Yañalif


Jaꞑalif, Yangalif or Yañalif, is the first Latin alphabet used during the Soviet epoch for the Turkic languages in the 1930s. It replaced the Yaña imlâ Arabic script-based alphabet in 1928 and was replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet in 1938-1940; several former Soviet states in Central Asia switched back to Latin script, with slight modifications to the original Jaꞑalif.
There are 33 letters in Jaꞑalif, nine of which are vowels. The apostrophe is used for the glottal stop and is sometimes considered a letter for the purposes of alphabetic sorting. Other characters may also be used in spelling foreign names. The small letter B is ʙ and the uppercase of y has a turned tail: У. The letter Ꞑ ꞑ looks similar to ŋ, having a Cyrillic-style descender, as in the Cyrillic letters Ц, Щ, Җ, Ң. Letter № 33 is not currently available as a Latin character in Unicode, but looks exactly like Cyrillic soft sign. Capital Ə also looks like Russian Э in some fonts.
No.CharactersYaña imlâ
version of
Arabic		a version of
modern Latin
Tatar alphabet		a version of
modern Cyrillic
Tatar alphabet
1A aىاA aА а
2B ʙﺏB bБ б
3C cﺝÇ çЧ ч
4Ç çﭺC cҖ җ
5D dﺩD dД д
6E eئەE eЕ е
7Ə əئاÄ äӘ ә
8F fﻑF fФ ф
9G gﮒG gГ г
10Ƣ ƣﻉĞ ğГ г
11H hﻩH hҺ һ
12I iﺋﻴİ iИ и
13J jيY yЙ й
14K kﮎK kК к
15L lﻝL lЛ л
16M mﻡM mМ м
17N nﻥN nН н
18Ꞑ ꞑﯓÑ ñҢ ң
19O oىوO oО о
20Ɵ ɵئوÖ öӨ ө
21P pﭖP pП п
22Q qﻕQ qК к
23R rﺭR rР р
24S sﺱS sС с
25Ş şﺵŞ şШ ш
26T tﺕT tТ т
27U uىۇU uУ у
28V vۋW wВ в
29X xﺡX xХ х
30У yئۇÜ üҮ ү
31Z zﺯZ zЗ з
32Ƶ ƶﮊJ jЖ ж
33Ь ьىI ıЫ ы
'ء'ъ, ь, э
Ьjىيый

History

The earliest example of the Kipchak language, specifically the Cuman language, the main ancestor of the modern Tatar language and written with Latin characters, is the Codex Cumanicus. These letters were used in Catholic ceremonies among Turkic Catholics within the Golden Horde. The culture of Catholic Hordians disappeared and this alphabet was lost.
For centuries the Tatar language as well as other Turkic languages used a modified Arabic alphabet, İske imlâ. The alphabet was far from perfect, both technically and logically. Because of this some Turkic intelligentsia tended to use the Latin or Cyrillic script. The first attempts appeared in the mid-19th century among Azerbaijanis. At the same period the Russian missionary Ilminski, along with followers, invented the modified Russian alphabet for all peoples of Idel-Ural. Modern alphabet uses other glyphs:, the principles of the modern Cyrillic Tatar alphabet was invented then. Ilmiski's alphabet was used for the purpose of Christianization and Muslim Tatars did not use his alphabet. Ilminski's alphabet is still used among Keräşen Tatars. This alphabet uses pre-revolutionary Russian spelling of Orthodox names, using Fita and Ukrainian I.
In 1908–1909 the Tatar poet Säğit Rämiev started to use the Latin script in his works. He offered the use of digraphs: ea for ä, eu for ü, eo for ö and ei for ı. Arabists turned down his project. In the early 1920s Azerbaijanis devised their own Latin alphabet, but Tatarstan scholars set a little store to this project, preferring to reform the İske imlâ. The simplified Iske imla, known as Yaña imlâ was used from 1920–1927.
Latinization was adopted by the Soviet officials and the special Central Committee for a New Alphabet was established in Moscow. The first project of the Tatar-Bashkir Latin alphabet was published in Eşçe gazette in 1924. The pronunciation of the alphabet was similar to English, unlike the following. Specific Bashkir sounds were written with digraphs. This alphabet was declined.
In 1926 the Congress of Turkologists in Baku recommended to switch all Turkic languages to the Latin script. In April 1926 the Jaꞑa tatar əlifʙasь/Yaña tatar älifbası/Яңа татар әлифбасы society started its work at Kazan.
On July 3, 1927, Tatarstan officials declared Jaꞑalif the official script of the Tatar language, replacing the Yanga imla script. The first variant of Jaꞑalif is shown in the [|second table below]. There were not separate letters for K and Q and for G and Ğ, V and W. Ş looked like the Cyrillic letter Ш. C and Ç were realized as in Turkish and the modern Tatar Latin alphabet and later were transposed in the final version of Jaꞑalif.
In 1928 Jaꞑalif was reformed and was in active use for 12 years. Some sources claim that this alphabet had 34 letters, but the last was a digraph Ьj, used for the corresponding Tatar diphthong. Another source states that the 34th letter was an apostrophe. They also give another sorting of the alphabet.
After the introduction of Jaꞑalif most of the books which were printed in the Arabic alphabet were withdrawn from libraries.

Jaꞑalif as published in the ''Eşçe'' newspaper

The original "acutes" version of Jaꞑalif

No.charactersfinal version
of Jaꞑalif		Yaña imlâ,
stand-alone form		Modern Latin Tatar alphabet
and Romanization of Bashkir		modern Cyrillic Tatar alphabet
+ some Bashkir Cyrillic		Notes
1A aA aA aА а
2B bB ʙB bБ бlike in modern alphabet
3C cÇ çC cҖ җlike in modern alphabet
4Ç çC cÇ çЧ чlike in modern alphabet
5D dD dD dД д
6E eE eE eЕ е like in modern alphabet
7É éЬ ьI ıЫ ыunique variant, acute as a sign of "hard" vowel
8Э әƏ əÄ äӘ әlike in Jaꞑalif, but original capitalization
9F fF fF fФ ф
10G gG g, Ƣ ƣ, G g, Ğ ğГ гone letter for two phonemes, as in Cyrillic
11H hH hH hҺ һ
12I iI iİ iИ иlike in Jaꞑalif
13J jJ jY yЙ йlike in Jaꞑalif
14K kK k, Q q, K k, Q qК кone letter for two phonemes, as in Cyrillic
15L lL lL lЛ л
16M mM mM mМ м
17N nN nN nН н
18Ꞑ ꞑꞐ ꞑÑ ñҢ ңlike in Jaꞑalif
19O oO oO oО о
20Ó óƟ ɵÖ öӨ өunique variant, acute as a sign of "soft" vowel
21P pP pP pП п
22R rR rR rР р
23S sS sS sС с
24T tT tT tТ т
25U uU uU uУ у
26V vY yÜ üҮ үunique variant, V is used for "soft" vowel
27X xX xX xХ х
28Y yЬj ьjÍ í ыйinherited from Tatar-Bashkir alphabet project
29Z zZ zZ zЗ з
30Ƶ ƶƵ ƶJ jЖ жlike in Jaꞑalif
31Ш шŞ şŞ şШ шunique variant, like in Cyrillic
32W wV v, W w, V vВ вone letter for two phonemes, as in Cyrillic, but is found only in Russian loanwords

Decline

In 1939 the Stalinist government prohibited Jaꞑalif and it remained in use until January 1940. Jaꞑalif was also used in Nazi gazettes for prisoners of war and propaganda during World War II. The alphabet served until the 1950s, because most of the schoolbooks were printed before World War II. Some Tatar diasporas also used Jaꞑalif outside of the Soviet Union, for example the Tatar bureau of Radio Free Europe.
For 12 years of usage the Latin script, Arabic script also were used. One of the Musa Cälil's Moabit Notebooks was written in Jaꞑalif, and another was written in Arabic letters. Both notebooks were written in German prison, after 1939, the year when the Cyrillic script was established.

Cyrillization

In 1930s Turkey became a potential enemy of the Soviet Union. Even though Atatürk's alphabet was different from Jaꞑalif, for Soviet officials the Latin script was a symbol of the outer, bourgeois world. In 1939 Cyrillization of USSR was initiated. The alphabet was switched to Cyrillic "by labor's request".
There are also several projects of Cyrillization. Ilminski's alphabet was forgotten and it could not be used, due to its religious origin. In 1938 professor M. Fazlullin introduced an adaptation of the Russian alphabet for the Tatar language, without any additional characters. Specific Tatar letters should be signed with the digraphs, consisting of similar Russian letters and the letters Ъ and Ь.
In 1939 Qorbangaliev and Ramazanov offered their own projects that planned to use additional Cyrillic characters. Letters Ө, Ә, Ү, Һ were inherited from Jaꞑalif, but Җ and Ң were invented by analogy with Щ and Ц. Гъ and Къ should be used to designate Ğ and Q. By this project "ğädät" was spelled as "гъәдәт", "qar" as "къар". In Ramazanov's project W was marked by В before the vowel, and У, Ү in the end of syllable. Jaꞑalif: vaq – вак; tav – тау; dəv – дәү. On May 5, 1939 this project was established as official by the Supreme Soviet of TASSR. The Tatar society disagreed to this project and during 1940 July conference a Cyrillic alphabet was standardized. January 10, 1941 this project was passed. According to this version, "ğädät" was spelled as "гадәт", "qar" as "кар". The principles were following: if га/го/гу/гы/ка/ко/ку/кы/ is followed by "soft syllable", containing "ә, е, ө, и, ү" or soft sign "ь", they are pronounced as ğä/ğö/ğü/ğe/qä/qö/qü/qe, in other cases as ğa/ğo/ğu/ğı/qa/qo/qu/qı. гә/гө/гү/ге/кә/кө/кү/ке are pronounced as gä/gö/gü/ge/kä/kö/kü/ke. Similar practice were applied for е, ю, я, that could be pronounced as ye, yü, yä and as yı, yu, ya. Examples: канәгать – qänäğät ; ел – yıl ; ямь – yäm. In Tatar Cyrillic soft sign is not used to show iotation as in Russian, but to show qualities of vowels where they are not determinable through vowel harmony. Unlike modern Russian, some words can end with ъ, to sign a "hard g" after the "soft vowel", as in балигъ – baliğ.
All Russian words are written as in Russian and should be pronounced with Russian pronunciation.

1940 Cyrillic Tatar alphabet

No.charactersFazlullin's
alphabet		Ilminski's
alphabet		JaꞑalifModern LatinNotes
1А аА аА аA aA a
2Б бБ бБ бB ʙB b
3В вВ вВ вV vW w, V v in Russian words, in Tatar words
4Г гГ гГ гG g, Ƣ ƣG g, Ğ ğ
5Д дД дД дD dD d
6Е еЕ еЕ еE e, Je, JьE e, ye, yı
7Ё ёЕ еJoYoonly in Russian loanwords
8Ж жЖ жЖ жƵ ƶJ j
9З зЗ зЗ зZ zZ z
10И иИ иИ иI iİ i
11Й йЙ йЙ йJ jY y
12К кК кК кK k, Q qK k, Q q
13Л лЛ лЛ лL lL l
14М мМ мМ мM mM m
15Н нН нН нN nN n
16О оО оО оO oO o
17П пП пП пP pP p
18Р рР рР рR rR r
19С сС сС сS sS s
20Т тТ тТ тT tT t
21У уУ уУ уU uU u
22Ф фФ фФ фF fF f
23Х хХ хХ хX xX x
24Ц цЦ цЦ цTsTsonly in Russian loanwords
25Ч чЧ чЧ чC cÇ ç
26Ш шШ шШ шŞ şŞ ş
27Щ щЩ щЩ щŞcŞçonly in Russian loanwords
28Ъ ъЪ ъЪ ъ
29Ы ыЫ ыЫ ыЬ ьI ı
30Ь ьЬ ьЬ ь
31Э эЭ эЭ эE eE e
32Ю юЮ юЮ юJu/JyYu/Yü
33Я яЯ яЯ яJa/JəYa/Yä
34Ә әАъ аъӒ ӓ Ә әÄ ä
35Ө өОъ оъӦ ӧӨ өÖ ö
36Ү үУъ уъӰ ӱ Y yÜ ü
37Җ җЖъ жъЖ жÇ çC c
38Ң ңНъ нъҤ ҥꞐ ꞑÑ ñ
39Һ һХъ хъХ хH hH h

In 1955, 1958, 1959 and 1989 some people tried to create a new Tatar Cyrillic alphabet, adding letters Қ, Ғ and Ў, to write the sounds, , and and make Tatar spelling phonetic. Some offered to use V instead of Ў. In 1990s those attempts failed, because at that period many Tatarstan statesmen wanted to restore Jaꞑalif.
: letters that were scheduled to be added in 1989. However, the Tatar Parliament resorted the Cyrillic script in January 1997.

Restoring Yañalif

In the 1990s some wanted to restore Yañalif, or Yañalif+W, as being corresponding to modern Tatar phonetics. But technical problems, such as font problems and the disuse of Uniform Turkic alphabet among other peoples, forced the use of the "Turkish-based alphabet". In 2000 that alphabet was adopted by the Tatarstan government, but in 2002 it was abolished by the Russian Federation.

Inalif

The "Internet-style" alphabet named Inalif after Internet and älifba was convented in 2003 and partly it was inspired by Jaꞑalif. The main purpose of this alphabet was a standardization of texts, which are written only with English keyboard, without any diacritical marks. But this is not a simple transliteration of non-English symbols of Jaꞑalif or modern alphabet. Non-English letters are represented like digraphs, soft vowels are represented like combination of the pairmate and apostrophe, excluding y, that firstly in Tatar writing represent ı, probably under the influence of Transliteration of Russian and grammar of the Slavic languages. Like in Jaꞑalif, j represent, and zh is used for j of modern and ƶ of Jaꞑalif. X isn't used in Inalif and kh is used instead. Other changes include: Ä – A'; Ö – O'; Ü – U'; Ç – Ch; Ğ - Gh; Ñ - Ng; Ş - Sh. The sorting of Inalif isn't published, but computer sorting consider to use English sorting. Inalif is used only on the Internet.