Abkhaz alphabet

thumb|The original 1862 script by Uslar

thumb|1888 script modified by

thumb|The 1892 script by Gulia and Machiavariani.

thumb|The expanded 1909 alphabet by Andria Chochua.

thumb|1925 version of the script by Chochua.

thumb|right|The Abkhaz Latin alphabet used 1926–1928 designed by [[Nicholas Marr]]

thumb|The Abkhaz Latin alphabet used 1928–1938 with corresponding Cyrillic and IPA transcriptions.

thumb|1930 Abkhaz Latin alphabet with corresponding Cyrillic letters.

thumb|Abkhaz alphabet which was based on [[Georgian script and used from 1938 to 1953.]]

thumb|The current Abkhaz alphabet (This includes old ones such as Ҕ which was replaced with Ӷ)

The current Abkhaz alphabet is a modified variant of the Cyrillic script used for the Abkhaz language.

Abkhaz was not a written language until the 19th century. Until then, Abkhazians—especially elites—had been using Greek (until ), Georgian (919th centuries), and partially Turkish (18th century).

History

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. 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 and 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. 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. Besides the digraphs listed in the alphabet, the letter ь occurs in ль , which is used in some loanwords.

Comparison table

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

{| class="wikitable skin-invert-image"

|+ Different iterations of the Abkhaz Cyrillic alphabet and transliteration systems

! Name

!Georgian script

!Soviet Latin script

!Analytical alphabet

!Translation committee

!Uslar alphabet

! ISO

! TITUS)

! IPA Value

|-----

| А а || а

| align="center" |ა

| align="center" |a

| align="center" |а

| align="center" |а|| a || а ||

|-----

| Б б || бы

| align="center" |ბ

| align="center" |b

| align="center" |б

| align="center" |б|| b || b ||

|-----

| В в || вы

| align="center" |ვ

| align="center" |v

| align="center" |в

| align="center" |в|| v || v ||

|-----

| Г г || гы

| align="center" |გ

| align="center" |g

| align="center" |г

| align="center" |г|| g || g ||

|-----

| Гь гь || гьы

| align="center" |გჲ

| align="center" |(gı)

| align="center" |gˌ

| align="center" |г̆

| align="center" |(гј)|| gʹ || gʹ ||

|-----

| Гә гә (pre-1996: Гу гу)|| гәы

| align="center" |(გუ)

| align="center" |(gu)

| align="center" |g˚

| align="center" |(гу)

| align="center" |(гу)|| ga̋ || ḳᵒ ||

|-----

| Ф ф || фы

| align="center" |ჶ

| align="center" |f

| align="center" |ф

| align="center" |ф|| f || f ||

|-----

| Х х || хы

| align="center" |ხ

| align="center" |x

| align="center" |q̇

| align="center" |х

| align="center" |х|| h || x ||

|-----

| Хь хь || хьы

| align="center" |ხჲ

| align="center" |(xı)

| align="center" |q̇ˌ

| align="center" |х̆

| align="center" |(хј)|| hʹ || xʹ ||

|-----

| Хә хә (pre-1996: Ху ху)|| хәы

| align="center" |(ხუ)

| align="center" |(xu)

| align="center" |q̇˚

| align="center" |(ху)

| align="center" |(ху)|| ha̋ || xᵒ ||

| align="center" |

| align="center" |q̱̇

| align="center" |

| align="center" |х̍

| align="center" |

| align="center" |q̱̇˚

| align="center" |

| align="center" |(х̍у)

|-----

| Ҳ ҳ || ҳы

| align="center" |ჰ

| align="center" |h

| align="center" |ħ

| align="center" |һ

| align="center" |һ|| h̦ || ḥ (h) ||

|-----

| Ҳә ҳә || ҳәы

| align="center" |ჰჿ

| align="center" |ħ

| align="center" |ħ˚

| align="center" |ꚕ

| align="center" |ꚕ|| h̦a̋ || ḥᵒ (hᵒ) ||

|-----

| Ц ц || цы

| align="center" |ც

| align="center" |c

| align="center" |ϑ̇

| align="center" |ц

| align="center" |ц|| c || c ||

| align="center" |

| align="center" |ϑ̇ˌ

| align="center" |

| align="center" |ц̍

|-----

| Цә цә || цәы

| align="center" |ცჿ

| align="center" |12x12px

| align="center" |ϑ̇˚

| align="center" |ꚏ

| align="center" |ꚏ|| ca̋ || cᵒ ||

|-----

| Ҵ ҵ || ҵы

| align="center" |წ

| align="center" |10x10px

| align="center" |ṫ

| align="center" |ҵ

| align="center" |ц̓|| c̄ || c̣ (cʼ) ||

|-----

| Ҵә ҵә || ҵәы

| align="center" |წჿ

| align="center" |12x12px

| align="center" |ṫ˚

| align="center" |ꚏ̆

| align="center" |ꚏ̆|| c̄a̋ || c̣ᵒ (cʼᵒ) ||

| align="center" |

| align="center" |ṫˌ

| align="center" |

| align="center" |т̨

|-----

| Ч ч || чы

| align="center" |ჩ

| align="center" |ɥ

| align="center" |ϑ̣

| align="center" |ч

| align="center" |ч|| č || čʹ ||

|-----

| Ҷ ҷ || ҷы

| align="center" |ჭ

| align="center" |12x12px

| align="center" |ṭ

| align="center" |ꚓ

| align="center" |ч̓|| c̦ || č̣ʹ (čʼʹ) ||

|-----

| Ҽ ҽ || ҽы

| align="center" |ჩჾ

| align="center" |12x12px

| align="center" |ϑ̱̣

| align="center" |ҽ

| align="center" |ꚇ|| c̆ || č ||

|-----

| Ҿ ҿ || ҿы

| align="center" |ჭჾ

| align="center" |11x11px

| align="center" |ṯ̣

| align="center" |ҽ̆

| align="center" |ꚇ̆|| ̦c̆ || č̣ (čʼ)||

|-----

| Ш ш || шы

| align="center" |შჾ

| align="center" |10x10px

| align="center" |ш

| align="center" |ш|| š || š ||

|-----

| Шь шь || шьы

| align="center" |შ

| align="center" |ſ

| align="center" |щ

| align="center" |ш̆

| align="center" |ш̆|| šʹ || šʹ ||

|-----

| Шә шә || шәы

| align="center" |შჿ

| align="center" |12x12px

| align="center" |ш˚

| align="center" |ꚗ

| align="center" |щ|| ša̋ || šᵒ ||

| align="center" |

| align="center" |щ˚

| align="center" |ꚗ̆

| align="center" |щ̆

|-----

| Ы ы || ы

| align="center" |ჷ

| align="center" |ə

| align="center" |ѵ

| align="center" |ѵ|| y || ə ||

|-----

| Ҩ ҩ ||ҩы

| align="center" |ჳ

| align="center" |y

| align="center" |w̧

| align="center" |ҩ

| align="center" |ҩ|| ò || ʿᵒ (jᵒ) ||

|-----

| Џ џ || џы

| align="center" |ჯჾ

| align="center" |15x15px

| align="center" |ḓ

| align="center" |џ

| align="center" | || d̂ || ǯ