The Unified Northern Alphabet (UNA) () was a set of Latin alphabets created during the Latinisation in the Soviet Union for the "small" languages of northern Russia and used for about five years during the 1930s.

Systematic work on the development of writing in the languages of the peoples of the North began in 1926, when the Northern Faculty (known as the Institute of the Peoples of the North (IPN) since 1930) of the was established.

Alphabets were initially planned for Chukchi, Even, Evenki, Gilyak, Itelmen, Ket, Koryak, Mansi, Nanai, Nenets, Kildin Sámi, Selkup, Siberian Yupik and Udihe.

Alphabet Alphabet of 1930: a a̧ o o̧ u u̧ e ȩ ə ь i y n ŋ r ʟ ᴌ m s ş z ƶ ɜ ç c d t f v w b p ɡ ƣ h ꜧ ᴋ ӄ

Alphabet of 1932:Я. П. Алькор (Кошкин), И. Д. Давыдов (1932). Материалы I всероссийской конференции по развитию языков и письменнсти народов Севера. — М.-Л.: Учпедгиз. (RSL, archive.org) A aB ʙC cꞒ ꞓD dƷ ʒꞫ ɜE eƏ əÆ æF fG gH hꜦ ꜧI iЬ ьJ jK kL lŁ łM mN nO oƟ ɵP pQ qR rɌ ɍS sꞨ ꞩT tU uV vW wX xY yZ zƵ ƶ

Letters in use across different languages The descending tail or hook beneath the letters may look like a cedilla, comma, ogonek, or extended serif, depending on the typeface.

LetterTrans. Kildin SámiKildin Sámi Nenets Selkup Mansi Khanty Evenki Even Nanai Udihe Itelmen Chukchi Koryak Yupik Aleut Ket GilyakA aaA aA aĀ āA aĀ āA aĀ āA aA aA aĀ āA aĀ āA aĀ āA aĀ āA aA aĀ āA aA aA aA aA aB ʙbB ʙB ʙB̦ ʙ̦B ʙB̦ ʙ̦B ʙ——B bB ʙB ʙB ʙB ʙB̦ ʙ̦——B ʙB̦ ʙ̦B ʙB ʙB ʙC cc (ts)C cC cÇ ç———————C cÇ ç——C cC c——Ꞓ ꞓ (Є є)čꞒ ꞓ—Ꞓ ꞓ—Ꞓ ꞓꞒ ꞓꞒ ꞓꞒ ꞓꞒ ꞓ—Ꞓ ꞓꞒ ꞓ———Ꞓ ꞓD ddD dD̦ d̦D dD̦ d̦D d——D dD dD dD dD dD̦ d̦D d—D dD dD dD dD̦ d̦Ʒ ʒdžƷ ʒ————Ʒ ʒƷ ʒƷ ʒƷ ʒ————Ʒ ʒ——Ɜ ɜdzꞫ ɜ———————————————E eeE eE eĒ ēE eE eE eE eE eE eE eĒ ēE eE eĒ ēE eE eE eE eE eƏ əəƏ əƏ əƏ̄ ə̄Ə ə—Ə əƏ əƏ̄ ə̄Ə əƏ̄ ə̄Ə əƏ̄ ə̄Ə əƏ̄ ə̄Ə əƏ əƏ̄ ə̄Ə əƏ əƏ əƏ əƏ əÆ æä—Æ æ—Æ æ—————Æ æ—————Æ æ—F ffF f———————F fF f——F fF f—F fG ggG gĢ ģG gG gG gG g—G gG gG gG gG gĢ ģG gG gG gG gG gG gH hhH hH h—H hH hH hH hH hH hH h——H hH hH hH hꜦ ꜧγ—Ꜧ ꜧ—Ꜧ ꜧꜦ ꜧ—————————Ꜧ ꜧꜦ ꜧI iiI iI iĪ īI iĪ īI iI iI iI iI iI iĪ īI iĪ īI iI iĪ īI iI iI iI iI iЬ ьyЬ ьЬ ьЬ̄ ь̄Ь ьЬ ьЬ ь————Ь ьЬ ьЬ̄ ь̄Ь ьЬ ьЬ ьЬ ь—J jjJ jJ jJ jJ jJ jJ jJ jJ jJ jJ jJ jJ jJ jJ jJ jJ jK kkK kĶ ķK kK kK kK kK kK kK kK kK kĶ ķK kK kK kK kK kK kKʻ kʻL llL lĻ ļL lĻ ļL lĻ ļL lĻ ļL lĻ ļL lL lL lL lL lĻ ļL lL lĻ ļL lĻ ļL lĻ ļL lĻ ļL lŁ łtl————Ł łŁ̦ ł̦————Ł ł——Ł łŁ ł—M mmM mM̦ m̦M mM̦ m̦M mM mM mM mM mM mM mM mM̦ m̦M mM mM mM mM mM mN nnN nŅ ņN nŅ ņN nŅ ņN nŅ ņN nŅ ņN nŅ ņN nŅ ņN nŅ ņN nŅ ņN nŅ ņN nN nŅ ņN nŅ ņN nN nŅ ņN nŅ ņŊ ŋngO ooO oO oŌ ōO oŌ ōO oO oO oO oŌ ōO oŌ ōO oŌ ōO oŌ ōO oO oŌ ōO oO oO oO oO oƟ ɵö——Ɵ ɵ—Ɵ ɵ———Ɵ ɵ———————P ppP pP̦ p̦P pP̦ p̦P pP pP pP pP pP pP pP pP̦ p̦P pP pP pP pP pP pPʻ pʻQ qq——Q q—Q q————Q qQ qQ qQ qQ qQ qQ qQʻ qʻR rrR rŖ ŗR rŖ ŗR rR rR rR rR rR rR rR rŖ ŗR rR rR rR rR rR rRʻ rʻɌ ɍř—————————————Ɍ ɍ——S ssS sȘ șS sȘ șS sS sS sȘ șS sS sS sS sS sȘ șS sS sS sȘ șS sS sȘ șS sꞨ ꞩšꞨ ꞩ—Ꞩ ꞩꞨ ꞩꞨ ꞩ———————————T ttT tȚ țT tȚ țT tT tȚ țT tȚ țT tT tT tT tT tȚ țT tT tȚ țT tT tT tȚ țT tȚ țTʻ tʻU uuU uU uŪ ūU uŪ ūU uU uU uU uU uU uŪ ūU uŪ ūU uU uŪ ūU uU uU uU uU uV vvV vV̦ v̦——V v—————V vV̦ v̦V vV vV vV v—V vW ww—W wW w—W wW wW wW wW wW wW wW wW wW wW w—X xx—X x———————X xX x——X xX x—X xY yü——Y y—Y y———Y y———————Z zzZ zZ̦ z̦Z zZ zZ̦ z̦Z z—————Z zZ zZ̦ z̦——Z z——Z zƵ ƶžƵ ƶ————————————Ƶ ƶ——

Further development From 1932, textbooks were published in the UNA. The UNA was used for fifteen out of the sixteen planned languages—all except Aleut.

After 1937, the UNA was abandoned, and those languages that were to continue to have an official writing system were to adopt Cyrillic. In practice, this spelt the end of writing for many of these minority languages; this halted their written use for decades to come.

Reading Grenoble, L. A. (2003). Language policy in the Soviet Union (Vol. 3). Springer Science & Business Media. Partanen, N.; M. Rießler (2019). An OCR system for the Unified Northern Alphabet. ACL Anthology.

References