Bashkir phonology

Vowels

Bashkir has nine native vowels, and three or four loaned vowels (mainly in Russian loanwords).

Phonetically, the native vowels are approximately thus (with the Cyrillic letters and the usual Latin romanization in angle brackets; R+ means rounded):

	Front		Back
	Spread	Rounded	Spread	Rounded
Close	и ⟨i⟩ [i]	ү ⟨ü⟩ [y~ʉ]		у ⟨u⟩ [u]
Mid	э, е ⟨e⟩ [ĕ~ɘ̆]	ө ⟨ö⟩ [ø~ɵ]	ы ⟨ı⟩ [ɤ̆~ʌ̆]	о ⟨o⟩ [o]
Open	ә ⟨ä⟩ [æ~a]		а ⟨a⟩ [ɑ]

The two mid unrounded vowels are always short, in an unstressed position they are frequently elided, as in кеше keşe [kĕˈʃĕ] > [kʃĕ] 'person', or ҡышы qışı [qɤ̆ˈʃɤ̆] > [qʃɤ̆] '(his) winter'. Low back /ɑ/ is rounded [ɒ] in the first syllable and after [ɒ], but not in the last, as in бала bala [bɒˈlɑ] 'child', балаларға balalarğa [bɒlɒlɒrˈʁɑ] 'to children'. In Russian loans there are also [ɨ], [ɛ], [ɔ] and [ä], written the same as the native vowels: ы, е/э, о, а respectively. The mid vowels may be transcribed as lowered near-high [ɪ̞, ʏ̞, ɯ̞, ʊ̞].

Historical shifts

Historically, the Old Turkic mid vowels have raised from mid to high, whereas the Old Turkic high vowels have become the Bashkir reduced mid series. (The same shifts have also happened in Tatar.)

Vowel	Old Turkic	Turkish	Kazakh	Tatar	Bashkir	Gloss
*e	*et	et	et	it	it	'meat'
*ö	*söz	söz	söz	süz	hüź	'word'
*o	*sol	sol	sol	sul	hul	'left'
*i	*it	it	it	et	et	'dog'
*ï	*qïz	kız	qız	qëz	qëź	'girl'
*u	*qum	kum	qum	qom	qom	'sand'
*ü	*kül	kül	kül	köl	köl	'ash'

Consonants

The consonants of Bashkir

		Labial	Labio- velar	Dental	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasals		м ⟨m⟩ /m/		н ⟨n⟩ /n/			ң ⟨ñ⟩ /ŋ/
Plosives	Voiceless	п ⟨p⟩ /p/		т ⟨t⟩ /t/		к ⟨k⟩ /c/	к ⟨k⟩ /k/	ҡ ⟨q⟩ /q/	ь/ъ ⟨’⟩ /ʔ/
	Voiced	б ⟨b⟩ /b/		д ⟨d⟩ /d/		г ⟨g⟩ /ɟ/	г ⟨g⟩ /ɡ/
Affricates	Voiceless			ц ⟨ts⟩ /ts/		ч ⟨ç⟩ /tɕ/
Fricatives	Voiceless	ф ⟨f⟩ /f/		ҫ ⟨ś⟩ /θ/				х ⟨x⟩ /χ/	һ ⟨h⟩ /h/
	Voiced	в ⟨v⟩ /v/		ҙ ⟨ź⟩ /ð/				ғ ⟨ğ⟩ /ʁ/
Sibilants	Voiceless			с ⟨s⟩ /s/	ш ⟨ş⟩ /ʃ/
	Voiced			з ⟨z⟩ /z/	ж ⟨j⟩ /ʒ/
Trill				р ⟨r⟩ /r/
Approximants			у/ү/в ⟨w⟩ /w~ɥ/	л ⟨l⟩ /l/		й ⟨y⟩ /j/

External links

• Bashkir language