Bashkir language


Bashkir is a Turkic language belonging to the Kipchak branch. It is co-official with Russian in Bashkortostan. It is spoken by approximately 1.2 million native speakers in Russia. It has three dialect groups: Southern, Eastern and Northwestern.

Speakers

Speakers of Bashkir mostly live in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan. Many speakers also live in Tatarstan, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk and Kurgan Oblasts and other regions of Russia. Minor Bashkir groups also live in Kazakhstan and other countries.

Classification

Bashkir together with Tatar belongs to the Bulgaric subgroups of the Kipchak languages. They both share the same vocalism and the vowel shifts that make both the languages stand apart from most other Kipchak and Oghuz Turkic languages.
However, Bashkir differs from Tatar in several important ways:
The Bashkir orthography is more explicit. and are written with their own letters Ҡ ҡ and Ғ ғ, whereas in Tatar they are treated as positional allophones of and, written К к and Г г.
Labial vowel harmony in Bashkir is written explicitly, e.g. Tatar тормышым tormışım and Bashkir тормошом tormoşom, both pronounced, meaning "my life".

Orthography

After the adoption of Islam, which began in the 10th century and lasted for several centuries, the Bashkirs began to use Turki as a written language. Turki was written in a variant of the Arabic script.
In 1923, a writing system based on the Arabic script was specifically created for the Bashkir language. At the same time, the Bashkir literary language was created, moving away from the older written Turkic influences. At first, it used a modified Arabic alphabet. In 1930 it was replaced with the Unified Turkic Latin Alphabet, which was in turn replaced with an adapted Cyrillic alphabet in 1939.
The modern alphabet used by Bashkir is based on the Russian alphabet, with the addition of the following letters: Ә ә, Ө ө, Ү ү, Ғ ғ, Ҡ ҡ, Ң ң, Ҙ ҙ, Ҫ ҫ, Һ һ.
Cyrillic version
Cyrillic version
PronunciationNotes
Аа
Бб
Вв
Ғғ
Дд
Ҙҙ
Ее
Ёё
Жж
Зз
Ии
Йй
Кк
Ҡҡ
Лл
Мм
Нн
Ңң
Оо
Өө
Пп
Рр
Сс
Ҫҫ
Тт
Уу
Үү
Фф
Хх
Һһ
Цц
Чч
Шш
Щщ
Ъъ
Ыы
Ьь
Ээ
Әә
Юю
Яя

Phonology

Vowels

Bashkir has nine native vowels, and three or four loaned vowels.
Phonetically, the native vowels are approximately thus :
The two mid unrounded vowels are always short, in an unstressed position they are frequently elided, as in кеше keşe > 'person', or ҡышы qışı > ' winter'. Low back is rounded in the first syllable and after, but not in the last, as in бала bala 'child', балаларға balalarğa 'to children'. In Russian loans there are also,, and, written the same as the native vowels: ы, е/э, о, а respectively.
The mid vowels may be transcribed as lowered near-high .

Historical shifts

Historically, the Old Turkic mid vowels have raised from mid to high, whereas the Old Turkic high vowels have become the Bashkir reduced mid series.
VowelOld TurkicTurkishAzerbaijaniKazakhTatarBashkirGloss
*e*etetətetitit'meat'
*ö*sözsözsözsözsüzhüź 'word'
*o*solsolsolsolsulhul'left'
*i*ititititetet'dog'
*ï*qïzkızqızqızqëz qëź 'girl'
*u*qumkumqumqumqomqom'sand'
*ü*külkülkülkülkölköl'ash'

Consonants

;Notes
A member of the Turkic language family, Bashkir is an agglutinative, SOV language. A large part of the Bashkir vocabulary has Turkic roots; and there are many loan words in Bashkir from Russian, Arabic and Persian sources.

Declension of nouns

Casefathermotherchilddogcat
SingularNominativeата ataәсәй äsäyбала balaэт etбесәй besäy
SingularGenitiveатаның atanıñәсәйҙең äsäyźeñбаланың balanıñэттең etteñбесәйҙең besäyźeñ
SingularDativeатаға atağaәсәйгә äsäygäбалаға balağaэткә etkäбесәйгә besäygä
SingularAccusativeатаны atanıәсәйҙе äsäyźeбаланы balanıэтте etteбесәйҙе besäyźe
SingularLocativeатала atalaәсәйҙә äsäyźäбалала balalaэттә ettäбесәйҙә besäyźä
SingularAblativeатанан atananәсәйҙән äsäyźänбаланан balananэттән ettänбесәйҙән besäyźän
PluralNominativeаталар atalarәсәйҙәр äsäyźärбалалар balalarэттәр ettärбесәйҙәр besäyźär
PluralGenitiveаталарҙың atalarźıñәсәйҙәрҙең äsäyźärźeñбалаларҙың balalarźıñэттәрҙең ettärźeñбесәйҙәрҙең besäyźärźeñ
PluralDativeаталарға atalarğaәсәйҙәргә äsäyźärgäбалаларға balalarğaэттәргә ettärgäбесәйҙәргә besäyźärgä
PluralAccusativeаталарҙы atalarźıәсәйҙәрҙе äsäyźärźeбалаларҙы balalarźıэттәрҙе ettärźeбесәйҙәрҙе besäyźärźe
PluralLocativeаталарҙа atalarźaәсәйҙәрҙә äsäyźärźäбалаларҙа balalarźaэттәрҙә ettärźäбесәйҙәрҙә besäyźärźä
PluralAblativeаталарҙан atalarźanәсәйҙәрҙән äsäyźärźänбалаларҙан balalarźanэттәрҙән ettärźänбесәйҙәрҙән besäyźärźän

Declension of pronouns