Lezgin alphabets

The Lezgin language has been written in several different alphabets over the course of its history. These alphabets have been based on three scripts: Arabic script, Latin script, and Cyrillic script.

Until 1928, Lezgin was written in Arabic script, which was taught in religious schools. In the early 1920s, it was used in a few secular textbooks.

In parallel with the Arabic alphabet, as alphabet based on Cyrillic compiled by Baron Peter von Uslar in the 1860s was used. In 1911, a slightly modified version of this alphabet was published as a primer^[1] used in secular schools.

In 1928, under the Soviet Union's process of Romanization, a Lezgin Latin alphabet was created and this was altered in 1932.

In 1938, as with most other Soviet languages, a new Cyrillic alphabet was created for Lezgin. Changes after its introduction include adding the letter Ё ё and replacing Уӏ уӏ with Уь уь. This alphabet is still used in various publications.

The Lezgin Arabic alphabet was as follows:

The Latin alphabet of 1928–1932's displayed all phonemes in contrast to the current alphabet but did not differentiate aspirated and non-aspirated consonants (k and kʰ, p-pʰ, t-tʰ, q-qʰ, t͡ʃ-t͡ʃʰ, and t͡s-t͡sʰ). The alphabet was as follows:

а	b	c	сс	ꞓ	ç	d	е
ə	f	g	ƣ	h	i	j	k
kk	ⱪ	l	m	n	о	ɵ	p
pp		q	ꝗ	r	s	ş	t
tt		u	v	x	ҳ	ӿ	y
z	ƶ	s	ss	ⱬ	'

The first Latin alphabet was changed in 1932. A comparison of the two alphabets follows:

There are 54 consonants in Lezgin. Aspiration is not normally indicated in the orthography, despite the fact that it is phonemic. The current Lezgin Cyrillic alphabet is as follows:^[4]

Notes:

• щ is used only in words borrowed from Russian language but is pronounced ш
• ё is used in only one word, ёъ (IPA: [joʔ])
• ы (IPA: [ə]) is very common in Lezgin dialects
• ь (the soft sign) is only used in Lezgin appended to other letters to form different phonemes (гь, хь, уь, кь). Lezgin has no soft phonemes and the ь is not used to denote palatalization, even in borrowed words (where it is not written; e.g., автомобил, мултфилм).

Arabic	Latin 1932–1938	Cyrillic	IPA
آ	A a	А а	a
ب	B в	Б б	b
و	V v	В в	w/v
گ	G g	Г г	g
غ	Ƣ ƣ	Гъ гъ	ʁ
ھ	H h	Гь гь	h
د	D d	Д д	d
اه	E e	Е е	je/e
-	-	Ё ё	jo
ژ	Ƶ ƶ	Ж ж	ʒ
ز	Z z	З з	z
اى	I i	И и	i
ي	J j	Й й	j
ک	K k	К к	kʰ/k
ڠ	Q q	Къ къ	q
ۊ	Ꝗ ꝗ	Кь кь	q'
گ	Ⱪ ⱪ	Кӏ кӏ	k'
ل	L l	Л л	l
م	M m	М м	m
ن	N n	Н н	n
او	O o	О о	o
پ	P p	П п	pʰ/p
ڢ		Пӏ пӏ	p'
ر	R r	Р р	r
س	S s	С с	s
ت	T t	Т т	tʰ/t
ط	T̨ t̨	Тӏ тӏ	t'
او	U u	У у	u
اۊ	Y y	Уь уь	y
ف	F f	Ф ф	f
خ	X x	Х х	χ
څ	Ӿ ӿ	Хъ хъ	qʰ
ݤ	Ҳ ҳ	Хь хь	x
ص	S̷ s̷	Ц ц	t͡sʰ/t͡s
ڗ	Ⱬ ⱬ	Цӏ цӏ	t͡s'
چ	C c	Ч ч	t͡ʃʰ/t͡ʃ
ج	Ç ç	Чӏ чӏ	t͡ʃ'
ش	Ş ş	Ш ш	ʃ
-	-	Щ щ	-
-	-	ъ	ʔ
-	-	Ы ы	-
-	-	ь	-
اه	E e	Э э	e
-	-	Ю ю	ju/y
-	-	Я я	ja/æ

• Thomas T. Pedersen. "Transliteration of Lezgin".
• Non-Slavic Languages in Cyrillic Script (including Uslar Cyrillic) from ALA-LC Romanization Tables: Transliteration Schemes for Non-Roman Scripts (Library of Congress)