THIS MANUAL PRESENTS A COMPREHENSIVE GRAMMAR OF THE BASHKIR LANGUAGE, A MEMBER OF THE NORTHWESTERN (KIPCHAK) BRANCH OF THE TURKIC LANGUAGE FAMILY. BASHKIR, WHICH CLOSELY RESEMBLES VOLGA TATAR, IS SPOKEN BY ALMOST ONE MILLION BASHKIRS IN THE BASHKIR SOVIET REPUBLIC. THE BASHKIR LITERARY LANGUAGE, WHICH APPEARED IN THE 1920'S, IS WRITTEN IN THE CYRILLIC ALPHABET. (PREVIOUSLY, THE TATAR LITERARY LANGUAGE WRITTEN IN THE ARABIC SCRIPT WAS USED.) SPECIAL ATTENTION IS GIVEN IN THIS MANUAL TO TRANSLITERATION AND CORRESPONDENCES BETWEEN CYRILLIC AND ENGLISH ORTHOGRAPHY. THE INTRODUCTION PROVIDES A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE LINGUISTIC AREAS OF THE LANGUAGE, AS WELL AS A SELECTED LIST OF REFERENCE BOOKS. PART ONE, THE DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR, TREATS BASHKIR PHONOLOGY, INFLECTION, FORM AND FUNCTION CLASSES, WORD FORMATION, PHRASE AND CLASS STRUCTURE. PART TWO CONTAINS EXCERPTS FROM ORIGINAL BASHKIR PUBLICATIONS FOR READING AND TRANSLATION. THE TEXTS ARE TYPICAL OF THE BASHKIR LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE AS TAUGHT IN THE BASHKIR SCHOOLS. PART THREE IS A BASHKIR-ENGLISH GLOSSARY. A KNOWLEDGE OF LINGUISTICS (BUT NOT OF OTHER TURKIC LANGUAGES) IS ASSUMED ON THE PART OF THE READER. THIS TEXT IS PUBLISHED BY INDIANA UNIVERSITY AND MAY BE OBTAINED FOR $3.00 FROM THE EDITOR, URALIC AND ALTAIC SERIES, RAYL HOUSE, INDIANA UNIVERSITY, BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA 47401. (AMM)