Crimean Tatar language
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Template:Copyedit {{language |name=Crimean Tatar |nativename=Qırımtatar tili |states=Crimea, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Romania, Bulgaria |region=Black Sea |speakers=about 300,000 |familycolor=Altaic |fam1=Altaic (disputed) |fam2=Turkic |fam3= Kypchak (Northwestern) |fam4= Ponto-Caspian |iso2=crh|iso3=crh}}
Crimean Tatar language (Qırımtatar tili, Qırımtatarca), also known as Crimean (Qırım tili, Qırımca) and Crimean Turkish (Qırım Türkçesi) is the language of the Crimean Tatars. It is spoken in Crimea, the former Soviet Union, and the Crimean Tatar diasporas in Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria.
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Number of speakers
Today there are over 300,000 Crimean Tatar speakers.
Until 1989, 90% of the Crimean Tatars lived in Uzbekistan, where they were forcibly deported in 1944. Today 250,000 Crimean Tatars live in Crimea, around 150,000 are still in exile in Uzbekistan, about 24,000 Crimean Tatars live in Romania and another 3,000 live in Bulgaria.
More than 1,500,000 inhabitants of Turkey are Turkish-speaking Crimean Tatars who emigrated in the 19th century. Crimean Tatars in Turkey can usually speak Crimean Tatar.
Dialects
Each of the three sub ethnic groups of the Crimean Tatars has its own dialect. The dialect of the Noğays - former inhabitants of the Crimean steppe (should not be confused with Nogai people) is of Kypchak origin, Yalıboylus who lived on the southern coast of Crimea before 1944 speak an Oghuz dialect very close to Turkish, while the middle dialect of the Tats from the Crimean Mountains (should not be confused with Tat people) is a mixture of the two others. This dialect is a direct descendant of the Cuman language, but it has been strongly influenced by the Oghuz Turkic. Modern Crimean Tatar written language is based on this middle dialect as the Tats comprise about 55% of total Crimean Tatar population and their dialect is equally understandable for the speakers of the others.
History
The forming of the Crimean Tatar spoken dialects had begun with the first Turkic invasions to Crimea and ended during the period of the Crimean Khanate. However, official written languages of the Crimean Khanate were Chagatai and Ottoman Turkish. After the Islamization Crimean Tatars wrote with a Persian-Arab script.
In 1876 different Turkish Crimean dialects were made into a uniform written language by İsmail Gaspıralı. A preference was given to the Oghuz dialect of Yalıboylus in order to break the link between the Crimeans and the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. In 1928 it was reoriented to the middle dialect.
In 1928 the alphabet was replaced with the Uniform Turkic Alphabet based on the Latin script. The Uniform Turkic Alphabet was itself replaced in 1938 a modified Cyrillic alphabet.
Crimean Tatar was the native language of the poet Bekir Sıdkı Çobanzade.
Current Situation
After the repatriation of the Crimean Tatars, the alphabet was Latinized again. The current Latin-based Crimean Tatar alphabet is the same as the Turkish alphabet with two additional characters: Ñ ñ and Q q.
Currently, Crimean Tatar does not have an official language status in Crimea. Before the Sürgün, it had an official language status in the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
Crimean Tatar in comparison with other languages
Because of its history, this language has often been counted as being descended from Kypchak Turkic. Actually, Crimean Tatar is similar to both Kypchak and Oghuz Turkic languages. A Crimean Tatar speaker can understand languages of both Kypchak and Oghuz origin. Among the living Turkic languages, the closest to Crimean Tatar are Turkish, Urum of the Oghuz group, Kumyk, and Karachay-Balkar of the Kypchak group. Crimean Karaim and Krymchak languages are often cosidered to be variants of Crimean Tatar.
Crimean Tatar and Turkish
The following newspaper report compares the Crimean Tatar and Turkish languages:
| Crimean Tatar | Turkish |
|---|---|
| Meclis Haberleri 10.09.2003// Qırımtatar Milliy Meclisiniñ 120-cı toplaşuvı olıp keçti
2003 senesi 7 sentâbr künü Aqmescitteki İslâm Merkeziniñ binasında Qırımtatar Milliy Meclisiniñ 120-cı toplaşuvı olıp keçti. Toplaşuvda... | Meclis Haberleri 10.09.2003// Kırım Tatar Millî Meclisi’nin 120. toplantısı yapıldı
7 Eylül 2003 tarihinde Akmescit’teki İslam Merkezi binasında Kırım Tatar Millî Meclisi’nin genişletilmiş 120. toplantısı gerçerkleşti. Toplantıda... |
As can be seen these languages are quite similar.
Crimean Tatar and Tatar
Because of its common name, Crimean Tatar is sometimes considered to be a dialect of the Tatar language. It is absolutely incorrect. Of course, these tongues are related (as both are Turkic), but as it was mentioned above, the Kypchak tongues closest to Crimean Tatar are Kumyk and Karachay-Balkar, not the Tatar language.
External links
de:Krimtatarische Sprache es:Tártaro de Crimea fr:Tatar de Crimée ko:크림 타타르어 ru:Крымскотатарский язык fi:Krimintataarin kieli tt:Qırım Törekçäse