İske-imlâ alphabet

The İske imlâ alphabet (tatar. (Cyrillic) Иске имла or (İske imlâ)یسكی یملا; IPA : [is'kɘ imˈlæː]; Turkish eski yazu ; German " ancient writing ") is a in the Persian alphabet (and thus the Arabic script ) BASED alphabet , which officially before 1920 to override the Tatar language was used.

Finnish propaganda leaflet from WWII in Tatar language but with Arabic script

history

The Arabic alphabet was introduced with the Islamization of the Turks . Previously, the Old Turkish Orkhon runes , but also other alphabets that were of Semitic origin or were derived from them, e.g. B. Sogdian script and the resulting Uyghur script are used. The Tatars adopted the Arabic alphabet from the Volga Bulgarians when they immigrated to the country around the Volga and Urals . Tatar and old Bulgarian cultures mixed strongly, so that language and writing slowly became more similar. This language is called Alttatarisch or old Tatar literary language (Tatar Cyrillic:. Искә татар әдәби теле ; Latin: Iske tartar ädäbi tele ; Arabic:یكی طاطار ادبی تلی; IPA: [isˈkʰɘ tɒˈtɒɾ ædæˈbiː tɘˈlɘ]).

In 1920 İske imlâ was replaced by Yaña imlâ ( new script ), which is also based on the Arabic script, but does not represent an Abdschad , but an alphabet in the narrower sense (i.e. vowels are represented by their own letters and no longer by additional characters). Yaña imlâ is no longer in use today.

Usage today

Iske imlâ is officially no longer in use, and many Tatars can no longer read it due to many writing reforms in Latin and Cyrillic. Nevertheless, clerics and religiously oriented private individuals in particular are still familiar with the alphabet and use it for private purposes and in publications.

orthography

In contrast to the Ottoman alphabet , İske imlâ has a very clear structure of the orthography, which makes it possible to differentiate more easily between vowels like a, o and u and ä, ö and ü, so consonants like ط, غ, ع, ظ, ض, ص and ق always indicate a dark consonant (see vowel harmony ), while ك, ت, ز and گ always indicate a light consonant. Using the following vowel harmony, you can exclude further vowels. Is z. For example, a ein in a word can be ruled out with 90% probability that you will find an ä, e, i, ö or ü in that word.

Spelling of the vowels

Furthermore, u and ü are written with Waw (و), while o and ö remain unwritten, or if with Tashkil , then with Damma ( i.e. at the beginning of the word with the help of Alif (ا)). E is written in the word with Kasra , only at the end of the word with Yaa (ی). Likewise, ä is usually written at the beginning of the word with Alif (ا) and the middle of the word with Fatha and at the end with He (ـه), which is also retained with other suffixes and the suffix is written separately after it. A , on the other hand, is written at the beginning of the word with Alif Madda (آ) and in further syllables always with Alif (ا). However, there can be exceptions, so that Alif represents in the sentence ä and in such a case it is transcribed with a ââ as in imlâ . Yaa (ی) is always used to represent ıy or i , although there may be minor exceptions with i , in which it is written with Kasra (but only in foreign words).

However, the writing of the vowels is not subject to mandatory rules, e.g. B. the plural suffix -lar can be written either لر or لار. Here the İske-imlâ-spelling is very similar to the Chagataic , so it is up to the writer himself whether he wants to write out a vowel in full or whether he wants to represent it in Tashkil .

particularities

A special feature of İske imlâ is that if a Yaa (ی) or Waw (و) should represent a vowel at the beginning of a word, they are not written with a preceding Alif (ا) as in all other Arabic Abdschadorthographies, but simply without Alif. If there is an alif in front of it, it is either a diphthong or a foreign word from Arabic or Persian, because these are written as in their original orthography.

Another great peculiarity in Tatar is that the letters ح and ع are spoken harshly, namely [x] and [ʁ]. However, the Ta marbuta from Arabic is written with He (ـه) when spoken ä , but most Arabic words got into Tatar via Persian, so that most Arabic words with Ta marbuta ending in Tatar with -at or -ät .

The alphabet

	Surname	Initial	Medial	Final	Single	modern latin	modern Cyrillic	IPA
1	älif	آ	ﺎ	ﺎ	آ	a	а	[ʌ ~ ɒ ~ æ]
2	älif	ﺍ	ﺍ	ﺎ	ﺍ	Ä	ә	[ʌ ~ ɒ]
3	bi	ﺑ	ﺒ	ﺐ	ﺏ	b	б	[b]
4th	pi	ﭘ	ﭙ	ﭗ	ﭖ	p	п	[pʰ]
5	ti	ﺗ	ﺘ	ﺖ	ﺕ	t	т	[tʰ] *
6th	si	ﺛ	ﺜ	ﺚ	ﺙ	s	с	[s ~ θ] *
7th	cim	ﺟ	ﺠ	ﺞ	ﺝ	c	җ	[ʑ]
8th	çi	ﭼ	ﭽ	ﭻ	ﭺ	ç	ч	[ɕ]
9	xi	ﺣ	ﺤ	ﺢ	ﺡ	x	х	[x]
10	xı	ﺧ	ﺨ	ﺦ	ﺥ	x	х	[x]
11	däl	ﺩ	ﺪ	ﺪ	ﺩ	d	д	[d] *
12	count	ﺫ	ﺬ	ﺬ	ﺫ	z	з	[z ~ ð] *
13	ra	ﺭ	ﺮ	ﺮ	ﺭ	r	р	[r]
14th	zi	ﺯ	ﺰ	ﺰ	ﺯ	z	з	[z] *
15th	jé	ﮊ	ﮋ	ﮋ	ﮊ	j	ж	[ʒ]
16	sin, sen	ﺳ	ﺴ	ﺲ	ﺱ	s	с	[s] *
17th	şın	ﺷ	ﺸ	ﺶ	ﺵ	ş	ш	[ʃ]
18th	sad	ﺻ	ﺼ	ﺺ	ﺹ	s	с	[s] **
19th	dad, z'ad	ﺿ	ﻀ	ﺾ	ﺽ	d, z	д, з	[d ~ z] **
20th	tí	ﻃ	ﻄ	ﻂ	ﻁ	t	т	[tʰ] **
21st	zí	ﻇ	ﻈ	ﻆ	ﻅ	z	з	[z] **
22nd	ğäyn	ﻋ	ﻌ	ﻊ	ﻉ	G	г (ъ)	[ʁ] **
23	ğayn	ﻏ	ﻐ	ﻎ	ﻍ	G	г (ъ)	[ʁ] **
24	fi	ﻓ	ﻔ	ﻒ	ﻑ	f	ф	[f]
25th	qaf	ﻗ	ﻘ	ﻖ	ﻕ	q	к (ъ)	[q] **
26th	kaf	ﻛ	ﻜ	ﻚ	ﮎ	k	к	[kʰ]
27	gaf	ﮔ	ﮕ	ﮓ	ﮒ	G	г	[ɡ] **
28	eñ	ﯕ	ﯖ	ﯔ	ﯓ ¹	ñ	ң	[ŋ]
29	lam	ﻟ	ﻠ	ﻞ	ﻝ	l	л	[l ~ ɫ]
30th	mim	ﻣ	ﻤ	ﻢ	ﻡ	m	м	[m]
31	well	ﻧ	ﻨ	ﻦ	ﻥ	n	н	[n]
32	Ha	ﻫ	ﻬ	ﻪ	ﻩ	H	һ	[h] [æ]
33	waw	ﻭ	ﻮ	ﻮ	ﻭ	wu u	в у ү	[ʊ ~ ʉ] [w]
34	vaw	ﯞ	ﯟ	ﯟ	ﯞ ²	v	в	[v]
35	ya	ﻳ	ﻴ	ﻰ	ﻯ	y, í, i, -e	й, и, ый, -e	[ɯɪ ~ i ~ ɘ] [j]

1: an alternative notation, this later letter for the value [ŋ] is نك.
2: an alternative spelling, this later letter for the value [v] is و.
* before ä, â, e, i, ö, ü
** before a, ı, ıy, o, u

Example text

The following text is presented in İske imlâ, its successor Yaña imlâ and a Latin transcription:

İske imlâ	Yaña imlâ	Zamanalif	German translation
بارلق كشیلر دا آزاد هم حقوقلری یاغینانن تینک بولیپ طوالر. آلرغا عاقل هم وجدان بیرلگان هم بیر-بیرسینا قاراطا توغاننرچا مناسبتته بولرغا تییشلر.	بارلئق كئشئلەر دە ئازات هەم ئوز ئابرویلارئ هەم حۇقوقلارئ یاعئننان تیڭ بولئپ توالار. ئالارعا ئاقئل هەم وۇجدان بیرئلگەن هەم بئر-بئرسئنە قاراتا توعاننارچا مۇناسەبەتتە بولئرعا تیئشلەر.	Barlıq keşelär dä azat häm üz abruyları häm xoquqları yağınnan tiñ bulıp tualar. Alarğa aqıl häm wöcdan birelgän häm ber-bersenä qarata tuğannarça mönasäbättä bulırğa deeply.	All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should meet one another in a spirit of brotherhood.