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Kyrgyz alphabets
The Kyrgyz alphabets are the alphabets used to write the Kyrgyz language. Kyrgyz uses the following alphabets:
The Perso-Arabic script was traditionally used to write Kyrgyz before the introduction of the first Latin-based alphabets in 1927. In the years 1923 to 1925, Kyrgyz literaturists and linguists such as Kasym Tynystanov and Ishenali Arabayev undertook a project of reforming Kyrgyz Arabic orthography. In doing so, they took inspiration from the reformed Kazakh Arabic alphabet, one of the first Turkic Arabic scripts to be undergoing reforms as early as 1912. Today an Arabic alphabet is used in China, which slightly differs from the 1920s Soviet standard. For example, in the 1920s Arabic alphabet, the distinction between front and back vowel pairs [о][ɵ] and [u][ʏ] was to be marked with an initial hamza if it couldn't be inferred from the word itself. In the Chinese variant standardized in 1950s, each of the said four vowels have a unique letter for example, thus making the use of a hamza unnecessary.
The New Turkic Alphabet was used in the USSR in the 1930s until its replacement by a Cyrillic script. The Kyrgyz Cyrillic alphabet is the alphabet used in Kyrgyzstan. It contains 36 letters: 33 from the Russian alphabet with 3 additional letters for sounds of the Kyrgyz language: Ң, Ү, Ө.
Within the country, there have been mixed reactions to the idea of adopting the Latin alphabet for Kyrgyz. The chairman of Kyrgyzstan's National Commission for the State Language and Language Policies, Kanybek Osmonaliev, announced in September 2022 that it is considering switching to the Latin alphabet. However, several months later, Russia suspended dairy exports to Kyrgyzstan after Osmonaliev repeated his proposal to change the official script from Cyrillic to Latin to bring the country in line with other Turkic-speaking nations. Osmonaliev was reprimanded by President Sadyr Japarov who then clarified that Kyrgyzstan had no plans to replace the Cyrillic alphabet.
In the Kyrgyz Cyrillic alphabet, there are 15 vowels, and in Kyrgyz Arabic Alphabet, there are 13. The discrepancy is for two reasons. First, in Kyrgyz Cyrillic, both vowels Э э and Е е were imported from the Russian Cyrillic alphabet. They essentially make the same sound, and the choice comes down to a matter of orthographic rule. They are both represented in the Kyrgyz Arabic alphabet with ە / ﻪ. The second difference is that Kyrgyz Cyrillic has two letters Ы ы and И и, the former being a back vowel and the latter a front vowel.
Similar to other Turkic languages, Kyrgyz vowels are divided into front vowel and back vowel, and all words shall follow the vowel harmony rules. This means that the vowel sounds within a word can either be front vowel, or back vowel.
In Kyrgyz, vowels are also divided into short and long. Whether in Kyrgyz Cyrillic Alphabet, or in Kyrgyz Arabic Alphabet, long vowels are represented by writing the same letter twice. For example, in the word дөөлөт / دۅۅلۅت 'state', there is a long vowel and a short vowel. Of the two letters Э э and Е е, only the former also has a long vowel, Ээ ээ
The letters Ы ы and И и do not have a long vowel equivalent.
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Kyrgyz alphabets
The Kyrgyz alphabets are the alphabets used to write the Kyrgyz language. Kyrgyz uses the following alphabets:
The Perso-Arabic script was traditionally used to write Kyrgyz before the introduction of the first Latin-based alphabets in 1927. In the years 1923 to 1925, Kyrgyz literaturists and linguists such as Kasym Tynystanov and Ishenali Arabayev undertook a project of reforming Kyrgyz Arabic orthography. In doing so, they took inspiration from the reformed Kazakh Arabic alphabet, one of the first Turkic Arabic scripts to be undergoing reforms as early as 1912. Today an Arabic alphabet is used in China, which slightly differs from the 1920s Soviet standard. For example, in the 1920s Arabic alphabet, the distinction between front and back vowel pairs [о][ɵ] and [u][ʏ] was to be marked with an initial hamza if it couldn't be inferred from the word itself. In the Chinese variant standardized in 1950s, each of the said four vowels have a unique letter for example, thus making the use of a hamza unnecessary.
The New Turkic Alphabet was used in the USSR in the 1930s until its replacement by a Cyrillic script. The Kyrgyz Cyrillic alphabet is the alphabet used in Kyrgyzstan. It contains 36 letters: 33 from the Russian alphabet with 3 additional letters for sounds of the Kyrgyz language: Ң, Ү, Ө.
Within the country, there have been mixed reactions to the idea of adopting the Latin alphabet for Kyrgyz. The chairman of Kyrgyzstan's National Commission for the State Language and Language Policies, Kanybek Osmonaliev, announced in September 2022 that it is considering switching to the Latin alphabet. However, several months later, Russia suspended dairy exports to Kyrgyzstan after Osmonaliev repeated his proposal to change the official script from Cyrillic to Latin to bring the country in line with other Turkic-speaking nations. Osmonaliev was reprimanded by President Sadyr Japarov who then clarified that Kyrgyzstan had no plans to replace the Cyrillic alphabet.
In the Kyrgyz Cyrillic alphabet, there are 15 vowels, and in Kyrgyz Arabic Alphabet, there are 13. The discrepancy is for two reasons. First, in Kyrgyz Cyrillic, both vowels Э э and Е е were imported from the Russian Cyrillic alphabet. They essentially make the same sound, and the choice comes down to a matter of orthographic rule. They are both represented in the Kyrgyz Arabic alphabet with ە / ﻪ. The second difference is that Kyrgyz Cyrillic has two letters Ы ы and И и, the former being a back vowel and the latter a front vowel.
Similar to other Turkic languages, Kyrgyz vowels are divided into front vowel and back vowel, and all words shall follow the vowel harmony rules. This means that the vowel sounds within a word can either be front vowel, or back vowel.
In Kyrgyz, vowels are also divided into short and long. Whether in Kyrgyz Cyrillic Alphabet, or in Kyrgyz Arabic Alphabet, long vowels are represented by writing the same letter twice. For example, in the word дөөлөт / دۅۅلۅت 'state', there is a long vowel and a short vowel. Of the two letters Э э and Е е, only the former also has a long vowel, Ээ ээ
The letters Ы ы and И и do not have a long vowel equivalent.