Bashkir language

Bashkir
Spoken in	Russia , Uzbekistan , Kazakhstan
speaker	1,245,990 (2010)
Linguistic classification	Altaic languages (controversial) Turkic languages Kipchak languages North Kipchak languages Bashkir
Official status
Official language in	Bashkortostan
Language codes
ISO 639 -1	ba
ISO 639 -2	bak
ISO 639-3	bak

The Bashkir language ( башҡорт теле ^{? / I} [bɑʃqɵrt tɨlɨ] ) is a western Turkish language of the Urals subgroup. It belongs to the Turkic family . It is the official language in Bashkortostan and has only been a written language since 1923.

Main distribution area

Bashkir is especially in today to Russia belonging Bashkortostan Republic and neighboring Tatarstan spoken. There is also a Bashkir minority living in the Republic of Mari El . In the last census of the USSR (1989), over 1.047 million Bashkirs gave Bashkir as their mother tongue and 26.737 as a second language. Around 300,000 Bashkirs speak Tatar as their mother tongue. In addition, there are larger Bashkir minorities in the areas around Chelyabinsk , Perm , Orenburg , Yekaterinburg and Kurgan . Large Bashkir ethnic groups also live in Kazakhstan (41,847) and Uzbekistan (34,771).

Origin of name

The name is derived from the ethnic group of the Bashkirs . The word баш / basch means “head” and ҡорт / qort is equated with “wolf” (compare Turkish kurt ). The term "main wolf" was apparently a term used by the ancient Turkic peoples for a main clan of a group.

Classification options

Bashkir is sometimes classified differently. The "Fischer Lexikon Sprachen" (1961) lists this language as follows:

• Turkic languages
  • Western branch
    • Bulgarian group
    • The oghous group
    • Kipchak group
      • Kipchak-Oghuz group
      • Kyptschak Bulgarian (or Kyptschaktatarisch)
        • Bashkir

In contrast, the "Metzler Lexikon Sprache" (1993) lists Bashkir as follows:

• Turkic languages
  • Southwest Turkish (Oghusian)
  • Eastern Turkish (Karlukisch)
  • West Turkish (Kipchak)
    • Ural (Kipchak-Bulgarian)
      • Bashkir

The current classification can be found in the article Turkic languages .

Dialects and alphabets

Bashkir became an independent written language only very late. In the 15th century, the Bashkirs used the Chagatai written in Arabic script . In the late 19th century, the Bashkirs adopted Tatar, which was also written in Arabic .

In 1923 a separate written language was developed for Bashkir based on the dialects Kuvakan and Yurmati, which was also written in a modified Arabic alphabet. 1930 was Latinization of Bashkir performed and written language to the Unified Alphabet changed. But as early as the winter of 1938, the Bashkir language was changed to a modified Cyrillic alphabet because of the compulsory Russian lessons required by Moscow .

Table with the Bashkir cyrillic alphabet

Аа	Бб	Вв	Гг	Ғғ	Дд	Ҙҙ	Ее	Ёё
Жж	Зз	Ии	Йй	Кк	Ҡҡ	Лл	Мм	Нн
Ңң	Оо	Өө	Пп	Рр	Сс	Ҫҫ	Тт	Уу
Үү	Фф	Хх	Һһ	Цц	Чч	Шш	Щщ	Ъъ
Ыы	Ьь	Ээ	Әә	Юю	Яя

The Bashkir language is still very dialectally structured. Their dialects are most closely related to Tatar and in some cases strongly influenced by it. These Bashkir dialects are now generally divided into three groups:

1. Kuvakan ("Mountain Bashkir")
2. Yurmati ("steppe-Bashkir")
3. Burschan ("West Bashkir")

With the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1988, pan-Turkish circles of the Bashkir population demanded the reintroduction of the Arabic alphabet and the abolished Chagatai. More western-oriented circles demanded the introduction of the modern Turkish Latin alphabet as a “visible expression for the opening up to the West” of the Russian Turkic peoples.

The Bashkirs experimented with different Latin alphabets for a while, and a model Bashkir alphabet was also designed based on the Tatar Latin alphabet.

Comparison of the Bashkir, Tatar and Turkish Latin alphabets:
Bashkir: Aa Bb Cc Ç ç Dd Ee Əə (Ää) Ff Gg Ğğ Hh Xx Iı İi Íí Jj Kk Ll Mn Nn Ññ Oo Öö Pp Qq Rr Sw üş T. Uu Uu Ü Ü Źź
Tatar: Aa Ää Bb Cc Ç ç Dd Ee Ff Gg Ğğ Hh Xx Iı İi Íí Jj Kk Ll Mn Nn Ññ Oo Öö Pp Qq Rr Ss Şş Tt Uu Üü Vv Ww Yy Zz
Turkish: Aa Gg Ğe Fğ .ç Dd Hh Iı İi Jj Kk Ll Mn Nn Oo Öö Pp Rr Ss Şş Tt Uu Üü Vv Yy Zz

Ultimately, this Bashkir Latin alphabet could not establish itself and so this language is written with Cyrillic letters to this day, also because the use of the Cyrillic alphabet was prescribed by the state.

Militant Bashkirs use the "Bashkir Latin alphabet" for the design of their websites in order to propagate a new Pan-Turkism .

The three-letter language code according to ISO 639-2 is "bak", the two-letter code according to ISO 639-1 is "ba".

literature

• Heinz F. Wendt: Fischer Lexicon Languages . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1961 (October 1987 edition), ISBN 3-596-24561-3
• Helmut Glück (Ed.): Metzler Lexicon Language . 1st edition 1993. Verlag JB Metzler, ISBN 3-476-00937-8
• Heinz-Gerhard Zimpel: Lexicon of the world population. Geography - Culture - Society . Nikol Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-933203-84-8
• Margarete I. Ersen-Rasch: Bashkir. Textbook for beginners and advanced learners . Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05730-1
• E. Čaušević: Bashkir. (PDF; 187 kB) In: M. Okuka (Hrsg.): Lexicon of the languages ​​of the European East . Klagenfurt 2002, p. 777 (= Wieser Encyclopedia of the European East 10).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bashkort, a language of the Russian Federation at ethnologue.com (English), accessed on April 28, 2014
2. ^ Helmut Glück: Metzler Lexikon Sprachen , p. 82
3. ↑ Heinz F. Wendt: Fischer Lexicon Language , pp. 328/329
4. ↑ Helmut Glück: Metzler Lexikon Sprache , p. 657
5. ↑ Heinz-Gerhard Zimpel: Lexicon of the World Population , p. 64