Azerbaijani alphabet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Republic of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani alphabet may refer to either of two alphabets used to write the Azerbaijani language: one based on the Cyrillic alphabet and the other based on the Latin alphabet. These superseded a previous version formed from the Arabic alphabet.

In Iran, the Perso-Arabic script is still used to write the Azerbaijani language, with several characters borrowed from other Arabic-based writing systems or invented for Azerbaijani. While there has been a few standardization efforts, the orthography and the set of letters to use still differs widely among Azerbaijani writers, with at least two major branches, the orthography used by Behzad Behzadi and the Azari magazine, and the orthography used by the Varliq magazine (both are quarterlies published in Tehran).

[edit] History and Development

From the 19th century there were efforts by some intellectuals like Mirza Fatali Akhundov to replace the Arabic alphabet and create a Latin script for Azerbaijani. In 1922, a Latin script was created by Yeni türk əlifba komitəsi (New Turkish Alphabet Committee; Јени түрк əлифба комитəси) in Baku. In 1929, the Uniform Turkic Alphabet was introduced to replace the varieties of the Arabic alphabet in use at the time. In 1939, because Stalin wished to sever the ties between the Republic of Turkey and the Turkic peoples living within the Soviet Union, he decreed that only the Cyrillic alphabet be used. When the Soviet Union collapsed and Azerbaijan gained its independence, one of the first laws passed in the new Parliament was the adoption of a modified Latin alphabet.

From 1929 until 1939

Aa, Bв, Cc, Çç, Dd, Ee, Əə, Ff, Gg, Ƣƣ, Hh, Ii, Ьь, Jj, Kk, Qq, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Ɵɵ, Pp, Rr, Ss, Şş, Tt, Uu, Vv, Xx, Yy, Zz, Ƶƶ

From 1939 until 1958

Аа, Бб, Вв, Гг, Ғғ, Дд, Ее, Ёё, Әә, Жж, Зз, Ии, Йй, Кк, Ққ, Лл, Мм, Оо, Өө, Пп, Рр, Сс, Тт, Уу, Үү, Фф, Хх, Һh, Цц, Чч, Ҷҷ, Шш, Щщ, ъ, Ыы, ь, Ээ, Юю, Яя, ' (apostrophe)

From 1958 until 1991

Аа, Бб, Вв, Гг, Ғғ, Дд, Ee, Әә, Жж, Зз, Ии, Ыы, Јј, Кк, Ҝҝ, Лл, Мм, Нн, Оо, Өө, Пп, Рр, Сс, Тт, Уу, Үү, Фф, Хх, Һһ, Чч, Ҹҹ, Шш, ' (apostrophe)

From 1991 until 1992

Aa, Ää, Bb, Cc, Çç, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Ğğ, Hh, Xx, Iı, İi, Jj, Kk, Qq, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Öö, Pp, Rr, Ss, Şş, Tt, Uu, Üü, Vv, Yy, Zz

Since 1992

Aa, Bb, Cc, Çç, Dd, Ee, Əə, Ff, Gg, Ğğ, Hh, Xx, Iı, İi, Jj, Kk, Qq, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Öö, Pp, Rr, Ss, Şş, Tt, Uu, Üü, Vv, Yy, Zz

The Azerbaijani alphabet is the same as the Turkish alphabet, except for ə, x, and q, the sounds for which do not exist in Turkish.

An interesting fact about the alphabet is the existence of schwa (Ə ə). When the new Latin script was introduced on December 25, 1991, A-umlaut was selected to represent the sound /æ/. However, on May 16, 1992, it was replaced by the schwa. Although use of Ä ä (also used in Tatar and Turkmen) seems to be a simpler alternative as the schwa is absent in most character sets, particularly Turkish encoding, it was reintroduced; the schwa had existed continuously from 1929 to 1991 to represent Azerbaijani's most-common vowel, in both post-Arabic alphabets (Latin and Cyrillic) of Azerbaijan.

[edit] Transliteration

The Perso-Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic alphabets each have a different sequence of letters. The table below is ordered according to the latest Latin alphabet:

Azerbaijani Alphabet Transliteration Table
Perso-Arabic Latin Cyrillic Latin IPA
—1929 1929–1939 1958–1991 1992—
ﺍ A a А а A a [ɑ:]
ﺏ B в Б б B b [b]
ﺝ Ç ç Ҹ ҹ C c [ʤ]
چ C c Ч ч Ç ç [ʧ]
ﺩ D d Д д D d [d]
ﻩ E e Е е E e [ɛ]
ع Ə ə Ə ə Ə ə [æ]
ﻑ F f Ф ф F f [f]
گ G g Ҝ ҝ G g [gʲ]
ﻍ Ƣ ƣ Ғ ғ Ğ ğ [ɣ]
ﺡ,ﻩ H h Һ һ H h [h]
ﺥ X x Х х X x [x]
ی Ь ь Ы ы I ı [ɯ]
ی I i И и İ i [ɪ]
ژ Ƶ ƶ Ж ж J j [ʒ]
ک K k К к K k [k]
ﻕ Q q Г г Q q [g]
ﻝ L l Л л L l [l]
ﻡ M m М м M m [m]
ﻥ N n Н н N n [n]
ﻭ O o О о O o [ɔ]
ﻭ Ɵ ɵ Ө ө Ö ö [œ]
پ P p П п P p [p]
ﺭ R r Р р R r [r]
ﺙ,ﺱ,ﺹ S s С с S s [s]
ﺵ Ş ş Ш ш Ş ş [ʃ]
ﺕ,ﻁ T t Т т T t [t]
ﻭ U u У у U u [u]
ﻭ Y y Ү ү Ü ü [y]
ﻭ V v В в V v [v]
ی J j Ј ј Y y [j]
ﺫ,ﺯ,ﺽ,ﻅ Z z З з Z z [z]