Khakas Alpha bets

Khakass Alpha betsare the Alpha bets used to write theKhakas language.

The Khakass script based on the Cyrillic Alpha bet was created in 1924, although there are also earlier attempts to create a script that were not developed. However, already in 1929, in the course ofromanization,it was translated into Latin script. In 1939, the Khakass script was againtranslatedinto Cyrillic. The 1939 Alpha bet, with some modifications, is still in use today.

Early experience

Back in the 1890s,Orthodoxmissionaries published several religious books in the Khakass language. These books used theRussian Alpha betwith the addition of several characters for specific Khakass sounds (Ӧ ӧandӰ ӱ).

Soon after theOctober Revolutionand the establishment of Soviet power in the territory inhabited by theKhakas,the question arose ofeliminating illiteracy.This issue could not be resolved without the creation of a written language for the Khakass language. The first experiments on the creation of writing were started in 1921-1922 by an initiative group of Khakass students at theYeniseysk Governoratedepartment of public education. This group considered a number of projects, among which the projects of M. I. Raikov and T. D. Mainagashev stand out. Raikov's project was based on the Cyrillic Alpha bet and was well suited for recording the phonetic features of Khakass speech. However, for the purposes of mass education of the population, it was too complicated. Mainagashev's project, which was also based on the Cyrillic Alpha bet, on the contrary, did not cover all the main sounds of the Khakass language. Soon the initiative group combined the projects of Raikov and Mainagashev, finalized them and approved the resulting version. However, it has not received practical application.

Khakass Alpha bet projects of the early 1920s:

• Project by M.I. Raikov: А а, Б б,Б̣б̣, Г г,Г̂г̂, Д д, Е е, З з, І і,Îî, Й й, К к,К̂к̂, Л л, L l, М м, Н н,Ңң, О о,Ӧӧ, П п, Р р, С с, Т т, У у,Ӱӱ, Ч ч, Ш ш, Щ щ, Ы ы. The length of vowels was indicated by a bar under the letter, and the shortness was indicated by a comma above the letter.

• Project by T. D. Mainagashev: А а, О о, У у, Ы ы, І і, Б б, П п, Д д, Т т, Ѕ ѕ, Г г, К к, Х х, Л л, М м, Н н, N n, Р р, Ч ч, Ц ц, Э э,Өө, Ю ю, Я я.

• Project by V.A. Kozhevnikov: А а, О о, У у, Ы ы, Ь ь, Е е, И и, Б б, П п, Д д, Т т, Ɔ ɔ, Г г, К к, Х х, Л л, М м, Н н, В в, Р р, Ч ч, Ц ц.

• Project of M. G. Torosov and N. M. Odezhkin: А а, О о, У у, Ы ы, Э э, Ф ф, Ю ю, И и, Ъ ъ, Ь ь, П п, Д д, Т т, С с, Г г, К к, Я я, Л л, М м, Н н, Б б, Р р, Ч ч, Ц ц, Е е, К к.

After theKhakas uyezdwas created in 1923, the issue of creating the Khakass Alpha bet became even more relevant. On April 25, 1924, the Yeniseysk Governorate department of public education adopted a resolution "On the development of the Khakass script." On September 4 of the same year, the Khakassian revkom approved a special commission at the district department of public education. Unlike the initiative group of 1922, this commission included not students, but persons with a pedagogical education who had experience in the field of public education. The chairman of the commission was the chairman of the Khakass executive committee, Itygin G. I.; Kishteev I. M., Kuzurgashev S. I., Raikov M. I., Samarin K. K., Todyshev K. S., Shtygashev P. T. became members of the commission. Later they were joined by Kazankov. A. T.

Already at the beginning of November 1924, the draft of the new Alpha bet was ready, about which the commission reported to the I Oblastnoy Congress of Soviets. This Alpha bet was based on the Cyrillic Alpha bet and contained the following additional letters for specific Khakass sounds:Г̈г̈,Јј,Ҥҥ, Ӧ ӧ, Ӱ ӱ,ӸӹAccording to other sources, the letterkwas also included in the Alpha bet.

In June 1925, at a meeting of theOirots,Khakases andShorsinNovo-Nikolaevsk,the question of unifying their Alpha bets was discussed. It was decided to choose theOirot Alpha betas a model. In this regard, the lettersг̈, k, ӹwere excluded from the project of the Khakass Alpha bet. As a result, the Khakassian Alpha bet was finally approved in the following composition of signs:Аа, Бб, Гг, Дд, Зз, Ии, Кк, Лл, Мм, Нн, Оо, Пп, Рр, Сс, Тт, Уу, Хх, Чч, Ыы, Ј ј, Ӱӱ, Ӧӧ, Ҥҥ, Йй, Ээ.For borrowings from the Russian language, the lettersВв, Ее, Жж, Фф, Цц, Шш, Щщ, Юю, Яя, ьwere introduced. This Alpha bet had a number of shortcomings: there were no signs for open [i] and voiced uvular [ғ]. In addition, the length of vowels was not displayed.

To overcome the first of these shortcomings in 1927-1928, the lettersІ іandһwere introduced into the Alpha bet.

Khakasian Alpha bet based on Latin

Khakass Alpha bet from the ABC-book of 1934.

In the late 1920s, theprocess of romanizationof Alpha bets was actively going on in theUSSR.During this process, a decision was made to translate the Khakas Alpha bet into Latin. The process of switching to the Latin Alpha bet began in 1929, and since 1930, all educational literature and the Khakass regional newspaperKhyzyl Aalbegan to be published in the new Alpha bet. The Khakasian Latinized Alpha bet had the following form (in 1935, the letterӘ әwas replaced byE e):

A a	B в	C c	Çç	D d	Әә	F f	G g
Ƣƣ	I i	Įį	J j	K k	L l	M m	N n
Ꞑꞑ	O o	Ө ө	P p	R r	S s	Şş	T t
U u	V v	X x	Y y	Z z	Ƶƶ	Ьь

The disadvantages of this Alpha bet include the lack of letters necessary for a more accurate spelling of borrowings from the Russian language (for example, theRussian:цирк-cirk(circus) was written assirk). A more important problem was that schoolchildren had to simultaneously study two writing systems at once - Latin (when learning their native language) and Cyrillic (when learning the Russian language). This led to significant difficulties in mastering writing in elementary school.

Modern Khakas Alpha bet

Since the mid-1930s, the USSR has been in the process oftranslating scriptsinto Cyrillic. During this process, in 1939 it was translated into Cyrillic and the Khakas Alpha bet. It had the following form:Аа, Бб, Вв, Гг, Дд, Ее, Жж, Зз, Ии, Іі, Йй, Кк, Лл, Мм, Нн, Нъ нъ, Оо, Ӧӧ, Пп, Рр, Сс, Тт, Уу, Ӱӱ, Фф, Хх, Цц, Чч, Шш, Щщ, ь, Ыы, ъ, Ээ, Юю, Яя.

However, this Alpha bet also had drawbacks: it did not distinguish between the sounds [г] — [ғ] and [ч] — [ӌ]. This shortcoming was eliminated in 1947, when the lettersҒғandӋ ӌwere introduced into the Alpha bet. In 1962, the letterНъ нъwas replaced by the letterҢ ң.After that, the Khakass Alpha bet took its current form:

А а	Б б	В в	Г г	Ғ ғ	Д д	Е е	Ё ё
Ж ж	З з	И и	Й й	I i	К к	Л л	М м
Н н	Ң ң	О о	Ӧ ӧ	П п	Р р	С с	Т т
У у	Ӱ ӱ	Ф ф	Х х	Ц ц	Ч ч	Ӌ ӌ	Ш ш
Щ щ	Ъ ъ	Ы ы	Ь ь	Э э	Ю ю	Я я

In practice, in many printed and electronic publications in the Khakass language, the letterҶis used, with a tail on the right.

Correspondence chart

Cyrillic 1924—1929	Latin	Cyrillic since 1939	IPA
Аa	Аa	Аа	/a/
Бб	Bв	Бб	/b/
Вв	Vv	Вв	/v/
Гг	Gg	Гг	/g/
Һh (since 1927)	Ƣƣ	Ғғ (since 1947)	/ɣ/
Дд	Dd	Дд	/d/
Ее	(je)	Ее	/je/
	(jo)	Ёё (since 1953)	/jo/
Жж	Ƶƶ	Жж	/ʒ/
Зз	Zz	Зз	/z/
Ии	Ii	Ии	/i/
Ii (since 1927)	Įį	Ii	/ɘ/
Йй	Jj	Йй	/j/
Кк	Kk	Кк	/k/
Лл	Ll	Лл	/l/
Мм	Mm	Мм	/m/
Нн	Nn	Нн	/n/
Ҥҥ	Ꞑꞑ	Нъ нъ (before 1962) Ң ң (since 1962)	/ŋ/
Оо	Оо	Оо	/o/
Ӧӧ	Ɵɵ	Ӧӧ	/ø/
Пп	Pp	Пп	/p/
Рр	Rr	Рр	/r/
Сс	Ss	Сс	/s/
Тт	Tt	Тт	/t/
Уу	Uu	Уу	/u/
Ӱӱ	Yy	Ӱӱ	/y/
Фф	Ff	Фф	/f/
Хх	Хх	Хх	/x/
Цц	(ts)	Цц	(/t͡s/), /s/
Чч	Cc	Чч	/t͡ʃ/
Jj	Çç	Ӌӌ (since 1947)	/d͡ʒ/
Шш	Şş	Шш	/ʃ/
Щщ	(şc)	Щщ	/ɕː/
	‘	ъ	/◌./
Ыы	Ьь	Ыы	/ɯ/
ь	’	ь	/◌ʲ/
Ээ	Әә, Ee (since 1935)	Ээ	/e/
Юю	(ju)	Юю	/ju/
Яя	(ja)	Яя	/ja/