The current Abkhaz alphabet is a modified variant of the Cyrillic script used for the Abkhaz language.
Abkhaz was not a written language until the 19th century. Until then, AbkhaziansâÂÂespecially elitesâÂÂhad been using Greek (until ), Georgian (919th centuries), and partially Turkish (18th century).
The first Abkhaz alphabet was created in 1862 by Peter von Uslar. It had 55 letters and was based on the Cyrillic script. Another version, having 51 letters, was used in 1892 by Dimitry Gulia and K. Machavariani. In 1909, the alphabet was again expanded to 55 letters by Andria Tchotchua to adjust to the extensive consonantal inventory of Abkhaz.
In 1926, during the korenizatsiya policy in the Soviet Union, the Cyrillic alphabet was replaced by a Latin alphabet devised by Nikolay Marr. It featured 76 letters and was called the "Abkhaz analytical alphabet". In 1928, this was replaced by another Latin alphabet. From 1938 to 1954 the Abkhaz language was written in Georgian Mkhedruli script.
Since 1954, the Abkhaz language has been written in a new 58-letter (now 64-letter) Cyrillic alphabet (see chart below). Of these, 38 are graphically distinct; the rest are digraphs with and which indicate palatalization and labialization, respectively. In 1996, the most recent reform of the alphabet was implemented: while labialization had hitherto been marked with two additional letters, àand à(àwas used in the digraphs óÃÂ, ÃÂÃÂ, úÃÂ, ÃÂÃÂ, ÃÂÃÂ, and àÃÂ, which were not considered separate letters), since then only àwas retained in this function. Unusually, the Cyrillic plosive letters ú ÿ àrepresent ejective consonants; the non-ejectives (pulmonic consonants) are derived from these by means of a descender at the bottom of the letter. In the case of the affricates, however, the plain letters are pulmonic, and the derived letters ejective.
The modern Abkhaz orthography gives preference to the letters ó ú ÿ àààwith descender (÷ àÃÂ¥ àó ÷). The letters (àç) had previously (before 1996) had a hook, which àstill does in Yakut. In pre-Soviet alphabets the hook was also used in àêÂÂ, see above.
The letters àand àare used as parts of digraphs, but are listed separately in the alphabet. Besides the digraphs listed in the alphabet, the letter àoccurs in ûà, which is used in some loanwords.
Letters or digraphs in brackets are not part of the alphabet. Letters without a modern equivalent represent phonemes only present in the Bzyb dialect, as the literary standard dialect switched from Bzyb to Abzhywa.
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