Dobrujan Tatar alphabet

Dobrujan Tatar alphabet
Dobrujan Tatar written in the Latin script
Script type	Alphabet
Time period	1956 – present
Languages	Dobrujan Tatar
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician alphabet Greek alphabet Latin alphabet Dobrujan Tatar alphabet
Unicode
Unicode range	subset of Latin (U+0000...U+024F)

The Dobrujan Tatar alphabet is the writing system of Dobrujan Tatar. Since 1956 Dobrujan Tatar uses this alphabet, including the letters Á, Ç, Ğ, Í, Î, Ñ, Ó, Ş and Ú.

Alphabet

Literary Tatar

Tatar spoken in Romania has two distinct facets existing, interweaving and forming together the literary Tatar language "edebiy Tatarğa". One of these aspects is the authentic Tatar called "ğalpî Tatarğa" or "ğalpak Tatarğa" and the other is the academic Tatar language called "muwallímatça".

• 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

Naturalization 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.

f > p
v > w
v > b
ç > ş
ç > j
h > (skip over)
h > k
h > y
h > w

Letters

There is a total of 10 letters used to represent determinant sounds of which 9 mark authentic determinant sounds: a, e, i, î, í, o, ó, u, ú while the letter á is used for an academic vowel. The writing system registers authentic consonants with 17 letters: b, ç, d, g, ğ, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, p, r, s, ş, t, z and has three signs standing for the academic consonants: f, h, v. 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.

Letter groups "aá" and "áa"

The group of letters aá does not symbolize two adjacent vowels, being a writing convention that shows that the reading is done according to the first vowel in the group and the inflection of the word is done according to the second vowel in the group. For example, the reading of the word kaár "care" is identical to that of kar "snow", but in the ablative case they will become kaárden "of/from care", respectively kardan "of/from snow". The group of letters áa must be treated similarly. For example, the word nikáa "wedding" is read as "niká" and its dative will be nikáaga "to/to the wedding".

Pronunciation

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	Hemzelí A	This letter occurring in a limited number of Arabic and Persian loanwords represents the near-low unrounded ATR or soft vowel not belonging to authentic Tatar language /æ/ as in sáát [s̶ææt̶] 'hour', 'clock'.
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'.
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». 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 gúl [gu̶l̶] 'flower', 'rose'. It also represents the hard voiced uvular fricative /ʁ/ as in gam [ʁɑm] 'grief'.
Ğ ğ	Ğe	The letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiced palato-alveolar affricate/ḏ͡ʒ̱/ as in ğar [ḏ͡ʒ̱ɑṟ] 'abyss' and the soft voiced palato-alveolar affricate/d̶͡ʒ̶/ as in ğer [d̶͡ʒ̶er̶] 'place', 'ground'.
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 it is a silent letter or, if it is located at the beginning or end of the word, the sound is usually naturalized and the letter reads as letter «K». When it reproduces ح or خ the sound is usually naturalized as /q/. In academic reading it represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiceless glottal fricative /h/ as in taht [ṯɑhṯ] 'throne' and the soft voiceless uvular fricative /χ/ as in heşt [χeʃ̶t̶] 'eight'.
I i	I	The letter represents the hight unrounded ATR or soft vowel /i/ as in biñ [b̶iŋ] 'thousand'.
Í í	Hemzelí I, Kîska I, Zayîf I	This letter represents the hight unrounded half-advanced ATR or soft vowel /ɨ/ as in bír [b̶ɨr̶] 'one' is specific to Tatar. At the end of the word it is pronounced with half open mouth undergoing dilatation "Keñiytúw" and becoming mid unrounded half-advanced ATR or soft /ə/, also known as schwa, as in tílí [t̶ɨl̶ə] 'his tongue'.
Î î	Kalpaklî I, Tartuwlî I	This letter represents the hight unrounded RTR or hard vowel /ɯ/ as in îşan [ɯʃ̱ɑṉ] 'mouse'. At the end of the word it is pronounced with half open mouth shifting through dilatation "Keñiytúw" to mid unrounded RTR or hard /ɤ/, close to schwa, as in şîlapşî [ʃ̱ɯḻɑp̱ʃ̱ɤ] 'trough'.
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 kól [kɵl̶] 'lake'. It also represents the hard voiceless uvular stop /q/ as in kal [qɑḻ] 'stay!'.
L l	Le	This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard alveolar lateral approximant /ḻ/ as in bal [ḇɑḻ] 'honey' and the soft alveolar lateral approximant /l̶/ as in bel [b̶el̶] 'waist'.
M m	Me	This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard bilabial nasal /m̱/ as in maga [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	Eñ, Dalgalî Ne	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'.
Ó ó	Noktalî O	This letter represents the mid rounded half-advanced ATR or soft vowel /ɵ/ as in tór [t̶ɵr̶] 'background'.
P p	Pe	This letter represents two distinctive consonantal sounds: the hard voiceless bilabial stap /p̱/ as in ğap [ḏ͡ʒ̱ɑp̱] 'close!' and the soft voiceless bilabial stop /p̶/ as in ğep [d̶͡ʒ̶ep̶] 'pocket'.
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'.
U u	U	This letter represents the hight rounded RTR or hard vowel /u/ as in un [uṉ] 'flour'.
Ú ú	Noktalî U	This letter represents the hight rounded half-advanced ATR or soft vowel /ʉ/ as in sút [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 súymek [s̶ym̶ec] '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'.
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'.

History

In 1956 were the discussions about the alphabet problems of Dobrujan Tatar, which was regulated by Vladimir Drîmba, a well-known Turkologist, including other professors and teachers. The result was 33 letters, 10 of them vowels and 23 consonants. It was used in University of Bucharest, the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures. The letter "Ç ç" is to see as "Č č" in the document of alphabet discussions, also "Ğ ğ" is more like "Ǧ ǧ". But they did appear as "Ç ç" and "Ğ ğ" in the grammar books. There was actually also the letter "Ţ ţ" (name: ţe). The letter "Ţ ţ" was originally an academic letter representing the sound voiceless alveolar affricate [ts] and naturalized to authentic as [s] "S s". It is calculated that the letter "Ţ ţ" is fully naturalized to "S s", probably by Şukran Vuap-Mocanu in 1985, this means the words, wich needed to be written with "Ţ ţ" are only written in authentic.

Other writing systems

Arabic script

Arabic script for Turkic languages was used since the 10th century by Kara Khanids. Dobrujan Tatar did use a variant of Chagatai alphabet. It was the same version as Ottoman Turkish alphabet. 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. Taner Murat did write in a different way from the traditional version. He did marked the vowels all the time by Arabic diacritics, like Xiao'erjing and different writing signs were used. Some letters unique to Arabic or Persian loan words, were in the works of Taner Murat mostly replaced by other letters. The journal "Nazar Look" (نَظَرْ لُوقٌ‎), which was founded by Taner Murat, did also have a logo with Arabic script.

Cyrillic script

There 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. There are one or two books in Cyrillic script, it appears also in some translated books with transliteration.

Old Turkic script

Dobrujan 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.