ABSTRACT
Tatar and Bashkir are closely related Volga Kipchak languages, belonging to the northwestern or Kipchak branch of Turkic languages. The main dialects are the Mountain or Eastern dialect, the Steppe or Southwestern dialect, and the Northwestern dialect. Tatar has been a written language since the second half of the nineteenth century, developed from the so-called Volga Turki language. The orthographic systems of Tatar and Bashkir are somewhat different, the Bashkir spelling often being closer to pronunciation. The aorist, formed with the aorist participle plus personal markers, denotes events tending or foreseen to take place. The basic lexical fields are dominated by words of Turkic origin. Tatar and Bashkir nonfinite clauses are formed with verbal nominals and converbs according to the normal Turkic patterns. Tatar can be divided into three main dialects: Kazan Tatar or Central dialect, the Mishar or Western dialect, and the West-Siberian or Eastern dialect.
