Template:Short description Template:Expand language {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other

Urum ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) is a Turkic language spoken by several thousand ethnic Greeks who inhabit a few villages in southeastern Ukraine. Over the past few generations, there has been a deviation from teaching children Urum to the more common languages of the region, leaving a fairly limited number of new speakers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Urum language is often considered a variant of Crimean Tatar.

Name and etymologyEdit

The name Urum is derived from Rûm 'Rome', the term for the Byzantine Empire in the Muslim world. The Ottoman Empire used it to describe non-Muslims within the empire. The initial vowel in Urum is prothetic. Turkic languages originally did not have {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in word-initial position, and so in borrowed words they used to add a vowel before it. The common use of the term Urum appears to have led to some confusion, as most Turkish-speaking Greeks were called Urum. The Turkish-speaking population in Georgia is often confused with the distinct community in Ukraine.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ClassificationEdit

Urum is a Turkic language belonging to the West Kipchak branch of the family. Johanson (2021) classifies it as a variety of Crimean Tatar.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

PhonologyEdit

VowelsEdit

Front Back
unrounded rounded unrounded rounded
Close Template:IPA link ü /Template:IPA link/ ı /Template:IPA link/ Template:IPA link
Close-mid Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Near-open ä /Template:IPA link/ ö /Template:IPA link/
Open Template:IPA link

ExamplesEdit

ConsonantsEdit

Labial Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme Template:IPA link
Plosive Template:Small Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme Template:IPA link
Template:Small Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme Template:IPA link
Affricate Template:Small (Template:IPA link) Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme
Template:Small Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme
Fricative Template:Small Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link) Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme Template:IPA link
Template:Small Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link) Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme
Approximant (Template:IPA link) Template:IPA link
Lateral Template:Small Template:IPA link
Template:Small Template:IPA link
Flap Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme

/θ, ð/ appear solely in loanwords from Greek. /t͡s/ appears in loanwords. [w] can be an allophone of /v/ after vowels.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Writing systemEdit

A few manuscripts are known to be written in Urum using Greek characters.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During the period between 1927 and 1937, the Urum language was written in reformed Latin characters, the New Turkic Alphabet, and used in local schools; at least one primer is known to have been printed. In 1937, the use of written Urum stopped. In 2000, Alexander Garkavets uses the following alphabet:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

А а Б б В в Г г Ғ ғ Д д (Δ δ) Д′ д′
(Ђ ђ) Е е Ж ж Җ җ З з И и Й й К к
Л л М м Н н Ң ң О о Ӧ ӧ П п Р р
С с Т т Т′ т′ (Ћ ћ) У у Ӱ ӱ Υ υ Ф ф
Х х Һ һ Ц ц Ч ч Ш ш Щ щ Ъ ъ Ы ы
Ь ь Э э Ю ю Я я Θ θ

In an Urum primer issued in Kyiv in 2008, the following alphabet is suggested:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

А а Б б В в Г г Ґ ґ Д д Д' д' Дж дж
Е е З з И и Й й К к Л л М м Н н
О о Ӧ ӧ П п Р р С с Т т Т' т' У у
Ӱ ӱ Ф ф Х х Ч ч Ш ш Ы ы Э э

PublicationsEdit

Very little has been published on the Urum language. There exists a very small lexicon,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and a small description of the language.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> For Caucasian Urum, there is a language documentation project that collected a dictionary,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> a set of grammatically relevant clausal constructions,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and a text corpus.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The website of the project contains issues about language and history.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

  • Urum DoReCo corpus compiled by Stavros Skopeteas, Violeta Moisidi, Nutsa Tsetereli, Johanna Lorenz and Stefanie Schröter. Audio recordings of narrative texts with transcriptions time-aligned at the phone level, translations, and time-aligned morphological annotations.

Template:Languages of Georgia (country) Template:Turkic languages Template:Languages of Ukraine