Bashkir language

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Template other Bashkir (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell, Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell) or Bashkort (Template:Langx, ) is a Turkic language belonging to the Kipchak branch. It is co-official with Russian in Bashkortostan. It is spoken by approximately 1.6 million native speakers in Russia, as well as in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Estonia, and other neighboring post-Soviet states, and among the Bashkir diaspora. It has three dialect groups: Southern, Eastern, and Northwestern.

Speakers

Speakers of Bashkir mostly live in the republic of Bashkortostan (a republic within the Russian Federation). Many speakers also live in Tatarstan, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk and Kurgan Oblasts, and other regions of Russia. Minor Bashkir groups also live in Kazakhstan and the United States.

Classification

Bashkir and Tatar belong to the Kipchak-Bulgar (Template:Langx) subgroup of the Kipchak languages. These languages have a similar vocabulary by 94.9%, and have not only a common origin but also a common ancestor in written language—Volga Turki. But Bashkir differs from Tatar in several important ways:

• Bashkir has dental fricatives Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink in the place of Turkic Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink. For example, Turkish and Bashkir (), Turkish and Bashkir (), Turkish and Bashkir (), or Turkish and Bashkir (). Bashkir Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink cannot begin a word (with exceptions: () Template:Gloss, and the particle/conjunction () or () ). The only other Turkic language with a similar feature is Turkmen. But in Bashkir, Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink are two independent phonemes, distinct from Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink, whereas in Turkmen [θ] and [ð] are the two main realizations of the common Turkic Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink. In other words, there are no Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink phonemes in Turkmen, unlike Bashkir, which has both Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink.
• The word-initial and morpheme-initial Template:IPAslink turns into Template:IPAslink. An example of both features is Tatar () and Bashkir (), both meaning "word".
• Common Turkic Template:IPAslink (Tatar Template:IPAslink) turns into Bashkir Template:IPAslink, e.g., Turkish , Tatar () , and Bashkir () , all meaning "tree".
• The word-initial Template:IPAslink in Tatar always corresponds to Template:IPAslink in Standard Bashkir, e.g., Tatar () and Bashkir () , both meaning "warm". But the eastern and northern dialects of Bashkir have the Template:IPAslink > /Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link/ shift.

Bashkir orthography is more explicit. Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink are written with their own letters, Ҡ ҡ and Ғ ғ, whereas in Tatar they are treated as positional allophones of Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink, written К к and Г г.

Labial vowel harmony in Bashkir is written explicitly, e.g., Tatar () and Bashkir (, both pronounced , meaning "my life".

Sample text

Cyrillic script	Latin script (1924 project)	Latin script (1930–1940)	Latin script	Arabic script	IPA transcription
	Barləq kэçэler irэklэ, dereƶelerэ hem xoquqtarə tigэdh buləp təualar. Ular aqəl hem vəƶdan эehэ hem bэr-bэrэhэne qarata qerdheçlэk ruxenda xereket itэrge tээçter.	Barlьq keşelər irekle, dərəƶələre həm xoquqtarь tigeđ bulьp tьualar. Ular aqьl həm vьƶdan ejəhe həm ber-berehenə qarata qərđəşlek ruxьnda xərəkət itergə tejeştər.

Orthography

File:Inscription in Ufa Airport.jpg

Trilingual sign in Ufa Airport in Bashkir, Russian and English

File:KB Bashkir.svg

Bashkir keyboard layout

After the adoption of Islam, which began in the 10th century and lasted for several centuries, the Bashkirs began to use Turki as a written language. Turki was written in a variant of the Arabic script.

In 1923, a writing system based on the Arabic script was specifically created for the Bashkir language. At the same time, the Bashkir literary language was created, moving away from the older written Turkic influences. At first, it used a modified Arabic alphabet. In 1930 it was replaced with the Unified Turkic Latin Alphabet, which was in turn replaced with an adapted Cyrillic alphabet in 1939.

The modern alphabet used by Bashkir is based on the Russian alphabet, with the addition of the following letters: Ә ә Template:IPAslink, Ө ө Template:IPAslink, Ү ү Template:IPAslink, Ғ ғ Template:IPAslink, Ҡ ҡ Template:IPAslink, Ң ң Template:IPAslink, Ҙ ҙ Template:IPAslink, Ҫ ҫ Template:IPAslink, Һ һ Template:IPAslink.

А а	Б б	В в	Г г	Ғ ғ	Д д	Ҙ ҙ	Е е	Ё ё
Ж ж	З з	И и	Й й	К к	Ҡ ҡ	Л л	М м	Н н
Ң ң	О о	Ө ө	П п	Р р	С с	Ҫ ҫ	Т т	У у
Ү ү	Ф ф	Х х	Һ һ	Ц ц	Ч ч	Ш ш	Щ щ	Ъ ъ
Ы ы	Ь ь	Э э	Ә ә	Ю ю	Я я

Letters of the Bashkir Cyrillic alphabet

Cyrillic version	Pronunciation	Notes
Аа	,	"A" is usually pronounced as in all syllables except last, in last syllable it is pronounced as .
Бб	,	is the intervocal allophone.
Вв	,	in Russian loanwords, in Arabic and Persian loanwords.
Гг
Ғғ
Дд
Ҙҙ
Ее	,	The letter is iotated at the beginning of a word, after a vowel or after a soft or hard sign.
Ёё		Only used in Russian loanwords.
Жж		Only occurs in loanwords and onomatopoeia.
Зз
Ии		Occurs only in the first syllable. In most other contexts, especially in open syllables, it is an underlying /ij/, for example in words like ти [tij]/[tɪj]. Hence why the suffixes use the /ð/ consonant following this vowel, unlike /l/ after other vowels: тиҙәр (tiźär) /tijˈðær/, but not тиләр (tilär).
Йй
Кк
Ҡҡ
Лл	,	In front vowel contexts occurs as apical Template:IPAblink, in back vowel contexts occurs as Template:IPAblink.
Мм
Нн
Ңң	,	In front vowel contexts occurs as Template:IPAblink, in back vowel contexts occurs as Template:IPAblink.
Оо
Өө	, [y]	Shifts to [y] in vicinity of [j]: өйҙә (öyźä) [yjˈðä]
Пп
Рр	,	is the intervocal allophone.
Сс
Ҫҫ
Тт
Уу	,	These two letters are used for phoneme when they are written after a back or front vowel respectively. As the vowel phoneme, they can only occur in the first syllable. Therefore if these letters are not in the first syllable, they occur after a vowel and are pronounced as /w/.
Үү	,
Фф
Хх
Һһ
Цц
Чч
Шш
Щщ		Only occurs in loanwords.
Ъъ		Only occurs in back vowel contexts (except loanwords). Indicates a glottal stop if placed after a vowel, acts as a syllable separator if placed after a consonant.
Ыы
Ьь		Only occurs in front vowel contexts (except loanwords). Indicates a glottal stop if placed after a vowel, acts as a syllable separator if placed after a consonant.
Ээ
Әә
Юю
Яя	,

Bashkir Latin alphabet based on the Common Turkic alphabet

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

Letter Comparison

Latin	Cyrillic
A a	А а
Ä ä	Ә ә
B b	Б б
C c	-
Ç ç	Ч ч / Щ щ
D d	Д д
Ź ź	Ҙ ҙ
E e	Э э
F f	Ф ф
G g	Г г
Ğ ğ	Ғ ғ
H h	Һ һ
X x	Х х
I ı	Ы ы
İ i	И и
J j	Ж ж
K k	К к
Q q	Ҡ ҡ
L l	Л л
M m	М м
N n	Н н
Ñ ñ	Ң ң
O o	О о
Ö ö	Ө ө
P p	П п
R r	Р р
S s	С с
Ş ş	Ш ш
T t	Т т
Ś ś	Ҫ ҫ
U u	У у
Ü ü	Ү ү
V v	В в
W w	У у / Ү ү (consonant variants)
Y y	Й й
Z z	З з

Phonology

Vowels

Bashkir has nine native vowels, and three or four loaned vowels (mainly in Russian loanwords).

Phonetically, the native vowels are approximately thus (with the Cyrillic letter followed by the usual Latin romanization in angle brackets):

	Front		Back
	Unrounded	Rounded	Unrounded	Rounded
Close	и⟨i⟩ Template:IPAblink	ү⟨ü⟩ [[[:Template:IPA link]]~Template:IPA link]		у⟨u⟩ Template:IPAblink
Mid	э,е⟨e⟩ [[[:Template:IPA link]]~Template:IPA link]	ө⟨ö⟩ [[[:Template:IPA link]]~Template:IPA link]	ы⟨ı⟩ [[[:Template:IPA link]]~Template:IPA link]	о⟨o⟩ [[[:Template:IPA link]]]
Open	ә⟨ä⟩ [[[:Template:IPA link]]]		а⟨a⟩ Template:IPAblink

In Russian loans there are also Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink, written the same as the native vowels: ы, е/э, о, а respectively.

• The vowel Template:IPAslink may also be realized as Template:IPAblink.
• The vowel Template:IPAslink might sometimes be realized as Template:IPAblink.
• The vowel Template:IPAslink might sometimes be realized either as Template:IPAblink, or as Template:IPAblink.
• The vowels Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink might sometimes be realized as Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink, especially in southern dialects.

Historical shifts

Historically, the Proto-Turkic mid vowels have raised from mid to high, whereas the Proto-Turkic high vowels have become the Bashkir reduced mid series. (The same shifts have also happened in Tatar.) However, in most dialects of Bashkir, this shift is not as prominent as in Tatar.

Vowel	Common Turkic	Tatar	Bashkir	Gloss
*e	*et	it	it	'meat'
*ö	*söz	süz	hüź	'word'
*o	*sol	sul	hul	'left'
*i	*it	et	et	'dog'
*ï	*qïz	qız	qıź	'girl'
*u	*qum	qom	qom	'sand'
*ü	*kül	köl	köl	'ash'

Consonants

Consonants

		Bilabial	Labio- dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar/ Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasals		м⟨m⟩ Template:IPAslink		н⟨n⟩ Template:IPAslink			ң⟨ñ⟩ Template:IPAslink	ң⟨ñ⟩ Template:IPAblink²
Plosives	Voiceless	п⟨p⟩ Template:IPAslink		т⟨t⟩ Template:IPAslink		т⟨t⟩ Template:IPAblink²	к⟨k⟩ Template:IPAslink	ҡ⟨q⟩ Template:IPAslink	ь/ъ Template:IPAslink¹
	Voiced	б⟨b⟩ Template:IPAslink		д⟨d⟩ Template:IPAslink		д⟨d⟩ Template:IPAblink²	г⟨g⟩ Template:IPAslink
Fricatives	Voiceless		ф⟨f⟩ Template:IPAslink¹	ҫ⟨ś⟩ Template:IPAslink	с⟨s⟩ Template:IPAslink	ш⟨ş⟩ Template:IPAslink		х⟨x⟩ Template:IPAslink	һ⟨h⟩ Template:IPAslink
	Voiced	б⟨b⟩ Template:IPAblink²	в⟨v⟩ Template:IPAslink¹	ҙ⟨ź⟩ Template:IPAslink	з⟨z⟩ Template:IPAslink	ж⟨j⟩ Template:IPAslink		ғ⟨ğ⟩ Template:IPAslink
Trill					р⟨r⟩ Template:IPAslink
Approximants					л⟨l⟩ Template:IPAslink	й⟨y⟩ Template:IPAslink	у/ү/в⟨w⟩

Notes

^¹ The phonemes Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink are found only in loanwords, and, in the case of Template:IPAslink, in a few native onomatopoeic words.

^² Template:IPAblink is an intervocal allophone of Template:IPAblink, and it is distinct from Template:IPAblink. Template:IPAblink is an allophone of Template:IPAblink in back vowel contexts. Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink occur as allophones of Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink before Template:IPAblink, and both occur only in front vowel contexts.

• are dental , and is apical alveolar Template:IPAblink. The exact place of articulation of the other dental/alveolar consonants is unclear.

Grammar

A member of the Turkic language family, Bashkir is an agglutinative, SOV language. A large part of the Bashkir vocabulary has Turkic roots; and there are many loan words in Bashkir from Russian, Arabic and Persian sources.

Russian			Arabic			Persian
in Bashkir	Etymology	Translation	in Bashkir	Etymology	Translation	in Bashkir	Etymology	Translation
минут (minut)	from "минута" (minuta)	minute	ваҡыт (waqıt)	from "" (waqt)	time	дуҫ (duś)	from "" (dost)	friend
өҫтәл (öśtäl)	from "стол" (stol)	table, desk	вәғәҙә (wäğäźä)	from "" (waʿda)	promise	һәр (här)	from "" (har)	every
сыр (sır)	from "сыр" (syr)	cheese	йәннәт (yännät)	from "" (janna)	paradise	көмбәҙ (kömbäź)	from "" (gonbad)	cupola

Plurality

The form of the plural suffix is heavily dependent on the letter which comes immediately before it. When it's a consonant, there is a four-way distinction between "л" (l), "т" (t), "ҙ" (ź) and "д" (d); The vowel's distinction is two-way between "а" (after back vowels "а" (a), "ы" (ı), "о" (o), "у" (u)) and "ә" (after front vowels "ә" (ə), "е" (e), "и" (i), "ө" (ö), "ү" (ü)). Some nouns are also less likely to be used with their plural forms such as "һыу" (hıw, "water") or "ҡом" (qom, "sand").

suffix consonant
-лар, -ләр	after all vowels except for и (iy)	баҡса (baqsa), "garden" Pl.: баҡсалар (baqsalar)	сәскә (säskä), "flower" Pl.: сәскәләр (säskälär)
-тар, -тәр	mostly after hard consonants – б (b), д (d), г (g), ф (f), х (x), һ (h), к (k), ҡ (q), п (p), с (s), ш (ş), ҫ (ś), т (t)	дуҫ (duś), "friend" Pl.: дуҫтар (duśtar)	төҫ (töś), "colour" Pl.: төҫтәр (töśtär)
-ҙар, -ҙәр	after approximants and some others – ҙ (ź), и (iy), р (r), у/ү (w), й (y)	тау (taw), "mountain" Pl.: тауҙар (tawźar)	өй (öy), "house" Pl.: өйҙәр (öyźär)
-дар, -дәр	after nasals and some others – ж (j), л (l), м (m), н (n), ң (ñ), з (z)	һан (han), "number" Pl.: һандар (handar)	көн (kön), "day" Pl.: көндәр (köndär)

Declension table

	suffix	consonant alteration (see the "plurality" table)	after the plural suffix	examples
Nominative
Genitive	-нең	"н" (n), "д" (d), "т" (t) and "ҙ" (ź)	-ҙең	телдең (teldeñ), "the language's"
	-ның		-ҙың	баштың (baştıñ), "the head's"
	-ноң		-ҙың	тоҙҙоң (toźźoñ), "the salt's"
	-нөң		-ҙең	төштөң (töştöñ), "the dream's"
Dative	-гә		-гә	телгә (telgä), "(to) the language"
	-кә			төшкә (töşkä), "(to) the dream"
	-ға		-ға	тоҙға (toźğa), "(to) the salt"
	-ҡа			башҡа (başqa), "(to) the head"
Accusative	-не	"н" (n), "д" (d), "т" (t) and "ҙ" (ź)	-ҙе	телде (telde), "the language"
	-ны		-ҙы	башты (baştı), "the head"
	-но		-ҙы	тоҙҙо (toźźo), "the salt"
	-нө		-ҙе	төштө (töştö), "the dream"
Locative	-лә	"л" (l), "д" (d), "т" (t) and "ҙ" (ź)	-ҙә	телдә (teldä), "in the language"
	-ла		-ҙа	башта (başta), "in the head"
Ablative	-нән	"н" (n), "д" (d), "т" (t) and "ҙ" (ź)	-ҙән	телдән (teldän), "from the language"
	-нан		-ҙан	баштан (baştan), "from the head"

Declension of pronouns

	Interrogative pronouns		Personal pronouns
Case	who	what	Singular			Plural
			I	you (thou)	he, she, it	we	you	they
Nominative	кем kem	нимә nimä	мин min	һин hin	ул ul	беҙ beź	һеҙ heź	улар ular
Genitive	кемдең kemdeñ	нимәнең nimäneñ	минең mineñ	һинең hineñ	уның unıñ	беҙҙең beźźeñ	һеҙҙең heźźeñ	уларҙың ularźıñ
Dative	кемгә kemgä	нимәгә nimägä	миңә miñä	һиңә hiñä	уға uğa	беҙгә beźgä	һеҙгә heźgä	уларға ularğa
Accusative	кемде kemde	нимәне nimäne	мине mine	һине hine	уны unı	беҙҙе beźźe	һеҙҙе heźźe	уларҙы ularźı
Locative	кемдә kemdä	нимәлә nimälä	миндә mindä	һиндә hindä	унда unda	беҙҙә beźźä	һеҙҙә heźźä	уларҙа ularźa
Ablative	кемдән kemdän	нимәнән nimänän	минән minän	һинән hinän	унан unan	беҙҙән beźźän	һеҙҙән heźźän	уларҙан ularźan

Demonstrative pronouns

Case	Singular				Plural
	this		that		these		those
Nominative	был bıl	ошо oşo	шул şul	теге tege	былар bılar	ошолар oşolar	шулар şular	тегеләр tegelär
Genitive	бының bınıñ	ошоноң oşonoñ	шуның şunıñ	тегенең tegeneñ	быларҙың bılarźıñ	ошоларҙың oşolarźıñ	шуларҙың şularźıñ	тегеләрҙең tegelärźeñ
Dative	быға bığa	ошоға oşoğa	шуға şuğa	тегегә tegegä	быларға bılarğa	ошоларға oşolarğa	шуларға şularğa	тегеләргә tegelärgä
Accusative	быны bını	ошоно oşono	шуны şunı	тегене tegene	быларҙы bılarźı	ошоларҙы oşolarźı	шуларҙы şularźı	тегеләрҙе tegelärźe
Locative	бында bında	ошонда oşonda	шунда şunda	тегендә tegendä	быларҙа bılarźa	ошоларҙа oşolarźa	шуларҙа şularźa	тегеләрҙә tegelärźä
Ablative	бынан bınan	ошонан oşonan	шунан şunan	тегенән tegenän	быларҙан bılarźan	ошоларҙан oşolarźan	шуларҙан şularźan	тегеләрҙән tegelärźän

See also

• Bashkir alphabet
• Bashkir–Russian code-switching

External links

• National Corpus of the Bashkir language Template:Webarchive
• Machine fund of the Bashkir language
• Spoken corpus of Bashkir (Rakhmetovo and Baimovo) Template:Webarchive
• Short grammar of Bashkir