the Microsoft Windows family by default include the Tatar keyboard layout, as well as the necessary extended Cyrillic fonts. At present, due to the widespread latest versions OS Windows and Yunia Kazanovitsa has lost its relevance.

Since 2013, the use of Latin and Arabic alphabets has been allowed when citizens apply to state bodies (see below). According to the law on languages, approved by the Parliament of Tatarstan on December 24, 2012, the Tatar alphabet based on the Latin alphabet is as follows:

Based on Latin

A a	Ä ä	Bb	c c	Ç ç	D d	e e	F f
G g	Ğ ğ	H h	I	I i	J j	K k	Q q
l l	M m	N n	Ñ ñ	O o	Ö ö	Pp	R r
S s	Ş ş	T t	U u	Ü ü	Vv	W w	X x
Y y	Zz	"

The frequency of the letters of the Tatar language[ | ]

Rank	Letter	Frequency
1	a	11,006%	11.006
2	ә	6,647%	6.647
3	b	2,798%	2.798
4	v	0,757%	0.757
5	G	2,913%	2.913
6	d	3,052%	3.052
7	e	7,218%	7.218
8	yo	0,000%
9	well	0,065%	0.065
10	җ	0,463%	0.463
11	h	1,485%	1.485
12	and	4,438%	4.438
13	th	1,086%	1.086
14	To	4,995%	4.995
15	l	6,516%	6.516
16	m	2,997%	2.997
17	n	7,129%	7.129
18	ң	1,014%	1.014
19	O	1,796%	1.796
20	ө	0,905%	0.905
21	P	1,393%	1.393
22	R	6,818%	6.818
23	With	2,834%	2.834
24	T	5,289%	5.289
25	at	2,598%	2.598
26	ү	1,212%	1.212
27	f	0,409%	0.409
28	X	0,722%	0.722
29	һ	0,404%	0.404
30	c	0,166%	0.166
31	h	1,481%	1.481
32	SCH	0,006%	0.006
33	w	1,788%	1.788
34	b	0,109%	0.109
35	s	5,522%	5.522
36	b	0,403%	0.403
37	uh	0,293%	0.293
38	Yu	0,189%	0.189
39	I am	1,085%	1.085

Based on the Arabic alphabet[ | ]

Iske imla [ | ]

Arabic-Persian graphemes for P, h, well, G -

for ң and v - ۋ ڭ

In 1912, a modernized version of the Arabic script for the Tatar language was proposed by the book publisher I. N. Kharitonov. He published the primer "Bulak" in a new font.

Yana imla [ | ]

In addition to the letters of the Russian alphabet, this alphabet contained the letters Ӓ ӓ , Ӧ ӧ , Ҥ ҥ , Ӱ ӱ . This alphabet is currently used only by the Kryashens, and they can still use the pre-revolutionary spelling of Orthodox names and the letters yat, fita and decimal.

A a	ӓ	B b	(In in)	G g	D d	Her	Her	F	W h
And and	th	K to	L l	Mm	N n	ҥ	Oh oh	ӧ	P p
R p	C with	T t	u u	ӱ	(F f)	(X x)	(C c)	h h	W w
(Wh w)	(b b)	s s	(b b)	uh uh	yu yu	I am

Based on Latin[ | ]

First attempts at romanization[ | ]

In 1908-1909, the Tatar poet Sagit Ramiev began to use the Latin alphabet in his works. To denote "hard vowels" he proposed to use digraphs ea, eu, eo, ei. But the "Arabists" did not allow him to realize his project.

However, soon the Soviet authorities carried out latinization in all the Turkic-speaking republics of the USSR. To this end, a special "Central Committee for the New Alphabet" was organized in Moscow. The first real step towards romanization was the project of the Tatar-Bashkir Latin, published in the newspaper "Eshche" ("Worker") in 1924. The pronunciation of letters was based on English alphabet, and specific Bashkir sounds were transmitted by digraphs. This project was rejected.

Yanalif [ | ]

Yanalifa letters and their Arabic counterparts (1927)

Tatar alphabet based on Latin graphics (1927-1939):

A a	Bʙ	c c	Ç ç	D d	e e	Ə ə	F f
G g	Ƣ ƣ	H h	I i	J j	K k	l l	M m
N n	Ꞑ ꞑ	O o	Ɵ ɵ	Pp	Q q	R r	S s
Ş ş	T t	U u	Vv	X x	Y y	Zz	Ƶ ƶ
b b

Latin 1999[ | ]

In the post-Soviet period, the issue of replacing the Cyrillic alphabet with the Latin alphabet was actively discussed. As a result, the new Tatar alphabet was adopted by the Law of the Republic of Tatarstan dated September 15, 1999 No. 2352 “On the restoration of the Tatar alphabet based on the Latin script”, however, the effect of this law was suspended by the Resolution of the Constitutional Court Russian Federation dated November 16, 2004 No. 16-P. One way or another, this version of the Latin alphabet was initially widely used, educational and reference literature on the Tatar language, etc. was published in it.

After the abolition of the use of the Latin alphabet as the official one in 2004-2005. the republic changed a little in 2011-2012. alphabet towards convergence with the Turkish and common Turkic alphabets (some additional letters differ from the 1999 Latin alphabet).

Letter N n with descender

A a	Ə ə	Bb	c c	Ç ç	D d	e e	F f
G g	Ğ ğ	H h	I	I i	J j	K k	Q q
l l	M m	N n	Ꞑ ꞑ	O o	Ɵ ɵ	Pp	R r
S s	Ş ş	T t	U u	Ü ü	Vv	W w	X x
Y y	Zz	’

Since most fonts are missing 3 letters of the new Latin alphabet, it was planned to allow the use of Ä to denote Ә , Ö - for Ө , Ñ - for Ң . This alphabet was used on the Azatlyk radio website.

In addition, in 2003, on the official website of the Republic of Tatarstan, the “Internet alphabet” Inalif (from the words Internet and tat. alifba) . The main purpose of this alphabet was to be able to enter and process Tatar texts using a standard English keyboard and without the use of diacritics. The Inalif2 modification of this alphabet is used on the site of the Tatar-Russian dictionary www.suzlek.ru.

About the conflict around the transition to the Latin alphabet[ | ]

The pursuit of linguistic sovereignty[ | ]

In the late 1980s (the period of glasnost and perestroika), some Tatar linguists and writers began to raise the issue of returning to the Latin alphabet.

The issue of introducing the Latin alphabet in Tatarstan was officially raised already in the early 1990s after the collapse of the USSR, simultaneously with the transition to the Latin alphabet of some Turkic former Soviet republics. The Second World Congress of Tatars, held in Kazan in 1997, recommended that the republican authorities adopt a law on the restoration of the Tatar alphabet based on the Latin alphabet.

It was assumed that the transition from Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet would take place in stages over a decade. Since the autumn of 2000, Latin has been used in a number of schools as an experiment. Until 2011, when it was planned to complete the transition to the Latin alphabet, printed matter was to be published both in Cyrillic and in the Latin alphabet.

Cancellation by the federal authorities and challenged by the republic[ | ]

In October 2004, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation began considering several issues relating to the status of the Tatar language.

The first question concerned the constitutionality of the norms of the laws of the Republic of Tatarstan "On the languages of the peoples of the Republic of Tatarstan" and "On education" in relation to the study of the Tatar language in preschool, school and secondary specialized educational institutions. The head of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, Farid Mukhametshin, said in court that in places densely populated by Tatars (mainly in rural areas), all subjects are taught in the Tatar language. In schools for national minorities, all subjects are also taught in indigenous languages, such as Chuvash. Due to the fact that the Russian-speaking population of Tatarstan is 47% against 53% of the Tatar, in order to "preserve original languages", the authorities of the republic adopted a program of teaching two state languages - Russian and Tatar - in equal volumes. At the same time, in the universities of Tatarstan, teaching is conducted not only in Russian, but also partially in Tatar, and office work - in Russian and Tatar languages at the same time.

The second issue was considered at the suggestion of the Supreme Court and the Parliament of the Republic of Tatarstan - they are asking to recognize as unconstitutional the norms of the Law of the Russian Federation "On the Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation", which made Cyrillic mandatory for all languages of Russia. State Council and Supreme Court Tatarstan are convinced that it is up to the subject of the Federation to decide what the graphic basis of the national language will be.

Decision of the Constitutional Court[ | ]

On November 16, 2004, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation recognized the right of the federal legislative body to establish the graphic basis of the state languages of the peoples of Russia, thereby rejecting the attempts of the Tatarstan authorities to translate the Tatar script from Cyrillic to Latin.

The court noted that the establishment of a unified graphic basis for the state languages of the peoples of Russia "legitimizes the historically established realities", "provides - in order to preserve state unity - the harmonization and balanced functioning of the federal language and the state languages of the republics" and at the same time does not prevent "the implementation by citizens of Russia rights and freedoms in the sphere of language”.

The Tatar alphabet took a long time to form. It is interesting in that it has the roots of the Arabic script, Latin and Cyrillic, and its modern look was established by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in the early 2000s. Such a phenomenon as the alphabet of the Tatar people deserves attention.

How many vowels are in the Tatar alphabet?

Of the 39 letters of the modern Tatar alphabet, 10 are vowels. Unlike Russian vowels, they can be hard or soft.

Letter	Pronunciation	Note
aa	Like Russian (a), more often in the variant (ao)	hard vowel
Oo	The pronunciation is similar to the sound from Russian speech (o)
woo		hard vowel
Yy	Pronounced like (s)	Solid vowel. Pronounced more briefly than the Russian sound
Әә	Soft pronunciation (ә)	Soft vowel. In the Latin version of the alphabet, it was denoted by a long A
ii	Expressed in speech as (and)	In Tatar, it is considered a soft vowel
Өө	Soft (ө)	Soft vowel. In the Latin version of the alphabet, it was denoted by a long O
Үү	Can produce two sounds depending on the stress (y) and (w)	soft vowel
uh	Subject to the same laws of orthoepy as the Russian sound (e)	Reduced in some cases
Her	In different cases, it can give sounds (ye), (ye) and (e)	Pronunciation varies from the position of the letter in the word, the origin of the word itself. Pronounced more briefly than the Russian sound
*Her	Gives a sound (yo)	In Latin, it is denoted by the phonetic set of letters UO
*Yuyu	Gives a sound (yu)
*Yaya	Gives a sound (ya)	Used in borrowings from Russian speech and writing. Obey the laws of Russian pronunciation

For words of soft pronunciation, soft vowels are used, and vice versa. Hard and soft vowels do not occur together in native Tatar words. This is the so-called law of harmony.

If it happened that hard and soft vowels met in one word, then the word came from another language. Usually such borrowings are made from Persian or Arabic.

How many consonants are in the Tatar alphabet?

Consonants in the composition of the Tatar alphabet by the method of subtracting vowels should have been equal to 29, but this is not entirely true. There are 24 of them.

Letter	Name	Pronunciation	Note
bb	Would	Gives a sound (b)
Vv	You	Gives two sounds: (v) and (w)	Pronunciation depends on the position of the letter in the word. In the Tatar letter, it can be replaced by the letter U
Gg	Gee	Gives sound (g)
dd	dy	Identical to Russian (d)
Learn	Zhy	Similar in sound to Russian (f)
Җ җ	Җы	Gives a sound similar to English (j)
Zz	Threat	Gives a sound (h)
yy	Yy	Gives a sound (th)
Kk	Ky	Gives a sound (k)	The pronunciation of "burr", as a person who does not pronounce "r" says
Ll	Ly	Identical to Russian sound (l)
Mm	We	Similar to Russian sound (m)
Hn	us	Gives a sound (n)
Ң ң	Ңы	Similar to the sound (ng) in the word "gong"	Nasal. Often also found in French speech
Pp	Py	Subject to the same laws as the Russian sound (p)
pp	Ry	Gives a sound (p) when spoken
ss	Sy	Makes sound (s)
Tt	You	Identical to Russian (t)
FF	fu	Gives sound (f)
xx	hy	Similar to Russian sound (x)
Һ һ	ky	Breathy sound(x)	Pharyngeal sound. Born in the pharynx without guttural pronunciation
ts	Tsy	Gives a sound (c)
hh	chy	Gives a sound (u)
shh	shy	Gives a sound (sh)
Shch	Schy	Gives a sound (u)	Always used only in words borrowed from Russian speech

The fate of the consonant letters ğ and q is interesting, instead of which combinations of letters gb and kb are increasingly used in writing.

In the Tatar language, consonants are grouped into double sounds very rarely. Speech tends to open syllable. The last syllable in a word, even closed to a deaf consonant, must be pronounced clearly.

An interesting feature of the Tatar writing is that when possessive suffixes are added, the end of the word becomes voiced if it ended before with a dull sound, for example, “balyk” - “balygym”.

Outside the groups of consonants and vowels, there are, as in the Russian alphabet, b and b.

Phonetic and lexical features of the Tatar language. Interesting Alphabet Facts

Like any other language, Tatar has its own distinctive features.

The Tatars wrote down texts in Arabic script until 1927. In the pre-Islamic period, it was customary to use ancient Turkic runes.
But attempts to create their own writing systems have been made repeatedly before that: the suit imlya, yang imlya, the Ilminsky alphabet. In the 30s of the last century, the Arabic script was replaced by Yanalif.
There is no concept of gender in the Tatar language.
All nouns, except for the word "man", in the Tatar language answer the question "what?".
Understand where plural for nouns, where the action is directed, and even to indicate the location of the object in the Tatar language, special affixes help.
In the Tatar language, there are many borrowings from Russian speech, for example, the word "fruit". From the flow of speech, many Russian speakers can draw conclusions about what in question in Tatar.
Traditionally, the stress in the words of the Tatar language falls on the last syllable.
After the collapse of the USSR in 1999, Yanalif-2 was created. An attempt was made to return to the Latin alphabet. It was stopped by the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. At the local level, at the end of 2012, an act was adopted that states that the Cyrillic alphabet is the official version of the letter. However, since 2013, Tatars can use the Latin or Arabic alphabet in writing when they apply to government agencies.
Cyrillic was used by Tatars baptized in Orthodoxy back in the 19th century, who lived on the territory of the modern republic.
The Latin alphabet in writing is still customary to use among the Tatar diasporas of France, the Czech Republic, Australia and other countries.
Before the release of the Windows XP version, it was customary on Tatnet to use the so-called Kazanowitz, a variant of practical transcription. After the appearance of this OS, the Tatar layout was incorporated into subsequent programs.