Tatar alphabet


Two scripts are currently used for the Tatar language: Arabic, Cyrillic.

History of Tatar writing

Before 1928, the Tatar language was usually written using the Arabic alphabet. The Tatar Arabic alphabet used some letters such as چ and پ also found in the Persian modification of the Arabic alphabet and in addition used ﯓ which is called nef or sağır kef. The writing system was inherited from Bolgar. See İske imlâ alphabet.
The most ancient of Tatar literature was created in the beginning of the 13th century.. Until 1905 all literature was in Old Tatar, which was evolved from the Bolgar, which differed from modern Tatar. Since 1905 gazettes came to use modern Tatar in publishing. In 1918 the alphabet was revised. The Latin-based Jaꞑalif was used from 1928 but superseded by the Cyrillic script in 1939. The Cyrillic alphabet has been used ever since.
Some scholars admit Institutiones linguae Turcicae libri quator written in Latin by Hieronymus Megiser and printed in Leipzig in 1612, being the first example of a printed Turkic text by use of the Arabic script, as a first printed Tatar book. Meanwhile Hieronymus Megiser’s Chorographia Tartariae published in 1611 represents a unique along with the Lord’s Prayer in the Tartarian language written in Latin script. The first Turkic-Tatar printed publication in Russia appears to be Peter the Great's Manifest, printed in Arabic script and published in Astrakhan in 1722.
Printed books appeared en masse in 1801 when the first private typography in Kazan appeared.
The first unsuccessful attempt to publish a Tatar newspaper was in 1808, when professor of mathematics at Kazan University, I.I. Zapolsky, proposed publishing a newspaper "The Kazan News" in both Russian and Tatar languages. Zapolsky's untimely death in 1810 thwarted the project. The first successful attempt to publish a newspaper in Tatar was in 1905. On September 2, the first issue of the newspaper "Nur" was published in St. Petersburg by Gataulla Bayazitov. The second Tatar newspaper, "Kazan Muhbire," came into existence on October 29, 1905. The publisher of the newspaper was a member of the Kazan City Council, Saidgirey Alkin.
The first typewriter in the Arabic alphabet was created in Tatarstan in the 1920s. The Tatar Cyrillic script requires the Russian alphabet plus 6 extra letters: Әә, Өө, Үү, Җҗ, Ңң, Һһ.
Before the 1980s, in the listing of the alphabet, extra letters were placed after the Russian ones, but in the 1990s the order was modified with extra letters listed after their pairmates.
The Keräşen Tatar ethnic group has used another Cyrillic alphabet, based on Russian, since the 19th century. This alphabet requires the Russian alphabet with pre-1917 orthography for Russian Christian religious words and Cyrillic letters А, О, У with umlauts for Tatar vowels and the ligature НГ. This alphabet is related to the Mari alphabet and was used because Christian Tatars couldn't use the Arabic script.

Cyrillic version

The official Cyrilic version of the Tatar alphabet used in Tatarstan contains 39 letters:
А Ә Б В Г Д Е Ж Җ З И Й К Л М Н Ң О Ө П Р С Т У Ү Ф Х Һ Ц Ч Ш Щ Ъ Ы Ь Э Ю Я

Letter names and pronunciation

Due to the Russian Federal law, only Cyrillic alphabets may have official status in regions of the Russian Federation. There is ongoing confrontation with regards to adoption of the Latin script for the Tatar language.

Latin versions

Introduction

While a Tatar version of the Latin alphabet called Jaᶇalif had been in use during the 1930s, there is controversy in the matter of Latin-based Tatar alphabet for İdel-Ural Tatar. The Republic of Tatarstan passed a law in 1999 and coming into force in 2001 establishing an official Tatar Latin alphabet. A Russian federal law overrode it and criminalized Latin for official use in 2002, making Cyrillic the sole official script in Tatarstan since. That the federal authorities in a move to allegedly solidify the unity of the Russian Federation and thwart the foreign Latinizing influences, have lately outlawed any switch to Latin, or any other non-Cyrillic, alphabet is an important dimension of this controversy. This specifically targeted Tatars, but affects all other nations living within borders now recognized as Russian Federation. As of 2013, Cyrillic remains the only official script in Tatarstan. A Tatarstani law adopted 24 December 2012 gives individuals and organisations the right to address Tatarstan authorities using the Latin and Arabic scripts, but requires the authorities' answers to such appeals to be written in the Cyrillic script. It provides the authorities with the option of attaching a reply in the Latin or Arabic alphabet, but does not make this compulsory. The law includes an official transliteration guide comprising Cyrillic Tatar, Latin Tatar and Arabic Tatar.
The Tatarstani parliament legislated encoding mostly with the characters listed in Zamanälif section below, but with the following differences: Ə letter is used instead of Ä, Ɵ instead of Ö and Ŋ instead of Ñ, and there is no letter Íí. The Tatarstani Cabinet of Ministers about a year later issued a decree about computer-based encoding, in which the letters Ä, Ö and Ñ were present. The letter Íí is not present in either the law or the decree. About a year after, the speaker of the Tatarstani parliament mentioned in an interview that changes could be made by the parliament to the law by making corrections for certain characters in the alphabet.
Some versions of Latin alphabet for Volga Tatar are as follows:

Zamanälif

is as follows:
Zamanälif contains 35 letters. There are 10 vowels and 25 consonants. There are 10 extra letters: Çç, Ğğ, Şş, Ññ, Ää, Öö, Üü, Iı, Ii and Íí. The other letters are the same in both alphabets, but they are pronounced differently.
A, Ä, B, C, Ç, D, E, F, G, Ğ, H, I, I, Í, J, K, L, M, N, Ñ, O, Ö, P, Q, R, S, Ş, T, U, Ü, V, W, X, Y, Z.
Tatar vowels are: a/ä, o/ö, u/ü, í/i, ı/e.
The symbol is used for the glottal stop.
It is possible to use these letters for writing words of non-Tatar origin: Á, Â, É, Ó, Ú.

Pronunciation (based on Zamanälif)

Tatar writing is largely phonetic, meaning that the pronunciation of a word can usually be derived from its spelling. This rule excludes recent loanwords, such as summit and names.

Arabic version

Sample of the scripts

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Iske imlâYaña imlâZamanälifYañalifCyrillicEnglish translation
بارلق كشیلر دا آزاد هم اوز آبرويلري هم حقوقلری یاغیننن تینک بولیپ طوالر. آلرغا عقل هم وجدان برلگان هم بر-برسینا قراطا طوغاننرچا مناسبتتا بولرغا تییشلر.بارلئق كئشئلەر دە ئازات هەم ئوز ئابرویلارئ هەم حۇقوقلارئ یاعئننان تیڭ بولئپ توالار. ئالارعا ئاقئل هەم وۇجدان بیرئلگەن هەم بئر-بئرسئنە قاراتا توعاننارچا مۇناسەبەتتە بولئرعا تیئشلەر.Barlıq keşelär dä azat häm üz abruyları häm xoquqları yağınnan tiñ bulıp tualar. Alarğa aqıl häm wöcdan birelgän häm ber-bersenä qarata tuğannarça mönasäbättä bulırğa tieşlär.Вarlьq keşelәr də azat hәm yz aʙrujlarь hәm xoquqlarь jaƣьnnan tiᶇ ʙulьp tualar. Alarƣa aqьl hәm vөçdan ʙirelgәn hәm ʙer-ʙersenә qarata tuƣannarca mөnasәʙәttә ʙulьrƣa tieşlәr.Барлык кешеләр дә азат һәм үз абруйлары һәм хокуклары ягыннан тиң булып туалар. Аларга акыл һәм вөҗдан бирелгән һәм бер-берсенә карата туганнарча мөнасәбәттә булырга тиешләр.All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.