Crimean Tatar alphabet

Crimean Tatar is written in both Latin and Cyrillic. Historically, the Arabic script was also used.

Since 1990s when Verkhovna Rada of Crimea officially accepted the new Common Turkic-based Latin alphabet, it had been dominant mostly on the internet while the Soviet Cyrillic alphabet remained dominant in printed productions. After the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, the Russian government requires the use of Cyrillic script only. In 2021 the Ukrainian government started the switch of Crimean Tatar language to the Latin script.^[1]

History

Arabic script

Crimean Tatars used the Arabic script from the 16th century to 1928, when it was replaced by 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
(ࢰ)				kef-i yayiy (кеф-и яйий)	y2
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.

² — The letter

is actually ﮒ, some words with ﮒ are also readed as "y", to simplified this was the character

by some writers used.^[2]

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, the letters Ь ь, Ƣ ƣ, Ꞑ ꞑ, Ɵ ɵ, X x, Ƶ ƶ, I i instead of the 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

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.^[3]

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 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

Sample of the scripts

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Cyrillic	Latin	English translation
Бутюн инсанлар сербестлик, менлик ве укъукъларда мусавий олып дюньягъа келелер. Олар акъыл ве видждан саибидирлер ве бири-бирилеринен къардашчасына мунасебетте булунмалыдырлар.	Bütün insanlar serbestlik, menlik ve uquqlarda musaviy olıp dünyağa keleler. Olar aqıl ve vicdan saibidirler ve biri-birilerinen qardaşçasına munasebette bulunmalıdırlar.	All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

References

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