Krymchak language

Krymchak is within the Turkic language family. It has alternatively been considered as a separate language or as an ethnolect of Coastal/Middle Crimean Tatar,[4] along with Crimean Karaite. Glottochronological reckoning evidenced that these subdialects became distinct from Crimean Tatar around 600-800 AD. Krymchak and Karaite became distinguishable around 1200–1300.[5]

The Krymchak community formed over hundreds of years as Jews from all over Europe and Asia immigrated to the Crimean peninsula.[4] A Greek-speaking Jewish community had resided on the peninsula from 100 BC,[6] and other Jewish peoples settled there over time as well.[7] The Krymchak community originated during the Middle Ages, grew intensely in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, became a unified group in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and continued to grow until the nineteenth century. This growth occurred continuously as Jewish emigrants arrived from the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Persia, and many other regions. The study of Krymchak surnames affirms that their community formed slowly and was composed from elements of different origins.[8][4]

Like other Jewish groups in the Crimea, Krymchak culture, everyday life, and language had strong Crimean Tatar influences. The Crimean Tatar language became dominant between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries for political reasons, it being the language of the Crimean peninsula's Tatar political majority. Tatar was the common language used between different ethnic groups residing on the peninsula, and it also became the common language between the different Jewish groups living in the Crimea.[8]

Although Krymchak is often considered by modern linguists to be an ethnolect of Crimean Tatar, and for hundreds of years Krymchaks themselves considered Crimean Tatar to be their language, Krymchak has at times been labeled a unique language. For political reasons, another Crimean Jewish community, the Karaites, claimed that Krymchaks spoke a separate language. Additionally, during the time of the Soviet Union, the Krymchaks themselves claimed to have a language distinct from Crimean Tatar because association with the Tatars would have been dangerous.[4] In their translation of a Krymchak storybook, linguists Marcel Erdal and Iala Ianbay found that Krymchak was different enough from Crimean Tatar to warrant a separate name and study.[9]

The general switch from Krymchak to Russian began after the Russian Revolution and intensified in the 1930s. In 1897, 35% of Krymchak men and 10% of women spoke Russian. In 1926, the majority of Krymchaks considered Crimean Tatar as their native language, however the youth attending Russian schools preferred to speak the Russian language, though they usually spoke incorrectly. Neither did they have a firm command of the Krymchak language.[8]

In 1959, 189 Krymchaks considered Crimean Tatar as their native language. This number should have been higher, however by this time there was ambiguity about the Kymchak ethnic identity and confusion about the language's name.[8]

In 1989 only a few elders could speak Krymchak, while a significant amount of the intermediate generation could speak it somewhat. The younger generation had no knowledge of it.[8]

A 2007 estimate supposes 1,200-1,500 Krymchaks live worldwide, mainly in Israel, Russia, Crimea, and the US. Of these, only 5-7 can speak the language.[4]

Krymchak was spoken in the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine. In 1783, when Russia conquered Crimea, most Krymchaks lived in the town of Karasubazar (now Belogorsk). This continued to be their population center until World War II, though beginning in the 1880s many migrated to Simferopol. Around 1913 about 1,500 Krymchaks lived in Simferopol. A community-conducted census in 1913 shows they also lived in Kerch, Theodosia, and Sevastopol.[8] There was also a small community in Palestine.[8]

Their population began to decline in the twentieth century, beginning with the Russian civil war and ensuing famine.

About 70% of the Krymchak community died during World War II.[4] Between December 1941 and July 1942 Krymchaks, and many other Jews and other civilians, were killed throughout the Crimean peninsula by the German Einsatzgruppen. When German soldiers reached the towns in which Jewish communities resided, they murdered them en masse.[8][3] After the war, the remaining Krymchak population dispersed from the Crimean peninsula.

By 1942 about one hundred Krymchak families lived in the United States, most in New York City, and they quickly integrated into the Jewish community there.[8]

In 1979, it was estimated that 1,000 Krymchaks lived in Ukraine, 600 in Russia, 200 in Georgia, and 200 in Uzbekistan. In 1974 only two Krymchak men were still living in Belogorsk, formerly Karasubazar, the community's historic center.[8]

Krymchak employs the five vowels a o u I e. Their phonology contains only short vowels. They do not distinguish between front and back labial vowels, such as o / ö and u / ü.[12]

Speakers intone words differently than speakers of Crimean Tatar.[5] Krymchak pronunciation of Hebrew also differs from its traditional pronunciation, which was used by Crimean Karaites, another Judeo-Crimean community.[13]

Krymchak contains a significant amount of borrowed words from Hebrew. As much as 5% of vocabulary is Hebrew.[8] One study of various Krymchak texts also shows borrowed vocabulary from Oghuz and Kypchak. Later texts show strong Russian influence, while earlier texts have many Arabic and Persian borrowings, where the use of Arabic or Persian lends a lofty style.[5]

Krymchak was written using the Hebrew alphabet. Over time new characters were created to represent sounds found in Crimean Tatar.[12] Due to the discontinuation of literature written in Krymchak in 1936, it slowly made its way into the realm of non-written languages. Instead, the Krymchaks began utilizing the Russian Cyrillic alphabet (table 2).[14]

The Krymchak alphabet can be found on Omniglot.