Crimean Tatar alphabet

For the modern Crimean Tatar language, the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabets are used. The Latin script dominates on the Internet and the Cyrillic script in printed productions. Historically, the Arabic script was also used.

History

The Arabic Script

An example of Crimean Tatar 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	a, â
ﺀ	—			hemze	-
ﺏ	ﺐ	ﺒ	ﺑ	be	b, p (word-finally)
ﭖ	ﭗ	ﭙ	ﭘ	pe	p
ﺕ	ﺖ	ﺘ	ﺗ	te	t
ﺙ	ﺚ	ﺜ	ﺛ	se	s
ﺝ	ﺞ	ﺠ	ﺟ	cim	c
ﭺ	ﭻ	ﭽ	ﭼ	çim	ç
ﺡ	ﺢ	ﺤ	ﺣ	ha	-
ﺥ	ﺦ	ﺨ	ﺧ	hı	h
ﺩ	ﺪ	—		dal	d
ﺫ	ﺬ	—		zel	z
ﺭ	ﺮ	—		re	r
ﺯ	ﺰ	—		ze	z
ﮊ	ﮋ	—		je	j
ﺱ	ﺲ	ﺴ	ﺳ	sin	s
ﺵ	ﺶ	ﺸ	ﺷ	şin	ş
ﺹ	ﺺ	ﺼ	ﺻ	sad	s
ﺽ	ﺾ	ﻀ	ﺿ	dad	d, z
ﻁ	ﻂ	ﻄ	ﻃ	tı	t
ﻅ	ﻆ	ﻈ	ﻇ	zı	z
ﻉ	ﻊ	ﻌ	ﻋ	ayn	-
ﻍ	ﻎ	ﻐ	ﻏ	ğayn	ğ
ﻑ	ﻒ	ﻔ	ﻓ	fe	f
ﻕ	ﻖ	ﻘ	ﻗ	qaf	q
ﻙ	ﻚ	ﻜ	ﻛ	kef (kef-i arabiy)	k (g, ñ)^1
ﮒ	ﮓ	ﮕ	ﮔ	gef (kef-i farsiy)	g
ﯓ	ﯔ	ﯖ	ﯕ	nef (kef-i nuniy, sağır kef)	ñ
ﻝ	ﻞ	ﻠ	ﻟ	lâm	l
ﻡ	ﻢ	ﻤ	ﻣ	mim	m
ﻥ	ﻦ	ﻨ	ﻧ	nun	n
ﻭ	ﻮ	—		vav	v, o, ö, u, ü
ﻩ	ﻪ	ﻬ	ﻫ	he	-, e, a
ﻻ	ﻼ	—		lâm-elif	la, lâ
ﻯ	ﻰ	ﻴ	ﻳ	ye	y, ı, i

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

The Latin Alphabet

An example of Crimean Tatar Latin alphabet of 1920s. In modern orthography: «KÖYLİ VE SU ANASI: Bir köyli baltasını özenge tüşürgen, su kenarında oturub qayğısından ağlamağa başlağan edi. Su anası bunı işitdi, köylini acidi ve sudan altın bir balta çıkarıb „bu seniñmi?“ deb soradı.» In Cyrillic: «КОЙЛИ ВЕ СУ АНАСЫ: Бир койли балтасыны озенге тюшюрген, су кенарында отуруб къайгъысындан агъламагъа башлагъан эди. Су анасы буны ишитди, койлини аджиди ве судан алтын бир балта чыкарыб „бу сенинъми?“ деб сорады.»

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, N̡ ᶇ, 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	N̡ ᶇ	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

Modern alphabets

Latin

Crimean Tatar Latin script on the table in Bakhchisaray.

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.

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	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	Y y	Z z

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

Cyrillic

"Welcome to Crimea" (Qırımğa hoş keldiñiz!) written in Crimean Tatar Cyrillic, airport bus, Simferopol International Airport

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).

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