Bashkir
Alternative name(s): Baskirisch (nl), bachkire (fr)
Language family: Altaic
Language Group: Turkotatar
Geographical use: Republic of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Samara, Kurgan and Sverdlovsk regions
Information: There are around 1 million
speakers. Until the beginning of the 20th century the Bashkirs used a
local variety of the Central Asian Turkic written language and later adopted
the Tatar literary language. The Bashkir literary
language was created after 1917. Arabic script
was used until 1928. In 1929 the literary language was switched into the
Latin and in 1939 into the Cyrillic
script.
Even though there are a million speakers, the language is in danger.
There is a strong Tatar and Russian
influence. Even though many children learn the language, they do not necessarily
become active users of the language.
