Tatar Language

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The Republic of Tatarstan

Eurasia

Tatars: General Information The Tatar language is one of the Turkic languages along with such languages as Turkish, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Azeri, Uygur etc. It is spoken throughout the territory of modern day Russia, and there are Tatar diasporas in most former Soviet Union republics (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine), Turkey, China, Japan, Poland, Finland, USA, Australia etc. The Tatar language is one of two official languages in the Republic of Tatarstan, which is a part of the Russian Federation. The Tatar people have a long history, which connects to ancient Turkic states such as the Hunn Empire, Turkic Khanates, and The Great Bulgaria. In the VII-IX centuries Volga Bulgaria was formed on the territory of modern Tatarstan. The official adoption of Islam in 922 played a big role in the Tatars’ history. Along with the religion, the Tatars also adopted an Arabic script and a lot of Arabic words. In 1236 the Mongols conquered Volga Bulgaria and added it to the Golden Horde. With its collapse in the XIV century, the Kazan, Siberian, Astrakhan and Kasim khanates continued their existence as successor states of the Golden Horde. In 1552 Ivan IV “the Terrible” invaded Kazan, and since then Tatars have lived as a part of the Russian Empire. In 1920 they created the Tatarstan Autonomous Soviet Socialistic Republic, and

Russia

the script changed from Arabic to Latin and then from Latin to Cyrillic. The vocabulary also underwent big changes because of the influence of the Russian language. In 1990, with the collapse of the USSR, the Republic of Tatarstan became a sovereign republic within the Russian Federation. Tatar diasporas around the world appeared in different eras starting with the Golden Horde period (for example, Tatars in Lithuania and Poland), the Russian Empire period (Tatars in Turkey and Finland), the Russian Revolutioniary period (Tatars in China, Turkey and Japan), and the Soviet period (Tatars in the USA, Australia, Canada, and former Soviet Union republics etc.) Now Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, is a cultural center of the Tatar people. Every two years, Tatars from all over the world gather for World Tatar Congress in Kazan. The Tatar language has three dialects: Kazan, Mishar and Siberian. Historically the Kazan dialect serves as the literary language for all Tatars. While communicating with different Tatars from different parts of the world, one may hear different, easily understandable variants of Tatar which can be explained by the historical appearance and location of the diasporas. For instance, the Tatar diasporas that moved before the Soviet Union period do not speak Russian and do not use the vast amounts of Russian borrowings that Tatars in Russia use.

Printed Cyrillic Alphabet Аа Әә Бб Вв Гг Дд Ее

Жж Җҗ Зз Ии Йй Кк Лл

Мм Нн Нң Оо Өө Пп Рр

Сс Тт Уу Үү Фф Хх Һһ

Цц Чч Шш Щщ ъ Ыы ь

Handwritten Cyrillic Alphabet

Ээ Юю Яя

Vowels

Vowels in Tatar are eather Back or Front row, depending on the position of the tongue in the mouth. For example, in “a” the tongue is a bit back, compairing to “ә” where the tongue moves a bit forward.

Аа Back row

Әә Front row

Plain [a]. To pronounce it you should open your mouth wide. The sound [а] is similar to the sound in the words: sun and butter. Examples: китап, кургаш, чуар, мисал. When you see the letter “a” in the first syllable of the word, pronounce it as [ao]. It is similar to the sound [a], but to pronounce it you should round your lips a little bit in order to add some of the sound [o]. Examples: катык, алма, салам, апа.

__________________________________ __________________________________ This sound is similar to what you here in english words: man and pan-cake. But Tatar [ә] is pronounced wider and more intense. Examples: әби, күбәләк, әле, Искәндәр.

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Оо

This letter denotes a sound which is very short “o” in the word “orchestra”. Examples: он, моң, тору, оту.

Өө

Letter “Ө” denotes a sound which is quite close to what you hear in the English word “blur”. Lips are rounded and the tongue goes a little forward towards the lower lip. Example: төс, көн, өчен, бөтен.

Back row

Front row

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Уу

Sounds harder that “oo” in “moon”. Try moving tongue a bit back. Example: урман, кул, су.

Үү

Sounds similar to [u] in the word “chew”. Example: күл, күбәләк, күрү, бүлү.

Back row

Front row

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Ее

In most cases, it sounds like [i] in English word him. Other cases will be discussed later. Example: кем, рәсем, исем, кеше.

Ыы

Sounds close to “o” in “awesome”, but longer. Example: кыр, тавык, арыш, кыл.

Front row

Back row

Ии

Front row

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__________________________________ __________________________________ Sounds like “ee” in “see”. Examples: кич, бик, мин, ишек.

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Consonants

Tatar consonants are either voiced or unvoiced. Almost all the voiced consonants have unvoiced pair. The unvoiced pair is pronounced exactly the same way as voiced, but lacks the voice. English example: “g” is voiced, while “k” is its invoiced pair.

Бб

Voiced

Пп

Unvoiced

Вв Voiced

[б] is very similar to its English equivalent. But in Tatar there is no aspiration after it. Examples: бавыр, бина, кәбестә, бер.

__________________________________ __________________________________ [п] is also similar to English “p” in English word “apple”. Although there is no aspiration after it. Examples: күпер, пәке, керпе, пәрәмәч.

__________________________________ __________________________________ First way of pronunciation is the same with English [w] in words “wonder” and “wine”. Here, the lips come close to each other and the sudden breath pushes them apart. Examples: вак, авыл, ватык, Вәли. In words that came to Tatar from other languages “в” is pronounced as English “v”. Here, upper teeth and lower lips touches each other and sudden breath pushes them apart.

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Фф Voiced

Гг Voiced

Кк Voiced

Дд Voiced

[ф] is the same with English “f ”, like in the word funny. Example: кәеф, фән, сыйныф.

__________________________________ __________________________________ In many cases it is pronounced in the same way as English [g] in words go and ago. Example: гөмбә, әгәр, түгәрәк. If after “г” there is “a”, “о”, “ы” or “у” it is pronounced differently: move up the root (back) of your tongue, but don’t touch the palate. Examples: кич, бик, мин, ишек.

__________________________________ __________________________________ If after “к” there is “а”, “о”, “ы” or “у” it is pronounced strongly: move up the back of your tongue back and up and touch the uvula. Sudden breath should push the back of the tongue and the uvula apart. Examples: акыл, кара, кул, кыр Second way is to pronounce itw the same way with English [k] in kitten. Examples: китап, көн, ике, йөрәк.

__________________________________ __________________________________ Don’t confuse this with English sound [d]. In Tatar it is much “dryer”. To pronounce “д” touch the upper teeth with the tip of your tongue. Sudden breath should push them apart. Don’t forget to use the voice Examples: адым, дәфтәр, идән, дөнья.

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Тт

“T” is the same with “д”, but don’t use your voice. Examples: тел, китап, кибет.

Жж

This letter is used in the borrowed words only. This sound is a little bit similar to English [Ȝ] in the word garage, but pronounced harder. Hint: Pull your tongue a little back. Examples: журналист, желе.

Unvoiced

Voiced

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Шш

Sound like english “sh”, but harder. Pull you tongue back a little. Examples: шәп, яхшы, инша, эш .

Җҗ

To pronounce sound [җ] use the middle of your tongue. Pull it up and pronounce sound [Ȝ]. This is an important sound. Practice it hard. Examples: җылы, җавап, тәрҗемә, җеп.

Voiced

Voiced

Чч Voiced

Зз

Voiced

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__________________________________ __________________________________ To pronounce this sound take English “ch” in chain, but don’t touch the palate with your tongue. Your breath should flow slowly between them. Examples: ачык, беренче, өч, кичә.

__________________________________ __________________________________ Same with English “z” in zoo. Examples: азык, кызыл, кызу, авыз.

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Сс

Same with English “s” in sun. Examples: сорау, кайсы, дәрес, сүз.

Лл

Almost same with English “l” in lost. But a bit softer. Examples: ил, белү, алты, йола.

Мм

Same with English “m” in main. Example: мин, кем, имтихан, мисал.

Voiced

Voiced

Voiced

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Рр Voiced

Нн Voiced

Ңң Voiced

Хх Unvoiced

Һһ

Unvoiced

You may think this sound is close to English “R”. The difference is that the tongue should be much closer to the teeth in Tatar variant. Another important difference is that it should vibrate. Examples: риза, сабыр, карт хәреф.

__________________________________ __________________________________ A bit different from English “n”. Touch the back of your upper teeth with the tip of your tongue and say English “n”. Examples: ун, начар, нәрсә, бүген.

__________________________________ __________________________________ Same with English “ng” in bang. Examples: соң, караңгы, яңгыр, киңәш.

__________________________________ __________________________________ Very hard “h” in hi. Usually this sound is denoted in English by letters “kh”. Examples: хәят, хыял, хәреф, ахыр.

__________________________________ __________________________________ The same with English “Hh”. Examples: һәм, һәйкәл, һәркем.

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Йй

Very short “и”. It sounds the same with English “y”. Examples: әйе, йөрәк, аерым.

Щщ

Same with “ч”, but used in words which came from Russian. Example: щетка.

Voiced

Unvoiced

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Цц

This letter denotes double sound — [тс]. It is used in in words which came from the Russian language. Example: революция.

ь,ъ

This letters don’t denote any sounds, but show if the word is fron or back row in the cases it is not clear. Example: революция.

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More vowels

There are several more letters in Tatar. The problem is that they don’t denote any new sounds: they denote double sounds. This is the result of getting cirillic alphabet in 1939, which doesn’t suit well Tatar phonetics.

Ее

The first variant of the pronounciation is in the beginning of this chapter. Nevertheless, in the beginning of the word and after the vowels it means either [йе] or [йы] depending on which row the word is. Examples: [йе] — егет, тиен; [йы] — аерым, ертык.

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Юю

Has to ways of pronunciation: [йү] for front row words, and [йу] for back row words. Examples: [йү] — юнле, юкә; [йу] — юыну, юаш.

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Яя

Has two ways of pronunciation: [йа] for front row words, and [йә] for back row words. Examples: [йә] — яшь, ярдәм; [йа] — яңа, яңгыр.

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Ээ

Same with Tatar “Ee”. It is put in place of “Ее” in the beginning of the words. Also it is used in the foreign words. Examples: эш, эт, энергия.

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Vocabulary

Vowels: Lip Harmony

The majority of the words are of common Turkic, basic groups of words are the same for all Turkic languages and specifically Tatar ori gin. Another big group of vocabulary consists of the words of Arabic and Persian origin, the words borrowed with the adoption of Islam and trade connections. And the third group of vocabulary is the words borrowed from Russian and other European languages. Most Arabic-Persian words and Russian words borrowed before 1900-s submitted under the rules of the Tatar phonetics. However, the words borrowed from Russian and other European languages through Russian are pronounced as in a target language.

Lip harmony is characterized by the ability of labial vowels “o” and “ө” affect forthcoming short vowels “ы” and “e”. Under the influence of “o” and “ө” the sounds “ы” and “e” are also labialized, however the impact reduces to the third and fourth syllables. For example, тормыш is pronounced more like [тормош], өчен – [өчөн], көмешле - [көмөшле(ө)], корымлы [коромлы(о)].

Phonetics There are 39 letters and sounds in Tatar; it means some of the letters correspond with the several sounds. Consonants - , vowels 9 plus 3 vowels borrowed from Russian and used only with them.

Vowels: Row Harmony The Tatar language is characterized by two types of vowel harmony. First, row harmony is a peculiar feature of the Tatar language that has words either only with the back vowels or only with front vowels. BACK VOWELS

FRONT VOWELS

А У О Ы

Ү Ө Е (Э) И

The words with back vowels can be called “hard words” and those with front vowels “soft words”. For example, матур, тормыш, караңгы, сукояр – hard words; күбәләк, тәртип, сикерү, тискәре – soft words. As follows, suffixes in Tatar always have two variants, which are correspondently added to either hard or soft word. For example, suffix of plurality has 2 variants –лар and –ләр, as a rule –лар is added to a hard word and –ләр to a soft word. See, hard words with hard endings: Казаннан, карбызмы, яңгырлы, карлы, Татарстаннан һ.б. Soft words with soft endings: Мәскәү-дән, көн-ме, Ләйсәнме, син-ең исем-ең, җил-ле.

Consonants Consonants can be voiced or unvoiced in Tatar: VOICED

UNVOICED

CONSONANTS

CONSONANTS

Б В Г Д Ж Җ З Л М Н Ң Р

П Ф К Т Ш Ч С Х Һ Щ Ц

All endings in Tatar have voiced and unvoiced variants. Words ending on a voiced consonant or a vowel take endings that start on a voiced consonant and vice versa words with the unvoiced consonant on the end take unvoiced endings. For example, locative case suffix has four variants: - да (goes with hard words ending on a voiced consonant or a vowel – авылда, кырда, Татарстанда), -дә (goes with soft words ending on a voiced consonant or a vowel – шәһәрдә, Себердә, тездә, кесәдә), - та (goes with hard word ending on a unvoiced consonant – тормышта, борылышта, вакытта, таракта) and –тә (goes with soft words ending on a unvoiced consonant – бәрелештә, көрәштә, мәктәптә, бишектә). Some suffixes have nasal variants of endings as well, that is words endings on “м”, “н”or “ң” take endings starting with a “н”. For example, урман-нар, Казан-нан. 2 pairs of consonants “г/к”and “б/п” interchange themselves in intervocalic position. For example, китап – китабым, тарак – тарагыбыз, мәктәп – мәктәбен, кәсеп – кәсебең. In a combination “нг” “н”is pronounced as a “ң”. For example, борынгы – [бороңгы(о)], төнге - [төңгө], онга - [оңга].

Morphology

Stress

Tatar is an agglutinative language, which means that different meanings are formed by various suffixes. Suffixes have specific grammatical or lexical-grammatical meanings. For example, in the word “дус-лар-ым-ныкы” adding 3 suffixes we get the meaning “of my friends” where “-лар” is a suffix of plurality, “-ым” is a first person possessive suffix, and “-ныкы” is a genitive case suffix. Verbs are very rich category in Tatar, different suffixes and analytical forms create variety of meanings and nuances. Different verb forms may express the intensity, the completion, the trustworthiness, the character of the beginning, the length, the emotionality and many other aspects of an action.

Stress is mainly on the last syllable in Tatar. For example, карш’ы, көлкел’е, каршылыкл’ы, исемнәрег’ез, сәламләш’ү. Except the combined words, some borrowings, imperatives and particles. For example, с’уүсем, компь’ютер, ’укы, бар’амы.

The adjectives and adverbs can be mutually interchangeable. Examples: Бу матур рәсем. This is a beautiful drawing. Ул матур җырлый. He/she sings beautifully. Unlike in English, there are only postpositions in Tatar. Examples: синең белән (“you with”) – with you; шәһәр турында (“city about”) – about the city.

Syntax The basic sentence pattern in Tatar is SUBJECT → OBJECT → PREDICATE. Example: Мин татар телен өйрәнәм. “I Tatar language learn.” The theme of the sentence goes before the predicate. Examples: Иртәгә мин дусларым белән кинотеатрга барам. The important information here is that the subject is going to the movie theatre and nowhere else. Tomorrow I’m going to the movie theatre with my friends. Иртәгә мин кинотеатрга дусларым белән барам. Here the theme is that subject is going together with his friends. Мин дусларым белән кинотеатрга иртәгә барам. Tomorrow is the main word here. Adjectives come before nouns in Tatar like in English. Examples: матур шәһәр – beautiful city, сабыр кеше – patient person, кызыклы сәяхәт – interesting trip.