Kazakh alphabets

A 1902 Kazakh text in both Arabic and Cyrillic scripts. 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.» Note the differences between the older Cyrillic here and the current Cyrillic alphabet.

Kazakh Arabic and Latin script in 1924

Three alphabets are used to write the Kazakh language: the Cyrillic, Latin and Arabic script. The Cyrillic script is used in Mongolia. An October 2017 Presidential Decree in Kazakhstan ordered that the transition from Cyrillic to a Latin script be completed by 2025. The Arabic script is used in parts of China, Iran and Afghanistan.

Cyrillic script

The Kazakh Cyrillic alphabet is used in 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.

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 1957 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, Х, Ц, Ч, Щ, Ъ, Ь and Э are not used in native Kazakh words. Of these, Ё, Ц, Ч, Щ, 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 Х in conversational speech is pronounced similar to Қ. The letter Һ is used only in Arabic-Persian borrowings and is often pronounced like an unvoiced Х (as /h/, or a voiceless glottal fricative).

The letter И represents the tense vowel [i] obtained from the combinations ЫЙ /əj/ and ІЙ /ɪj/. The letter У represents /enwiki/w/ and the tense vowel [u] 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 [i] and [u] respectively.

History

See also: Russification § Under the Soviet Union

The switch from a Latin alphabet to a Cyrillic one was likely in an attempt to distance the then-Soviet Kazakhstan with Turkey. This was likely in part due to weakening Turkish-Soviet relations and the Turkish Straits crisis.

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 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.

The Kazakh keyboard.

Latin script

Initial proposed Latin alphabet for the Kazakh language, implemented by Presidential Decree 569 (26 October 2017). Later revised by Presidential Decree 637 of 19 February 2018, replacing the apostrophe with diacritics and digraphs

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 and Kazakhstan. As with other Central Asian Turkic languages, a Latin alphabet was introduced by the Soviets and used from 1927 to 1940 when it was replaced with Cyrillic.

As part of a modernization program, Decree 569 from Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered the replacement of the Cyrillic script with a Latin script by 2025. In 2007, Nazarbayev had opposed such a change, stating: "For 70 years, the Kazakhstanis read and wrote in Cyrillic. More than 100 nationalities live in our state. Thus we need stability and peace. We should be in no hurry in the issue of alphabet transformation". But in 2015, the Minister of Culture and Sports Arystanbek Mukhamediuly announced that a transition plan was underway, with specialists working on the orthography to accommodate the phonological aspects of the language. On April 12, 2017, President Nazarbayev published an article in state newspaper Egemen Qazaqstan announcing a switchover to the Latin alphabet by 2025, a decision implemented by decree. Nazarbayev argued that "Kazakh language and culture have been devastated" during the period of Soviet rule, and that ending the use of Cyrillic is useful in re-asserting national identity. The new Latin alphabet is also a step to weaken the traditional Russian influence on the country, as the Russian language is the country's second official language. The initial proposed Latin alphabet tried to avoid digraphs (such as "sh", "ch") and diacritics (such as "ä" or "ç"). In fact, President Nazarbayev had expressly stated that the new alphabet should contain "no hooks or superfluous dots". Instead, the new alphabet, which is based on a transliteration of Cyrillic into Latin letters, would have used apostrophes to denote those Kazakh letters where there was no direct Latin equivalent. It is similar to the Karakalpak Latin alphabet and the Uzbek alphabet.

A revised version of the 2017 Latin alphabet was announced in February 2018. Presidential Decree 637 of 19 February 2018 amends the 2017 decree and the use of apostrophes was discontinued and replaced with diacritics and digraphs. Notably, the new alphabet uses the acute accent where other alphabets prefer using umlauts.

A a	Á á	B b	D d	E e	F f	G g	Ǵ ǵ
H h	İ i	I ı	J j	K k	L l	M m	N n
Ń ń	O o	Ó ó	P p	Q q	R r	S s	T t
U u	Ú ú	V v	Y y	Ý ý	Z z	Sh sh	Ch ch

A Kazakh newspaper Socialist Kazakhstan in Latin script (1937)

The Uniform Turkic Alphabet was used in the USSR from 1927 to 1940, when it was replaced by the current Cyrillic script. Kazakh speakers in countries that use the Latin script also use a different Latin alphabet based on the Turkish alphabet.

Selected works of Mao Zedong in Latin-script Kazakh, published in Beijing in 1977

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.

In October 2017, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree on the phased transition of the Kazakh alphabet from Cyrillic into Latin script by 2025.

Arabic script

The Arabic script is the official alphabet for Kazakhs in the Altay Prefecture and the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. It was first introduced to the territory of Kazakhstan in the eleventh century, and was traditionally used to write Kazakh until the introduction of a Latin alphabet in 1927. In 1924, Kazakh intellectual Akhmet Baitursynov attempted to reform the Arabic script to better suit Kazakh. The letters ۆ‎, گ‎, ڭ‎, پ‎ and چ‎ are used to represent sounds not found in the Arabic language.

A modified Arabic script is also used in Iran and Afghanistan, based on the alphabet used for Kazakh before 1927.

The Kazakh Arabic alphabet contains 29 letters and one digit, the 'upper hamza' used at the beginnings of words to create front vowels throughout the word. The direction the alphabet is written in is right to left.

Forms of the Kazakh Arabic alphabet

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final	Name	Cyrillic
ا‎			ـا‎	әліп	а
ٵ‎ 0675			ـٵ‎	һәмзә-әліп	ә
ب‎	بـ‎	ـبـ‎	ـب‎	ба	б
ۆ‎ 06C6			ـۆ‎	в	в
گ‎	گـ‎	ـگـ‎	ـگ‎	гәф	г
ع‎	عـ‎	ـعـ‎	ـع‎	аин	ғ
د‎			ـد‎	дәл	д
ە‎ 06D5			ـە‎	ае	е
					ё
ج‎	جـ‎	ـجـ‎	ـج‎	жим	ж
ز‎			ـز‎	заин	з
ي‎	يـ‎	ـيـ‎	ـي‎	я екі ноқат	и
ي‎	يـ‎	ـيـ‎	ـي‎	я екі ноқат
ك‎	كـ‎	ـكـ‎	ـك‎	кәф	к
ق‎	قـ‎	ـقـ‎	ـق‎	қаф	қ
ل‎	لـ‎	ـلـ‎	ـل‎	ләм	л
م‎	مـ‎	ـمـ‎	ـم‎	мим	м
ن‎	نـ‎	ـنـ‎	ـن‎	нун	н
ڭ‎ 06AD	ڭـ‎	ـڭـ‎	ـڭ‎	еңге / кәф үш ноқат	ң
و‎			ـو‎	уау	о
ٶ‎ 0676			ـٶ‎	һәмзә-уау	ө
پ‎	پـ‎	ـپـ‎	ـپ‎	па	п
ر‎			ـر‎	ра	р
س‎	سـ‎	ـسـ‎	ـس‎	син	с
ت‎	تـ‎	ـتـ‎	ـت‎	та	т
ۋ‎ 06CB			ـۋ‎	уа / уау үш ноқат	у
ۇ‎			ـۇ‎	дамма-уа / дамма-уау	ұ
ٷ‎ 0677			ـٷ‎	һәмзә-уа / һәмзә-дамма-уау	ү
ف‎	فـ‎	ـفـ‎	ـف‎	фа	ф
ح‎	حـ‎	ـحـ‎	ـح‎	ха	х
ھ‎	ھـ‎	ـھـ‎	ـھ‎	һә	һ
چ‎	چـ‎	ـچـ‎	ـچ‎	ча	ч
ش‎	شـ‎	ـشـ‎	ـش‎	шин	ш
					щ
					ъ
ى‎	ىـ‎	ـىـ‎	ـى‎	ыэ	ы
ٸ‎ 0678	ٸـ‎	ـٸـ‎	ـٸ‎	һәмзә-я	і
					ь
					э
ۉ‎ 06C9			ـۉ‎		ю
					я
ٴ‎ 0674				һәмзә
لا‎			ـلا‎	ләм-әліп	ла

Correspondence chart

Correspondence chart of official and most widespread writing scripts

Cyrillic	Latin (2018)	Latin (2017)	Latin (QazAqparat)	Latin (Kazak Grammar)	Braille	Arabic	Name of Arabic Letter	IPA transcription
А а	A a	A a	A a	A a	⠁	ا‎	Alif	/ɑ/
Ә ә	Á á	Aʼ aʼ	Ä ä	Ä ä	⠜	ٵ‎	Hamza + Alif	/æ/
Б б	B b	B b	B b	B b	⠃	ب‎	Ba	/b/
В в	V v	V v	V v	V v	⠺	ۆ‎	Waw with V	/v/
Г г	G g	G g	G g	G g	⠛	گ‎	Gaf	/ɡ/
Ғ ғ	Ǵ ǵ	Gʼ gʼ	Ğ ğ	G g (allophone of G)	⠻	غ‎	Ghain	/ʁ/
Д д	D d	D d	D d	D d	⠙	د‎	Dal	/d/
Е е	E e	E e	E e	E e	⠑	ە‎	Ha	/e/, /ʲe/
Ё ё	Io ıo		Yo yo	–	⠡	يو‎	Yo	/jo/
Ж ж	J j	J j	J j	J j	⠚	ج‎	Jeem	/ʒ/, /ʐ/
З з	Z z	Z z	Z z	Z z	⠵	ز‎	Za	/z/
И и	I ı	Iʼ iʼ	Ï ï	Iy / iy	⠊	ٸ‎	Ya	/əj/, /ɘj/
Й й	I ı	Iʼ iʼ	Y y	Y	⠯	ي‎	Ya	/j/
К к	K k	K k	K k	K k	⠅	ك‎	Kaf	/k/
Қ қ	Q q	Q q	Q q	K k (allophone of K)	⠹	ق‎	Qaf	/q/
Л л	L l	L l	L l	L l	⠇	ل‎	Lam	/ɫ/, {IPA|/ɫ/, /l/
М м	M m	M m	M m	M m	⠍	م‎	Meem	/m/
Н н	N n	N n	N n	N n	⠝	ن‎	Noon	/n/
Ң ң	Ń ń	Nʼ nʼ	Ñ ñ	Ń ń	⠩	ڭ‎	Kaf with 3 dots	/ŋ/
О о	O o	O o	O o	O o	⠕	و‎	Waw	/o/, /ʷo/
Ө ө	Ó ó	Oʼ oʼ	Ö ö	Ö ö	⠣	ٶ‎	Hamza + Waw	/œ/, /ʷœ/
П п	P p	P p	P p	P p	⠏	پ‎	Pa	/p/
Р р	R r	R r	R r	R r	⠗	ر‎	Ra	/ɾ/
С с	S s	S s	S s	S s	⠎	س‎	Seen	/s/
Т т	T t	T t	T t	T t	⠞	ت‎	Ta	/t/
У у	Ý ý	Yʼ yʼ	W w	W w	⠥	ۋ‎	Waw with 3 dots	/enwiki/w/, /ʊw/, /ʉw/
Ұ ұ	U u	U u	U u	U u	⠌	ۇ‎	Waw with damma	/ʊ/
Ү ү	Ú ú	Uʼ uʼ	Ü ü	Ü ü	⠬	ٷ‎	Hamza + Waw with damma	/ʉ/
Ф ф	F f	F f	F f	F f	⠋	ف‎	Fa	/f/
Х х	H h	X x	X x	H h	⠓	ح‎	Kha without dots	/χ/
Һ һ	H h	H h	H h	–	⠧	ھ‎	Initial Ha	/h/
Ц ц	Ts ts		C c	–	⠉	تس‎	Ta + Seen	/ts/
Ч ч	Ch ch	Cʼ cʼ	Ç ç	Ć ć (in case of need)	⠟	چ‎	Cheem	/t͡ɕ/
Ш ш	Sh sh	Sʼ sʼ	Ş ş	C c	⠱	ش‎	Sheen	/ʃ/, /ʂ/
Щ щ			Şş şş	C c (allophone of C)	⠭	شش‎	Sheen + Sheen	/ɕː/
Ъ ъ			(ʺ)	–	⠷	--	--	--
Ы ы	Y y	Y y	I ı	I ı	⠮	ى‎	Ya without dots	/ə/
І і	I i	I i	İ i	İ i	⠽	ٸ‎	Hamza + Ya without dots	/ɘ/
Ь ь			(ʹ)	–	⠾	--	--	--
Э э			É é	–	⠪	ە‎	Ha	/e/
Ю ю	Iý ıý		Yw yw	Yuw/yüw/yıw/yiw	⠳	يۋ‎	Ya + Waw with 3 dots	/jʉw/, /jʊw/
Я я	Ia ıa		Ya ya	Ya/ye/yä	⠫	يا‎	Ya + Alif	/jɑ/

Symbols in parentheses are for bi-directional transliteration only; See Meniń Qazaqstanym.

Historical alphabets

Runic

Orkhon-Yenisey Runes have a superficial similarity to Germanic Runes in shape. Unlike the Germanic runes, Old Turkic alphabet runes are read right to left as opposed to the Germanic runes that are read left to right. The script was used in some parts of Kazakhstan's territory in the fifth to the tenth centuries. The language of the inscriptions was the Old Turkic, the language of the Turkic Khaganate.

Kipchak Armenian

They migrated from the Armenian kingdom in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Armenians had an extensive liturgical, legal and other literature in the Kipchak language that differs from Old Kazakh only by the abundance of the Armenian-Christian vocabulary. These texts were written using the Armenian alphabet. Their descendants who settled around the world, almost to the end of the nineteenth century, the Armenian-Kipchak were writing business records, personal correspondence and more.

Latin Kipchak

Catholic missionaries in Crimea produced holy books in the Kipchak language, the ancestor of the Kazakh language, they produced the Gospel and the other liturgical books.

Other writing systems

There are epigraphic monuments of Turkic tribes (mainly to the period of Islamization).

For sight-impaired people, there is also Kazakh Braille, based on Russian Braille, with several additional letters found in the Kazakh alphabet.

Text sample

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Kazakh in Cyrillic script	Kazakh in Arabic script	English
Барлық адамдар тумысынан азат және қадір-қасиеті мен құқықтары тең болып дүниеге келеді. Адамдарға ақыл-парасат, ар-ождан берілген, сондықтан олар бір-бірімен туыстық, бауырмалдық қарым-қатынас жасаулары тиіс.	بارلىق ادامدار تۋمىسىنان ازات جانە قادىر-قاسيەتى مەن كۇقىقتارى تەڭ بولىپ دۇنيەگە كەلەدى. ادامدارعا اقىل-پاراسات، ار-وجدان بەرىلگەن، سوندىقتان ولار ٴبىر-بىرىمەن تۋىستىق، باۋىرمالدىق قارىم-قاتىناس جاساۋلارى ٴتيىس.	All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Kazakh in Latin script (approved by Nazarbayev in 2017, revised 2018)	Kazakh in Latin script (version by Kazinform and linguists)	Kazakh in Latin script (version by Kazak Grammar)
Barlyq adamdar týmysynan azat jáne qadir-qasıeti men quqyqtary teń bolyp dúnıege keledi. Adamdarǵa aqyl-parasat, ar-ojdan berilgen, sondyqtan olar bir-birimen týystyq, baýyrmaldyq qarym-qatynas jasaýlary tıis.	Barlıq adamdar twmısınan azat jäne qadir-qasïyeti men quqıqtarı teñ bolıp dünïyege keledi. Adamdarğa aqıl-parasat, ar-ojdan berilgen, sondıqtan olar bir-birimen twıstıq, bawırmaldıq qarım-qatınas jasawları tïis.	Barlık adamdar tuwmısınan azat jäne kadir-kasiyeti men kukıktarı teń bolıp düniyege keledi. Adamdarga akıl-parasat, ar-ojdan berilgen, sondıktan olar bir-birimen tuwıstık, bawırmaldık karım-katınas jasawları tiyis.
Kazakh in Yañalif (1929 variant)	Kazakh in Yañalif (1938 variant)	Kazakh in Pinyin (1964–1984)
Barlьq adamdar tьvmьsьnan azat çəne qadir-qasijeti men quqьqtarь teꞑ bolьp dynijege keledi. Adamdarƣa aqьl-parasat, ar-oçdan berilgen, sondьqtan olar bir-birimen tьvьstьq, bavьrmaldьq qarьm-qatьnas çasavlarь tijis.	Barlьq adamdar tumьsьnan azat çəne qadjr-qasietj men qūqьqtarь teꞑ bolьp dyniege keledj. Adamdarƣa aqьl-parasat, ar-oçdan berjlgen, sondьqtan olar bjr-bjrjmen tuьstьq, bauьrmaldьq qarьm-qatьnas çasaularь tijs.	Barleⱪ adamdar tewmesenan azat jənê ⱪadir-ⱪasiyêti mên ⱪuⱪeⱪtare têng bolep düniyêgê kêlêdi. Adamdarƣa aⱪel-parasat, ar-ojdan bêrilgên, sondeⱪtan olar bir-birimên tewesteⱪ, bawermaldeⱪ ⱪarem-ⱪatenas jasawlare tiyis.

External links

• Kazakh alphabet (in Russian)
• Kazakh language, alphabet and pronunciation
• Kazakh Cyrillic–Arabic–Latin converter
• (ALASH Cyrillic–Latin–Arabic–Runic online converter