lingvo.wikisort.org - Alphabet

Crimean Tatar is written in both Latin, dominant on the internet, and Cyrillic dominant in printed productions. Historically, the Arabic script was also used.

History

Arabic script

Crimean Tatars used the Arabic script from 16th century to 1928 when it was replaced with the Latin alphabet based on Yañalif. The Crimean variant contained a couple of modified Arabic letters.

Isolated	Final	Medial	Initial	Name	Modern Latin
ﺍ	ﺎ	—		elif (елиф)	a, â
ﺀ	—			hemze (хемзе)	-
ﺏ	ﺐ	ﺒ	ﺑ	be (бе)	b, p (word-finally)
ﭖ	ﭗ	ﭙ	ﭘ	pe (пе)	p
ﺕ	ﺖ	ﺘ	ﺗ	te (те)	t
ﺙ	ﺚ	ﺜ	ﺛ	se (се)	s
ﺝ	ﺞ	ﺠ	ﺟ	cim (джим)	c
ﭺ	ﭻ	ﭽ	ﭼ	çim (чим)	ç
ﺡ	ﺢ	ﺤ	ﺣ	ha (ха)	-
ﺥ	ﺦ	ﺨ	ﺧ	hı (хы)	h
ﺩ	ﺪ	—		dal (дал)	d
ﺫ	ﺬ	—		zel (зел)	z
ﺭ	ﺮ	—		re (ре)	r
ﺯ	ﺰ	—		ze (зе)	z
ﮊ	ﮋ	—		je (же)	j
ﺱ	ﺲ	ﺴ	ﺳ	sin (син)	s
ﺵ	ﺶ	ﺸ	ﺷ	şin (шин)	ş
ﺹ	ﺺ	ﺼ	ﺻ	sad (сад)	s
ﺽ	ﺾ	ﻀ	ﺿ	dad (дад)	d, z
ﻁ	ﻂ	ﻄ	ﻃ	tı (ты)	t
ﻅ	ﻆ	ﻈ	ﻇ	zı (зы)	z
ﻉ	ﻊ	ﻌ	ﻋ	ayn (айн)	-
ﻍ	ﻎ	ﻐ	ﻏ	ğayn (гъайн)	ğ
ﻑ	ﻒ	ﻔ	ﻓ	fe (фе)	f
ﻕ	ﻖ	ﻘ	ﻗ	qaf (къаф)	q
ﻙ	ﻚ	ﻜ	ﻛ	kef (kef-i arabiy) (кеф) (кеф-и арабий)	k (g, ñ)1
ﮒ	ﮓ	ﮕ	ﮔ	gef (kef-i farsiy) (геф) (кеф-и фарсий)	g
ﯓ	ﯔ	ﯖ	ﯕ	nef (kef-i nuniy, sağır kef) (неф) (кеф-и нуний, сагъыр кеф)	ñ
ﻝ	ﻞ	ﻠ	ﻟ	lâm (лям)	l
ﻡ	ﻢ	ﻤ	ﻣ	mim (мим)	m
ﻥ	ﻦ	ﻨ	ﻧ	nun (нун)	n
ﻭ	ﻮ	—		vav (вав)	v, o, ö, u, ü
ﻩ	ﻪ	ﻬ	ﻫ	he (хе)	-, e, a
ﻻ	ﻼ	—		lâm-elif (лям-елиф)	la, lâ
ﻯ	ﻰ	ﻴ	ﻳ	ye (йе)	y, ı, i

¹ — The letter ﻙ (kef) was often used in place of ﮒ and ﯓ.

Latin alphabet

In 1928, during latinisation in the Soviet Union the Crimean Tatar Arabic alphabet was replaced by the Latin alphabet based on the Yañalif script. This alphabet contained a number of differences from the modern variant. Particularly, in letters Ь ь, Ƣ ƣ, Ꞑ ꞑ, Ɵ ɵ, X x, Ƶ ƶ, I i instead of modern  â, Ğ ğ, I ı, İ i, Ñ ñ, Ö ö, and Ü ü.

Alphabet of 1928	Alphabet of 1997	Alphabet of 1928	Alphabet of 1997	Alphabet of 1928	Alphabet of 1997
A a	A a	Ь ь	I ı	R r	R r
B ʙ	B b	K k	K k	S s	S s
C c	Ç ç	Q q	Q q	Ş ş	Ş ş
Ç ç	C c	Ƣ ƣ	Ğ ğ	T t	T t
D d	D d	L l	L l	U u	U u
E e	E e	M m	M m	Y y	Ü ü
F f	F f	N n	N n	V v	V v
G g	G g	Ꞑ ꞑ	Ñ ñ	X x	H h
H h	H h	O o	O o	Z z	Z z
I i	İ i	Ɵ ɵ	Ö ö	Ƶ ƶ	J j
J j	Y y	P p	P p

In Dobruja

In 1956, this alphabet was used by the Tatars in Romania, which was also taught in school.[1] The alphabet:[2]
A a, Á á, B b, Č č, D d, E e, F f, G g, Ğ ğ, H h, I i, Í í, Î î, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, Ñ ñ, O o, Ó ó, P p, R r, S s, Ș ș, T t, Ț ț, U u, Ú ú, V v, W w, Y y, Z z.

Today they use a different alphabet which includes Ĭ ĭ and W w letters, Ğ ğ and Q q are actually not found. But they try to use the letters Ğ ğ and Q q.[3]

The alphabet which is used now:
A a, B b, С c, Ç ç, D d, E e, F f, G g, (Ğ ğ), H h, I ı, İ i, Ĭ ĭ, J j, K k, (Q q), L l, M m, N n, Ñ ñ, O o, Ö ö, P p, R r, S s, Ş ş, T t, U u, Ü ü, V v, W w, Y y, Z z.[4]

• Sometimes they use Á á, Î î, Í í, Ó ó, Ș ș, Ú ú. The reason can be the alphabet from 1956.[5]

Modern alphabets

Cyrillic

Cyrillic for Crimean Tatar was introduced in 1938 as part of Cyrillization of languages in Soviet Union. It is based on Russian alphabet with no special letters. From 1938 to 1990s, that was the only alphabet used for Crimean Tatar.

А а	Б б	В в	Г г	Гъ гъ*	Д д	Е е	Ё ё
Ж ж	З з	И и	Й й	К к	Къ къ*	Л л	М м
Н н	Нъ нъ*	О о	П п	Р р	С с	Т т	У у
Ф ф	Х х	Ц ц	Ч ч	Дж дж*	Ш ш	Щ щ	Ъ ъ
Ы ы	Ь ь	Э э	Ю ю	Я я

*Гъ (ğ), къ (q), нъ (ñ) and дж (c) are separate letters of the alphabet (digraphs).

Latin

Modern Latin alphabet for Crimean Tatar was introduced in 1990s. It is based on Turkish alphabet with three special letters — Q, Ñ, Â. Its official use in Crimea was accepted in 1997 by Crimean Parliament. In 2021 it was approved by the government of Ukraine, to be adopted in education by September 2025.[6]

A a	 â*	B b	C c	Ç ç	D d	E e	F f
G g	Ğ ğ	H h	I ı	İ i	(Ĭ ĭ)¹	J j	K k	L l
M m	N n	Ñ ñ	O o	Ö ö	P p	Q q	R r
S s	Ş ş	T t	U u	Ü ü	V v	(W w)¹	Y y	Z z

*Ââ is not recognized as separate letter. It is used to show softness of a consonant followed by Aa.

1. Crimean Tatars in Dobruja use also Ĭĭ and Ww letters. Ĭ ĭ letter is for [ɪ] and the W w letter is for [w] sound. Crimean Tatars in Crimea use the İ i letter for two sounds [ɪ] and [i], the letter V v is also two sounds [w] and [v], but in Dobrudja has every letter one sound, İ i is [i] and V v is [v].

Cyrillic to Latin transliteration

Cyrillic	Latin	Notes
А а	A a
Б б	B b
В в	V v
Г г	G g
Гъ гъ	Ğ ğ
Д д	D d
Е е	E e	following a consonant
	Ye ye	word-initially, following a vowel or ь
Ё ё	Ö ö	following a consonant
	Yö yö	word-initially in "soft" words
	Yo yo	word-initially in "hard" words; following a vowel, ь or ъ
Ж ж	J j
З з	Z z
И и	İ i
Й й	Y y
К к	K k
Къ къ	Q q
Л л	L l
М м	M m
Н н	N n
Нъ нъ	Ñ ñ
О о	Ö ö	if о is the first letter in a "soft" word
	O o	in other cases
П п	P p
Р р	R r
С с	S s
Т т	T t
У у	Ü ü	if у is the first letter in a "soft" word
	U u	in other cases
Ф ф	F f
Х х	H h
Ц ц	Ts ts
Ч ч	Ç ç
Дж дж	C c
Ш ш	Ş ş
Щ щ	Şç şç
ъ	—	is not a separate letter in Cyrillic
Ы ы	I ı
ь	—	no special signs for softness
Э э	E e
Ю ю	Ü ü	following a consonant
	Yü yü	word-initially, following a vowel or ь in "soft" words
	Yu yu	word-initially, following a vowel or ь in "hard" words
Я я	Â â	following a consonant
	Ya ya	word-initially, following a vowel or ь

References

• Кай И.С. Руководство для обучения крымско-татарскому языку по новому алфавиту — Симферополь, 1928.
• Alem-i-Medeniye

На других языках

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- [en] Crimean Tatar alphabet

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[ru] Крымскотатарская письменность

Крымскотатарская письменность — письменность, используемая для записи крымскотатарского языка. За время своего существования функционировала на разных графических основах и неоднократно реформировалась. В настоящее время крымскотатарская письменность функционирует на двух алфавитах — кириллице и латинице. В её истории выделяются 4 этапа.

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