Crimean Tatar language Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The Crimean Tatar language or Crimean-Turkish (in own script: Qırımtatar tili, Qırım Tatar dili resp. Kırım Tatar dili; alternative notation: Qırım Türkçesi resp. Kırım Türkçesi) is the language of the Crimean Tatars.
Abbreviated forms of the language designation are: Qırım Tatarçası resp. Kırım Tatarçası (Crimean Tatar) and from the Turkish: Qırım Tatar Türkçesi resp. Kırım Tatar Türkçesi (Crimean-Turkish).
Because of its history, it has often been counted as belonging to the Kyptschak-Tatar , however it is closer to the Turkish than to the usual Tatar languages: it is closer to South-Turkish than West-Turkish.
The following newspaper report compares the Crimean Tatar and Turkish languages:
| Crimean Tatar |
|---|
| Meclis Haberleri 10.09.2003//Qırımtatar Milliy Meclisiniñ 120-cı toplaşuvı olıp keçti 2003 senesi 7 sentăbr künü Aqmescitteki İslam Merkeziniñ binasında Qırımtatar Milliy Meclisiniñ 120-cı toplaşuvı olıp keçti. Toplaşuvda... |
| Turkish |
| Meclis Haberleri 10.09.2003// Kırım Tatar Millî Meclisinin 120. toplantısı yapıldı 7 Eylül 2003 tarihinde Akmescitteki İslam Merkezi binasında Kırım Tatar Millî Meclisinin genişletilmiş 120. toplantısı gerçerkleşti. Toplantıda... |
Today there are over 300,000 Crimean Tatar speakers.
Until 1989 90% of the Crimean Tatars lived in the Fergana Valley within Uzbekistan, whence they were focibly deported in 1944. Today 250,000 Crimean Tatar live in Crimea.
More than 1,500,000 inhabitants of Turkey are Turkish-speaking Crimean Tatars emigrated in the 19th century. Crimean Tatars in Turkey can usually speak Crimean Tatar.
The spoken language of the Crimean Tatars is known since the 13th century and divides into three main dialects: "Kypshak-Tatar" from the Crimea; "Kypchak-Nogay" from the northern steppes; and the coastal "Crimea-Osman". The Chagatai language also served the Crimean Tatar as a Dachsprache. Since the islamification these people wrote with a Persian-Arab script.
In 1876 the completely different Turkish Crimean dialects were made into a uniform written language, with a preference given to the more southern dialect in order to break the link between the Tatar and the Turkish of the Ottoman Empire.
In 1928 the alphabet was replaced with the then Uniform Turkisch Alphabet (a combination of the Latin alphabet and the Cyrillic alphabet), which however was in 1938 itself replaced with a modified Cyrillic Alphabet.
After the repatriation of the Crimean Tatars it was Latinized again.
In 1992/93 Crimean Tatar was made the third official language of the peninsula, as by then its speakers made up 10% of the population.
The Crimean Tatar alphabet is the same as the Turkish alphabet with two additional characters: Ñ ñ and Q q.
Since 2002 the Crimean Tatars have been writing with a new Turkish alphabet,
that was jointly developed from Turkish and Crimean Tatar students at the
University of Istanbul for the Crimean Tatar language.
Crimean Tatar has been spoken by Crimean Greeks, Gypsies, Jews, and Karaims.
Crimean Tatar is the native language of the Crimean Tatar poet Bekir Sidki Çobanzade.
The language code is CRH.Number of speakers
History, dialects and alphabet