The Dobrujan Tatar alphabet (Dobrujan Tatar: Tatar elipbesĭ) is the writing system of Dobrujan Tatar.[1] Before 1956 only Perso-Arabic script was used and after 1956, Latin alphabet was adopted.[2][3][4]
| Dobrujan Tatar alphabet Tatar elipbesĭ | |
|---|---|
 Dobrujan Tatar written in the Latin script | |
| Script type | |
Time period | 1956 – present |
| Languages | Dobrujan Tatar |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | Egyptian hieroglyphs
|
| Unicode | |
| subset of Latin (U+0000...U+024F) | |
Alphabet
editIn 1 June 1956, Latin alphabet for Dobrujan Tatar was accepted[2] and it was used in University of Bucharest, the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures.[3] The alphabet is to found in a grammatic book of Dobrujan Tatar by University of Bucharest.[5][6] This alphabet was redesigned after communist period.[7] It was designed by some writers and Prof. Doctors, including the general secretary of UDTTMR.[8]
Literary Tatar
editTatar spoken in Romania has two distinct facets existing, interweaving and forming together the literary Tatar language "edebiy Tatarşa". One of these aspects is the authentic Tatar called "calpı Tatarşa" or "calpaq Tatarşa" and the other is the academic Tatar language called "muwallĭmatşa".[6]
- Academic Tatar language, means writing and pronouncing Arabic and Persian neologisms - occurring mostly in science, religion, literature, arts or politics - in their original form.
- Authentic Tatar language, means writing and pronouncing words, including those of Arabic and Persian origin, by strictly adapting them to the own phonetic system.
Naturalization
editNaturalization is shifting the spelling of academic speech sounds to authentic sounds following the patterns below, where a greater-than sign indicates that one sound changes to another.[6]
f > p
v > w
v > b
ç > ş
ç > j
h > (skip over)
h > y
h > w
ţ > s
x > q
Letters
editThere is a total of 10 letters used to represent determinant sounds of which 9 mark authentic determinant sounds: a, e, ı, ĭ, i, o, ö, u, ü while the letter á is used for an academic vowel. The writing system registers authentic consonants with 19 letters: b, c, ç, d, g, ğ, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, p, q, r, s, ş, t, z and has five signs standing for the academic consonants: f, h, ţ, v, x. There are also two authentic semivowels: y, w. An old authentic Turkic consonant, the sound /ç/ represented by the letter ⟨Ç⟩ is rarely heard because authentic speakers of Tatar spoken in Dobruja spell it /ş/ as letter ⟨Ş⟩. As the written language most often follows the spoken language shifting ⟨Ç⟩ to ⟨Ş⟩, the result is that in Tatar spoken in Romania letter ⟨Ç⟩ and sound /ç/ are often treated as academic.[6]
Pronunciation
edit| Latin character | Name | Sound description and pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| A a | a | This letter represents the low unrounded RTR or hard vowel /ɑ/ as in ana [ɑṉɑ] 'mother'. |
| Á á | á | This letter represents the near-low unrounded ATR or soft vowel not belonging to authentic Tatar language /æ/ as in sáát [s̶ææt̶] 'hour', 'clock'.
The phoneme, that is, the sound that determines the meaning of the word, is only found in the words "sár" and "şáş". Apart from these, in words such as "had" or "hal" and their derivatives, after the h sounds are dropped, the a sounds become lower and become "had" → "ád" or "hal" → "ál". However, the á sounds in these words are not phonemes, but they are only a sounds with a reading sign. When the rule of vowel harmony, which is one of the basic laws of Turkic dialects, shows its effect on words taken from foreign languages during speech, example they are called "ádem" or "álem", but their meaning does not change even if they say "adem" or "alem". In this case, the letter á may not be used. The same is true for the Tatar compound words "alıp kelmek" → "ákelmek" / "akelmek" or "alıp ketmek" → "áketmek" / "aketmek".[9] Also used for indicate that the consonant before á is palatalised, which occurs only in Arabic and Persian loanwords, like in "lále".[3] |
| B b | be | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiced bilabial stop /ḇ/ as in bal [ḇaḻ] 'honey' and the soft voiced bilabial stop /b̶/ as in bel [b̶el̶] 'waist'. |
| C c | ce | The letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiced palato-alveolar affricate/ḏ͡ʒ̱/ as in car [ḏ͡ʒ̱ɑṟ] 'abyss' and the soft voiced palato-alveolar affricate/d̶͡ʒ̶/ as in cer [d̶͡ʒ̶er̶] 'place', 'ground'. |
| Ç ç | çe | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiceless palato-alveolar affricate /ṯ͡ʃ̱/ as in ça-ça [ṯ͡ʃ̱ɑṯ͡ʃ̱ɑ] 'cha-cha' and the soft voiceless palato-alveolar affricate /t̶͡ʃ̶/ as in çeçen [t̶͡ʃ̶et̶͡ʃ̶en̶] 'chechen'.
Common to Turkic languages, these sounds are quasi non-existent in Tatar spoken in Dobruja where they have shifted from «Ç» to «Ş» or «J». Therefore, although authentic, these sounds could be equally treated as academic. |
| D d | de | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: hard voiced dental stop /ḏ/ as in dal [ḏɑḻ] 'branch' and the soft voiced dental stop/d̶/ as in deren [d̶er̶en̶] 'deep'. |
| E e | e | This letter represents the mid unrounded ATR or soft vowel /e/ as in sen [s̶en̶] 'you'. |
| F f | fe | This letter occurs only in loanwords for it represents sounds that do not belong to authentic Tatar language. In authentic reading the foreign sound is naturalized and the letter reads as letter «P». In academic reading it represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiceless labio-dental fricative [f̱] as in fal [f̱ɑḻ] 'destiny' and the soft voiceless labio-dental fricative [f̶] as in fen [f̶en̶] 'technics'. |
| G g | ge | This letter represents the soft voiced palatal stop [ɟ̱] as in gene [ɟ̱en̶e] 'again', 'still' with its allophone the soft voiced velar stop /g/ as in gül [gu̶l̶] 'flower', 'rose'. |
| Ğ ğ | ğa | This letter represents the hard voiced uvular fricative /ʁ/ as in ğam [ʁɑm] 'grief'. |
| H h | he | Representing sounds that do not belong to authentic Tatar language this letter occurs only in loanwords. Most often, in authentic reading, when it reproduces the Arabic or Persian ه or ح it is a silent letter or, the letter reads sometimes as «Y», sometimes as «W». In academic reading it represents one distinctive consonantal sound: the soft voiceless glottal fricative /h/ as in heşt [heʃ̶t̶] 'eight'. |
| I ı | ı | This letter represents the hight unrounded RTR or hard vowel /ɯ/ as in ışan [ɯʃ̱ɑṉ] 'mouse'.
At the end of the word it is pronounced with half open mouth shifting through dilatation to mid unrounded RTR or hard /ɤ/, close to schwa, as in şılapşı [ʃ̱ɯḻɑp̱ʃ̱ɤ] 'trough'. |
| Ĭ ĭ | ĭ | This letter represents the hight unrounded half-advanced ATR or soft vowel /ɨ/ as in bĭr [b̶ɨr̶] 'one' is specific to Tatar.
At the end of the word it is pronounced with half open mouth undergoing dilatation and becoming mid unrounded half-advanced ATR or soft /ə/, also known as schwa, as in tĭlĭ [t̶ɨl̶ə] 'his tongue'. |
| İ i | i | The letter represents the hight unrounded ATR or soft vowel /i/ as in biñ [b̶iŋ] 'thousand'. |
| J j | je | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiced palato-alveolar affricate /ʒ̱/ as in taj [ṯɑʒ̱] 'crown' and the soft voiced palato-alveolar affricate /ʒ̶/ as in bej [b̶eʒ̶] 'beige'. |
| K k | ke | This letter represents the soft voiceless palatal stop /c/ as in kel [cel̶] 'come!' and its allophone the soft voiceless velar stop /k/ as in köl [kɵl̶] 'lake'. |
| L l | le | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard alveolar lateral aproximant /ḻ/ as in bal [ḇɑḻ] 'honey' and the soft alveolar lateral aproximant /l̶/ as in bel [b̶el̶] 'waist'. |
| M m | me | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard bilabial nasal /m̱/ as in mağa [m̱ɑʁɑ] 'to me' and the soft bilabial nasal /m̶/ as in men [m̶en̶] 'I'. |
| N n | ne | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard dental nasal /ṉ/ as in ana [ɑṉɑ] 'mother' and the soft dental nasal /n̶/ as in ne [n̶e] 'what'. |
| Ñ ñ | ñe | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard uvular nasal /ɴ/ as in añ [ɑɴ] 'conscience' and the soft velar nasal /ŋ/ as in eñ [eŋ] 'most'. |
| O o | o | This letter represents the mid rounded RTR or hard vowel /o/ as in bo [ḇo] 'this'. |
| Ö ö | ö | This letter represents the mid rounded half-advanced ATR or soft vowel /ɵ/ as in tör [t̶ɵr̶] 'background'. |
| P p | pe | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiceless bilabial stap /p̱/ as in cap [ḏ͡ʒ̱ɑp̱] 'close!' and the soft voiceless bilabial stop /p̶/ as in cep [d̶͡ʒ̶ep̶] 'pocket'. |
| Q q | qa | This letter represents the hard voiceless uvular stop /q/ as in qal [qɑḻ] 'stay!'. |
| R r | re | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard alveolar trill /ṟ/ as in tar [ṯɑṟ] 'narrow' and the soft alveolar trill /r̶/ as in ter [t̶er̶] 'sweat'. |
| S s | se | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiceless alveolar fricative /s̱/ as in sal [s̱ɑḻ] 'raft' and the soft voiceless alveolar fricative /s̶/ as in sel [s̶el̶] 'flood'. |
| Ş ş | şe | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiceless palato-alveolar fricative /ʃ̱/ as in şaş [ʃ̱ɑʃ̱] 'spread!' and the soft voiceless palato-alveolar fricative /ʃ̶/ as in şeş [ʃ̶eʃ̶] 'untie'. |
| T t | te | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiceless dental stop /ṯ/ as in tar [ṯɑṟ] 'tight', 'narrow' and the soft voiceless dental stop /t̶/ as in ter [t̶er̶] 'sweat'. |
| Ţ ţ | ţe | This letter occurs only in loanwords for it represents sounds that do not belong to authentic Tatar spoken in Romania. In authentic reading the foreign sound is naturalized and the letter reads as «S». In academic it represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiceless alveolar affricate /t̠͡s̠/ as in ţar [t̠͡s̠ɑr̠] 'tsar' and the soft voiceless alveolar affricate /t̶͡s̶/ as in injekţiya [in̶ʒ̶ect̶͡s̶ij̠ɑ] 'injection'. |
| U u | u | This letter represents the hight rounded RTR or hard vowel /u/ as in un [uṉ] 'flour'. |
| Ü ü | ü | This letter represents the hight rounded half-advanced ATR or soft vowel /ʉ/ as in süt [s̶ʉt̶] 'milk'.
In the vicinity of semivowel y, which occurs rarely, its articulation shifts to high rounded ATR or soft /y/, close to Turkish pronunciation, as in süymek [s̶yj̶m̶ec] 'to love'. |
| V v | ve | This letter occurs only in loanwords for it represents sounds that do not belong to authentic Tatar spoken in Romania. In authentic reading the foreign sound is naturalized and the letter reads sometimes as «W», sometimes as «B». In academic it represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiced labio-dental fricative /v̱/ as in vals [v̱ɑḻs̱] 'waltz' and the soft voiced labio-dental fricative /v̶/ as in ve [v̶e] 'and'. |
| W w | we | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard labio-velar semivowel /w̱/ as in taw [ṯɑw̱] 'forest', 'mountain' and the soft labio-velar semivowel /w̶/ as in tew [t̶ew̶] 'central', 'fundamental'. |
| X x | xa | Representing sounds that do not belong to authentic Tatar language this letter occurs only in loanwords. Most often, in authentic reading, when it reproduces the Arabic or Persian خ the sound is usually naturalized as «Q». In academic reading it represents one distinctive consonantal sound: the hard voiceless uvular fricative /χ/ as in taxt [ṯɑχṯ] 'throne'. |
| Y y | ye | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard palatal semivowel /j̠/ as in tay [ṯɑj̠] 'foal' and the soft palatal semivowel /j̶/ as in yer [j̶er̶] 'place', 'ground'. |
| Z z | ze | This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiced alveolar fricative /ẕ/ as in taz [ṯɑẕ] 'bald' and the soft voiced alveolar fricative /z̶/ as in tez [t̶ez̶] 'quick'. |
Notes
edit- The letters Á á, Ţ ţ and X x are not well-known.
- The letters Ğ ğ, Ĭ ĭ, Q q or W w were outcluded by some writers.
- The letter Ï ï was used instead of Ĭ ĭ,[10] also Î î instead of I ı and/or Ĭ ĭ.
- The letters  â and Û û were used by some writers for palatalization of the consonant before the vowel.[9]
- Due to print (or similar) problems, some letters did appear as Ǧ ǧ, Ň ň, Șș, Ț ț.
About the letters Á, Ţ and X
editThe letters "Á" and "Ţ"
editThe letters Á á and Ţ ţ were also found in the first version of the Dobrujan Tatar alphabet (1957-1977), however nowadays they are not recognised, but they are important part of Dobrujan Tatar literature and grammar.
The letter "X"
editThe "X x" is a unknown letter and just "H h" is used instead, but the letter plays a important role. The letter was proposed by Behiç Bortemir.[2] The Arabic letters ھ and ح are presented by "H h" and the letter "خ" by "X x". For example the Persian word شاه (shāh) is written as "şah", or the Arabic word خط (khāt) is written as "xat".
Old version
editThis version was used in Tatar language section of University of Bucharest the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, between 1957-1977. Some writers, like Taner Murat, did also use this orthography.
| A a | Á á | B b | Ç ç | D d | E e | F f | G g | Ğ ğ |
| H h | I i | Î î | Í í | J j | K k | L l | M m | N n |
| Ñ ñ | O o | Ó ó | P p | R r | S s | Ş ş | T t | Ţ ţ |
| U u | Ú ú | V v | W w | Y y | Z z |
- Some writers, including Taner Murat, did outclude the letter Ţ ţ.
Other writing systems
editArabic script
editArabic script for Turkic languages is used since the 10th century by Kara Khanids. Dobrujan Tatar uses a variant of Chagatai alphabet. Nowadays, the writer Taner Murat, along with some others, revived the Arabic script, he did use it in some translations and did also make transliterations to Arabic script. He did marked the vowels all the time by Arabic diacritics,[11] like Xiao'erjing. The journal "Nazar Look" (نَظَرْ لُوقٌ), which was founded by Taner Murat, did also have a logo with Arabic script.
Letters
edit| Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial | Latin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ﺍ | ﺎ | — | a, á | |
| ﺏ | ﺐ | ﺒ | ﺑ | b |
| ﭖ | ﭗ | ﭙ | ﭘ | p |
| ﺕ | ﺖ | ﺘ | ﺗ | t |
| ث | ـث | ـثـ | ثـ | s |
| ﺝ | ﺞ | ﺠ | ﺟ | c |
| ﭺ | ﭻ | ﭽ | ﭼ | ç |
| ح | ـح | ـحـ | حـ | h, - |
| خ | ـخ | ـخـ | خـ | x, q |
| ﺩ | ﺪ | — | d | |
| ذ | ـذ | — | z | |
| ﺭ | ﺮ | — | r | |
| ﺯ | ﺰ | — | z | |
| ﮊ | ﮋ | — | j | |
| ﺱ | ﺲ | ﺴ | ﺳ | s |
| ﺵ | ﺶ | ﺸ | ﺷ | ş |
| ص | ـص | ـصـ | صـ | s |
| ض | ـض | ـضـ | ضـ | d, z |
| ط | ـط | ـطـ | طـ | t |
| ظ | ـظ | ـظـ | ظـ | z |
| ع | ـع | ـعـ | عـ | - |
| ﻍ | ﻎ | ﻐ | ﻏ | ğ |
| ﻑ | ﻒ | ﻔ | ﻓ | f |
| ﻕ | ﻖ | ﻘ | ﻗ | q |
| ﻙ | ﻚ | ﻜ | ﻛ | k |
| ﮒ | ﮓ | ﮕ | ﮔ | g |
| ﯓ | ﯔ | ﯖ | ﯕ | ñ |
| ﻝ | ﻞ | ﻠ | ﻟ | l |
| ﻡ | ﻢ | ﻤ | ﻣ | m |
| ﻥ | ﻦ | ﻨ | ﻧ | n |
| ﻭ | ﻮ | — | v, w | |
| ﻩ | ﻪ | ﻬ | ﻫ | h, - |
| ى | ﻰ | ﻴ | ﻳ | y |
| ء | — | - | ||
Additional letters
editThe letters in this list appear in Arabic or Persian loan words, but they can be replaced by other letters.
| Letter | Change options | Latin |
|---|---|---|
| ث | س | s |
| ح | ه, - | h, - |
| خ | ق | q |
| ذ | ز | z |
| ص | س | s |
| ض | ز ,د | d, z |
| ط | ت | t |
| ظ | ز | z |
| ع | ء ,ا | - |
Vowels
editVowels as a first letter of the word
| Character | Vowel |
|---|---|
| اَ / ءَ | a, á, e |
| اِ / ءِ | ı, ĭ, i |
| اُ / ءُ | o, ö, u, ü |
Vowels in middle and end of the word
| Character | Vowel |
|---|---|
| ـَا / ـَى / ـَو / ـٰ | a, á |
| ـَ | e, a, á |
| ـِ / ـِا | ı, ĭ, i |
| ـُ | o, ö, u, ü |
Long vowels
| Character | Long vowel |
|---|---|
| ـَآ | aa, ee |
| ـَ / ـَا / ـٰ | aá, áa, áá |
| ـِىٓ | ii |
| ـِى | iy |
| ـُو | uw, üw, oo |
Tanwin
edit| Character | Sound |
|---|---|
| ـً | an/añ, en/eñ, - |
| ـٍ | ın/ıñ, ĭn/ĭñ, in/iñ, - |
| ـٌ | un/uñ, ün/üñ, - |
- Sometimes is Tanwin mute, when it replaces Sukun, mostly end of the sentence, headline, or single word.
Other changes
edit| Character | Arabic |
|---|---|
| ! | ؞ |
| . | ۔ |
| , | ، |
| ? | ؟ |
| ; | ؛ |
| " | ۧ |
| - | ؍ |
| () | ؍؍ |
| 0123456789 | ٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩ |
Cyrillic script
editThere is a Cyrillic alphabet designed for Dobrujan Tatar by Taner Murat, including the letters Ә ә, Җ җ, Ң ң, Ө ө, Ү ү, Ў ў, І і.[4] There are one[12] or two[13] books in Cyrillic script, it appears also in some translated books with transliteration.[4]
Old Turkic script
editDobrujan Tatar has a version of Old Turkic script, the Old Turkic script was used in one book, but it appears also in some translated books with transliteration.[4]
References
edit- ^ "Crimean Tatar Language Micro Scythian Crimean Tatar Alphabet | PDF".
- ^ a b c Discuţia asupra problemei alfabetului limbii tătare din Dobrogea, Drimba, Vladimir (1924-2003), 1956
- ^ a b c "Latin alphabet used by Taner Murat". Archived from the original on 2023-04-23. Retrieved 2023-10-07.
- ^ a b c d The translation of the book "Luceafărul" (Mihai Eminescu) by Taner Murat
- ^ Curs General de Limba Tatara: Fonetica-Fonologie-Morfologie, p.20
- ^ a b c d The Sounds of Tatar Spoken in Romania: The Golden Khwarezmian Language of the Nine Noble Nations, Taner Murat, Anticus Press, Constanța, 2018, ISBN 978-606-94509-4-9
- ^ Ismail H. A. Ziyaeddin; Ali Cafer Ahmet-Naci; Nida Ablez; Risa Iusein (2015). ALFABE. Constanța: Editura Imperium. p. 78. ISBN 978-606-93788-8-5.
- ^ "Raport Alfabetul Tatar Crimean Si Dobrogean - Tatarman | PDF".
- ^ a b Dobruca Kırımtatar Ağzı Sözlüğü, Ex Ponto, Saim Osman Karahan, Köstence, 2011
- ^ Toy şiirler, Ismail H. A. Ziyaeddin, 1992
- ^ تَڭْ يِلْدِزِ, Gúner Akmolla, Taner Murat, Nazar Look, Constanța, Romania, 2015, ISBN 978-1505986662
- ^ Murat, Taner; Sagida Siraziy (Sirazieva) (2013). Metric Conversions / Мэтрэлі Кайтармалар, Iași: StudIS.
- ^ Murat, Taner (2012). Коктен сеслер: Темючин. Charleston: CreateSpace.