Estonian alphabet

The Estonian alphabet (Estonian: eesti tähestik) is used for writing the Estonian language and is based on the Latin alphabet, with German influence. As such, the Estonian alphabet has the letters Ä, Ö, and Ü (A, O, and U with umlaut), which represent the vowel sounds [æ], [ø] and [y], respectively. Unlike the German umlauts, they are considered and alphabetised as separate letters and are part of the alphabet. The most distinguishing letter in the Estonian alphabet, however, is the Õ (O with tilde), which was added to the alphabet in the 19th century by Otto Wilhelm Masing and stands for the vowel [ɤ]. In addition, the alphabet also differs from the Latin alphabet by the addition of the letters Š and Ž (S and Z with caron/háček), and by the position of Z in the alphabet: it has been moved from the end to between S and T (or Š and Ž).

In Blackletter W was used instead of V.

Johannes Aavik insisted that the letter Ü be replaced by Y, as it has been in the Finnish alphabet.

The official Estonian alphabet has 27 letters:

The oblique letters are so-called "foreign letters" (võõrtähed). F, Š, Z and Ž occur only in loanwords and foreign proper names. C, Q, W, X and Y do not occur in Estonian words, but are used in writing foreign proper names.

Including also the "foreign letters", alphabet consists of the following 32 letters:

The alphabet is occasionally written and recited without even the letters appearing only in loanwords. In that case, it has 23 letters:

Recitation

See also

• Estonian Braille
• Finnish alphabet

External links

• Alphabet, Orthography, Pronunciation
• The Estonian alphabet
• Typo.cz Information on Central European typography and typesetting