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.
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
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
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.