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'Urum' is a Turkic language spoken by several thousand people who inhabit a few villages in the Southeastern Ukraine and in diaspora communities world wide.
The name ''Urum'' is derived from the medieval Greek word for Rome designating Constantinople and Greece in general. The Ottoman Empire used it to describe non-Muslims within the empire. The initial vowel in Urum is prosthetic: originally Turkic languages did not have r- in word-initial position, and in borrowed words 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 the Ukraine.^[3][4] (see: Urums)

Contents

Sounds

Consonants

Writing System

Publications

References

Sounds

Consonants

'Consonant phonemes'

	Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Postalveolar		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Plosive
Affricate					¹
Fricative				²
Nasal
Flap/Tap
Lateral
Approximant

(1) // is found only in loanwords.
(2) /θ/ and /ð/ are found only in loanwords from Greek.

Writing System

A few manuscripts are known to be written in Urum using Greek characters.^[5] During the period between 1927 and 1937,the Urum language was written in reformed Latin characters, the so called 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. Alexander Garkavets uses the following alphabet:^[6]

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		П п	Р р
С с	Т т	Т′ т′	(Ћ ћ)	У у		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

Publications

Very little has been published on the Urum language. There exists a very small lexicon^[7], and a small description of the language^[8].

References

1. North Azovian Urums - Greeks Speaking Turkic Language
2. "[1] Ethnologue"
3. Понтийские греки
4. Ethnologue Report for Urum
5. Urum
6. Урумський словник, , Олександр, Гаркавець, , 2000,
7. A Tatar - English Glossary, , Baruch, Podolsky, Harrassowitz, 1985, ISBN 3-447-00299-9
8. Notes on the Urum Language, , Baruch, Podolsky, Mediterranean Language Review, 1986