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Yaña imlâ (Yaña imlâ: , , , lit. "New orthography") was a modified variant of
Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script), the second-most widel ...
that was in use for the
Tatar language Tatar ( ; or ) is a Turkic languages, Turkic language spoken by the Volga Tatars mainly located in modern Tatarstan (European Russia), as well as Siberia. It should not be confused with Crimean Tatar language, Crimean Tatar or Siberian Tatar ...
between 1920 and 1927. The orthographical reform modified İske imlâ, abolishing excess Arabic letters, adding letters for short vowels e, ı, ö, o. Yaña imlâ made use of "Arabic Letter Low Alef" to indicate
vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is a phonological rule in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – must share certain distinctive features (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, meaning tha ...
. Arguably, Yaña imlâ had as its goal the accommodation of the alphabet to the actual Tatar pronunciation. There were some projects that were to simplify Yaña imlâ too. The unique ''separated Arabic'' was invented (so as to use typewriters). Separated Arabic was even incorporated in the early flag of Tatar ASSR, though it was not in real use. As early as in 1924 the first projects of Latin script were introduced and in 1928 alphabet was switched to the Latin
Yañalif The New Turkic Alphabet or Yañalif ( Tatar: jaꞑa əlifba/yaña älifba → jaꞑalif/yañalif, , Cyrillic: Яңалиф, "new alphabet"), is the first Latin alphabet used during the latinisation in the Soviet Union in the 1930s for the Turkic ...
alphabet.


Vowels

In Tatar Arabic alphabet, 10 vowels are defined. These occur in pairs, front and back vowels. Similar to other Turkic languages, Tatar has
vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is a phonological rule in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – must share certain distinctive features (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, meaning tha ...
rules. Tatar orthography has one-dimensional vowel harmony rules, front versus back vowels. There does exist vowel roundedness harmony in Tatar, but it is not reflected in Orthography.


Use of low alef

'' low alef'' ⟨ ⟩ ( Tatar: калынлык билгəсе, قالىُنلىُق بیلگەسىُ) has a unique role in Tatar, a role not seen in other Arabic scripts. Tatar Arabic script makes use of , and it can only ever come at the beginning of words. It never comes in the middle or end of words. low alef doesn't represent any sound in Tatar. Instead, it indicates that the vowels in the word will be the following
back vowel A back vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the highest point of the tongue is positioned relatively back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be c ...
s: * Ы ы (I ı) * Ый ый (Iy ıy) * О о (O o) * У у (U u) The logic essentially is that low alef indicates that the vowels of the word are articulated in the same part of the mouth as an sound, which is written with an alif ⟨ ⟩, i.e. at back of the mouth.
Hamza The hamza ( ') () is an Arabic script character that, in the Arabic alphabet, denotes a glottal stop and, in non-Arabic languages, indicates a diphthong, vowel, or other features, depending on the language. Derived from the letter '' ʿayn'' ( ...
plays a similar but inverse role in Kazakh
Arabic Alphabet The Arabic alphabet, or the Arabic abjad, is the Arabic script as specifically codified for writing the Arabic language. It is a unicase, unicameral script written from right-to-left in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters, of which most ...
, marking that vowels in a word will be
front vowel A front vowel is a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages, its defining characteristic being that the highest point of the tongue is positioned approximately as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction th ...
s. There are exceptions in Tatar orthography, meaning words that will have
back vowel A back vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the highest point of the tongue is positioned relatively back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be c ...
s, but won't have low alef written for them. First are words that contain the vowel ''alef'' А а (A a) (shown in Arabic Script as ئا / ا / ـا). This vowel is a back vowel, and its corresponding front vowel pair is written with a different letter altogether. Thus, it is an unambiguous conclusion that any word containing alef, will have all its other vowels as back vowels too. Thus, the ''low alef'' will be redundant, and so it's not written. For example, the word ''йорт (yort)'', meaning "house", is written with low alef, as ࢭیۇرت. But in its plural form, ''йортлар (yortlar '' is written as یۇرتلار. Inversely, words that contain the vowel ''Ә ә (Ä ä)'' (shown in Arabic Script as ئە / ـە / ە) are unambiguously words in which all vowels will be
front vowel A front vowel is a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages, its defining characteristic being that the highest point of the tongue is positioned approximately as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction th ...
s. The second exception, is words that contain the following consonants: * Г г (G g) (گ) * Гъ гъ / Ғ ғ (Ğ ğ) (ع) * К к (K k) (ك) * Къ къ / Ҡ ҡ (Q q) (ق) As per Tatar phonology, the letters Г г (G g) (گ) and К к (K k) (ك) can only be accompanied by
front vowel A front vowel is a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages, its defining characteristic being that the highest point of the tongue is positioned approximately as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction th ...
s. Thus there won't be any words containing these consonants that would need low alef. In contrast, the letters Гъ гъ / Ғ ғ (Ğ ğ) (ع) and Къ къ / Ҡ ҡ (Q q) (ق) can only be accompanied by
back vowel A back vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the highest point of the tongue is positioned relatively back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be c ...
s. This means that they themselves act as indicators that vowels in a word are
back vowel A back vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the highest point of the tongue is positioned relatively back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be c ...
s, thus eliminating a need for low alef. For example, the word ''җылы (cılı)'', meaning "warm", is written as ࢭجىُلىُ, whereas, a derived word, such as ''җылылык / cılılıq'', meaning "heat", is written as جىُلىُلىُق. Pursuant to these rules, suffixes are formed in pairs too. For example words with
back vowel A back vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the highest point of the tongue is positioned relatively back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be c ...
s take suffixes -лык (‑لىُق) / -дык (‑دىُق) / -тык (‑تىُق), and words with
front vowel A front vowel is a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages, its defining characteristic being that the highest point of the tongue is positioned approximately as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction th ...
s, take suffixes -лек (‫‑لىُك‬) / -дек (‫‑دىُك‬) / -тек (‫‑تىُك‬).


Letters


Sample text

Article 1 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...
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See also

*
Tatar alphabet Three scripts are currently used for the Tatar language: Cyrillic (in Russia, including the Republic of Tatarstan, where it is an official language and where the majority of speakers live, and in Kazakhstan), Latin (in Turkey, Finland, the Czech R ...
*
Tatar language Tatar ( ; or ) is a Turkic languages, Turkic language spoken by the Volga Tatars mainly located in modern Tatarstan (European Russia), as well as Siberia. It should not be confused with Crimean Tatar language, Crimean Tatar or Siberian Tatar ...


Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yana Imla Alphabet Arabic alphabets Tatar language Alphabets used by Turkic languages Writing systems introduced in 1920