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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/34/Kazakh1902_%282%29.jpg/400px-Kazakh1902_%282%29.jpg)
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.»
Transliteration: «Būryñğy ötken zamanda, bır danyşpan kısı, Bağdat şaharynyñ bır ülken qazysynyñ üiıne kelıp qonypty. Qazymenen söilesıp, qazyny sözge jeñe berıptı. Sonda qazy qorqyp, — „Būl mağan kelgen bala - menıñ qazylyğymdy tartyp alsa kerek! Ne de bolsa, būğan jalynyp, syi berıp, ornymda qalaiyn!“ — dep, qatynyna aqyldasypty.»
Note the differences between the older Cyrillic here and the current Cyrillic alphabet.
Three alphabets are used to write Kazakh: the Cyrillic, Latin and Arabic scripts. The Cyrillic script is used in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Mongolia. An October 2017 Presidential Decree in Kazakhstan ordered that the transition from Cyrillic to a Latin script be completed by 2031.[1] The Arabic script is used in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, and parts of China.
А а | Ә ә | Б б | В в | Г г | Ғ ғ | Д д |
Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к |
Қ қ | Л л | М м | Н н | Ң ң | О о | Ө ө |
П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у | Ұ ұ | Ү ү |
Ф ф | Х х | Һ һ | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ |
Ъ ъ | Ы ы | І і | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
The Kazakh Cyrillic alphabet is used in Kazakhstan, the Altai Republic in Russia, and the 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 1951 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, Ц, Ч, Ъ, Ь and Э are not used in native Kazakh words. Of these, Ё, Ц, Ч, 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 E in Kazakh makes a sound similar to Э in Russian (ex. Kazakh: Екібастуз - Russian: Экибастуз). The letter Ж is pronounced similarly to ДЖ in Russian (approximately like J in English). The letter Х is pronounced like a wheezing h (hard h). The letter Һ is frequently used in Arabic-Persian borrowings and is often pronounced like an unvoiced Х (as /h/, soft h, or a voiceless glottal fricative). In rapid conversation, the letter Қ (Q) can be pronounced like X (if Қ is in the middle of a word and before a consonant) or like Ғ. The letter Щ is used for the long Ш sound in three native words (ащы 'bitter', тұщы 'saltless', кеще 'stupid') and their derivatives, as well as in loanwords.
The letter И represents the tense vowel obtained from the combinations ЫЙ /əj/ and ІЙ /ɪj/. The letter У represents ?pojem= and the tense vowel 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 and respectively.
History
The switch from a Latin alphabet to a Cyrillic one was likely in an attempt to distance the then-Soviet Kazakhstan from Turkey.[3] This was likely in part due to weakening Turkish–Soviet relations and the Turkish Straits crisis.[citation needed]
In effort to consolidate its national identity, Kazakhstan started a phased transition from the Cyrillic alphabet to the Latin alphabet in 2017. The Kazakh government drafted a seven-year process until the full implementation of the new alphabet, sub-divided into various phases.[4]
Romanization
Kazakh Cyrillic is romanized for accessibility to readers familiar with the Latin alphabet. Commonly used systems include:
- ALA-LC romanization (American Library Association and Library of Congress), 1940 system, commonly used in English-language bibliographic cataloguing and in academic publishing[5]
- BGN/PCGN romanization (US Board on Geographic Names and Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use), 1979 system, commonly used in place names and mapping[6]
- ISO 9:1995 (International Organization for Standardization), 1995, an international system based on central European orthography that uses a single unique character for each letter.[7][8]
Cyrillic letter |
ALA-LC | BGN/PCGN | ISO 9:1995 | English approximation |
---|---|---|---|---|
А а | A a | A a | A a | Gulag |
Ә ә | Ă ă | Ä ä | A̋ a̋ | Apple |
Б б | B b | B b | B b | Boredom |
В в | V v | V v | V v | Driveway |
Г г | G g | G g | G g | Goal |
Ғ ғ | Gh gh | Gh gh | Ġ ġ | Knight |
Д д | D d | D d | D d | Doorway |
Е е | E e | E e | E e | End |
Ё ё | Ë ë | Yo yo | Ë ë | Yolk |
Ж ж | Zh zh | Zh zh | Ž ž | Vision |
З з | Z z | Z z | Z z | Zinc |
И и | I i | Ī ī | I i | Inner |
Й й | Ĭ ĭ | Y y | J j | Yes |
К к | K k | K k | K k | King |
Қ қ | Q q | Q q | K̦ k̦ | Queen |
Л л | L l | L l | L l | Luster |
М м | M m | M m | M m | Millenia |
Н н | N n | N n | N n | No |
Ң ң | N͡g n͡g | Ng ng | N̦ n̦ | Bring |
О о | O o | O o | O o | Olden |
Ө ө | Ȯ ȯ | Ö ö | Ô ô | Orc |
П п | P p | P p | P p | Protect |
Р р | R r | R r | R r | Ring but with rolled r's |
С с | S s | S s | S s | Stall |
Т т | T t | T t | T t | At |
У у | U u | Ū ū | U u | Uber |
Ұ ұ | Ū ū | U u | U̇ u̇ | Suit |
Ү ү | U̇ u̇ | Ü ü | Ù ù | Cook |
Ф ф | F f | F f | F f | Fall |
Х х | Kh kh | Kh kh | H h | Loch ness in scottish english |
Һ һ | Ḣ ḣ | H h | Ḥ ḥ | Hinder |
Ц ц | T͡s t͡s | Ts ts | C c | Artsy |
Ч ч | Ch ch | Ch ch | Č č | Cheat |
Ш ш | Sh sh | Sh sh | Š š | Share |
Щ щ | Shch shch | Shch shch | Ŝ ŝ | Shall |
Ъ ъ | ʺ | ” | ʺ | " silent |
Ы ы | Y y | Y y | Y y | Yell |
І і | Ī ī | I i | Ì ì | Illness |
Ь ь | ʹ | ’ | ʹ | ' silent |
Э э | Ė ė | Ė ė | È è | Cafe |
Ю ю | I͡u i͡u | Yu yu | Û û | You |
Я я | I͡a i͡a | Ya ya | Â â | Yard |
Notes to the BGN/PCGN system
- Character sequences гһ, зһ, кһ, нг, сһ and цһ may be romanized g·h, z·h, k·h, n·g, s·h and ts·h to differentiate from gh, zh, kh, ng, sh, and tsh, which are used to render ғ, ж, х, ң, ш, and тш.
- The character ы may be romanized i̵ instead of у.
Encoding
Before the spread of operating systems and text editors with support for Unicode, Cyrillic Kazakh often failed to fit on a keyboard because of both the problem with 8-bit encoding, which was not supported at the system level, and the absence of standard computer fonts. More than 20 variations of 8-bit encoding for Kazakh Cyrillic have been suggested, including the following government standards (note that the following are historical code pages and that modern systems use Unicode Encoding, such as UTF-8):
- СТ РК 920-91 for MS-DOS (a modification of code page 866)
- СТ РК 1048—2002 for Windows (a modification of code page 1251)
СТ РК 1048—2002 was confirmed in 2002, well after the introduction of different Windows character sets. Some Internet resources in part used the government information agency QazAqparat before the encoding of this standard. Today the encoding UTF-8 is being accepted.
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.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Keyboard_KAZ.png/400px-Keyboard_KAZ.png)
Latin script
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/25/Sotsijaldy_qazaqstan.jpg/220px-Sotsijaldy_qazaqstan.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Selected-Works-of-Mao-Zedong-in-Kazakh-Title-page-3477.jpg/220px-Selected-Works-of-Mao-Zedong-in-Kazakh-Title-page-3477.jpg)
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, as well as in Kazakhstan. As with other Central Asian Turkic languages, a Latin alphabet, the Yañalif, was introduced by the Soviets and used from 1929 to 1940 when it was replaced with Cyrillic.[2][9] Moreover, 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.[10]
A a | B ʙ | C c | Ç ç | D d | E e | Ə ə | G g | Ƣ ƣ | H h |
I i | J j | K k | L l | M m | N n | Ꞑ ꞑ | O o | Ɵ ɵ | P p |
Q q | R r | S s | T t | U u | V v | Y y | Z z | Ь ь |