Bashkir (Башҡорт теле)

Bashkir is a member of the Kypchak-Bolgar group of the Turkic languages. It is spoken by about 1.5 million people mainly in the Republic of Bashkortostan, in other parts of the Russian Federation, including Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Perm, Kurgan, Samara, Saratov, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen regions, and also in Tatarstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan.

Bashkir first appeared in writing in a Runic alphabet during the 9th century AD. It was written with the Arabic alphabet between the 10th century and 1928, when it was replaced by the Latin alphabet, which itself was replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet in 1940.

Bashkir alphabet and pronunciation (башҡорт әлифбаһы)

Bashkir alphabet and pronunciation

The letters in blue are used in Russian loanwords and names.

Information about the pronunciation of Bashkir compiled by Wolfram Siegel.

Sample text in Bashkir

Ағиҙелкәй ҡайҙа? Ай, туғайҙа.
Ағиҙелкәй һымаҡ һыу ҡайҙа?
Ағым һыу, Ағиҙел буйҙары.
Ағиҙелкәй һыуҙың, ай, буйҙары,
Йәмле сағы уның яҙғы айҙа.
Ағым һыу, Ағиҙел буйҙары.

Part of a folk song from: http://yir.atspace.com/agidel.htm

Links

Information about the Bashkir language
http://members.lycos.nl/bashkort/tele/bashlaung.htm
http://www.peoples.org.ru/eng_bashkir.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashkir_language

Bashkir folk songs
http://yir.atspace.com

Related languages

Azerbaijani, Balkar, Bashkir, Chuvash, Crimean Tatar, Even, Evenki, Gagauz, Karakalpak, Kazak, Kumyk, Kyrghyz, Nanai, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Uyghur, Uzbek, Yakut

Other languages written with the Cyrillic alphabet