View source for Yañalif

{{Short description|1920s–30s Soviet Latin alphabet for Turkic languages}}
{{Expand language|topic=|langcode=tt|otherarticle=Яңалиф|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox writing system
| type        = [[Alphabet]]
| name        = Yañalif
| native_name = ''Jaꞑa Əlifba''
| sample      = Tatar Latin Janalif Arabic 1928.png
| imagesize   = 150px
| languages   = [[Turkic languages]]
| creator     = Various, primarily during the [[Latinisation in the Soviet Union]]
| time        = 1924 – 1940
| fam1        = [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]]
| fam2        = [[Proto-Sinaitic alphabet]]
| fam3        = [[Phoenician alphabet]]
| fam4        = [[Greek alphabet]]
| fam5        = [[Old Italic scripts]]
| fam6        = [[Latin alphabet]] augmented by [[Cyrillic script]]
| sisters     = [[Unified Northern Alphabet]]
| unicode     = Subset of [[Unicode Latin|Latin]], some characters not available
}}
The '''New Turkic Alphabet''' or '''Yañalif''' ([[Tatar language|Tatar]]: jaꞑa əlifba/yaña älifba → jaꞑalif/yañalif, {{IPA|tt|jɑŋɑˈlif|}}, [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]]: Яңалиф, "new alphabet"), is the first [[Latin script|Latin alphabet]] used during the [[latinisation in the Soviet Union]] in the 1930s for the [[Turkic languages]]. It replaced the [[Arabic script]]-based alphabets like [[Yaña imlâ alphabet|Yaña imlâ]] used for Tatar in 1928, and was replaced by the [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic alphabet]] in 1938–1940. After their respective independence in 1991, several former Soviet states in Central Asia switched back to Latin script, with slight modifications to the original Yañalif.

There are 33 [[Letter (alphabet)|letters]] in Yañalif, nine of which are [[vowel]]s. The [[apostrophe]] (') is used for the [[glottal stop]] (həmzə or hämzä) and is sometimes considered a letter for the purposes of alphabetic sorting. Other characters may also be used in spelling foreign names. The lowercase form of the letter B is ʙ (small caps B), to prevent confusion with Ь ь (I with bowl). [[I with bowl|Letter No. 33]], similar to [[Zhuang alphabet|Zhuang]] [[Ƅ]], is not currently available as a Latin character in [[Unicode]], but it looks exactly like Cyrillic [[soft sign|soft sign (Ь)]]. Capital Ə (schwa) also looks like Russian/Cyrillic Э in some fonts. There is also a digraph in Yañalif (Ьj ьj).

==History==
The earliest written text in a [[Kipchak language]], specifically the [[Cuman language]], an ancestor of the modern Tatar language and written with Latin characters, is the [[Codex Cumanicus]], dated 1303. Such texts were used by [[Catholic]] missionaries to the [[Golden Horde]]. Their Latin script ceased to be used after [[Gazaria (Genoese colonies)|Gazaria]] was taken over by the [[Ottoman Empire]] in the 15th century.

For centuries some [[Tatar language]]s as well as some other [[Turkic languages]] used a modified [[Arabic alphabet]], [[İske imlâ]]. The deficiencies of this alphabet were both technical (abundance of positional letterforms complicated adoption of modern technology such as [[typewriter]]s and [[teleprinter]]s) and linguistic ([[Arabic language]] has only three vowel qualities, but Tatar has nine, which had to be mapped onto combinations and variations of the three existing vowel letters). Because of this some Turkic intelligentsia tended to use the Latin or [[Cyrillic script]]. The first attempts appeared in the mid-19th century among [[Azerbaijanis]].<ref name="zakiev">{{in lang|ru}} М.З. Закиев. Тюрко-татарское письмо. История, состояние, перспективы. Москва, "Инсан", 2005</ref> At the same period the Russian missionary [[Nikolay Ilminsky]], along with followers, invented a modified [[Russian alphabet]] for the Turkic peoples of [[Idel-Ural]], for the purpose of Christianization; Muslim Tatars did not use his alphabet.

In 1908–1909 the Tatar poet [[Säğit Rämiyev]] (Сәгыйть Рәмиев in Tatar) started to use the Latin script in his works. He used several [[Digraph (orthography)|digraphs]]: ''ea'' for [æ], ''eu'' for [y], ''eo'' for [ɵ] and ''ei'' for [ɯ]. Arabists turned down his project, preferring to reform [[İske imlâ]]. The simplified Arabic script, known as [[Yaña imlâ]], was used in 1920–1927.<ref name="zakiev"/>

During the [[Latinisation in the Soviet Union]], a special ''Central Committee for a New Alphabet'' was established in [[Moscow]]. The first project for a Tatar-Bashkir Latin alphabet was published in ئشچی (''Eşce'', "The Worker") newspaper on 18 July 1924.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MsUOAAAAMAAJ&q=%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5|title = Вопросы совершенствования алфавитов тюркших языков СССР: Сборник статей|year = 1972}}</ref> Sounds specific to the [[Bashkir language]] were written with digraphs.<ref name="zakiev"/> Following the publication, the ''Latin Dustь'' ("friend of the Latin") society was formed in Kazan on 16 November 1924. It suggested its own version of Tatar Latin alphabet, which didn't cover Bashkir sounds.<ref name=Kurbatov />

In 1926 the Congress of [[Turkology|Turkologists]] in [[Baku]] recommended to switch all Turkic [[languages]] to the [[Latin script]]. In April 1926 the ''Jaꞑa Tatar Əlifвasь / Yaña tatar älifbası / Яңа Татар Әлифбасы'' (New Tatar Alphabet) society started its work at [[Kazan]].<ref name="TES">{{TES|Jaꞑalif/Яңалиф}}</ref>

On July 3, 1927, [[Tatarstan]] officials declared '''Yañalif''' the official script of the [[Tatar language]], replacing the [[Yaña imlâ]] script. The first variant of Yañalif did not have separate letters for K and Q (realized as K) and for G and Ğ (realized as G), V and W (realized as W). Ş (sh) looked like the Cyrillic letter [[Ш]] (she). C and Ç were realized as in Turkish and the modern Tatar Latin alphabet and later were transposed in the final version of Yañalif.<ref name="zakiev"/>

In 1928 Yañalif was reformed and remained in active use for 12 years. Some sources claim that this alphabet had 34 letters, but the last was a digraph ''Ьj'', used for the corresponding Tatar [[diphthong]].<ref name="zakiev"/> Another source states that the 34th letter was an [[apostrophe]]. They also give another sorting of the alphabet. (Ə after A, Ь after E)<ref name="TES"/>

After the introduction of Yañalif most of the books which were printed in the Arabic alphabet were withdrawn from libraries.

{| class="Unicode wikitable" style="text-align:center;background:white;"
! No. !! Final version<ref>{{citation|title=Башҡорт яҙыуы тарихенән|author=Әхмәров, Ҡасим Закир улы|publisher=Башҡортостан китап нәшриәте|location=[[Ufa]]| year=1972|page=67}}</ref><br/>(1928–1940) !! Original version<br/>(1927) !! ''Latin Dustь'' project<br/>(1924) !! ''Eşce'' project<br/>(1924) !! Yaña imlâ, <br/> stand-alone form!! Modern Latin [[Tatar alphabet]] <br/> and [[romanization]] of Bashkir!! modern Cyrillic Tatar alphabet<br/>+ some Bashkir Cyrillic 
!IPA
|-
! 1
| colspan="4" | [[A|A a]] || {{script/Arabic|ئا}} || A a || А а 
|/a/
|-
! 2
| [[B|B ʙ]] || B b || B ʙ || B b || {{script/Arabic|ب}} || B b || Б б 
|/b/
|-
! 3
| [[C|C c]] || colspan="2" | Ç ç || C c || {{script/Arabic|چ}} || Ç ç || Ч ч 
|/tɕ/
|-
! 4
| [[Ç|Ç ç]] || C c || Ĝ ĝ || J j || {{script/Arabic|ج}} || C c || Җ җ 
|/dʑ, ʑ/
|-
! 5
| colspan="4" | [[D|D d]] || {{script/Arabic|د}} || D d || Д д 
|/d/
|-
!
| [[Đ|Đ đ]] || colspan="2" | || Dh dh || {{script/Arabic|ذ}} || Ź ź || Ҙ ҙ 
|/ð, dz/
|-
! 6
| colspan="3" | [[E|E e]] || Э э || {{script/Arabic|ئـ}} || E e || Е е (э) 
|/e/
|-
! 7
| [[Ə|Ə ə]] || Э ә || Ä ä || E e || {{script/Arabic|ئە}} || Ä ä || Ә ә 
|/æ/
|-
! 8
| colspan="4" | [[F|F f]] || {{script/Arabic|ف}} || F f || Ф ф 
|/f/
|-
! 9
| [[G|G g]] ||rowspan=2| G g || colspan="2" | G g || {{script/Arabic|گ}} || G g ||rowspan=2| Г г 
|/g/
|-
! 10
| [[Gha|Ƣ ƣ]] || Gh gh || Ĝ ĝ || {{script/Arabic|ع}} || Ğ ğ
|/ɣ/
|-
! 11
| colspan="4" | [[H|H h]] || {{script/Arabic|ه}} || H h || Һ һ 
|/h/
|-
! 12
| colspan="4" | [[I|I i]] || {{script/Arabic|ئی}} ||İ i || И и 
|/i/
|-
! 13
| colspan="3" | [[J|J j]] || || {{script/Arabic|ی}} || Y y || Й й 
|/j/
|-
! 14
| colspan="4" | [[K|K k]] || {{script/Arabic|ک}} || K k || К к 
|/k/
|-
! 15
| colspan="4" | [[L|L l]] || {{script/Arabic|ل}} || L l || Л л 
|/l/
|-
! 16
| colspan="4" | [[M|M m]] || {{script/Arabic|م}} || M m || М м 
|/m/
|-
! 17
| colspan="4" | [[N|N n]] || {{script/Arabic|ن}} || N n || Н н 
|/n/
|-
! 18
| colspan="2" | [[N with descender|Ꞑ ꞑ]] || Ng ng || Ꞑ ꞑ || {{script/Arabic|ڭ}} || Ñ ñ || Ң ң 
|/ŋ/
|-
! 19
| colspan="4" | [[O|O o]] || {{script/Arabic|ࢭئۇ}} || O o || О о 
|/o/
|-
! 20
| [[Ɵ|Ɵ ɵ]] || Ó ó || colspan="2" | Ö ö || {{script/Arabic|ئۇ}} || Ö ö || Ө ө 
|/ø/
|-
! 21
| colspan="4" | [[P|P p]] || {{script/Arabic|پ}} || P p || П п 
|/p/
|-
! 22
| [[Q|Q q]] || K k || colspan="2" | Q q || {{script/Arabic|ق}} || Q q || К к 
|/q/
|-
! 23
| colspan="4" | [[R|R r]] || {{script/Arabic|ر}} || R r || Р р 
|/r/
|-
! 24
| colspan="4" | [[S|S s]] || {{script/Arabic|س}} || S s || С с 
|/s/
|-
! 25
| [[Ş|Ş ş]] || Ш ш || Ş ş || Ç ç || {{script/Arabic|ش}} || Ş ş || Ш ш 
|/ʃ/
|-
! 26
| colspan="4" | [[T|T t]] || {{script/Arabic|ت}} || T t || Т т 
|/t/
|-
!
| Ѣ ѣ || colspan="2" | || Th th || {{script/Arabic|ث}} || Ś ś || Ҫ ҫ 
|/ɕ, θ/
|-
! 27
| colspan="4" | [[U|U u]] || {{script/Arabic|ࢭئو}} || U u || У у 
|/u, w/
|-
!rowspan=2| 28
|rowspan=2| [[V|V v]] ||rowspan=2| W w || || V v || {{script/Arabic|ۋ}} || V v ||rowspan=2| В в 
|/v/
|-
| colspan="2" | W w || {{script/Arabic|و}} || W w
|/w/
|-
! 29
| colspan="4" | [[X|X x]] || {{script/Arabic|ح}} || X x || Х х 
|/x/
|-
! 30
| [[Y|Y y]] || V v || colspan="2" | Ü ü || {{script/Arabic|ئو}} || Ü ü || Ү ү 
|/w, y/
|-
! 31
| colspan="4" | [[Z|Z z]] || {{script/Arabic|ز}} || Z z || З з 
|/z/
|-
! 32
| colspan="4" | [[Ƶ|Ƶ ƶ]] || {{script/Arabic|ژ}} || J j || Ж ж 
|/ʒ/
|-
! 33
| [[I with bowl|Ь ь]] || É é || Y y || Ə ə || {{script/Arabic|ࢭئـ}} || I ı || Ы ы 
|/ɯ, ɤ, ɨ/
|-
! (34.1)
| [[ʼ]] || colspan="3" | || {{script/Arabic|ء}} || ʼ || ъ, ь, э 
|/ʔ/
|-
! (34.2)
| Ьj ьj || Y y || Yj yj || Y y || {{script/Arabic|ࢭئیـ}} || Iy ıy || Ый ый 
|/ɤj/
|}

''Eşce'' (1924) alphabetical order:<ref name=Kurbatov>{{citation|title=Татар теленең алфавиты hәм орфография тарихы|author=Курбатов, Хәлиф Рәхим улы|publisher=[[Tatar Book Publishers]]|location=[[Kazan]]| year=1960|page=71}}</ref>
: A B C Ç D Dh E F G Ĝ H I J K L M N Ꞑ O Ö P Q R S T Th U Ü W V X Y Z Ƶ Ə Э
''Latin dustь'' (1924) alphabetical order:<ref name=Kurbatov />
: A B Ĝ Ç D E Ä Y F Gh G H I J Q K L M N Ng Ö O P R S T U Ü W X Z Ƶ Ş
Original Yañalif (1927) alphabetical order:
: A B C Ç D E É Э F G H I J K L M N Ꞑ O Ó P R S T U V X Y Z Ƶ Ш W

==Decline==
Using two different alphabets for Russian and Turkic languages was problematic: people had to learn two different alphabets, confusing letters of one alphabet for letters from another, and Turkic languages had to use specific typewriters instead of sharing typewriters with Russian. In order to overcome these issues, a decision was made to convert Turkic languages to Cyrillic. In 1939 the Soviet government prohibited Yañalif although it remained in use until January 1940.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}} Yañalif was also used in [[Nazism|Nazi]] gazettes for prisoners of war and [[propaganda]] during [[World War II]].{{citation needed|date=January 2018}} The alphabet served until the 1950s, because most of the schoolbooks were printed before World War II. Some Tatar diasporas also used Yañalif outside of the [[Soviet Union]], for example the Tatar bureau of [[Radio Free Europe]].

For 12 years of usage the Latin script, Arabic script (and not only Yaña imlâ, but İske imlâ too) also were used. One of the [[Musa Cälil]]'s [[Moabit Notebooks]] was written in Yañalif, and another was written in Arabic letters. Both notebooks were written in German prison, after 1939, the year when the Cyrillic script was established.

==Restoring Yañalif ==
[[File:Ь-Яңалиф.jpg|thumb|[[I with bowl]] does not have separate encoding in [[Unicode]]. Cyrillic [[Ь]] is used. Only some Tatar [[font]]s use this [[glyph]].]][[File:Ng Janalif.jpg|thumb|[[N with descender]], a variant of [[Ŋ]], that was used in Yañalif and is represented in [[Unicode]] since 6.0. Only some Tatar [[font]]s use this [[glyph]] at the position of [[Ñ]].]]
In the 1990s some wanted to restore Yañalif, or Yañalif +W, as being appropriate for the modern Tatar phonetics. But technical problems, such as font problems and the disuse of Uniform Turkic alphabet among other peoples, forced the use of a "[[Turkish alphabet|Turkish-based]] alphabet". In 2000 such an alphabet was adopted by the Tatarstan government, but in 2002 it was abolished by the [[Russia|Russian Federation]].<ref name="zakiev"/>

===Inalif===
The "Internet-style" alphabet named ''Inalif'' after ''[[Internet]]'' and ''älifba'' was convented in 2003 and partly it was inspired by Yañalif. The main purpose of this alphabet was standardization of texts, which are typed on a standard English keyboard, without any diacritical marks. But this is not a simple transliteration of non-English symbols of Yañalif or modern alphabet. Sounds absent from English are represented with digraphs; soft vowels are represented as a combination of the pairmate and [[apostrophe]], apart from {{IPA|[ɤ]}}, corresponding to ⟨ь⟩ in Yañalif, which is represented as ⟨y⟩, probably under influence of [[transliteration of Russian]]. Like in Yañalif, ⟨j⟩ represent {{IPA|[j]}}, and ⟨zh⟩ is used for {{IPA|[ʒ]}}, corresponding to ⟨ƶ⟩ in Yañalif. ⟨x⟩ isn't used in Inalif, and ⟨kh⟩ is used instead. Other changes include: ⟨ä⟩ → ⟨a'⟩; ⟨ö⟩ → ⟨o'⟩; ⟨ü⟩ → ⟨u'⟩; ⟨ç⟩ → ⟨ch⟩; ⟨ğ⟩ → ⟨gh⟩; ⟨ñ⟩ → ⟨ng⟩; ⟨ş⟩ → ⟨sh⟩. The sorting order of Inalif isn't specified, but in practice, the English sorting order is used. Inalif is used only on the Internet.

== Criticism ==
Tatar literary scholar Hatip Minnegulov: "The replacement of the Arabic script, used by our people for more than a thousand years, with the Latin and soon the Cyrillic alphabet was a terrible blow to the continuity of the people's memory, which can be considered as burning the bridges between the past and the present".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Minnegulov |first=Hatip |title=History of the study of the literature of the Golden Horde in Tatarstan |url=http://rus.sptatar.com/istoriya-izucheniya-literatury-zolotoj-ordy-v-tatarstane/ |language=ru}}</ref>

Jussi Ahtinen-Karsikko wrote in Finland in 1934: "The change made in the footsteps of the religious indifference formed under the influence of Kemal Pasha's French spirit" felt as if "a thousand-year-old precious tradition had been frivolously sacrificed in favor of a suspicious Western progressiveness".<ref>Bedretdin, Kadriye (toim.): ''Tugan Tel – Kirjoituksia Suomen tataareista''. Helsinki: Suomen Itämainen Seura, 2011.  {{ISBN|978-951-9380-78-0}} (p. 288)</ref>

The Head of the Middle East and Central Asia Section at the [[British Library]], Michael Erdman, feels that the Turkic usage of Arabic script, which dates back to the 10th century when Islam was adopted by Turkic communities, is not as unsuitable as critics claim. Erdman thinks that it is entirely possible to use the script while taking into account the unique vocal features of each languages, which a vast amount of reform efforts in the Russian Empire and later Soviet Union show. He also takes aim at the claim that Arabic script is solely connected to religion and thus backwardness by showcasing modern scientific works created in this writing. Erdman reminds that millions of Turkic people, such as the [[Uyghurs]] of China and [[Iranian Azerbaijanis|Azeris of Iran]], still use the Arabic script.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Erdman |first=Michael |date=February 11, 2024 |title=Latin Lies: The Lost History of Arabic Script Experimentation in Turkic Languages |url=https://ajammc.com/2024/02/11/latin-lies-arabic-script-turkic/ |website=ajam media collective}}</ref>

It has been argued also, that the Arabic script was more unifying for Turkic peoples; "The very limitations of the Arabic script might be considered as its strength. In essence, while the Arabic script was able to add letters to represent vowels, the obscuring of the same vowels allowed for easier comprehension between speakers with different pronunciations".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kohn |first=Asher |date=February 18, 2023 |title=From Syndication to Society: Abdullah Tuqay and Central Asian Literature |url=https://ajammc.com/2013/02/18/from-syndication-to-society-abdullah-tuqay-and-central-asian-literature/ |website=ajam media collective}}</ref>

==Sources==
<references/>

==See also==
*[[Common Turkic alphabet|Common Turkic Alphabet]]
*[[Tatar alphabet]]
*[[Tatar language]]

==External links==
* [http://baltoslav.eu/lat/index.php?mova=en&j=tt Tatar Cyrillic-Latin text and website converter]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yanalif}}
[[Category:Tatar language]]
[[Category:Latin alphabets]]
[[Category:Alphabets used by Turkic languages]]
[[Category:History of Tatarstan]]
[[Category:Romanization]]
[[Category:Writing systems introduced in 1924]]
[[Category:1940 disestablishments in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1924 establishments in the Soviet Union]]