The Sorbian alphabet is based on the ISO basic Latin alphabet but uses diacritics such as the acute accent and the caron, making it similar to the Czech and Polish alphabets. (This mixture is also found in the Belarusian Latin alphabet.) The standard character encoding for the Sorbian alphabet is ISO 8859-2 (Latin-2).

The alphabet is used for the Sorbian languages, although some letters are used in only one of the two languages (Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian).

Alphabet table

{| class=wikitable

! Upper<br/>case

! HTML<br/>code

! Lower<br/>case

! HTML<br/>code

! Name

! Usual<br/>phonetic value

! Other<br/>phonetic values

! Comments

|-

! A

| &nbsp;

| a

| &nbsp;

| a

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! B

| &nbsp;

| b

| &nbsp;

| bej

|

|

| &nbsp;

|-

! C

| &nbsp;

| c

| &nbsp;

| cej

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! Č

| &amp;#268;

| č

| &amp;#269;

| čej

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! Ć

| &amp;#262;

| ć

| &amp;#263;

| ćet

|

|

| &nbsp;

|-

! D

| &nbsp;

| d

| &nbsp;

| dej

|

|

| &nbsp;

|-

! E

| &nbsp;

| e

| &nbsp;

| ej

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! Ě

| &amp;#282;

| ě

| &amp;#283;

| jět/ět (Upper), ět (Lower)

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! F

| &nbsp;

| f

| &nbsp;

| ef

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! G

| &nbsp;

| g

| &nbsp;

| gej

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! H

| &nbsp;

| h

| &nbsp;

| ha

| Upper <br/>Lower or silent

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! I

| &nbsp;

| i

| &nbsp;

| i

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! J

| &nbsp;

| j

| &nbsp;

| jot/jót (Upper), jot (Lower)

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! K

| &nbsp;

| k

| &nbsp;

| ka

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! Ł

| &amp;#321;

| ł

| &amp;#322;

| eł

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! L

| &nbsp;

| l

| &nbsp;

| el

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! M

| &nbsp;

| m

| &nbsp;

| em

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! N

| &nbsp;

| n

| &nbsp;

| en

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! Ń

| &amp;#323;

| ń

| &amp;#324;

| eń (Upper), ejn (Lower)

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! O

| &nbsp;

| o

| &nbsp;

| o

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! Ó

| &amp;#211;

| ó

| &amp;#243;

| ót

| Upper <br/>Lower or

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! P

| &nbsp;

| p

| &nbsp;

| pej

|

|

| &nbsp;

|-

! R

| &nbsp;

| r

| &nbsp;

| er

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! Ř

| &amp;#344;

| ř

| &amp;#345;

| eř

|

| &nbsp;

| Upper Sorbian only.<br/>

|-

! Ŕ

| &amp;#340;

| ŕ

| &amp;#341;

| ejŕ

|

| &nbsp;

| Lower Sorbian only

|-

! S

| &nbsp;

| s

| &nbsp;

| es

|

| ,

| &nbsp;

|-

! Š

| &amp;#352;

| š

| &amp;#353;

| eš

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! Ś

| &amp;#346;

| ś

| &amp;#347;

| śej

|

|

| Lower Sorbian only

|-

! T

| &nbsp;

| t

| &nbsp;

| tej

|

|

| &nbsp;

|-

! U

| &nbsp;

| u

| &nbsp;

| u

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! W

| &nbsp;

| w

| &nbsp;

| wej

| Upper <br/>Lower or silent

| Upper Sorbian

| &nbsp;

|-

! Y

| &nbsp;

| y

| &nbsp;

| y

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! Z

| &nbsp;

| z

| &nbsp;

| zet

|

| ,

| &nbsp;

|-

! Ž

| &amp;#381;

| ž

| &amp;#382;

| žet

|

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

! Ź

| &amp;#377;

| ź

| &amp;#378;

| źej

|

|

| Lower Sorbian only<br/>(except as part of digraph dź)

|}

An earlier version of the Lower Sorbian alphabet included the use of the letters b́ (or b’), ṕ (or p’), ḿ (or m’), ẃ (or w’) and rarely f́ (or f’) to indicate palatalized labials. These have been replaced by bj, pj, mj, wj, and fj.

Sorbian orthography also includes two digraphs:

{| class=wikitable

! Upper<br/>case

! HTML<br/>code

! Lower<br/>case

! HTML<br/>code

! Name

! Usual<br/>phonetic value

! Other<br/>phonetic values

|-

! Ch

| &nbsp;

| ch

| &nbsp;

| cha

| Upper word/root initially; otherwise <br/>Lower

| &nbsp;

|-

! Dź

| D&amp;#378;

| dź

| d&amp;#378;

| dźej/dźet

|

|

|}

The digraph ch follows h in alphabetical order. These letters are used in foreign words and names:

{| class=wikitable

! Upper<br/>case

! Lower<br/>case

! Name

! Usual<br/>phonetic value

! Other<br/>phonetic values

!Substitute letter(s)

|-

! Q

| q

| ku

|

|

|KW

|-

! V

| v

| fau

|

|

|W

|-

! X

| x

| iks

|

|

|KS

|}

References

  • Jana Šołćina, Edward Wornar: Obersorbisch im Selbststudium, Hornjoserbšćina za samostudij, Bautzen 2000, , Seiten 12–15
  • Starosta: Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik, Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Bautzen 1999, , Seiten 15–21