Kazakh alphabets

A 1902 Kazakh text in both Arabic and Cyrillic scripts. In modern orthography: «Бұрыңғы өткен заманда, бір данышпан кісі, Бағдат шаһарының бір үлкен қазысының үйіне келіп қоныпты. Қазыменен сөйлесіп, қазыны сөзге жеңе беріпті. Сонда қазы қорқып, — „Бұл маған келген бала — менің қазылығымды тартып алса керек! Не де болса, бұған жалынып, сый беріп, орнымда қалайын!“ — деп, қатынына ақылдасыпты.» Note the differences between the older Cyrillic here and the current Cyrillic alphabet.

Kazakh Arabic and Latin script in 1924

Three alphabets are used to write the Kazakh language: the Cyrillic, Latin and Arabic script. The Cyrillic script is used in Mongolia. An October 2017 Presidential Decree in Kazakhstan ordered that the transition from Cyrillic to a Latin script be completed by 2025.^[1] The Arabic script is used in parts of China, Iran and Afghanistan.

Cyrillic script

The Kazakh Cyrillic alphabet is used in Bayan-Ölgiy Province in Mongolia. It is also used by Kazakh populations in Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as diasporas in other countries of the former USSR. It was introduced during the Russian Empire period in the 1800s, and then adapted by the Soviet Union in 1940.^[2]

In the nineteenth century, Ibrahim Altynsarin, a prominent Kazakh educator, first introduced a Cyrillic alphabet for transcribing Kazakh. Russian missionary activity, as well as Russian-sponsored schools, further encouraged the use of Cyrillic in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The alphabet was reworked by Sarsen Amanzholov and accepted in its current form in 1940. It contains 42 letters: 33 from the Russian alphabet with 9 additional letters for sounds of the Kazakh language: Ә, Ғ, Қ, Ң, Ө, Ұ, Ү, Һ, І (until 1957 Ӯ was used instead of Ұ). Initially, Kazakh letters came after letters from the Russian alphabet, but now they are placed after Russian letters similar in sound or shape.

The letters В, Ё (since 1957), Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Щ, Ъ, Ь and Э are not used in native Kazakh words. Of these, Ё, Ц, Ч, Щ, Ъ, Ь, Э, are used only in words borrowed from Russian or through the Russian language which are written according to Russian orthographic rules. The letter Х in conversational speech is pronounced similar to Қ. The letter Һ is used only in Arabic-Persian borrowings and is often pronounced like an unvoiced Х (as /h/, or a voiceless glottal fricative).

The letter И represents the tense vowel [i] obtained from the combinations ЫЙ /əj/ and ІЙ /ɪj/. The letter У represents /w/ and the tense vowel [u] obtained from the combinations ҰУ /ʊw/, ҮУ /ʉw/, ЫУ /əw/ and ІУ /ɪw/. Additionally, И and У are retained in words borrowed from Russian, where they represent the simple vowels [i] and [u] respectively.

Keyboard

The standard Windows keyboard layout used for Cyrillic Kazakh in Kazakhstan is a modification of the standard Russian keyboard, with characters found in Kazakh but not in Russian located on the number keys.

The Kazakh keyboard.

Latin script

Initial proposed Latin alphabet for the Kazakh language, implemented by Presidential Decree 569 (26 October 2017).^[3] Later revised by Presidential Decree 637 of 19 February 2018, replacing the apostrophe with diacritics and digraphs

A number of Latin alphabets are in use to write the Kazakh language. A variant based on the Turkish alphabet is unofficially used by the Kazakh diaspora in Turkey and in Western countries and Kazakhstan. As with other Central Asian Turkic languages, a Latin alphabet was introduced by the Soviets and used from 1927 to 1940 when it was replaced with Cyrillic.^[2][4]

As part of a modernization program, Decree 569 from Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered the replacement of the Cyrillic script with a Latin script by 2025.^[2][3][5] In 2007, Nazarbayev had opposed such a change, stating: "For 70 years, the Kazakhstanis read and wrote in Cyrillic. More than 100 nationalities live in our state. Thus we need stability and peace. We should be in no hurry in the issue of alphabet transformation".^[6] But in 2015, the Minister of Culture and Sports Arystanbek Mukhamediuly announced that a transition plan was underway, with specialists working on the orthography to accommodate the phonological aspects of the language.^[7] On April 12, 2017, President Nazarbayev published an article in state newspaper Egemen Qazaqstan announcing a switchover to the Latin alphabet by 2025,^[4][7] a decision implemented by decree.^[3] Nazarbayev argued that "Kazakh language and culture have been devastated" during the period of Soviet rule, and that ending the use of Cyrillic is useful in re-asserting national identity.^[4] The new Latin alphabet is also a step to weaken the traditional Russian influence on the country, as the Russian language is the country's second official language.^[8] The initial proposed Latin alphabet tried to avoid digraphs (such as "sh", "ch") and diacritics (such as "ä" or "ç"). In fact, President Nazarbayev had expressly stated that the new alphabet should contain "no hooks or superfluous dots".^[9] Instead, the new alphabet, which is based on a transliteration of Cyrillic into Latin letters, would have used apostrophes to denote those Kazakh letters where there was no direct Latin equivalent. It is similar to the Karakalpak Latin alphabet and the Uzbek alphabet.

A revised version of the 2017 Latin alphabet was announced in February 2018. Presidential Decree 637 of 19 February 2018 amends the 2017 decree and the use of apostrophes was discontinued and replaced with diacritics and digraphs.^[10][11] Notably, the new alphabet uses the acute accent where other alphabets prefer using umlauts.

A Kazakh newspaper Socialist Kazakhstan in Latin script (1937)

The Uniform Turkic Alphabet was used in the USSR from 1927 to 1940, when it was replaced by the current Cyrillic script. Kazakh speakers in countries that use the Latin script also use a different Latin alphabet based on the Turkish alphabet.

Selected works of Mao Zedong in Latin-script Kazakh, published in Beijing in 1977

A Latin alphabet was used for the Kazakh language for Kazakhs in China during 1964–84. Later, the use of the Kazakh Arabic alphabet was restored in China.^[12]

Arabic script

The Arabic script is the official alphabet for Kazakhs in the Altay Prefecture and the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region^[12] of China. It was first introduced to the territory of Kazakhstan in the eleventh century, and was traditionally used to write Kazakh until the introduction of a Latin alphabet in 1927. In 1924, Kazakh intellectual Akhmet Baitursynov attempted to reform the Arabic script to better suit Kazakh. The letters ۆ‬, گ‬, ڭ‬, پ‬ and چ‬ are used to represent sounds not found in the Arabic language.

A modified Arabic script is also used in Iran and Afghanistan, based on the alphabet used for Kazakh before 1927.

The Kazakh Arabic alphabet contains 29 letters and one digit, the 'upper hamza' used at the beginnings of words to create front vowels throughout the word. The direction the alphabet is written in is right to left.

Correspondence chart

Correspondence chart of official and most widespread writing scripts

Symbols in parentheses are for bi-directional transliteration only; See Meniń Qazaqstanym.

Historical alphabets

Text sample

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:^[13]

References

External links

• Kazakh alphabet (in Russian)
• Kazakh language, alphabet and pronunciation
• Kazakh Cyrillic–Arabic–Latin converter
• (ALASH Cyrillic–Latin–Arabic–Runic online converter