Urum (, ) is a Turkic language spoken by several thousand Urums, an ethnic Greek population 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. The Urum language is often considered a variant of Crimean Tatar.

Name and etymology

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 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.

Classification

Urum is a Turkic language belonging to the West Kipchak branch of the family. Johanson (2021) classifies it as a variety of Crimean Tatar.

Phonology

Vowels

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! rowspan="2" |

! colspan="2" |Front

! colspan="2" |Back

|-

!<small>unrounded</small>

!<small>rounded</small>

!<small>unrounded</small>

!<small>rounded</small>

|-

!Close

|

|ü //

|ı //

|

|-

!Close-mid

|

|

|

|

|-

!Near-open

|*ä //

|ö //

|

|

|-

!Open

|

|

|

|

|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> - wasn't marked as a separate phonem from the phonem /e/.

Grammar

The Urum language, like other Turkic languages, is agglutinative. This means that many different affixes are used in word formation in the Urum language.

Nouns

Nouns in Urum language have two numbers: singular; ( ) and plural -lAr; ( ). There are 7 cases:

  • Nominative: M'en büyük çöl'e s'evnıyım — I admire the vast steppe.
  • Genitive: Oların el'leri — Their hands.
  • Accusative: S'en almanı aşaysın/yeyisin. — You are eating an apple.
  • Dative (allative): M'en ev<nowiki/>'e varayım. — I am going home.
  • Locative: M'en Mariupol<nowiki>'</nowiki>da otruydum. — I lived in Mariupol.
  • Ablative: Bız d'el'iyik skol'adan. — We are going from the school.
  • Instrumental: Sınız l'est'ernen kartop çıharıysınız. — You dig potatoes with a shovel.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|Case

|Ending

|-

|Nominative

|−Ø

|-

|Genitive

|−(n)Yn

|-

|Accusative

|−(n)Y

|-

|Dative (Allative)

|−(y)A

|-

|Locative

|−DA

|-

|Ablative

|−DAn

|-

|Instrumental

|−nAn

|}

Verbs

Declination of verbs in Urum language are not very different from declination of verbs in Crimean Tatar language:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|

|singular

|plural

|-

|1st

|−Ym

|−YK

|-

|2nd

|−sYn

|−sYnYz

|-

|3rd

|−Ø

|−lAr

|}

Examples:

  • M'en büyük çöl'e s'evnıyım.
  • Gül'eyik bız toptan.
  • Neye sız b'ekleysin.
  • Sız Urumcas laf eteysiniz.

Due to the small number of sources, only 3 tenses were identified (most likely, in the Urum language there were and are as many tenses as there are in the Crimean Tatar language).

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|Tenses

|Positive

|Negative

|-

|Presens

|−(A)y−

|−mAy−

|-

|Past

|−dI−

|−mAdI−

|-

|Future

|−cA−

|−?−

|}

Writing system

A few manuscripts are known to be written in Urum using Greek characters. 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:

{| style="font-family:Arial Unicode MS; font-size:1.4em; border-color:#000000; border-width:1px; border-style:solid; border-collapse:collapse; background-color:#F8F8EF"

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | А а

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Б б

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | В в

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Г г

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ғ ғ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Д д

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Δ δ)

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Д′ д′

|-

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Ђ ђ)

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Е е

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ж ж

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Җ җ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | З з

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | И и

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Й й

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | К к

|-

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Л л

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | М м

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Н н

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ң ң

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | О о

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ӧ ӧ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | П п

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Р р

|-

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | С с

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Т т

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Т′ т′

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Ћ ћ)

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | У у

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ӱ ӱ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Υ υ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ф ф

|-

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Х х

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Һ һ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ц ц

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ч ч

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ш ш

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Щ щ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ъ ъ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ы ы

|-

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ь ь

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Э э

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ю ю

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Я я

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Θ θ

|1111

|2222

|W w

|}

In an Urum primer issued in Kyiv in 2008, the following alphabet is suggested:

{| style="font-family:Arial Unicode MS; font-size:1.4em; border-color:#000000; border-width:1px; border-style:solid; border-collapse:collapse; background-color:#F8F8EF"

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | А а

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Б б

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | В в

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Г г

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ґ ґ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Д д

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Д' д'

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Дж дж

|-

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Е е

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | З з

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | И и

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Й й

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | К к

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Л л

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | М м

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Н н

|-

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | О о

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ӧ ӧ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | П п

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Р р

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | С с

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Т т

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Т' т'

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | У у

|-

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ӱ ӱ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ф ф

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Х х

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ч ч

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ш ш

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ы ы

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Э э

|W w

|}

In 2025, people from the organization North Azovian Greeks (Urums and Roumeans) created a new Urum alphabet based on the Latin alphabet in Kyiv.

{| style="font-family:Arial Unicode MS; font-size:1.4em; border-color:#000000; border-width:1px; border-style:solid; border-collapse:collapse; background-color:#F8F8EF"

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | A a

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | B b

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | C c

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ç ç

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | D d

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | E e

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | F f

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | G g

|-

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ğ ğ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | H h

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | I ı

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | İ i

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | J j

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | K k

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | L l

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | M m

|-

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | N n

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | O o

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ö ö

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | P p

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | R r

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | S s

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ş ş

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | T t

|-

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | U u

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ü ü

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | V v

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Y y

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Z z

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" |

|

|}

Publications

Very little has been published on the Urum language. There exists a very small lexicon, and a small description of the language.

For Caucasian Urum, there is a language documentation project that collected a dictionary, a set of grammatically relevant clausal constructions, and a text corpus. The website of the project contains issues about language and history.

See also

  • Karamanli Turkish
  • Tsalka language

References

  • 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.