The Tatar language reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Tatar language

For people who check facts
Tatar (Tatar tele/Tatarça)
Spoken in: Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, China, Finland, ex-USSR
Region: Central Asia, Eastern Europe
Total speakers: 8 Million
Ranking: 95
Genetic
classification:
Altaic
 Turkic
  Northwestern (Qypchaq-Bolghar)
   Uralian
    Tatar
Official status
Official language of: Republic of Tatarstan (Russia)
Regulated by: valign="top"
Language codes
ISO 639-1 tt
ISO 639-2 tat
SIL TTR


Tatar language (Tatar tele, Tatarça) is a Turkic language.

It is the official language of the Republic of Tatarstan, and is also spoken Siberia as well as in China, Turkey, Ukraine and all over Central Asia.

There are approximately 7 million native speakers around the world. Until 2000 it was written in modified Cyrillic script. Transition to modified Latin script should be complete in 2011.

The Tatar Cyrillic script requires the Russian alphabet plus 6 extra letters: Әә, Өө, Үү, Җҗ, Ңң, Һһ.

The Tatar Latin script requires the standard Latin alphabet plus 9 extra letters: Əə, Çç, Ğğ, İi, Iı, Ññ, Ɵɵ, Şş, Üü (and sometimes Ŋŋ instead of Ññ; the next letter is "O with middle bar" — some people think it would be better to use Öö instead).

There are alternative unificated project which includs 10 extra letters: Ää, Çç, Ğğ, Iı, İi, Íí, Ññ, Öö, Şş, Üü and includs extra signs: á â é ó ú

See also: Tatars

External links