Nouns and adjectives characterizing a person in the primer of Tatar and Arabic script in 1802

This article presents a lexicothematic study of nouns and adjectives that characterize a person, based on the Primer of Tatar and Arabic script, published in 1802 by Bukhara native Niyaz Baki Atnometyev. These lexical units represent one of the main thematic groups in any language. The introduction of lexemes that functioned in the speech of Tatars in the Tobolsk Province at the turn of the 18 th and 19 th centuries provides insights into the formation of norms of the Tatar language within a specific region. This article examines four lexicothematic groups: 1) a person as a living being; 2) a person as a sensing and desiring being; 3) a person as a thinking and speaking being; and 4) a person as a social being. We have established that the majority of the lexemes are part of the vocabulary of modern literary Tatar. Besides lexical dialectisms, constituting 23.8% of the total number of units, phonetic dialectisms are recorded (e.g., devoicing: зур – сур , таз – тас ; b → m: мукру – бөкре ). The Primer of Tatar and Arabic script represents a unique linguistic source. It preserves a valuable layer of vocabulary that refers to ancient Turkic roots (e.g., әпиәм – abït, исең – ïsrïm, юрчу – jurč ). The scientific perspective lies in the study of nouns, adjectives and verbs in a comparative-historical aspect.