Bashkir language#Orthography

File:Ареал расселения башкир в Волго-Уральском регионе. По данным Всероссийской переписи населения 2010 года.png) in 2010]]

Speakers of Bashkir mostly live in the republic of Bashkortostan (a republic within the Russian Federation). Many speakers also live in Tatarstan, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk and Kurgan Oblasts and other regions of Russia. Minor Bashkir groups also live in Kazakhstan and the United States.

In a recent{{when?|date=April 2025}} local media report in Bashkortostan, it was reported that some officials of the republic cannot assemble a document in Bashkir language.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

{{more citations needed|section|date=April 2025}}

Bashkir together with Tatar belongs to the Kipchak-Bulgar ({{langx|ru|кыпчакско-булгарская}}) subgroup of the Kipchak languages. These languages have a similar vocabulary by 94.9%,{{cite web |url=https://milliard.tatar/news/bratya-navek-tatarskii-i-baskirskii-yazyki-sovpadayut-na-95-procentov-104 |script-website=ru:Миллиард Татар |lang=ru |date=2021-01-21 |script-title=ru:Братья навек: татарский и башкирский языки совпадают на 95 процентов |trans-title=Brothers Forever: Tatar and Bashkir Languages Are 95 Percent Similar}} and they not only have common origin, but also a common ancestor in the written language — Volga Turki.

However, Bashkir differs from Tatar in several important ways:

• Bashkir has dental fricatives {{IPAslink|θ}} and {{IPAslink|ð}} in the place of Turkic {{IPAslink|t}}, {{IPAslink|d}}, {{IPAslink|s}} and {{IPAslink|z}}. For example, Turkish {{lang|tr|dost}} and Bashkir {{lang|ba|дуҫ}} ({{transl|ba|duś}}), Turkish {{lang|tr|adım}} and Bashkir {{lang|ba|аҙым}} ({{transl|ba|aźım}}), Turkish {{lang|tr|usta}} and Bashkir {{lang|ba|оҫта}} ({{transl|ba|ośta}}), or Turkish {{lang|tr|uzun}} and Bashkir {{lang|ba|оҙон}} ({{transl|ba|oźon}}). Bashkir {{IPAslink|θ}} and {{IPAslink|ð}}, however, cannot begin a word (there are exceptions: {{lang|ba|ҙур}} ({{transl|ba|źur}}) {{IPA|ba|ðuɾ|}} {{gloss|big}}, and the particle/conjunction {{lang|ba|ҙа}} ({{transl|ba|źa}}) {{IPA|ba|ða|}} or {{lang|ba|ҙә}} ({{transl|ba|źä}}) {{IPA|ba|ðæ|}}. The only other Turkic language with a similar feature is Turkmen. However, in Bashkir, {{IPAslink|θ}} and {{IPAslink|ð}} are two independent phonemes, distinct from {{IPAslink|s}} and {{IPAslink|z}}, whereas in Turkmen [θ] and [ð] are the two main realizations of the common Turkic {{IPAslink|s}} and {{IPAslink|z}}. In other words, there are no {{IPAslink|s}} and {{IPAslink|z}} phonemes in Turkmen, unlike Bashkir which has both {{IPAslink|s}} and {{IPAslink|z}} and {{IPAslink|θ}} and {{IPAslink|ð}}.
• The word-initial and morpheme-initial {{IPAslink|s}} is turned into {{IPAslink|h}}. An example of both features can be Tatar {{lang|tt|сүз}} ({{lang|tt-Latn|süz}}) and Bashkir {{lang|ba|һүҙ}} ({{transl|ba|hüź}}), both meaning "word".
• Common Turkic {{IPAslink|tʃ}} (Tatar {{IPAslink|ɕ}}) is turned into Bashkir {{IPAslink|s}}, e.g., Turkish {{lang|tr|ağaç}} {{IPA|tr|aˈatʃ|}}, Tatar {{lang|tt|агач}} ({{transl|tt|ağaç}}) {{IPA|tt|ɑˈʁɑɕ|}} and Bashkir {{lang|ba|ағас}} ({{transl|ba|ağas}}) {{IPA|ba|ɑˈʁɑs|}}, all meaning "tree".
• The word-initial {{IPAslink|ʑ}} in Tatar always corresponds to {{IPAslink|j}} in Standard Bashkir, e.g., Tatar {{lang|tt|җылы}} ({{transl|tt|cılı}}) {{IPA|tt|ʑɤˈlɤ|}} and Bashkir {{lang|ba|йылы}} ({{transl|ba|yılı}}) {{IPA|tt|jɯˈɫɯ|}}, both meaning "warm". However, the eastern and northern dialects of Bashkir have the {{IPAslink|j}} > /{{IPA link|ʑ}}~{{IPA link|ʒ}}/ shift.

The Bashkir orthography is more explicit. {{IPAslink|q}} and {{IPAslink|ʁ}} are written with their own letters Ҡ ҡ and Ғ ғ, whereas in Tatar they are treated as positional allophones of {{IPAslink|k}} and {{IPAslink|ɡ}}, written К к and Г г.

Labial vowel harmony in Bashkir is written explicitly, e.g., Tatar {{lang|tt|тормышым}} ({{transl|tt|tormışım}}) and Bashkir {{lang|ba|тормошом}} ({{transl|ba|tormoşom}}, both pronounced {{IPA|[tʊɾ.mʊˈʂʊm]}}, meaning "my life".{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bashlang/mode/2up |first1=B. |last1=Tuysin |first2=K. |last2=Shafikov |first3=I. |last3=Khanov |script-title=ru:Башкирский Язык |lang=ru |trans-title=Bashkir Language |chapter=1 |location=Ufa |publisher=Bashkirsiy Gosudarstvennyy Universitet RB |year=2022}}

{{Main|Bashkir alphabet}}

File:Inscription in Ufa Airport.jpg in Bashkir, Russian and English]]

File:KB Bashkir.svg

After the adoption of Islam, which began in the 10th century and lasted for several centuries, the Bashkirs began to use Turki as a written language. Turki was written in a variant of the Arabic script.

In 1923, a writing system based on the Arabic script was specifically created for the Bashkir language. At the same time, the Bashkir literary language was created, moving away from the older written Turkic influences. At first, it used a modified Arabic alphabet. In 1930 it was replaced with the Unified Turkic Latin Alphabet, which was in turn replaced with an adapted Cyrillic alphabet in 1939.

The modern alphabet used by Bashkir is based on the Russian alphabet, with the addition of the following letters: Ә ә {{IPAslink|æ}}, Ө ө {{IPAslink|ø}}, Ү ү {{IPAslink|ʏ}}, Ғ ғ {{IPAslink|ʁ}}, Ҡ ҡ {{IPAslink|q}}, Ң ң {{IPAslink|ŋ}}, Ҙ ҙ {{IPAslink|ð}}, Ҫ ҫ {{IPAslink|θ}}, Һ һ {{IPAslink|h}}.

Bashkir Latin alphabet based on the Common Turkic alphabet

Bashkir has nine native vowels, and three or four loaned vowels (mainly in Russian loanwords).{{Cite book|title=The Turkic languages|url=https://archive.org/details/turkiclanguagesr00csat|url-access=limited|last=Berta|first=Árpád|chapter=Tatar and Bashkir|year=1998|editor-last=Johanson|editor-first=Lars |editor-last2=Csató|editor-first2=Éva Á.|publisher=Routledge|pages=[https://archive.org/details/turkiclanguagesr00csat/page/n154 283]–300|isbn=9780415082006}}

Phonetically, the native vowels are approximately thus (with the Cyrillic letter followed by the usual Latin romanization in angle brackets):{{Cite book |last=Poppe |first=Nicholas N. |title=Bashkir Manual |series=Research and Studies in Uralic and Altaic Languages |volume=36 |location=Bloomington, IN |publisher=Indiana University |year=1964 |url= https://archive.org/details/bashkirmanualdes0000popp/ |oclc=1147723720 |lccn=63-64521}}

In Russian loans there are also {{IPAblink|ɨ}}, {{IPAblink|ɛ}}, {{IPAblink|ɔ}} and {{IPAblink|ä}}, written the same as the native vowels: ы, е/э, о, а respectively.

Historically, the Proto-Turkic mid vowels have raised from mid to high, whereas the Proto-Turkic high vowels have become the Bashkir reduced mid series. (The same shifts have also happened in Tatar.){{Cite book|title=The Turkic languages|url=https://archive.org/details/turkiclanguagesr00csat|url-access=limited|last=Johanson|first=Lars|chapter=The History of Turkic|year=1998|editor-last=Johanson|editor-first=Lars |editor-last2=Csató|editor-first2=Éva Á.|publisher=Routledge|page=[https://archive.org/details/turkiclanguagesr00csat/page/n59 92]|isbn=9780415082006}} However, in most dialects of Bashkir, this shift is not as prominent as in Tatar.

;Notes

:{{note|loan|¹}} The phonemes {{IPAslink|f}}, {{IPAslink|v}}, {{IPAslink|ʔ}} are found only in loanwords, and, in the case of {{IPAslink|ʔ}}, in a few native onomatopoeic words.

:{{Note|allophone|²}} {{IPAblink|β}} is an intervocal allophone of {{IPAblink|b}}, and it is distinct from {{IPAblink|w}}. {{IPAblink|ɴ}} is an allophone of {{IPAblink|ŋ}} in back vowel contexts. {{IPAblink|c}} and {{IPAblink|ɟ}} occur as allophones of {{IPAblink|k}} and {{IPAblink|g}} before {{IPAblink|e}}, and both occur only in front vowel contexts.

• {{IPA|/θ, ð/}} are dental {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|θ}}, {{IPAplink|ð}}]}}, and {{IPA|/ɾ/}} is apical alveolar {{IPAblink|ɾ}}. The exact place of articulation of the other dental/alveolar consonants is unclear.

A member of the Turkic language family, Bashkir is an agglutinative, SOV language.{{cite web |url=http://www.transparent.com/learn-bashkir/overview.html |title=Overview of the Bashkir Language |work=Learn the Bashkir Language & Culture |publisher=Transparent Language |access-date=4 Nov 2011 }} A large part of the Bashkir vocabulary has Turkic roots; and there are many loan words in Bashkir from Russian, Arabic and Persian sources.

The form of the plural suffix is heavily dependent on the letter which comes immediately before it. When it's a consonant, there is a four-way distinction between "л" (l), "т" (t), "ҙ" (ź) and "д" (d); The vowel's distinction is two-way between "а" (after back vowels "а" (a), "ы" (ı), "о" (o), "у" (u)) and "ә" (after front vowels "ә" (ə), "е" (e), "и" (i), "ө" (ö), "ү" (ü)). Some nouns are also less likely to be used with their plural forms such as "һыу" (hıw, "water") or "ҡом" (qom, "sand").

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book

|first=Nicholas

|last=Poppe

|author-link=Nicholas Poppe

|title=Bashkir Manual

|publisher=Routledge

|year=1997

|orig-year=1964

|pages=186

|isbn=978-0-7007-0836-9

}}

• {{Cite book

|title=Грамматика современного башкирского литературного языка

|place=Москва

|publisher=Наука

|year=1981

|language=ru

}}

• {{Cite book

|first=Н. К.

|last=Дмитриев

|author-link=Nikolai Dmitriev

|title=Грамматика башкирского языка

|publisher=Из-во АН СССР

|year=1948

|language=ru

}}

{{InterWiki|code=ba}}

{{wiktionarycat}}

{{wikivoyage|Bashkir phrasebook}}

• [https://bashcorpus.ru/ National Corpus of the Bashkir language] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303071103/https://bashcorpus.ru/ |date=3 March 2022 }}
• [http://mfbl2.ru:8080/mfbl/bashxyz Machine fund of the Bashkir language]
• [https://linghub.ru/oral_bashkir_corpus/ Spoken corpus of Bashkir (Rakhmetovo and Baimovo)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810194241/https://linghub.ru/oral_bashkir_corpus/ |date=2020-08-10 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20210730084759/http://tel.bashqort.com/short-grammar Short grammar of Bashkir]

{{Turkic languages}}

{{Languages of Russia}}

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Category:Agglutinative languages

Category:Subject–object–verb languages

Category:Kipchak languages

Category:Languages of Kazakhstan

Category:Indigenous languages of European Russia

Category:Turkic languages

Category:Vowel-harmony languages

Category:Languages written in Cyrillic script

Category:Vulnerable languages