Abkhaz alphabet

The first Abkhaz alphabet was created in 1862 by Peter von Uslar. It had 55 letters and was based on the Cyrillic script. Another version, having 51 letters, was used in 1892 by Dimitry Gulia and K. Machavariani.^[3][4] In 1909, the alphabet was again expanded to 55 letters by Andria Tchotchua to adjust to the extensive consonantal inventory of Abkhaz.

In 1926, during the korenizatsiya policy in the Soviet Union, the Cyrillic alphabet was replaced by a Latin alphabet devised by Nikolay Marr. It featured 76 letters and was called the "Abkhaz analytical alphabet". In 1928, this was replaced by another Latin alphabet. From 1938 to 1954 the Abkhaz language was written in Georgian Mkhedruli script.

Since 1954, the Abkhaz language has been written in a new 58-letter (now 64-letter) Cyrillic alphabet (see chart below). Of these, 38 are graphically distinct; the rest are digraphs with ⟨ь⟩ and ⟨ә⟩ which indicate palatalization and labialization, respectively. In 1996, the most recent reform of the alphabet was implemented: while labialization had hitherto been marked with two additional letters, ә and у (у was used in the digraphs гу, ҕу, ку, қу, ҟу, and ху, which were not considered separate letters), since then only ә was retained in this function. Unusually, the Cyrillic plosive letters к п т represent ejective consonants; the non-ejectives (pulmonic consonants) are derived from these by means of a descender at the bottom of the letter. In the case of the affricates, however, the plain letters are pulmonic, and the derived letters ejective.

The modern Abkhaz orthography gives preference to the letters г к п т х ч with descender (ӷ қ ԥ ҭ ҳ ҷ). The letters (ҕ ҧ) had previously (before 1996) had a hook, which ҕ still does in Yakut.^[5] In pre-Soviet alphabets the hook was also used in ӄ ꚋ, see above.

The letters ь and ә are used as parts of digraphs, but are listed separately in the alphabet.^[6] Besides the digraphs listed in the alphabet, the letter ь occurs in ль /lʲ/, which is used in some loanwords.^[7]

Letters or digraphs in brackets are not part of the alphabet.^[8] Letters without a modern equivalent represent phonemes only present in the Bzyb dialect, as the literary standard dialect switched from Bzyb to Abzhywa.^[9]

More information Modern Cyrillic, Name ...

Different iterations of the Abkhaz Cyrillic alphabet and transliteration systems^[8]

Modern Cyrillic[10]	Name	Georgian script	Soviet Latin script	Analytical alphabet	Translation committee	Uslar alphabet	ISO[11]	TITUS[11] (Chirikba, where different[12])	IPA Value[13]
А а	а	ა	a	a	а	а	a	а	/ɑ/
Б б	бы	ბ	b	b	б	б	b	b	/b/
В в	вы	ვ	v	v	в	в	v	v	/v/
Г г	гы	გ	g	g	г	г	g	g	/ɡ/
Гь гь	гьы	გჲ	(gı)	gˌ	г̆	(гј)	gʹ	gʹ	/ɡʲ/
Гә гә (pre-1996: Гу гу)	гәы	(გუ)	(gu)	g˚	(гу)	(гу)	ga̋[14]	gᵒ[14]	/ɡʷ/
Ӷ ӷ (pre-1996: Ҕ ҕ)	ӷы	ღ	ƣ	ǧ	ҕ	г̓	ğ	ɣ	/ʁ/
Ӷь ӷь (pre-1996: Ҕь ҕь)	ӷьы	ღჲ	(ƣı)	ǧˌ	ҕ̆	(г̓ј)	ğʹ	ɣʹ	/ʁʲ/
Ӷә ӷә (pre-1996: Ҕу ҕу)	ӷәы	(ღუ)	(ƣu)	ǧ˚	(ҕу)	(г̓у)	ğa̋ [14]	ɣᵒ [14]	/ʁʷ/
Д д	ды	დ	d	d	д	д	d	d	/d/
Дә дә	дәы	დჿ	đ	d˚	ꚁ	д̓	da̋	dᵒ	/dʷ/
Е е	е	ე	e	e	е	е	e	e	/e/
Ж ж	жы	ჟჾ	ƶ	ȷ	ж	ж	ž	ž	/ʐ/
Жь жь	жьы	ჟ		ȷˌ	ӂ	(жј)	žʹ	žʹ	/ʒ/
Жә жә	жәы	ჟჿ	j	ȷ˚	ꚅ	ꚅ	ža̋	žᵒ	/ʒʷ/
				ȷˌ˚	ꚅ̆	ꚅ̓			/ʑʷ/
З з	зы	ზ	z	z	з	з	z	z	/z/
				ⱬ					/ʑ/
Ӡ ӡ	ӡы	ძ	ᴣ	ď	ӡ	ꚉ	ź	ʒ	/d͡z/
				ďˌ					/d͡ʑ/
Ӡә ӡә	ӡәы	ძჿ	ⱬ	ď˚	ꚃ	ꚃ	źa̋	ʒᵒ	/d͡ʑʷ/
И и	Иы	ი	i	i	і	і	i	i, j	/j(i), i(:)/
				y		ј			/j/
К к	кы	კ	ⱪ	k	к	к	k	ḳ (kʼ)	/kʼ/
Кь кь	кьы	კჲ	(ⱪı)	ⱪ	к̆	(кј)	kʹ	ḳʹ (kʼʹ)	/kʲʼ/
Кә кә (pre-1996: Ку ку)	кәы	(კუ)	(ⱪu)	k˚	(ку)	(ку)	ka̋ [14]	ḳᵒ[14] (kʼᵒ)	/kʷʼ/
Қ қ	қы	ქ	k	q	ӄ	к̓	ķ	k	/k/
Қь қь	қьы	ქჲ	(kı)	qˌ	ӄ̆	(к̓ј)	ķʹ	kʹ	/kʲ/
Қә қә (pre-1996: Ӄу ӄу)	қәы	(ქუ)	(ku)	q˚	(ӄу)	(к̓у)	ķa̋ [14]	kᵒ [14]	/kʷ/
Ҟ ҟ	ҟы	ყ	q	k̇	ԛ	ԛ	k̄	q̇ (qʼ)	/qʼ/
Ҟь ҟь	ҟьы	ყჲ	(qı)	ⱪ̇	q̆	(ԛј)	k̄ʹ	q̇ʹ (qʼʹ)	/qʲʼ/
Ҟә ҟә (pre-1996: Ҟу ҟу)	ҟәы	(ყუ)	(qu)	k̇˚	(ԛу)	(ԛу)	k̄a̋ [14]	q̇ᵒ[14] (qʼᵒ)	/qʷʼ/
Л л	лы	ლ	l	l	л	л	l	l	/l/
М м	мы	მ	m	m	м	м	m	m	/m/
Н н	ны	ნ	n	n	н	н	n	n	/n/
О о	о	ო	o	o	о	о	o	o	/o/
П п	пы	პ		p	п	п	p	ṗ (pʼ)	/pʼ/
Ԥ ԥ (pre-1996: Ҧ ҧ)	ԥы	ფ	p		ҧ	п̓	ṕ	p	/pʰ/
Р р	ры	რ	r	r	р	р	r	r	/r/
С с	сы	ს	s	s	с	с	s	s	/s/
				sˌ		ҫ			/ɕ/
Т т	ты	ტ		t	т	т	t	ṭ (tʼ)	/tʼ/
Тә тә	тәы	ტჿ		t˚	ꚍ̆	ꚍ̆	ta̋	ṭᵒ (tʼᵒ)	/tʷʼ/
Ҭ ҭ	ҭы	თ	t	ϑ	ꚋ	т̓	ţ	t	/tʰ/
Ҭә ҭә	ҭәы	თჿ		ϑ˚	ꚍ	ꚍ	ţa̋	tᵒ	/tʷʰ/
У у	уы	უ	u	w	у	у	u	w, u[15]	/u(ː),w(ɵ)/
Ф ф	фы	ჶ	f	f	ф	ф	f	f	/f/
Х х	хы	ხ	x	q̇	х	х	h	x	/χ/
Хь хь	хьы	ხჲ	(xı)	q̇ˌ	х̆	(хј)	hʹ	xʹ	/χʲ/
Хә хә (pre-1996: Ху ху)	хәы	(ხუ)	(xu)	q̇˚	(ху)	(ху)	ha̋	xᵒ	/χʷ/
				q̱̇		х̍			/χˤ/
				q̱̇˚		(х̍у)			/χˤʷ/
Ҳ ҳ	ҳы	ჰ	h	ħ	һ	һ	h̦	ḥ (h)	/ħ/
Ҳә ҳә	ҳәы	ჰჿ	ħ	ħ˚	ꚕ	ꚕ	h̦a̋	ḥᵒ (hᵒ)	/ħʷ/
Ц ц	цы	ც	c	ϑ̇	ц	ц	c	c	/t͡sʰ/
				ϑ̇ˌ		ц̍			/t͡ɕ/
Цә цә	цәы	ცჿ		ϑ̇˚	ꚏ	ꚏ	ca̋	cᵒ	/t͡ɕʷʰ/
Ҵ ҵ	ҵы	წ		ṫ	ҵ	ц̓	c̄	c̣ (cʼ)	/t͡sʼ/
Ҵә ҵә	ҵәы	წჿ		ṫ˚	ꚏ̆	ꚏ̆	c̄a̋	c̣ᵒ (cʼᵒ)	/t͡ɕʷʼ/
				ṫˌ		т̨			/t͡ɕʼ/
Ч ч	чы	ჩ	ɥ	ϑ̣	ч	ч	č	čʹ	/t͡ʃʰ/
Ҷ ҷ	ҷы	ჭ		ṭ	ꚓ	ч̓	c̦	č̣ʹ (čʼʹ)	/t͡ʃʼ/
Ҽ ҽ	ҽы	ჩჾ		ϑ̱̣	ҽ	ꚇ	c̆	č	/ʈ͡ʂʰ/
Ҿ ҿ	ҿы	ჭჾ		ṯ̣	ҽ̆	ꚇ̆	̦c̆ [16]	č̣ (čʼ)	/ʈ͡ʂʼ/
Ш ш	шы	შჾ		ш	ш	ш	š	š	/ʂ/
Шь шь	шьы	შ	ſ	щ	ш̆	ш̆	šʹ	šʹ	/ʃ/
Шә шә	шәы	შჿ		ш˚	ꚗ	щ	ša̋	šᵒ	/ʃʷ/
				щ˚	ꚗ̆	щ̆			/ɕʷ/
Ы ы	ы	ჷ	ə	ə	ѵ	ѵ	y	ə	/ɨ/
Ҩ ҩ	ҩы	ჳ	y	w̧	ҩ	ҩ	ò	ʿᵒ (jᵒ)	/ɥ/
Џ џ	џы	ჯჾ		ḓ	џ		d̂[17]	ǯ[17]	/ɖ͡ʐ/
Џь џь	џьы	ჯ	ꝗ	ḏ̣	џ̆	џ	d̂ [17]	ǯʹ [17]	/d͡ʒ/
Ь ь		ჲ	ı			ј	ʹ		/◌ʲ/
Ә ә		უ	(u)			у	a̋		/◌ʷ/

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Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

• Dzze
• Zhwe
• Cche
• Shwe (Cyrillic)
• o-hook