Belarusian alphabet

Belarusian alphabet
Type Languages Time period Parent systems Alphabet Belarusian 1918 to the present Cyrillic script

Belarusian alphabet

Belarusian Latin Belarusian Arabic Sister systems Russian Ukrainian Cyrl, 220 ISO 15924 Left-to-right Direction Unicode alias Cyrillic subset of Cyrillic Unicode range (U+0400...U+04FF) Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols. The Belarusian alphabet is based on the Cyrillic script and is derived from the alphabet of the Old Church Slavonic language. The alphabet has existed in its modern form since 1918 and consists of thirty-two letters. See also Belarusian Latin alphabet and Belarusian Arabic alphabet.

Letters
Belarusian Alphabet Capital Name IPA Unicode /a/ /a/ U+0410 / U+0430 /b/ /b/ U+0411 / U+0431 /v/ /v/ U+0412 / U+0432 // // U+0413 / U+0433 /d/ /d/ U+0414 / U+0434 /je/ /je, /e/ U+0415 / U+0435 /jo/ /jo/, /o/ U+0401 / U+0451 // // U+0416 / U+0436 /z/ /z/ U+0417 / U+0437 /i/ /i/, /i/, /ji/ U+0406 / U+0456 /i neskladovaje/ /j/ U+0419 / U+0439 /ka/ /k/ U+041A / U+043A /l/ /l/ U+041B / U+043B /m/ /m/ U+041C / U+043C /n/ /n/ U+041D / U+043D /o/ /o/ U+041E / U+043E /p/ /p/ U+041F / U+043F

/r/ /s/ /t/ /u/ / /u neskladovaje/ /u karotkaje/ /f/ /xa/ /ts/ /t/ /a/ // /makki znak/ // /ju/ /ja/ /apostraf/

/r/ /s/ /t/ /u/ /w/ /f/ /x/ /ts/ /t/ // // //

U+0420 / U+0440 U+0421 / U+0441 U+0422 / U+0442 U+0423 / U+0443 U+040E / U+045E U+0424 / U+0444 U+0425 / U+0445 U+0426 / U+0446 U+0427 / U+0447 U+0428 / U+0448 U+042B / U+044B U+042C / U+044C

// U+042D / U+044D /ju/, /u/ U+042E / U+044E /ja/, /a/ U+042F / U+044F U+2019

Details
Officially, the letter <> represents both // and //, though the latter is only found in borrowings and mimesis. The letter <> is used by some for the latter sound, but it has never belonged to a standard codification of the Belarusian alphabet. The combination <> with letters <> or <> may denote either two distinct respective sounds (e.g., in some prefix-root combinations: <->, <->), or the Belarusian affricates <> and <> (e.g., <>, <>). In some representations of the alphabet, the affricates are included in parentheses after the letter <>, to emphasis their special status, as: < ( ) >. <> is not a distinct phoneme, but the neutralization of /v/ and /l/ when there is no following vowel, such as before a consonant or at the end of a word. Palatalization of consonants is mostly indicated through choice of vowel letter, as illustrated here with /p/ and /p/, both written with the letter <>: palatalization /p/ /p/ final before /a/ before /e/ before /i/ before /o/ before /u/ When a consonant is not palatalized, precedes /j/, the apostrophe <> is used to separate the iotated vowel: < > /pja pje pi pjo pju/. (<> is the palatalizing version of <>, and arguably represent the a single phoneme.) The apostrophe is not considered a letter and therefore is not taken into account when

alphabetizing. (In pre-Second World War printing, the form <> was used. In practical computer use, it is frequently substituted with <'>.)

History
The alphabet of the Medieval Cyrillics (11th century) included forty-three letters. During the evolution of the Belarusian Alphabet, fifteen letters were dropped, the last four of them going after the introduction of the first official Belarusian grammar in 1918, and four new letters were added, thus producing the modern layout of thirty-two letters. The new letters were:

Letter <> ((CYRILLIC) EH) appeared in the Belarusian texts about the end of the 15th century. Letter <> ((CYRILLIC) SHORT I) evolved from <> ((CYRILLIC) I) combined with diacritical sign by the end of the 16th century (compare: in Russian alphabet since 1735). Letter <> ((CYRILLIC) IO) was adopted from Russian alphabet by the half of the 19th century (compare: in Russian alphabet since 1797). Letter <> ((CYRILLIC) SHORT U) was proposed by Russian linguist Pyotr Bezsonov in 1870.

The Belarusian alphabet, in its modern form has formally existed since the adoption of the Branislaw Tarashkyevich's Belarusian grammar for the use in the Soviet state school system in 1918[citation needed] Before that, several slightly different versions of the alphabet were used informally.[citation needed] In the 1920s and, notably, at the Belarusian Academical Conference (1926), miscellaneous changes of the Belarusian alphabet were being proposed. Notably, replacing <> with <> ((CYRILLIC) JE), and/or replacing <>, <>, <>, <> with <> (or else with <>), <>, <>, <>, respectively, and/or replacing <> with <>, and/or introducing <> (see also Ge with upturn), and/or introducing special graphemes/ligatures for affricates <>, <> etc. etc. Even the introducing of the Latin script was contemplated at one moment (e.g., proposal of Zhylunovich at the Belarusian Academical Conference (1926)). None of this was implemented, though. Notable Belarusian linguist Yan Stankyevich in his later works suggested completely different layout of the alphabet. (see also Belarusian Latin alphabet, Ge with upturn): Layout of the Belarusian alphabet (Stankyevich, 1962)

Note: proper names and places' names are rendered in BGN/PCGN romanization of Belarusian.

See also

Belarusian orthography reform of 1933

References

. // . . : [. .], 1927. . [1962] // . . . 2. .: , 2002. ISBN 985-6599-46-6 . . . : . . , 1929 ; . : < >, 1991 [.]. . . . : - . . , 1918 ; : - , 1991 [.]. : . , . , . , . , [?] .

External links

Introduction to Belarusian Alphabet Introduction to Belarusian Latin Script Belarusian language using Arabic script Letter Frequency in Belarusian and Russian

Belarusian orthography reform of 1933

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The orthography of the Belarusian language was reformed in 1933 under Soviet rule.

Differences between the old and the new orthography

1. Change in front of letters of assimilative softness: , , instead of , . 2. Soft sign is no longer written between double consonants: , instead of . 3. Particle and preposition are written unchanged, independently of pronunciation: , instead of ; , instead of (compare with English definitive article "the"). 4. Loanword orthography is regulated: akanye is preserved in all cases except of ten words, such as , etc.; central-European l is transmitted as hard and not soft, as in Russian language; variants of writing the sound with letters , , , are removed; -, - at words' ends are replaced with , -, for example: , instead of ; words' ends -, -i are used where appropriate, for example: instead of . 5. Orthography of personal names is regulated so that vernacular forms are replaced with canonical Orthodox forms, for example: instead of , , or . 6. In morphology, ending -/- in genitive case is regulated as -, as in Russian language, and not as -, as in certain dialects of the vernacular. Also unified is the spelling of names in dative and prepositional case.

References

Two Standard Languages within Belarusian: a Case of Bi-cultural Conflict by Ihar Klima (Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts) - cole normale suprieure, 25 March 2006

Belarusian Latin alphabet

Book written in acinka, published in Vilna in 1911

Biscriptal street sign in Minsk, Belarus. The Belarusian Latin alphabet or acinka ([latsi ka], from Belarusian: (BGN/PCGN: latsinka) for the Latin script in general) is the common name of the several historical alphabets to render the Belarusian (Cyrillic) text in Latin script.

Use
acinka was occasionally used in the Belarusian area mainly in the 19th century and first years of the 20th century. Belarusian was officially written only in the Latin script between 1941 and 1944, in the Nazi German-occupied Belarusian territories. It is used occasionally in its current form by certain authors, groups and promoters in the Nasha Niva weekly, the ARCHE journal, and some of the Belarusian diaspora press on the Internet. It is not, as such, the Romanisation system, as it imposes knowing certain accompanying orthographic conventions. It is similar to the Sorbian alphabet, incorporating features of the Polish and Czech alphabets.

Belarusian Latin alphabet (as seen in publications, c.1990s2000s)

acinka Cyrillic IPA Aa /a/ Bb /b/ Cc /ts/ * /ts/ /t/ Dd /d/ DZ dz /dz/ D d * /dz/ D d /d/ Ee // Ff /f/ Gg ( ) / ~ /

acinka Cyrillic IPA Hh / ~ / CH ch /x ~ / Ii * /i/, // Jj , * /j/ Kk /k ~ c/ Ll * /l/ /l/ Mm /m/ Nn /n/ * /n/ Oo // Pp /p/

acinka Cyrillic IPA Rr /r/ Ss /s/ * /s/ // Tt /t/ Uu /u/ /u/ Vv /v/ Yy // Zz /z/ * /z/ //

* Cyrillic , , , , are equivalent to je, jo, ji, ju, ja initially or after a vowel, to e, o, i, u, a after the consonants , d, l, , , , and to ie, io, i, iu, ia after other consonants.

History
In Medieval times (16th century), the first examples of the Latin renderings of the Belarusian (Cyrillic) text are known to occur, coming from the need to include the Old Belarusian quotes in the Polish and Latin texts. Those renderings were un-codified and, seemingly, were done by applying the Polish orthography to the Old Belarusian sounds. In the 17th century, Belarusian Roman Catholics gradually increased their use of the Latin script, but still largely in parallel with the Cyrillic. Before the 17th century the Belarusian Roman Catholics had been using the Cyrillic script widely. In the 18th century, the Latin script was used, in parallel with Cyrillic, in some literary works (e.g., dramatic), written in contemporary Belarusian. Cyrillic c.1840sc.1920s As seen, e.g., in works of Dunin-Martsinkyevich, Kalinowski, Bahushevich, Tsyotka, the newspaper Nasha Niva, newspapers of the c.19171920s. a b w h d je1 jo1 z i j k l m n o p r s t u u2 f ch c cz sz y e ju1 ja1 c.1928-1929 As seen, e.g., in contemporary works of Yan Stankyevich, in the 5th (unofficial) edition of the Tarashkyevich's Belarusian grammar (1929). a b w h d je1 jo1 z i j k l m n o p r s t u f ch c y e ju1 ja1

c.1937-1941 As seen, e.g., in later works of Yan Stankyevich. a b v h d je1 jo1 z i j k l m n o p r s t u f ch c y e ju1 ja1 Contemporary As seen, e.g., in the newspaper Nasha Niva and journal Arche. a b v h d je1 jo1 z i j k l m n o p r s t u f ch c y e ju1 ja1 Notes 1. Variant with "j" used at the start of words or after vowels, with "i" elsewhere. 2. Dunin-Martsinkyevich used the u ("u" in cursive) to denote the "Short U".

"Soft sign" is denoted not by the separate grapheme, but, alternatively, by using the "Ll" variant preceding it, or by the acute sign over the preceding consonant. The explosive Latin sound "g", which is absent in the Belarusian language (see also Ge with upturn), but had been proposed for introducing by some authors (notably, Yan Stankyevich), was either not distinguished in Latin renderings at all, or, variously, denoted by the "Gg" or by the "HGhg" digraph. Apostrophe is not used.

In the 19th century, some Polish and Belarusian writers of Polish cultural background used the Latin script, exclusively or occasionally, in their works written in Belarusian, notably Czaczot, Bahrym, DuninMarcynkiewicz, Bahuszewicz, and Hurynowicz. The Revolutionary Democrat Kalinowski used the Latin script exclusively in his newspaper Peasants Truth (Belarusian: , in Latin script: Muyckaja prauda; 6 issues in 18621863). Such introduction of the Latin script for the rendering of the language with far-reaching Cyrillic tradition is sometimes explained by the unfamiliarity of the 19th century writers with the history of the Belarusian language or with the language itself, or by the impossibility of either acquiring or deploying the Cyrillic type at the publishing sites those writers had been using. The custom of using the Latin script for Belarusian text gradually ceased in the common practice, although at the beginning of the 20th century there were still several examples of exclusive or non-exclusive use of the Latin script in Belarusian printing:

Newspaper Nasha Dolya (1906). Newspaper Nasha Niva (the issues during 10.11.1906 31.10.1912) issues in both Cyrillic and Latin (in issues subheading: Printed weekly in Russian and in Polish letters (in Latin script: Wychodzi szto tydzie ruskimi i polskimi literami)). Tsyotkas Belarusian Violin (Belarusian: , Skrypka biearuskaja), Baptism to Freedom (Belarusian: , Chrest na swabodu) books of poetry. Tsyotkas First reading for Belarusian children (Belarusian: , Perszaje czytannie dla dzietak-biearusa) attempt at creating a Belarusian elementary reading book. Yanka Kupalas Zither Player (Belarusian: , Huslar; 1910) book of poetry.

rev. Baliaslau Pachopkas Belarusian Grammar (1915, publ. in 1918) Belarusian grammar, based entirely on Latin script; claimed by Belarusian linguists, however, to be prepared unscientifically and breaking the traditions of the Belarusian language. See also Belarusian grammar.

In the 1920s in the Belarusian SSR, e.g., at the Belarusian Academic Conference (1926), some suggestions were made to consider transition of the Belarusian grammar to the Latin script (e.g., Zhylunovich, for the sake of "making the Belarusian grammar more progressive"). However, these suggestions were rejected by the Belarusian linguists (e.g., Lastowski). In the 1920s-1939, after the partition of the Belarus (1921), use of the Latin script, in evolved form, was reintroduced to Belarusian printing in Western Belarus, chiefly for political reasons. The proposed form of the Belarusian Latin alphabet and some grammar rules were introduced for the first time in the 5th (unofficial) edition of the Tarashkyevichs grammar (Vilnya, 1929).
Belarusian Latin alphabet (Tarashkyevich, 1929)

Aa Ii Rr

Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Jj Kk Ll MmNn Oo Pp Ss Tt Uu WwYy Zz

Belarusian was written in the Latin script during 19411944 in the German-occupied Belarusian territories, and by the Belarusian diaspora in Prague (1920s c.1945). After the Second World War, Belarusian was occasionally written in the Latin script by the Belarusian diaspora in non-Soviet Europe and the Americas (notably in West Germany and the USA). In 1962, Yan Stankyevich proposed a completely different form of the Belarusian Latin alphabet.
Belarusian Latin alphabet (Stankyevich, 1962)

Oo Aa Ee H h Ch ch I i Pp Rr D d Z z

Bb Jj

Cc Kk Tt

Ll Vv

Uu

Dd Ff Gg Mm Nn Dz dz D d

Note: all proper names and place names in this article are rendered in BGN/PCGN, direct quotes excluded.

See also

Latynka

References

Ad. Stankiewi. Biearuskaja mowa koach Biearusi Wilnia : Wydawiectwa Biearuskaje krynicy. Bie. Druk. Im. Fr. Skaryny Wilni Ludwisarskaja 1, 1928 ; : - , 1993 [.] . . . : . . , 1929 ; . : , 1991 [.]. . . // . . : [. .], 1927.

- . / [., . . . ]. . : . ., 1984. . : /- . - - . .: , 1988. ISBN 5338-00024-5 . 1926 . // . . : 120- / ; - . ; . . . . . . : 2004. ISBN-985-08-0580-3 . . : Dr. Jan Ermaenko, Blorusk vydavatelstv, 1941 ; : , 1992 [.]. , 1992. , 1992. . . : . . . 1929 ., . 132 + IV [19301931] // . . . 1. .: , 2002. ISBN 985-6599-46-6 . 14.21.XI.1926 ( ) [1927] // . . . 1. .: , 2002. ISBN 985-6599-46-6 . ( ) [, 1937] // . . . 1. .: , 2002. ISBN 985-6599-46-6 . [1962] // . . . 2. .: , 2002. ISBN 985-6599-46-6

External links

Essay on "acinka" English-language introduction to a web site previously dedicated to "acinka" and totally written in "acinka" "acinka" Wiki (Belarusian)

Belarusian Arabic alphabet

The Belarusian Arabic alphabet was based on the Arabic script and was developed in the 16th century (possibly 15th). It consisted of twenty-eight graphemes, including several additions to represent Belarusian sounds not found in Arabic. The Belarusian Arabic alphabet was used by the Lipka Tatars, who had been invited to settle on Belarusian territories. During the 14th16th centuries they gradually stopped using their own language and started using the Old Belarusian language rendered in the Belarusian Arabic alphabet. Books of that literary tradition are known as Kitab (Belarusian: ""), which is the Arabic word for book. Some Polish texts were also written in the Arabic script, dated not earlier than 17th century.[citation needed]

Additional graphemes

Belarusian Arabic alphabet-Zh

For the sounds // (), /t/ () and /p/ (), which are absent from the Arabic language, the following Persian graphemes were used:

For denoting the soft /dz/ () and /ts/ () sounds, the following newly-constructed graphemes were used:

and These graphemes were used during the 18th-20th centuries.[citation needed]

The sounds /w/ () and /v/ () were both represented by the same symbol:

Equivalence chart
As only consonants were written, there do not seem to be equivalents for vowels. Cyrillic Latin Arabic , , , , , B, b C, c , CH, ch D, d

, D, d , , , , , , F, f G, g H, h J, j K, k ,

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

M, m N, n P, p R, r S, s , T, t , V, v Z, z , ,

, D, d , , , , , , ' , L, l , , , TJ, tj KJ, kj

Source: be-x-old:

References

- . . . [ , . I.] : . , 1933 ; : - , 1991 [.]. 3- .

External links

Kitabs, the unique highlight of the Belarusian language at pravapis.org