Azerbaijani alphabet

In the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani alphabet refers to a Latin alphabet used for writing the Azerbaijani language. This superseded a previous versions based on Cyrillic and Arabic scripts.

In Iran, the Perso-Arabic script is used to write the Azeri language, with several characters borrowed from other Arabic alphabets or invented for Azeri. While there has been a few standardization efforts, the orthography and the set of letters to use differs widely among Iranian Azeri 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).

Contents

History and development

From the 19th century there were efforts by some intellectuals like Mirza Fatali Akhundov to replace the Arabic script and create a Latin alphabet for Azeri. In 1922, a Latin alphabet 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 script in use at the time. In 1939, because Joseph 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 script 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 the new Latin alphabet.

The 1958–1991 script is based on the Macedonian Cyrillic alphabet, with a few letters representing Macedonian sounds removed and new letters for Azerbaijani sounds added.

From 1918 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, Нн, 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, Turkmen, and Gagauz) 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 Azeri's most-common vowel, in both post-Arabic alphabets (Latin and Cyrillic) of Azerbaijan.

Transliteration

The 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
Arabic Latin Cyrillic Latin IPA
—1918 1918–1939 1958–1991 1992—
ﺍ A a А а A a [ɑ]
ﺏ B в Б б B b [b]
ﺝ C c Ҹ ҹ C c [dʒ]
چ Ç ç Ч ч Ç ç [tʃ]
ﺩ D d Д д D d [d]
ﻩ E e Е е E e [e]
ع Ə ə Ә ә Ə ə [æ]
ﻑ F f Ф ф F f [f]
گ G g Ҝ ҝ G g [ɡʲ]
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 [ɡ]
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]

Sources

External links