Crimean Tatar alphabet

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

Before 1990s Persian alphabet which was used by the Turks before the introduction of the new Latin-based alphabet was used but 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

An example of Crimean Tatar Arabic script. (Alexander Schlichter speaking during the celebration of the "five years of the liberation of Crimea", 1924)

Crimean Tatars used the Perso-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.

Prior to its replacement, same as and in parallel with several other Arabic-based orthographies of Turkic and Caucasian languages across the Soviet Union, several improvements and standardizations were introduced in order to make the writing more clear and more closely matching spoken pronunciations, the first one being adopted in 1921, and the second in 1924.

the Crimean Tatar Arabic script Below table lists the letters used in Crimean Tatar Arabic script.^[2]

Isolated	Final	Medial	Initial	Name	Modern Latin
ا	ـا	—		elif (елиф)	a, â
ﺀ	—			hemze (хемзе)	-
ب	ـب	ـبـ	بـ	be (бе)	b, p (word-finally)
پ	ـپ	ـپـ	پـ	pe (пе)	p
ت	ـت	ـتـ	تـ	te (те)	t
ث	ـث	ـثـ	ثـ	se (се)	s
ج	ـج	ـجـ	جـ	cim (джим)	c
چ	ـچ	ـچـ	چـ	çim (чим)	ç
ﺡ	ـح	ـحـ	حـ	ha (ха)	-
ﺥ	ـخ	ـخـ	خـ	hı (хы)	h
د	ـد	—		dal (дал)	d
ذ	ـذ	—		zal (зал)	z
ر	ـر	—		re (ре)	r
ز	ـز	—		ze (зе)	z
ژ	ـژ	—		je (же)	j
س	ـس	ـسـ	سـ	sin (син)	s
ش	ـش	ـشـ	شـ	şin (шин)	ş
ص	ـص	ـصـ	صـ	sad (сад)	s
ض	ـض	ـضـ	ضـ	zad (зад)	d, z
ط	ـط	ـطـ	طـ	ta (та)	t
ظ	ـظ	ـظـ	ظـ	za (за)	z
ع	ـع	ـعـ	عـ	ayn (айн)	- 1
غ	ـغ	ـغـ	غـ	ğayn (гъайн)	ğ
ف	ـف	ـفـ	فـ	fe (фе)	f
ق	ـق	ـقـ	قـ	qaf (къаф)	q
ك	ـك	ـكـ	كـ	kef (kef-i arabiy) (кеф) (кеф-и арабий)	k (g, ñ)2
ڭ	ـڭ	ـڭـ	ڭـ	nef (kef-i nuniy, sağır kef) (неф) (кеф-и нуний, сагъыр кеф)	ñ
گ	ـگ	ـگـ	گـ	gef (kef-i farsiy) (геф) (кеф-и фарсий)	g
ࢰ‎	ـࢰ‎	ـࢰ‎ـ	ࢰـ	kef-i yayiy (кеф-и яйий)	y3
ل	ـل	ـلـ	لـ	lâm (лям)	l
م	ـم	ـمـ	مـ	mim (мим)	m
ن	ـن	ـنـ	نـ	nun (нун)	n
ۋ	ـۋ	—		üç noqtalı vav (учь нокъталы вав)	v 4
و	ـو	—		vav (вав)	o, ö 4
ۇ	ـۇ	—		virgülli vav (виргюлли вав)	u, ü 4
ﻩ	ـه	ـهـ ـه‌	هـ	he (хе)	-, e, a 5
ﻻ	ﻼ	—		lâm-elif (лям-елиф)	la, lâ 6
ی	ـی	ـیـ	یـ	ye (йе)	y, ı, i

1. In initial position, when the letter ع (ayn) is used, the vowel letter is usually dropped. Examples include عسكه‌ر (asker), عبره‌ت (ibret), عثمان (osman), عمه‌ر (ömer).
   • The exception to this rule is that it can be followed by a vowel letter, in matching with the original Arabic writing of a word. عایشه (Ayşe), عالیم (Alim)
2. The letter ﻙ (kef) was often used in place of ﮒ and ﯓ.
3. The letter is actually ﮒ, some words with ﮒ are also readed as "y", to simplified this was the character by some writers used.^[3]
4. The divergence of the three variants of the letter vav is one of the implemented conventions in the early 1920s into Crimean Tatar Arabic alphabet.
5. Used as an h sound, and as a e sound (at the end of words). With the above mentioned modifications, the role of this letter expanded notably, in that the "final form ـه ه came to be used for the vowel sound e in the middle of the word in a lot more cases.
6. Not an actual letter, but a common ligature.
7. Letters shown with beige background are only used for writing of loanwords from Arabic language. They do not represent unique Crimean Tatar sounds, but sounds that are also written with other letters. Therefore, one of the implemented conventions in the early 1920s into Crimean Tatar Arabic alphabet was the acceptance (but not full enforcement, remaining optional) the removal of such letters.
   • All loandwords written with either ث (se), س (sin), or ص (sad) were to be written using س (sin).
   • All loandwords written with either ذ (zal), ز (ze), ض (zad), or ظ (za) were to be written using ز (ze).
   • All loandwords written with either ث (te) or ط (ta) were to be written using ث (te).
   • The letter ح (ha) in initial position is not pronounced in Crimean Tatar. Thus, the letter is dropped fully in the 1924 conventions.

As per the 1921 and 1924 Crimean Tatar Arabic alphabet orthographic conventions, all vowels were to be written, as shown in the table below.^[2]

Modern Latin	Isolated	Final	Medial	Initial
a	ا	ـا	ـا	آ
e	ه	ـه	ـه‌	اِ
o, ö	و	ـو	ـو	او
u, ü	ۇ	ـۇ	ـۇ	اۇ
ı, i	ی	ـی	ـیـ	ایـ

The distinction between front and back vowel sounds "o, u, ı" versus "ö, ü, i" weren't marked. These were derived and understood from context and in following vowel harmony rules. Below general rules are noted in Crimean Tatar, same as other Turkic languages.

• Words that contain the vowel آ ـا (a), contain back vowels, and thus the other vowels in the word will match.
• Words that contain the vowel اِ ـه‌ ه (e), contain front vowels, and thus the other vowels in the word will match.
• Words that contain the consonant sounds ق (q) or غ (ğ), are followed by back vowels, and thus the other vowels in the word will match.
• Words that contain the consonant sounds ك (k) or گ (g), are followed by front vowels, and thus the other vowels in the word will match.
• Various grammatical suffixes that attach a word, also follow vowel harmony rules, which will follow the above-mentioned rules as well.

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 аджыды ве судан алтын бир балта чыкъарыб „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, 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

"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).

Latin

Crimean Tatar Latin script on the table in Bakhchysarai.

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.^[4]

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 (Яя).

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.
Arabic (Pre-1921)	Arabic (1924)	Latin (1928)
بتون انسانلار سربست‌لك، من‌لك و حقوقلردا مساوی اولب دنیاغا کله‌لر. اولار عقل و وجدان صاحب‌درلر و بری-بریلرینن قارداشچاسنا مناسبت‌ده بولونمالی‌درلار.	بۇتۇن اینسانلار سه‌ربه‌ست‌لیك، مه‌نلیك ۋه حۇقۇقلاردا مۇساۋی اولیپ دۇنیاغا که‌له‌له‌ر. اولار عقیل ۋه ۋیجدان صاحیب‌دیرله‌ر ۋه بیری-بیریله‌رینه‌ن قارداشچاسینا مۇناسه‌به‌تته بۇلونمالی‌دیرلار.	Bytyn insanlar serbestlik, menlik, ve uquqlarda musaviy olьp dynjaƣa keleler. Olar aqьl ve viçdan saibidirler ve biri-birilerinen qardaşcasьna munasebette bulunmalьdьrlar.