Azerbaijani alphabet

From the nineteenth century there were efforts by some intellectuals like Mirza Fatali Akhundov and Mammad agha Shahtakhtinski to replace the Arabic script and create a Latin alphabet for Azeri. In 1929, a Latin alphabet was created by Soviet Union sponsored Yeni türk əlifba komitəsi (New Turkic Alphabet Committee; Јени түрк əлифба комитəси) in Baku which hoped that the new alphabet would divide the Azerbaijanis in the USSR from those living in Iran.[3] An additional reason for the Soviet regime's encouragement of a non-Arabic script was that they hoped the transition would work towards secularizing Azerbaijan's Muslim culture and since language script reform, proposed as early as the 19th century by Azeri intellectuals (e.g. Mirza Fatali Akhundov), had previously been rejected by the Azeri religious establishment on the grounds that Arabic script, the language of the Koran, was "holy and should not be tampered with"[4] there was some historical basis for the reform which received overwhelming support at the First Turcological Congress in Baku during 1926 where the reform was voted for 101 to 7. The Azeri poet Samad Vurgun declared "Azerbaijani people are proud of being the first among Oriental nations that buried the Arabic alphabet and adopted the Latin alphabet. This event is written in golden letters of our history"[5] As a result, in the Soviet Union in 1926 the Uniform Turkic Alphabet was introduced to replace the varieties of the Arabic script in use at the time.[6] In 1939 Joseph Stalin ordered that the Azeri script used in the USSR again be changed, this time to the Cyrillic script in order to sever the Soviet Azerbaijani Turks' ties with the Turkish people in the Republic of Turkey.[7]

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and Azerbaijan gained its independence, one of the first laws passed in the new Parliament was the adoption of a new Latin-script alphabet.

• From 1929 until 1939 (old alphabet defined using the Latin script):

  Aa, Bʙ, Cc, Çç, Dd, Ee, Əə, Ff, Gg, Ƣƣ, Hh, Ii, Ьь, Jj, Kk, Qq, Ll, Mm, Nn, Ꞑꞑ, Oo, Ɵɵ, Pp, Rr, Ss, Şş, Tt, Uu, Vv, Xx, Уy, Zz, Ƶƶ

• From 1939 until 1958 (first version of the alphabet defined using the Cyrillic script):

  Аа, Бб, Вв, Гг, Ғғ, Дд, Ее, Әә, Жж, Зз, Ии, Йй, Кк, Ҝҝ, Лл, Мм, Нн, Оо, Өө, Пп, Рр, Сс, Тт, Уу, Үү, Фф, Хх, Һһ, Цц, Чч, Ҹҹ, Шш, Ыы, Ээ, Юю, Яя, ʼ (apostrophe)

• From 1958 until 1991 (simplified version of the alphabet defined using the Cyrillic script and the letter Јј borrowed from Latin):

  Аа, Бб, Вв, Гг, Ғғ, Дд, Ее, Әә, Жж, Зз, Ии, Ыы, Јј, Кк, Ҝҝ, Лл, Мм, Нн, Оо, Өө, Пп, Рр, Сс, Тт, Уу, Үү, Фф, Хх, Һһ, Чч, Ҹҹ, Шш, ʼ (apostrophe)

• From 1991 until 1992 (first version of the modern alphabet defined using the Latin script):

  Aa, Ää, Bb, Cc, Çç, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Ğğ, Hh, Xx, Iı, İi, Jj, Kk, Qq, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Öö, Pp, Rr, Ss, Şş, Tt, Uu, Üü, Vv, Yy, Zz

• Since 1992 (current version of the modern alphabet defined using the Latin script, replacing Ää with the historic Əə for better sorting):

  Aa, Bb, Cc, Çç, Dd, Ee, Əə, Ff, Gg, Ğğ, Hh, Xx, Iı, İi, Jj, Kk, Qq, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Öö, Pp, Rr, Ss, Şş, Tt, Uu, Üü, Vv, Yy, Zz

The Azerbaijani alphabet is the same as the Turkish alphabet, except for Әə, Xx, and Qq, the letters for sounds which do not exist as separate phonemes in Turkish. When compared to the historic Latin alphabet, as well as the 1991 version: Ğğ has replaced the historic Ƣƣ ; the dotless Iı has replaced the historic I with bowl Ьь (Also, the lowercase form of the letter B was changed from small capital ʙ to the usual b, while the uppercase form of the letter y was also changed from a Cyrillic-looking У to the usual Y.); the dotted İi has replaced the historic soft-dotted Ii, with the addition of the tittle on its uppercase counterpart, additionally I is now the uppercase counterpart of ı, while i is the lowercase counterpart of İ; Jj has replaced the historic Ƶƶ; Öö has replaced the historic Ɵɵ; Üü has replaced the historic Yy; and Yy has replaced the historic Jј. Әə was replaced by Ää, which was placed between Aa and Bb, but was then changed back to Әə, placed between Ee and Ff in the alphabet. Consequently, Jj, Yy, and some other several letters have also changed their phonetic values in comparison with the historical alphabet. The names of the letters are a, be, ce, çe, de, e, ə, fe, ge, ğe, he, xe, ı, i, je, ke/ka, qe, el, em, en, o, ö, pe, er, es, şe, te, u, ü, ve, ye, ze. Ww, which is only used in certain dialects and not part of the standard Azerbaijani alphabet, is named ikiqat ve.

When the new Latin script was introduced on December 25, 1991, A-umlaut (Ä ä) was selected to represent the sound /æ/. However, on May 16, 1992, it was replaced by the grapheme schwa (Ə ə), used previously. Although use of Ä ä (also used in Tatar, Turkmen, and Gagauz) seems to be a simpler alternative as the schwa is absent in most character sets, particularly Turkish encoding, it was reintroduced; the schwa had existed continuously from 1929 to 1991 to represent Azeri's most common vowel, in both post-Arabic alphabets (Latin and Cyrillic) of Azerbaijan.

In Azerbaijani Arabic alphabet, 9 vowels are defined. 6 of those vowels are present in Persian, whereas 3 are missing. Diacritics (including hamza) in combination with the letters alef (ا), vav (و) or ye (ی) are used in order to mark each of these vowels.

Important to note that similar to Persian alphabet, vowels in the initial position require an alef (ا) all the time (and if needed, followed by either vav (و) or ye (ی)). This excludes Arabic loanwords that may start with ʿayn (ع).

Below are the 6 vowel sounds in common with Persian, their representation in Latin and Arabic alphabets.

• Ə-ə (اَ / ـَ / ـه‌ / ه); /æ/; A front vowel; only marked with fatha (ـَ) diacritic, or with a he at middle or final positions in a word. examples include: əl / اَل (hand), ət / اَت (meat), əzmək / اَزمَک (to crush)
• E-e (ائ / ئ); /ɛ/; A front vowel; marked with a hamza on top a ye (ئ). examples include: el / ائل (people), en / ائن (wide)
• O-o (اوْ / وْ); /o/; A rounded back vowel; Shown with vav (و), either unmarked, or marked with sukun (zero-vowel) (ـْ). examples include: od / اوْد (fire), ot / اوْت (grass), on / اوْن (ten).
• A-a (آ / ‍ـا); /ɑ/; A back vowel; shown with alef (ا) in middle and final positions, and alef-maddeh (آ) in initial position. examples include: ad / آد (name), at / آت (horse)
• İ-i (ای / ی) /i/; A front vowel; shown with a ye (ی) and no diacritic. examples include: il / ایل (year), ip / ایپ (rope)
• U-u (اۇ / ۇ) /u/; A back vowel; shown with a vav and a Ḍammah (ـُ). examples include: uzun اۇزۇن (long), ucuz اۇجۇز (cheap)

Below are the 3 vowels that don't exist in Persian, and are marked with diacritics.

• Ö-ö (اؤ / ؤ) /œ/; A front vowel; shown with a hamza on top a vav (ؤ). examples include: öyüd اؤگۆد (advice), göz گؤز (eye).
• Ü-ü (اۆ / ۆ) /y/; A front vowel; shown with a "v" diacritic on top a vav (ۆ). examples include üst / اۆست (up), üzüm / اۆزۆم (grapes), güzgü / گۆزگۆ (mirror)
• I-ı (ایٛ / یٛ) /ɯ/; A back vowel; shown with an inverted "v" diacritic on top of a ye (یٛ). examples include: qızıl قیٛزیٛل (gold), açıq آچیٛق (open, turned on), sırğa سیٛرغا (earring), sarı ساریٛ (yellow)

Like other Turkic languages, Azerbaijani has a system of vowel harmony. Azerbaijani's system of vowel harmony is primarily a front/back system. This means that all vowels in a word must be ones that are pronounced either at the front or at the back of the mouth.[9] In Azerbaijani there are two suffixes that make a plural. It's either ـلَر / lər or ـلار / lar, front and back vowels respectively. The same variety of options for suffixes exists across the board in Azerbaijani. Here is how vowel harmony works, in an example of a word in which the vowels are all frontal:

• The word for dog is ایت / it. The word for dogs will be ایتلَر / itlər (ایتلار / itlar is incorrect)

And below are examples for back vowels:

• The word for mountain is داغ / dağ, thus the word for mountains will be داغلار / dağlar

A secondary vowel harmony system exists in Azerbaijani language, which is a rounded/unrounded system. This applies to some (but not all) of the suffixes. For example, there are four variations for the common suffix لی / lı li and لو / lu lü.

• The word for salt is دوُز / duz. The word for salty will be دوُزلو / duzlu.
• In Azerbaijani, the city of Tabriz is تبریز / Təbriz. The word for someone from Tabriz will be تبریزلی / Təbrizli.

In Persian or Arabic alphabets, Diacritics are usually not written out unless it's in beginner-language lesson books or in order to avoid confusion with a similarly written word.

In Azerbaijani Arabic Alphabet, there are conventions with regards to writing of diacritics.[1]

For A-a (آ / ‍ـا), the vowel is always written and shown with alef.

For Ə-ə (اَ / ـَ / ـه‌ / ه), the initial vowel is written with an alef. Vowels in the middle of the word are written in two ways. They are either shown, i.e. written with a diacritic, which usually needs not be written; or they are written with a final he (ـه‌ / ه). The former is used in closed syllables (CVC), or in the first open syllable of the word. The latter is used in open syllables (CV) with the exception of the first syllable of the word. Note that the vowel he (ـه‌ / ه) is not attached to the following letter, but is separated from it with a Zero-width non-joiner. For example the word gələcəyim (gə-lə-cəy-im) (my future) is written as گله‌جگیم. Note that the first syllable of the word is open, but it's not marked. The second syllable is open, and thus tthe vowel is marked with he (ـه‌ / ه), not attached to the following letter. Also note the breakdown of the word into syllables – this is because the word is made up of "gələcək" plus possessive pronoun "-im".

For E-e (ائ / ئ), the sound is shown with a hamzeh on top of a ye in almost all cases. The exceptions are loanwords of Persian, Arabic, or European origin. For example "enerji" (energy) is written as انرژی. Writing it as ائنئرژی is incorrect. Other examples include تلویزیون (televiziyon, meaning TV) ، علم (elm, meaning science)، قانع (qane, meaning satisfied). In words, for both Azerbaijani and loanwords, if "E" and "Y" come side by side, both letters are written; e.g. قئید (qeyd), شئیدا (şeyda), ویئتنام (Vyetnam), غئیرت (ğeyrət). Loanwords from Persian or Arabic which contain the sound [i], but are adopted in Azerbaijani with an [e] sound, are shown with ئ; examples include تسبئح (təsbeh), بئساواد (besavad), پئشکش (peşkəş).

For İ-i (ای / ی), the sound is shown with ye (ی) all the time.

For I-ı (ایٛ / یٛ), the sound is shown with ye (ی) all the time. The writing of the diacritic is optional and not necessary, and is only ever actually done in beginner language lesson books or in order to avoid confusion with a similarly written word. Native speakers can usually read words without the use of diacritic, as they are aware of vowel harmony rules (meaning that they can interpolate the correct pronunciation of "ی" by the presence of other vowels in the word). In words like qızıl قیزیل (gold), it is the familiarity with the vocabulary that helps native speakers.

For round vowels, O-o (اوْ / وْ), U-u (اوُ / وُ), Ö-ö (اؤ / ؤ), and Ü-ü (اۆ / ۆ), it is recommended that the first syllable containing such vowel be marked with diacritic, while the rest can remain unmarked and solely written with a vav (و). This reduces the effort of marking vowels, while also providing readers with a clue with respect to vowel harmony, namely as to whether the vowels of the word are to be front or back. Examples include گؤرونوش (görünüş), اوْغوز (oğuz), دۆیون (düyün)

However, it is recommended that those who are new learners shall write diacritics on all round vowels. گؤرۆنۆش (görünüş), اوْغوُز (oğuz), دۆیۆن (düyün).

In daily practice, it is rare to see vowels other than Ö-ö (اؤ / ؤ) marked. This may be due to the fact that hamza is the only one of such symbols that's frequently written in Persian as well, and due to the fact that the inverted "v" diacritic for Ü-ü (اۆ / ۆ) does not exist on typical Persian keyboards.

While Azerbaijani Latin Alphabet has 9 vowels and 23 consonants, Azerbaijani Arabic Alphabet has 30 consonants, as there are sounds that are represented by more than one consonant. Highlighted columns indicate letters from Persian or Arabic that are exclusively used in loanwords, and not in native Azerbaijani words.[1]

Notes[1]

1. Arabic loanwords that in their original spelling end in ʿayn (ع), such as "طمع" (təmə') (meaning greed), or "متاع" (məta') (meaning baggage), are instead pronounced in Azerbaijani with a final [h]. Thus they are to be written with a "ح" (he). eg. "طاماح" (tamah), "ماتاح" (matah). (Note that the vowels of these words are also changed in accordance with the vowel harmony system) If the change in pronunciation of ʿayn (ع) happens mid-word, it would be written as "ه / هـ". An example being "فعله" (fə'lə) (meaing worker) being written as "فهله" (fəhlə).
2. Loanwords that start with consonant sequences "SK, ST, SP, ŞT, ŞP", in Azerbaijani Arabic script, they are to be written starting with an "ای" (i). eg ایستئیک (isteyk) (meaning steak), ایسپورت (isport) (meaning sports)
3. There is a distinction between the pronunciation of "غ" and "ق" in Azerbaijani. Such distinction does not exist in standard persian. But in any case, loanwords from Arabic or Persian, regardless of how their "غ" and "ق" is pronounced, are to be kept as their original writing. This is not a rule in Latin Alphabet. An example being the word meaning Afghan, "افغان" (Əfqan). The "غ" in Azerbaijani is pronounced as a [g], meaning that, as it's done in Latin, it's being pronounced as if it's a "ق". But the writing of the loanword in Azerbaijani Arabic will remain the same.
4. Loanwords whose original spelling was with a "گ" (G g) but are written in Latin Alphabet with a Q q, are to be written with a "ق". Examples include "قاز" (Qaz) (meaning gas, written as "گاز" in Persian), "اوْرتوقرافی" (Orfoqrafi) (meaning orthography, written as "اورتوگرافی" in Persian)
5. When suffixes are added to words ending in "ک" (K k), resulting in the letter "ک" (K k) being between two vowels, will have its pronunciation modified to [j], equivalent to the letter "ی" (Y y). This change is reflected in Latin writing. However, in the Arabic script, in order to maintain the original familiar shape of the word, the letter "گ" (G g) (functioning in a role that's dubbed "soft G") is used, as the letter is similar in shape to "ک". Examples: "çörək+im" becoming "çörəyim" in Latin script (meaning my bread), but "چؤرک+یم" becoming "چؤرگیم". "gələcək+im" becoming "gələcəyim" in Latin script (meaning my future), but "گله‌جک+یم" becoming "گله‌جگیم".
6. Whenever the letter "ی" (Y) is placed between two "ای" (İ-i) vowels, it is written as "گ" (G g) (functioning in a role that's dubbed "soft G"). This is not something done in Latin script. Example: "ایگیرمی" (iyirmi) (meaning twenty)
7. The letters "و" ,"ه / هـ", and "ی" have a double function, as consonant, and as part of vowels. When used as consonant, they are written with no diacritic or marking.
8. Shadda, the Arabic diacritic for gemination, is retained for loanwords from Arabic. Examples: "مۆکمّل" (mükəmməl) (meaning complementary), "مدنیّت" (mədəniyyət) (meaning civility). In native Azerbaijani words and in loanwords of European origin, double consonants are written twice. Examples: "یئددی" (yeddi) (meaning seven), "ساققال" (saqqal) (meaning beard), "اوْتللو" (Otello).

This section contains the national anthem of Azerbaijan, in the current Latin, Cyrillic, Jaŋalif, Georgian, and Arabic alphabets.