Last Updated: 2019-08-15
Background
Language Family: Turkic / Western / Uralian
- Bashkir is spoken in central and western Russia.
Phonology
Consonants
|
|
Place of Articulation
|
|
Manner of Articulation
|
Labial
|
Dental
|
Alveolar
|
Postalveolar
|
Palatal
|
Velar
|
Uvular
|
Glottal
|
|
Stops
|
p b
|
|
t d
|
|
|
k ɡ
|
q
|
ʔ
|
|
Affricates
|
|
|
ts
|
tʃ
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fricatives
|
f v
|
θ ð
|
s z
|
ʃ ʒ
|
|
x ɣ
|
|
h
|
|
Nasals
|
m
|
|
n
|
|
ŋ
|
|
|
|
|
Trills
|
|
|
r
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Approximants
|
w
|
|
l
|
|
j
|
|
|
|
|
Note: For phonemes that share a cell, those on the left are voiceless and those on the right are voiced.
|
Vowels
- Vowels do not occur consecutively (Poppe 1997, 12).
- /e/ and /ɔ/ only appear in loanwords (Poppe 1997, 6).
- Vowel harmony also occurs (Poppe 1997, 19).
|
|
Front
|
Central
|
Back
|
|
High
|
i y
|
|
u
|
|
Mid
|
|
ɘ ɵ
|
ɤ o
|
|
Low
|
|
a
|
ɑ
|
|
Note: For phonemes that share a cell, those on the left are unrounded and those on the right are rounded.
|
Alphabet
- Bashkir appears to be heavily influenced by Russian (Poppe 1997), such that the phonemic inventory includes phonemes that are only present through Russian loanwords (p. 6). Although such loanwords (and respective graphemes) are not native to Bashkir, the sounds are, so the transcription of them will be included.
- Following standard Russian orthography, ⟨ъ⟩ and ⟨ь⟩ indicate non-palatalization and palatalization, respectively, of the preceding consonant; however, this is not native to Bashkir, so they will transcribe to nothing in the rules.
|
Grapheme
|
Phoneme
|
Comment
|
|
а
|
/ɑ/
|
|
|
б
|
/b/
|
|
|
в
|
/w/; /v/
|
/w/: word-initially; /v/: elsewhere and in loanwords
|
|
г
|
/ɡ/
|
|
|
ғ
|
/ɣ/
|
|
|
д
|
/d/
|
|
|
ҙ
|
/ð/
|
|
|
е
|
/jɘ/
|
/jɘ/: word initially; /ɘ/ elsewhere
|
|
ё
|
/jo/
|
only occurs in loanwords
|
|
ж
|
/ʒ/
|
only occurs in loanwords
|
|
з
|
/z/
|
only occurs in loanwords
|
|
и
|
/i/
|
/i/: word initially and within the first syllable; /ɘj/ word finally and appearing in non-initial syllables
|
|
й
|
/j/
|
|
|
к
|
/k/
|
|
|
ҡ
|
/q/
|
|
|
л
|
/l/
|
|
|
м
|
/m/
|
|
|
н
|
/n/
|
|
|
ң
|
/ŋ/
|
|
|
о
|
/o/
|
|
|
ө
|
/ɵ/
|
⟨ѳ⟩: variant of the grapheme
|
|
п
|
/p/
|
|
|
р
|
/r/
|
|
|
с
|
/s/
|
|
|
ҫ
|
/θ/
|
|
|
т
|
/t/
|
|
|
у
|
/u/
|
|
|
ү
|
/y/
|
|
|
ф
|
/f/
|
|
|
х
|
/x/
|
|
|
һ
|
/h/
|
|
|
ц
|
/ts/
|
only occurs in loanwords
|
|
ч
|
/tʃ/
|
only occurs in loanwords
|
|
ш
|
/ʃ/
|
|
|
щ
|
/ʃtʃ/
|
only occurs in loanwords
|
|
ъ
|
/ʔ/
|
following back vowels
|
|
ы
|
/ɤ/
|
|
|
ь
|
/ʔ/
|
following front vowels
|
|
э
|
/ɘ/
|
|
|
ә
|
/a/
|
|
|
ю
|
/ju/
|
|
|
я
|
/jɑ/
|
|
Syllable Structure
- Bashkir seems to favor complex codas over onsets, given the possible syllable structures below (Poppe 1997, 12):
Lenition Rules
- /b/ can undergo spirantization in fast speech (Poppe 1997, 8).
- /b/ becomes a glide /w/ word-initially (ibid.).
- /d/ undergoes spirantization in suffix onsets (Poppe 1997, 23).
Misc. Rules
- Depending on the syllable structure, mid-vowels are consistently reduced or unpronounced (Poppe 1997, 22).
- /n/ assimilates to /m/ or /ŋ/ when preceding bilabial or velar consonants respectively (Poppe 1997, 24).
- There is apparent consonant harmony between /ɡ/ and /k/ in words containing front vowels and between /ɣ/ and /q/ in words containing back vowels (Poppe 1997, 22).
- /l/ and /n/ are often realized as /t/, /d/, or /ð/ in the presence of suffixation (Poppe 1997, 23).
- In the presence of vowels (e.g. intervocalically, or following a vowel), /u/ and /y/ are realized as /w/ (Poppe 1997, 28–29).
References
Poppe, Nicholas. 1997. Bashkir Manual: Descriptive Grammar and Texts ; with a Bashkir-English Glossary. [Reprint der Ausg.] Bloomington 1964. The Uralic and Altaic Series, volumes 1 - 150 / with a new introd. by Denis Sinor ; Vol. 36. Richmond: Curzon.