Belarusian Alpha bet
| Belarusian Alpha bet | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Time period | 10th century to present (Old East Slavic); modern orthography: since 1918 |
| Languages | Belarusian |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | Egyptian hieroglyphs[1]
|
Sister systems | Belarusian Latin Belarusian Arabic Russian Ukrainian |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Cyrl(220),Cyrillic |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Cyrillic |
| subset ofCyrillic (U+0400...U+04FF) | |
TheBelarusian Alpha betis based on theCyrillic scriptand is derived from the Alpha bet ofOld Church Slavonic.It has existed in its modern form since 1918 and has 32 letters. See alsoBelarusian Latin Alpha betandBelarusian Arabic Alpha bet.
Letters
[edit]| Capital | Name | IPA | Unicode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Аа | а[a] | /a/ | U+0410 / U+0430 |
| Бб | бэ[bɛ] | /b/ | U+0411 / U+0431 |
| Вв | вэ[vɛ] | /v/ | U+0412 / U+0432 |
| Гг | гэ[ɣɛ] | /ɣ/ | U+0413 / U+0433 |
| Дд | дэ[dɛ] | /d/ | U+0414 / U+0434 |
| Ее | е[jɛ] | /jɛ/,/ʲɛ/ | U+0415 / U+0435 |
| Ёё | ё[jɔ] | /jɔ/,/ʲɔ/ | U+0401 / U+0451 |
| Жж | жэ[ʐɛ] | /ʐ/ | U+0416 / U+0436 |
| Зз | зэ[zɛ] | /z/ | U+0417 / U+0437 |
| Іі | і[i][citation needed] | /i/,/ʲi/,/ji/ | U+0406 / U+0456 |
| Йй | і нескладовае[inʲɛsklaˈdɔvajɛ] | /j/ | U+0419 / U+0439 |
| Кк | ка[ka] | /k/ | U+041A / U+043A |
| Лл | эл[ɛl] | /l/ | U+041B / U+043B |
| Мм | эм[ɛm] | /m/ | U+041C / U+043C |
| Нн | эн[ɛn] | /n/ | U+041D / U+043D |
| Оо | о[ɔ] | /ɔ/ | U+041E / U+043E |
| Пп | пэ[pɛ] | /p/ | U+041F / U+043F |
| Рр | эр[ɛr] | /r/ | U+0420 / U+0440 |
| Сс | эс[ɛs] | /s/ | U+0421 / U+0441 |
| Тт | тэ[tɛ] | /t/ | U+0422 / U+0442 |
| Уу | у[u] | /u/ | U+0423 / U+0443 |
| Ўў | у нескладовае[unʲɛsklaˈdɔvajɛ] у кароткае[ukaˈrɔtkajɛ] |
/w/ | U+040E / U+045E |
| Фф | эф[ɛf] | /f/ | U+0424 / U+0444 |
| Хх | ха[xa] | /x/ | U+0425 / U+0445 |
| Цц | цэ[t͡sɛ] | /t͡s/ | U+0426 / U+0446 |
| Чч | чэ[t͡ʂɛ] | /t͡ʂ/ | U+0427 / U+0447 |
| Шш | ша[ʂa] | /ʂ/ | U+0428 / U+0448 |
| Ыы | ы[ɨ] | /ɨ/ | U+042B / U+044B |
| Ьь | мяккі знак [ˈmʲakʲːiznak] |
/ʲ/ | U+042C / U+044C |
| Ээ | э[ɛ] | /ɛ/ | U+042D / U+044D |
| Юю | ю[ju] | /ju/,/ʲu/ | U+042E / U+044E |
| Яя | я[ja] | /ja/,/ʲa/ | U+042F / U+044F |
| ’ | апостраф [aˈpɔstraf] |
– | U+2019 or U+02BC |
Details
[edit]Officially, the⟨г⟩represents both/ɣ/and/ɡ/,but the latter occurs only inborrowingsandmimesis.The⟨ґ⟩is used by some for the latter sound but, with the exception ofTaraškievica,has not been standard.
A⟨д⟩followed by⟨ж⟩or⟨з⟩may denote either two distinct respective sounds (in some prefix-root combinations: пад-земны, ад-жыць) or the Belarusianaffricates⟨дж⟩and⟨дз⟩(for example, падзея,джала). In some representations of the Alpha bet, the affricates are included in parentheses after the letter⟨д⟩to emphasize their special status:⟨… Дд (ДЖдж ДЗдз) Ее…⟩.
⟨Ў⟩is not a distinct phoneme but theneutralizationof /v/ and /l/ when there is no following vowel, like before a consonant or at the end of a word.
Palatalizationof consonants is usually indicated through choice of vowel letter, as illustrated here with/p/and/pʲ/,both written with the letter⟨п⟩:
palatalization /p/ /pʲ/ final п пь before/a/ па пя before/ɛ/ пэ пе before/i/ пы пі before/ɔ/ по пё before/u/ пу пю
When a consonant is not palatalized and precedes/j/,the apostrophe⟨'⟩is used to separate the iotated vowel:⟨п'я п'е п'і п'ё п'ю⟩/pjapjɛpipjɔpju/.(⟨і⟩is the palatalizing version of⟨ы⟩,and arguably, they represent a single phoneme). The apostrophe is not considered a letter and so is not taken into account for Alpha betical order. In pre-Second World War printing, the form⟨‘⟩was used. When computers are used, the form is frequently substituted by⟨'⟩.
History
[edit]The medieval Cyrillic Alpha bet had 43 letters. Later, 15 letters were dropped, the last 4 after the introduction of the first official Belarusian grammar in 1918. Since four new letters were added, there are now 32 letters.
The new letters were:
- The⟨э⟩((CYRILLIC) EH) appeared in Belarusian texts in about the late-15th century.
- The⟨й⟩((CYRILLIC) SHORT I) evolved from⟨и⟩((CYRILLIC) I), combined with a diacritical sign by the end of the 16th century.
- The⟨ё⟩((CYRILLIC) IO) came from the Russian Alpha bet and introduced byNikolay Karamzinin 1797.
- The⟨ў⟩((CYRILLIC) SHORT U) was proposed by Russian linguistPyotr Bezsonovin 1870.
The Belarusian Alpha bet, in its modern form, has formally existed since the adoption ofBranislaw Tarashkyevich'sBelarusian grammar,for use in Soviet schools, in 1918[citation needed]Several slightly different versions had been used informally.[citation needed]
In the 1920s and notably at theBelarusian Academical Conference (1926),miscellaneous changes of the Belarusian Alpha bet were proposed. Notable were replacing⟨й⟩with⟨ј⟩((CYRILLIC) JE), and/or replacing⟨е⟩,⟨ё⟩,⟨ю⟩,⟨я⟩with⟨је⟩(or else with⟨јє⟩),⟨јо⟩,⟨ју⟩,⟨ја⟩,respectively (as in theSerbian Alpha bet), replacing⟨ы⟩with⟨и⟩,introducing⟨ґ⟩(see alsoGe with upturn;both proposed changes would match theUkrainian Alpha bet) and/or introducing special graphemes/ligatures for affricates:⟨дж⟩,⟨дз⟩etc. Even the introduction of the Latin script was contemplated at one moment (as proposed byZhylunovichat theBelarusian Academical Conference (1926)). Nothing came of it.
Noted Belarusian linguistYan Stankyevichin his later works suggested a completely different form of the Alpha bet:
| Оо | Аа | Ээ | Бб | Гг | Ґґ | Хх |
| Дд | Ее | Ёё | Яя | ДЗдз | ДЖдж | Зз |
| Жж | Іі | Йй | Кк | Лл | Мм | Нн |
| Пп | Рр | Сс | Шш | Тт | Вв | Уу |
| Ўў | Фф | Ьь | Цц | Чч | Ыы | Юю |
Note that proper names and place names are rendered inBGN/PCGN romanization of Belarusian.
Keyboard layout
[edit]The standard Belarusiankeyboard layoutfor personal computers is as follows:
See also
[edit]- Belarusian orthography reform of 1933
- Cyrillic script
- Cyrillic Alpha bets
- Romanization of Belarusian
References
[edit]- ^Himelfarb, Elizabeth J. "First Alphabet Found in Egypt", Archaeology 53, Issue 1 (Jan./Feb. 2000): 21.
- Да рэформы беларускай азбукі. // Працы акадэмічнае канферэнцыі па рэформе беларускага правапісу і азбукі. – Мн.: [б. м.], 1927.
- Ян Станкевіч. Які мае быць парадак літараў беларускае абэцады [1962] // Ян Станкевіч. Збор твораў у двух тамах. Т. 2. – Мн.: Энцыклапедыкс, 2002.ISBN985-6599-46-6
- Б. Тарашкевіч. Беларуская граматыка для школ. – Вільня: Беларуская друкарня ім. Фр. Скарыны, 1929; Мн.: <Народная асвета>, 1991 [факсімільн.]. – Выданьне пятае пераробленае і пашыранае.
- Што трэба ведаць кожнаму беларусу. Выданне „Вольнае Беларусі “. – Менск: друк-ня А. Я. Грынблята, 1918; Менск: Беларускае коопэрацыйна-выдавецкае таварыства ″Адраджэньне″, 1991 [факсімільн.]. – Зборнік артыкулау розных аутарау: М. Міцкевіча, Я. Лёсіка, В. Ластоўскаго, М. Багдановіча, Пётр[?] з Арленят і інш.
External links
[edit]- Taraškievizer: Converts Belarusian text from official spelling (Narkamaŭka) to classical spelling (Taraškievica)
- Romanizer: Cyrillic to Latin script converter: Belarusian
- Introduction to Belarusian Alphabet
- Introduction to Belarusian Latin Script
- Belarusian language using Arabic script
- Letter Frequency in Belarusian and Russian
- Беларускі альфабэт
| Official languages | ||
|---|---|---|
| Minority languages | ||
| Sign language | ||
