Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
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The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (Serbian: српска/Вукова ћирилица, srpska/Vukova ćirilica) is one of the two alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being the Latin script (latinica, латиница). It is an adaptation of the Cyrillic alphabet for the Serbian language, and was developed in 1818 by Vuk Karadžić, a Serbian linguist. The alphabet was officially adopted in 1868.[citation needed]
Karadžić based his alphabet on the Cyrillic alphabet, on the simple principle of "write as you speak and read as it is written" (Serbian: Пиши као што говориш и читај како је написано). The Serbian Latin alphabet is the same as the Croatian alphabet, and was mostly developed by Ljudevit Gaj. The two alphabets are entirely interchangeable, with each letter in one having a corresponding letter in the other.
The Cyrillic alphabet is seen as being more traditional, and has official status in Serbia and the Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina), although the Latin alphabet has gained widespread usage during the course of 20th century. The Serbian Latin alphabet is more common in Montenegro. The Serbian language and Cyrillic script also have official status in Bosnia and Herzegovina (at the Federal level) and in the Brčko District (the Latin alphabet is used officially in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina).
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, together with the works of Krste Misirkov and Venko Markovski, were used as bases for the Macedonian alphabet.
[edit] The Alphabet
The following table provides the upper and lower case forms of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, along with the Serbian Latin equivalent and the IPA value for each letter:
| Cyrillic Alphabet Latin alphabet IPA |
А а A /a/ |
Б б B /b/ |
В в V /v/ |
Г г G /ɡ/ |
Д д D /d/ |
Ђ ђ Ð /ʥ/ |
Е е E /ɛ/ |
Ж ж Ž /ʒ/ |
З з Z /z/ |
И и I /i/ |
Ј ј J /j/ |
| Cyrillic Alphabet Latin alphabet IPA |
К к K /k/ |
Л л L /l/ |
Љ љ LJ /ʎ/ |
М м M /m/ |
Н н N /n/ |
Њ њ NJ /ɲ/ |
О о O /ɔ/ |
П п P /p/ |
Р р R /r/ |
С с S /s/ |
Т т T /t/ |
| Cyrillic Alphabet Latin alphabet IPA |
Ћ ћ Ć /ʨ/ |
У у U /u/ |
Ф ф F /f/ |
Х х H /x/ or /h/ |
Ц ц C /ʦ/ |
Ч ч Č /ʧ/ |
Џ џ DŽ /ʤ/ |
Ш ш Š /ʃ/ |
[edit] Unique letters
The ligatures Љ and Њ, together with Џ, Ђ and Ћ were developed uniquely for the Serbian alphabet.
- Karadžić based the letters Љ and Њ on a design by Sava Mrkalj, combining the letters Л (L) and Н (N) with the soft sign (Ь).
- Karadžić based Џ on a letter in the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet.
- Ћ was adopted by Karadžić to represent the IPA ʨ sound. The letter was based on -- and adapted from -- the letter Djerv, which is the 12th letter of the Glagolitic alphabet. The letter had been used in written Serbian since the 12th century, to represent the г', д' and affricative дж' sounds.
- Karadžić adopted a design by Lukijan Mušicki for the letter Ђ. It was based on the letter Ћ, as adapted by Karadžić.
- Ј was adopted from the Latin alphabet.
Љ, Њ and Џ were later adopted for use in the Macedonian alphabet.
