The Kazakh language has been written mainly in four scripts at various points of time—Old Turkic, Cyrillic, Latin, and Arabic—each having a distinct alphabet. The Arabic script is used in Iran, Afghanistan, and China, while the Cyrillic script is used in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Mongolia. In October 2017, a presidential decree in Kazakhstan ordered a transition from the Cyrillic to Latin script to be implemented by 2025. In January 2021, the target year for finishing the transition was pushed back to 2031.
History
During the Soviet era, the majority use of the Arabic script was first replaced by a new Latin-based script, before being abruptly switched to a Cyrillic-based script just decades later.
In an effort to consolidate its national identity, Kazakhstan started a phased transition from the Cyrillic alphabet to the Latin alphabet in 2017. The Kazakh government drafted a seven-year process until the full implementation of the new alphabet, sub-divided into various phases.
Cyrillic script Kazakh Cyrillic alphabet А а Ә ә Б б В в Г г Ғ ғ Д д Е е Ё ё Ж ж З з И и Й й К к Қ қ Л л М м Н н Ң ң О о Ө ө П п Р р С с Т т У у Ұ ұ Ү ү Ф ф Х х Һ һ Ц ц Ч ч Ш ш Щ щ Ъ ъ Ы ы І і Ь ь Э э Ю ю Я я
The Kazakh Cyrillic alphabet is used in Kazakhstan, the Altai Republic in Russia, and the Bayan-Ölgiy Province in Mongolia. It is also used by Kazakh populations in Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as by diasporas in other countries of the former USSR. It was introduced during the Russian Empire period in the 1800s and later adapted by the Soviet Union in 1940.
In the 19th century, the Kazakh educator Ibrahim Altynsarin first introduced a Cyrillic alphabet for transcribing Kazakh. Russian missionary activity, as well as Russian-sponsored schools, further encouraged the use of Cyrillic between the 19th and early 20th centuries. The alphabet was reworked by Sarsen Amanzholov and was accepted in its current form in 1940. It contains 42 letters: 33 from the Russian alphabet, with 9 additional letters for sounds not found in Russian: ⟨ә, ғ, қ, ң, ө, ұ, ү, һ, і⟩. Initially, Kazakh letters came after Cyrillic letters shared with the Russian alphabet, but now they are placed after Cyrillic letters based on similar sound or shape.
The letters ⟨в, ё, ф, ц, ч, ъ, ь, э⟩ are not used in native Kazakh words; of these, ⟨ё, ц, ч, ъ, ь, э⟩ are used solely in Russian loanwords. Owing to Russian influence on Kazakh phonology, ⟨е⟩ palatalises the preceding consonant and is pronounced as . The letter ⟨һ⟩ is usually found in Perso-Arabic loanwords and is often pronounced as //, a non-native phoneme. In rapid conversation, ⟨қ⟩ can be pronounced like ⟨х⟩ intervocalically or when preceding stop consonants. The letter ⟨щ⟩ represents a long ⟨ш⟩ in three native words: ('bitter'), ('saltless'), and ('stupid'), as well as in Russian loanwords.
The letter ⟨и⟩ represents the diphthongs (⟨ый⟩) in back-vowel words and (⟨ій⟩) in front-vowel words. Similarly, ⟨у⟩ represents the glide next to vowels to form diphthongs, and the tense vowel between consonants. However, unlike ⟨и⟩, ⟨у⟩ as the infinitive marker in Kazakh verbs can be pronounced as (⟨ұу⟩), (⟨үу⟩), (⟨ыу⟩), and (⟨іу⟩), depending on the preceding vowels in the verb stem. Additionally, the pronunciation of ⟨и⟩ and ⟨у⟩ is retained in Russian loanwords, representing and in stressed positions and and in unstressed positions, respectively.
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.
Romanization Prior to official Latin-alphabet developments in Kazakhstan, the Kazakh Cyrillic alphabet was romanised for accessibility to readers familiar with the Latin alphabet using the following systems:
ALA-LC romanization (American Library Association and Library of Congress), 1940 system, commonly used in English-language bibliographic cataloguing and in academic publishing. BGN/PCGN romanization (US Board on Geographic Names and Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use), 1979 system, commonly used in place names and mapping. ISO 9:1995 (International Organization for Standardization), 1995, an international system based on central European orthography that uses a single unique character for each letter.
Cyrillicletter ALA-LC BGN/PCGN ISO 9:1995 English approximation А а A a A a A a Bravo Ә ә Ă ă A̋ a̋ Ä ä Cat Б б B b B b B b Bear В в V v V v V v Vulture Г г G g G g G g Goal Ғ ғ Gh gh Gh gh Ğ ğ Not present in Standard English words; Rouge in French language. Д д D d D d D d Deer Е е E e E e E e Elk Ё ё Ë ë Yo yo Ë ë Yogurt Ж ж Zh zh Zh zh J j Vision/Jellyfish З з Z z Z z Z z Zinc И и I i Ī ī Ï ï Bee Й й Ĭ ĭ Y y Y y Yes К к K k K k K k King Қ қ Q q Q q Q q Not present in Standard English words; Qur'an in Arabic languages. Л л L l L l L l Lion М м M m M m M m Mare Н н N n N n N n Nest Ң ң N͡g n͡g Ng ng Ñ ñ/Ŋ ŋ Bring О о O o O o O o Olden Ө ө Ȯ ȯ Ô ô Ö ö Not present in Standard English words; Cheval in French language. П п P p P p P p Panther Р р R r R r R r (Trilled 'Rr' present in some English accents) Rock С с S s S s S s Scorpion Т т T t T t T t Tiger У у U u Ū ū W w Moon/Whale Ұ ұ Ū ū U u U u Hook Ү ү U̇ u̇ Ù ù Ü ü Brute Ф ф F f F f F f Falcon Х х Kh kh Kh kh X x Not present in Standard English words; Loch in Scottish accent. Һ һ Ḣ ḣ H h H h Hat Ц ц T͡s t͡s Ts ts C c Artsy Ч ч Ch ch Ch ch Ç ç Champion Ш ш Sh sh Sh sh Ş ş Shark Щ щ Shch shch Shch shch ŞÇ şç Fresh cheese Ъ ъ ʺ " ʺ " silent Ы ы Y y Y y I ı Not present in Standard English words.Like a Turkish "ı", sounds like "uh", but further back in the mouth. І і Ī ī I i İ i Bitten Ь ь ʹ ' ʹ ' silent Э э Ė ė Ė ė É é Café Ю ю I͡u i͡u Yu yu YU yu You Я я I͡a i͡a Ya ya YA ya Yard
Since the introduction of the official Kazakh Latin alphabet, romanized place names have been gradually shifting to being rendered in the official Latin alphabet from being rendered in international romanization schemes. This practice can be seen in services like Google Maps.
Latin script
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, as well as in Kazakhstan. As with other Central Asian Turkic languages, a Latin alphabet, the Yañalif, was introduced by the Soviets and used from 1929 to 1940, when it was replaced with Cyrillic. Moreover, a Latin alphabet based on Pinyin was used for Kazakhs in China from 1964 to 1984. Later, the use of the Kazakh Arabic alphabet was restored in China.
1929 Latin alphabet (Çaꞑəlip) A a B ʙ C c Ç ç D d E e Ə ə G g Ƣ ƣ H h I i J j K k L l M m N n Ꞑ ꞑ O o Ɵ ɵ P p Q q R r S s T t U u V v Y y Z z Ь ь
1938 Latin alphabet (Çaꞑəljp) A a B ʙ V v G g D d E e Ç ç Z z I i J j K k L l M m N n O o P p R r S s T t U u F f X x Ƣ ƣ Q q C c Ə ə H h Ꞑ ꞑ Ɵ ɵ Ū ū Y y Ь ь
As part of a modernization program, the presidential decree No. 569 signed by President Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered the replacement of the Cyrillic script with a Latin script by 2025. In 2007, Nazarbayev said that the transformation of the Kazakh alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin should not be rushed, as he noted: "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". cited in
In 2015, the Minister of Culture and Sports Arystanbek Muhamediuly announced that a transition plan was underway, with specialists working on the orthography to accommodate the phonological aspects of the language. On 12 April 2017, Nazarbayev published an article in state newspaper Egemen Qazaqstan announcing a switchover to the Latin alphabet by 2025, a decision implemented by decree.
Nazarbayev later lamented that the "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 initially proposed Latin alphabet tried to avoid digraphs such as ⟨sh⟩ and diacritics such as ⟨ş⟩. In fact, Nazarbayev had expressly stated that the new alphabet should contain "no hooks or superfluous dots". Instead, this new alphabet would have used apostrophes to denote such letters where there was no direct Latin equivalent. It would have been similar to the Karakalpak and Uzbek alphabets.
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. This new alphabet was noted for the use of acute accents. A few web applications and sites were launched to facilitate the switch to the Latin-based alphabet. One of them is a new web-based portal, Qazlatyn.kz, that uses the new Latin alphabet to report news and other information about Kazakhstan.
Latest developments Kazakh Latin alphabet (April 2021)On some issues of translating the alphabet of the Kazakh language from Cyrillic to Latin script. A a(А а) Ä ä(Ә ә) B b(Б б) D d(Д д) E e(Е е) F f(Ф ф) G g(Г г) Ğ ğ(Ғ ғ) H h(Х х, Һ һ) I ı(І і) İ i(Й й, И и) J j(Ж ж) K k(К к) L l(Л л) M m(М м) N n(Н н) Ñ ñ(Ң ң) O o(О о) Ö ö(Ө ө) P p(П п) Q q(Қ қ) R r(Р р) S s(С с) Ş ş(Ш ш) T t(Т т) U u(У у) Ū ū(Ұ ұ) Ü ü(Ү ү) V v(В в) Y y(Ы ы) Z z(З з)
In 2020, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called for another revision of the Latin alphabet with a focus on preserving the original sounds and pronunciation of the Kazakh language. This revision, presented to the public in November 2019 by academics from the Baitursynov Institute of Linguistics, and specialists belonging to the official working group on script transition, uses umlauts, breves and cedillas instead of digraphs and acute accents, and introduces spelling changes in order to reflect more accurately the phonology of Kazakh. This revision deviated only slightly from the Common Turkic Alphabet (CTA), introducing the letter ⟨ŋ⟩ in lieu of ⟨ñ⟩. As this version was awaiting approval, linguists had been in discussion as to which Latin letters were to be used in place of their corresponding Cyrillic letters ⟨ə, ғ, и, й, ң, ɵ, у, ұ, ү, ы, ч, ш, i⟩; a suggested alternative to the introduction of accented characters was to make greater use of digraphs, with ⟨ч⟩ being written as ⟨tş⟩, for example.
In January 2021, a new revision of the Kazakh Latin alphabet was presented, introducing the letters ⟨ä, ö, ü, ğ, ū, ŋ, ş⟩ bringing it closer to the CTA.
A subsequent revision on 22 April further narrowed this gap by replacing ⟨ŋ⟩ with ⟨ñ⟩, which is also used in the Crimean Tatar Latin alphabet. Its presentation to the public was well received. This current Latin script has similarities especially with Turkish, Azerbaijani and Turkmen alphabets.
Arabic script
The Perso-Arabic script is the official alphabet for Kazakhs in 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 1929. In 1924, Kazakh intellectual Akhmet Baitursynov attempted to reform the Arabic script to better suit Kazakh. The letters , , , and 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 1929.