Two scripts are currently used for the Tatar language: Cyrillic and Latin.

Latin versions

Introduction

While a Tatar version of the Latin alphabet called Jaŋalif had been in use during the 1930s, there is controversy in the matter of Latin-based Tatar alphabet for İdíl-Ural (Qazan) Tatar. One dimension of the controversy is that there are multiple proposed versions of Latin alphabet. The other dimension is that the Moscow authorities in a move to solidify the unity of the Russian Federation, have lately outlawed any switch to Latin , or any other non-Cyrillic, alphabet. This specifically targeted Tatars, but affects all other nations living within borders now recognized as Russian Federation.

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, Ө 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-based alphabet for İdíl-Ural Tatar are as follows:

Zamanälif

(Tatar for: Modern alphabet based on what was considered for official acceptance) is as follows:

The Latin version of the Tatar alphabet contains 35 letters. There are 10 vowels and 25 consonants. There are 10 extra letters: Çç, Ğğ, Şş, Ññ, Ää, Öö, Üü, Iı, İi 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, İ, 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 (known as hamza in Tatar).</'>

It is possible to use these letters for writing words of non-Tatar origin: Á, Â, É, Ó, Ú.

Crimean Tatar has its own written form, with some differences from the Qazan Tatar orthography: in comparison to Zamanälif, ä corresponds to e, e corresponds to i, and i or ıy correspond to í, and there is no w, and x.

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.

• A – a as in "ugly"
• Ä – ä as in "man", but less open
• B – be as in "bell"
• C – ce as in "pleasure"
• Ç – çe as in "usher" or "chocolate" but without first [t]
• D – de as in "decade" (the tongue touches only the front teeth but not the palate.)
• E – e as in "six" or "needed"
• F – fe as in "federal"
• G – ge as in "get"
• Ğ – ğı is back version of g, very close to back r in French
• H – he as in "helicopter"
• I – ı as in "number"
• İ – i as in "kiss" or "read"
• Í – í as in "beyond"
• J – je as in "garage" pronounced as in French & English)
• K – ke as in "kettle"
• L – le as in "leg"
• M – me as in "men"
• N – ne as in "never"
• Ñ – ñe as in "English" and "song"
• O – o as in "orchestra" and "obligation"
• Ö – ö as in "urbane" and like German ö
• P – pe as in "pen"
• Q – qu as in "Iraq"
• R – re as in Spanish "carro" (the tongue vibrates doing a few touches of palate during pronunciation of one sound)
• S – se as in "sell"
• Ş – şe as in ""slash"
• T – te as in "telephone" (the tongue touches only the front teeth but not the palate.)
• U – u as in "oops!"
• Ü – ü as in "jew" and like German ü
• V – ve as in "vegetable"
• W – we as in "wall"
• Y – ye as in "yes"
• X – xa close to that in "chemistry", or like Scottish "ch" in "loch"
• Z – ze as in "zebra"

Table of correspondence (based on Zamanälif)

Letter Number	Latin Character	Name in Latin	Name in Cyrillic	Transcription
1	A a	A	А
	Á á	A hämzä belän	А һәмзә белән
2	Ä ä	Ä , noqtalı A	Ә, нокталы А
	Â â	A dulqın belän	А дулкын белән
3	B b	Bé	Бэ	b
4	C c	Cé	Җэ
5	Ç ç	Çé	Чэ
6	D d	Dé	Дэ	d
7	E e	E	Э	e
	É é	E hämzä belän, ozın E	Э һәмзә белән, озын э
8	F f	Éf	Эф	f
9	G g	Gé	Ге
10	Ğ ğ	Ğé	Гъэ
11	H h	Hé	Һэ	h
12	İ i	İ	И	i
13	Í í	Í	Ый
14	I ı	I	Ы
15	J j	Jé	Жэ
16	K k	Ké	Ке	k
17	L l	El	Эль	l
18	M m	Ém	Эм	m
19	N n	Én	Эн	n
20	Ñ ñ	Éñ	Эң
21	O o	O	О	o, o:
	ó	O hämzä belän	О һәмзә белән
22	Ö ö	Ö, noqtalı O	Ө, нокталы О
23	P p	Pé	Пэ	p
24	Q q	Qu	Ку	q
25	R r	Ér	Эр	r
26	S s	És	Эс	s
27	Ş ş	Şa	Ша
28	T t	Té	Тэ	t
29	U u	U	У	u
	ú	U hämzä belän	У һәмзә белән
30	Ü ü	Ü, noqtalı U	Ү, нокталы У	Y
31	V v	Vé	Вэ	v
32	W w	Wé	Вэ (Уэ)	w
33	X x	Éx	Эх	x
34	Y y	Yé	Йэ
35	Z z	Zet	Зет	z
	' - hämzä	Hämzä	Һәмзә	ʔ

Cyrillic version

The official Cyrilic version of the Tatar alphabet used in Tatarstan contains 39 letters:

А Ә Б В Г Д Е (Ё) 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

Letters and symbols of the Tatar Cyrillic alphabet

Capital	Small	Correspondence to Zamanälif.	Earlier Translit.	Name (хәреф исеме)	Pronunciation	Notes
А	а	a	a	а
Ә	ә	ä	ä	ә
Б	б	b	b	бэ
В	в	w, v	v	вэ
Г	г	g, ğ	g	гэ
Д	д	d	d	дэ
Е	е	e, ye, yı	e	йе , йы
Ё	ё	yo	ë	йо
Ж	ж	j	ž	жэ
Җ	җ	c	ẓ̌	җэ
З	з	z	z	зэ
И	и	i	i	и
Й	й	y	j	кыска и
К	к	k, q	k	ка
Л	л	l	l	эль
М	м	m	m	эм
Н	н	n	n	эн
Ң	ң	ñ	ņ	эң
О	о	o	o	о
Ө	ө	ö	ö	ө
П	п	p	p	пэ
Р	р	r	r	эр
С	с	s	s	эс
Т	т	t	t	тэ
У	у	u, w	u	У
Ү	ү	ü, w	ü	Ү
Ф	ф	f	f	эф
Х	х	x	x	ха
Һ	һ	h	h	һэ
Ц	ц	ts, s	c	цэ
Ч	ч	ç	č	чэ
Ш	ш	ş	š	ша
Щ	щ	şç	šč	ща
Ъ	ъ	'	”	калынлык билгесе		калынлык һәм аеру билгесе
Ы	ы	ı	y	ы
Ь	ь	'	’	нечкәлек билгесе		нечкәлек һәм аеру билгесе
Э	э	e, '	è	э
Ю	ю	yu, yü	ju	йу
Я	я	ya, yä	ja	йа	; [jæ]

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 Latin alphabet for the Tatar language.

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 Iske imla.

The most ancient of Tatar literature (in Bolgar) was created in the beginning of the 13th century. (Qíssai Yosıf by Qol-Ğäli). 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 (see: Yanga imla; some letters for Tatar sounds were added, some Arabic letters were deleted). A Latin alphabet (Janalif) was created for it in 1927. However, from 1939 until 2000, the Tatar language was written in a modified Cyrillic alphabet. The transition to a revised Latin alphabet (another version, different than Janalif) [70074] should be completed in 2011, if current legal obstacles do not prevent it. Tatarstan's government as well as human rights groups strongly oppose the Russian Federal Law On Languages of Peoples of the Russian Federation passed in 2002. In 2002, schwa was replaced by A-umlaut to represent the sound /æ/.

The first printed Tatar book used the Armenian alphabet in the 17th century and was printed in Leipzig (However, this is disputed). Another is Peter the Great's Manifest, printed in Arabic script on the tsar's ship during his voyage to Astrakhan.

Printed books appeared en masse in 1801 when the first private typography ("Oriental 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. See Janalif The Tatar Cyrillic script requires the Russian alphabet plus 6 extra letters: Әә, Өө, Үү, Җҗ, Ңң, Һһ.

Before the 1980s, extra letters were placed after the original Russian ones, but in the 1990s the extra letters were inserted 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 umlaut for Tatar vowels and the ligature НГ (Ng). This alphabet is related to the Mari alphabet and was used because Christian Tatars couldn't use the Arabic script.

See also

• Tatar language

References

1. ФЕДЕРАЛЬНЫЙ ЗАКОН О внесении дополнения в статью 3 Закона Российской Федерации "О языках народов Российской Федерации" - Russian federal law which allows only Cyrillic alphabet for languages in RF
2. BBC NEWS | Europe | Russia reconsiders Cyrillic law
3. Radio Free Europe | Russian Supreme Court Orders Tatarstan To Change Language Law

External links

• Information about Tatar writing
• Lengua Tártara