Ahmet Baitursynuly | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Baitursynuly in 1913 | |
| Born | c. 5 September 1872 |
| Died | 8 December 1937 (aged 65) |
| Nationality | Kazakh |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, turkologist, politic teacher, translator |
| Political party | Constitutional Democratic (1905–1917) Alash (1917–1919) Communist (1919–1929) |
| Spouse | Badrisafa Baitursynova |
Ahmet Baitursynuly (Kazakh: Ахмет Байтұрсынұлы, احمەت بايتۇرسىنۇلى, romanized: Ahmed Baitūrsynūly, [ɑχmʲet bɑjto̙ɾsəno̙ɫɯ]; Russified: Ахмет Байтурсынов) (c. 5 September 1872 — 8 December 1937) was a Kazakh intellectual who worked in the fields of politics, poetry, linguistics and education.
Baitursynuly reformed the Kazakh alphabet. In 1912, he excluded all the purely Arabic letters not used in the Kazakh language and added letters specific to the Kazakh language. Baitursynuly's orthographic reform resulted in a script that functions like a true phonetic alphabet, with one letter for every sound in the Kazakh language, compared to the basic Arabic abjad. The new alphabet, named Tote jazu (meaning straight writing), is still used by Kazakhs living in China, Afghanistan, and in Iran. Baitursynuly also developed the basics of Kazakh and the scientific terminology for the definition of Kazakh grammar. In 1937, he was executed by a firing squad during the Great Purge.