Bashkortostan Tatar

The Republic of Bashkortostan is the homeland of more than a million Tatars. This makes up a fourth of the republic's population.  

Numerous studies by both pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary scientists, the results of the “Atlas of Tatar Folk Dialects” (Kazan, 2015), and research using the method of language geography, showed that the following Tatar dialects are widespread in Bashkortostan, related to the two main dialects of the Tatar language: Bələbəy, Central, Yañawıl sub-dialects of the Minzələ dialect, Baqalı subdialect of the Tübən Kama-Kerəşen dialect, Böre, Zlatoust, Qormantaw, Tipkəy, Turbaslı, Uçalı dialects of the middle dialect and Bayqıbaş, Sterlitamak dialects of the Western (Mişər) dialect. 

All this variety of dialects and subdialects means that there are a lot of different regional words and grammatical constructions used in different parts of Bashkortostan, but I have tried to sum them up into this list of curious features used in most of them. 

💙 Phonetics

The following features are common to all considered dialects of the studied area: 

🗣️ [u], [ü] > [о], [ö] or [ı], [е]:  

topsa (lit. tupsa) – threshold 

közətü (lit. küzətü) – to watch, to track  

namıs (lit. namus) – honor, conscience 

🗣️ [ı], [o], [u] > [i] before [y]:  

biyaq (lit. bu yaq) – this side 

biyil (lit. bıyıl) – this year 

biyaw (lit. buyaw) – paint 

🗣️ Instead of [ı] or [i], the use of diphthongs [ay]/[əy]: 

anday (lit. andıy) – such, like that 

pesəy (lit. pesi) – cat 

🗣️ [c] > [y]: yılı (lit. cılı) – warm 

🗣️ Skipping [h] at the beginning of a word: 

awa (lit. hawa) – air, weather 

önər (lit. hönər) – profession 

🤍 Grammar

Grammatical features:

📝 Affix -qay / -kəy has a very broad use and meaning: 

• diminutive: bozawqay – baby calf 

• no diminutive meaning:  

nərsəkəy / nəstəkəy, nəməkəy – what 

xəterkəy – memory 

• expressing being unsure: ber xatınqay – some woman 

• expressing similarity: ataqay balası – dad’s child, child similar to his or her dad 

• word formation: səpəkəy / çəbəkəy itü (lit. qul çabu) – to apploud 

sulaqay (lit. sulağay) – left-handed 

sənsəkəy barmaq (lit. çənti barmaq) – little finger 

📝 Using nominative (baş kileş) instead of dative (yünəleş): 

Ufa kitkən (lit. Ufağa kitkən) – went to Ufa 

📝 Using miñə / siñə (lit. miña / siña) or in some dialects miyə / siyə. 

📝 Using collective numerals instead of cardinal ones when attaching possessive affixes: 

berəwse (lit. berse) – one of them, ikəwse (lit. ikese) – two of them 

Berəwse qaytmasa da qıyın – It is hard even if one of them doesn’t come back 

📝 Using anaw(ı) instead of the literary ənə ul (that one), manaw(ı) instead of menə ul (this one) 

📝 In the present tense of the indicative mood, the affix -ıy/-i of the literary language corresponds to -ay/-əy: 

qaray (lit. qarıy) – looks 

söyləy (lit. söyli) – tells 

tuqtamay (lit. tuqtamıy) – doesn’t stop 

eşləməy (lit. eşləmi) – doesn’t work 

kilməyem (lit. kilmim) – I don’t come 

📝 More frequent use of -ıñqıra/-eñkerə, meaning an incomplete, repeating, or an intensified action, than in the literary language: 

qoymaq açıñqırağan – pancake dough turned sour 

📝 Using -sığız/-segez instead of the literary -sız/-sez: 

barasığız (lit. barasız) – you go 

📝 Adding plural suffixes to nominal predicates: 

Üzləre qaydalar (lit. qayda) ikən? – Where are they (themselves)? 

Alar sezdələrme (lit. sezdəme)? – Are they at your place? 

📝 Deviations in the use of voices: 

uquwın bette (lit. beterde) – finished studying 

yazışıp (lit. yazıp) utıram – I’m doing some writing

💚 Lexics

Lexical features common to different dialects in Bashkortstan:  

📚 qartinəy / qartəni / nənəy (lit. dəw əni / əbi) – grandmother  

qartatay / qartəti (lit. dəw əti / babay) – grandfather  

inə / inəkəy (lit. əni) – mother  

📚 pıyma / pima (lit. kiyez itek) – felt boots  

başay / başantay / başaltay (lit. yon oyıqbaş) – woolen socks  

📚 muyıl (lit. şomırt) – bird cherry  

qarağat (lit. qara qarlığan) – black currant  

📚 möyöş (lit. poçmaq) – corner  

toq / toqçay / toqsay – bag

qaysılay (lit. niçek) – how

nəmə(kəy), nərsəkəy (lit. nərsə) – what

berəy (lit. berər) – some

əzrək torğaç (lit. berazdan) – later

təwdə / iñ təwdə – first, at the beginning

irtəgə soñğa (lit. berseköngə) – a day after tomorrow

azaq / adaq – after

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Based on Bulatova M.R. Tatar dialects of Bashkortostan. Aerial aspect. 2021, Kazan.