Siberian Tatar language

Siberian Tatar (Siberian Tatar: Себертатарца) is a Turkic language spoken in Western Siberia, Russia, primarily in the oblasts of Tyumen, Novosibirsk, Omsk but also in Tomsk and Kemerovo. According to Marcel Erdal, due to its particular characteristics, Siberian Tatar can be considered as a bridge to Siberian Turkic languages.

Siberian Tatar
Себертатарца
Professor Gabdulkhay Akhatov. Map of the Tobol-Irtysh Dialect of the Siberian Tatars, 1965.
Native to	Russia
Region	Omsk, Tyumen, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan Oblasts (regions)
Ethnicity	Siberian Tatars
Native speakers	100,000 (2012)[1]
Language family	Turkic Common Turkic Kipchak Kipchak–Kyrgyz and Kipchak–Nogai Siberian Tatar
Dialects	Tobol-Irtysh Baraba Tom
Writing system	Cyrillic
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sty
Glottolog	sibe1250
Siberian Tatar is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Dialects

Siberian Tatar consists of three dialects: Tobol-Irtysh, Baraba and Tom. According to D. G. Tumasheva, the Baraba dialect is grammatically closest to the southern dialect of Altai, Kyrgyz and has significant grammatical similarities with Chulym, Khakas, Shor, and Tuvan. The Tomsk dialect is, in her opinion, even closer to Altai and similar languages. The Tevriz sub-dialect of the Tobol-Irtysh dialect shares significant elements with the Siberian Turkic languages, namely with Altai, Khakas and Shor.

Although Gabdulkhay Akhatov was a Volga Tatar, he immersed into studying of the phonetic peculiarities of Siberian Tatar language of the indigenous population of Siberia, the Siberian Tatars. In his work "The Dialect of the West Siberian Tatars" (1963) Akhatov wrote about Tobol-Irtysh Siberian Tatars, a western group of Siberian Tatars, who are indigenous to the Omsk and Tyumen Oblasts.

In his work "Dialect of the West Siberian Tatars" (1963) Gabdulkhay Akhatov wrote about a territorial resettlement of the Tobol-Irtysh Tatars Tyumen and Omsk areas. Subjecting a comprehensive integrated analysis of the phonetic system, the lexical composition and grammatical structure, the scientist concluded that the language of the Siberian Tatars is a separate language, it is divided into three dialects and it is one of the most ancient Turkic languages.^[2] Professor G. Akhatov named Siberian Tatar dialects of Tyumen and Omsk Oblasts dialects of the West Siberian Tatars, while dialects of Baraba and Tom Tatars he named dialects of the East Siberian Tatars.

Some works further differentiate sub-dialects of three aforementioned dialects, breaking them down as follows:^[3]

• Tobol-Irtysh dialect
  • Tyumen sub-dialect (Tyumensky District, Yalutorovsky District, and Nizhnetavdinsky District of Tyumen Oblast)
  • Tobol sub-dialect (Tobolsky District, Vagaysky District, Yarkovsky District of Tyumen Oblast)
    • Eastern Tobol (Tokuz-Uvat) variety (Vagaysky District)
  • Zabolotny sub-dialect (Tobolsky District and Nizhnetavdinsky District of Tyumen Oblast)
  • Tevriz (Kurdak, Kurtak) sub-dialect (Tevrizsky District, Ust-Ishimsky District, Znamensky District of Omsk Oblast, plus some settlements in Tyumen Oblast's Vagaysky District)
  • Tara sub-dialect (Tarsky District, Bolsherechensky District, Kolosovsky District of Omsk Oblast)
• Baraba dialect (spoken throughout the Baraba steppe)
• Tom dialect
  • Eushtino-Chatsk (Tomsky District, Tomsk Oblast)
    • Orsk Chat sub-dialect (Kolyvansky District, Novosibirsk Oblast)
  • Kalmak (Yurginsky District, Kemerovo Oblast)

Baraba and Tom dialects of Siberian Tatar language belong to Kyrgyz–Kipchak subdivision of Turkic languages, together with Kyrgyz, Southern Altai, Teleut, and Telengit. Tobol-Irtysh dialect belongs to Kipchak–Nogai subdivision of Turkic languages, which also includes Nogai, Karagash, steppe dialect of Crimean Tatar, Kazakh, Karakalpak, and Kipchak dialects of Uzbek.^[4]

Phonology

Vowels

	Front		Back
Close	и /i/	ү /y/	у /u/
Mid	е /e/	ө /ø/	о /o/	ы /ɤ/
Open	ә /æ/		а /a/

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Velar	Uvular
Nasal	м /m/	н /n/		(ң /ŋ/)	ң /ɴ/
Plosive	п /p/	т /t/		к /k/	ҡ /q/
Fricative	б /β/	с /s/	ш /ʃ/	г /ɣ/	ғ /ʁ/
Affricate		ц /t͡s/
Trill		р /r/
Approximant	в /w/	л /l/	й /j/

/ŋ/ can be an allophone of /ɴ/.

Alphabet

Siberian Tatar alphabet and IPA pronunciation:

Letter	Pronunciation	Notes
А а	[a]
Ә ә	[æ]
Б б	[b]
В в	[v]
Г г	[ɡ]
Ғ ғ	[ɣ]
Д д	[d]
Е е	[e]	Letter Е е also used as [je] in Russian loanwords
Ё ё	[jo]	used in Russian loanwords
Ж ж	[ʒ]; [ʑ]
З з	[z]
И и	[i]
Й й	[j]
К к	[k]
Ҡ ҡ	[q]
Л л	[l]
М м	[m]
Н н	[n]
Ң ң	[ŋ]
О о	[ʊ̞]; [o]
Ө ө	[ø]
П п	[p]
Р р	[ɾ]; [r]
С с	[s]
Т т	[t]
У у	[u]; [w]	ул – ul; уаҡыт – uaqıt [waqıt]
Ү ү	[y]; [w]	күреү – küreü [kürew]
Ф ф	[f]
Х х	[χ]
Ц ц	[t͡s]
Ч ч	[tʃ]; [tɕ]
Ш ш	[ʃ]; [ɕ]
Щ щ	[ɕɕ]	Only in Russian loanwords
Ъ ъ	[-]	Only in Russian loanwords
Ы ы	[ɤ]; [ɯ]
Ь ь	[ʲ]	Only in Russian loanwords
Э э	[e]	The Cyrillic letter "э" in Siberian Tatar words is used only at the beginning of the word.
Ю ю	[ju]	used in Russian loanwords
Я я	[ja]	used in Russian loanwords

References

1. Siberian Tatar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Gabdulkhay Akhatov. The Dialect of the West Siberian Tatars. Ufa, 1963, 195 p. (in Russian)
3. "Сибирскотатарский язык | Малые языки России". minlang.iling-ran.ru. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
4. "Сибирскотатарский язык | Малые языки России". minlang.iling-ran.ru. Retrieved 2023-10-03.

Bibliography

• Сагидуллин, Максим (2008). Фонетика и графика современного сибирскотатарского языка (in Russian). Тюмень: Искер. ISBN 9785875911293.
• Сагидуллин, Максим (2014). Грамматика современного сибирскотатарского языка (in Russian). Тюменский дом печати. ISBN 9785875912368.
• Сагидуллин, Максим (2010). Русско–сибирскотатарский словарь / Урысца–себертатарца сүслек (in Russian and Siberian Tatar). Тюмень: Мандр и Ка. ISBN 978-5930204414.

External links

• Information about Siberian Tatar language