Macedonian alphabet
Encyclopedia
The orthography of Macedonian
includes an alphabet , which is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script, as well as language-specific conventions of spelling and punctuation.
The Macedonian alphabet was standardized in 1944 by a committee formed in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia
(then part of the federation of Yugoslavia
) after the liberation from the Nazis
in World War II
. The alphabet was similar to, and influenced by, the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
, and used the same phonemic
principles employed by Vuk Karadžić
and Krste Petkov Misirkov.
Before standardization, the language had been written in a variety of different versions of Cyrillic by different writers, influenced by Bulgarian, Early Cyrillic
or Serbian
orthography.
The following table provides the upper and lower case forms of the Macedonian alphabet, along with the IPA
value for each letter:
In addition to the standard sounds of the letters Ѓ
and Ќ
above, in some accent
s these letters represent /dʑ/ and /tɕ/, respectively.
is significantly different, and is illustrated below in lower and upper case (letter order and layout below corresponds to table above).
s not found in neighbouring languages. The committees charged with drafting the Macedonian alphabet decided on phonemic principle with a one-to-one match between letters and distinctive sounds.
used the combinations Г' and К' to represent the phonemes ɟ and c, which are unique to Macedonian among South Slavic languages
. In his magazine
"Vardar", Misirkov used the letters Ѓ and Ќ, as did Dimitar Mirčev in his book. Eventually, Ѓ
and Ќ
were adopted for the Macedonian alphabet.
In 1887, Temko Popov of the Secret Macedonian Committee used the digraphs гј and кј in his article "Who is guilty?". The following year, the committee published the "Macedonian primer" (written by Kosta Grupče and Naum Evro) which used the Serbian letters Ђ and Ћ for these phonemes.
Marko Cepenkov
, Gjorgjija Pulevski and Parteniy Zografski
used ГЬ and КЬ.
Despite their forms, Ѓ and Ќ are ordered not after Г
and К
, but after Д
and Т
respectively, based on phonetic similarity. This corresponds to the alphabet positions of Serbian
Ђ
and Ћ
respectively. These letters often correspond to Macedonian Ѓ and Ќ in cognate
s (for example, Macedonian "шеќер" (šeḱer, sugar) is analogous to Serbian/Croatian "шећер/šećer"), but they are phonetically different.
(S s), representing the sound /d͡z/, is based on Dzělo, the eighth letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet
. Although a homoglyph
to the Latin letter S
, the two letters are not directly related. Both the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet
and the Russian alphabet
also had a letter Ѕ, although Romanian Cyrillic was replaced with a Latin alphabet
in the 1860s, and the letter Ѕ was abolished in Russian in the early 18th century.
It should be noted that while Ѕ is generally transcribed as dz, it is a distinct phoneme
and is not analogous to ДЗ, which is also used in Macedonian orthography for /d.z/. Ѕ is sometimes described as soft-dz.
Dimitar Mirčev was most likely the first writer to use this letter in print prior to the standardization of 1944.
phoneme
/j/ (represented by Ј
in the modern Macedonian alphabet) was represented variously as:
Eventually the Ј
was selected to represent /j/.
and Њ
(/lj/ and /ɲ/) are ultimately from the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet. Historically, Macedonian writers have also used:
(representing the phoneme /dʒ/) was likely adopted from the Serbian alphabet and used by Gjorgjija Pulevski in four of his works, as well as by the Secret Macedonian Committee and Dimitar Mirčev. Misirkov used the digraph
ДЖ. The letter Џ is used today.
, for example). Rather, they are the standard letters Е
and И
topped with an accent when they stand in words that have homograph
s, so as to differentiate between them (for example, "сè се фаќа" – se se fakja, "all may be touched").
dialect
s. Formal written communication was usually in the Church Slavonic language (in Pirin and Vardar Macedonia
) or in Greek (in Greek Macedonia
), which were the languages of liturgy
, and were therefore considered the 'formal languages'.
The decline of the Ottoman Empire
from the mid-19th century coincided with Slavic resistance to the use of Greek in Orthodox churches and schools, and a resistance amongst some Macedonians to the introduction of standard Bulgarian in Vardar Macedonia. However during the period of Bulgarian National Revival
many Bulgarians from Macedonia supported the struggle for creation of Bulgarian cultural, educational and religious institutions, including Bulgarian schools that used the version of Cyrillic adopted by other Bulgarians. The majority of the intellectual and political leaders of the Macedonian Bulgarians used this version of the Cyrillic script, which was also changed in the 19th and early 20th century.
The latter half of the 19th century saw increasing literacy and political activity amongst speakers of Macedonian dialects, and an increasing number of documents were written in the dialects. At the time, transcriptions of Macedonian used Cyrillic with adaptations drawing from Old Church Slavonic, Serbian and Bulgarian, depending on the preference of the writer.
Early attempts to formalize written Macedonian included Krste Misirkov's book "On Macedonian Matters" (1903). Misirkov used the Cyrillic script with several adaptations for Macedonian:
Another example is from Bulgarian folklorist from Macedonia Marko Cepenkov
who published in two issues of the "A Collection of folklore, science and literature" (1892, 1897) folklore materials from Macedonia. Cepenkov used a version of Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet with his own adaptations for some of the local Macedonian dialects. He did not use ѣ
, using е
instead, and did not use the ъ
in the final position of masculine nouns. Other adaptations included:
Between the expulsion of the Ottoman Empire from Macedonia in the Balkan Wars
of 1912/13, and the liberation of Vardar Macedonia from the Nazis
in 1944, Northern Macedonia was divided between Serbia (within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
) and Bulgaria, and standard Serbian and Bulgarian were the official languages. The Serbian and Bulgarian authorities considered Macedonian to be a dialect
of Serbian or Bulgarian respectively, and according to some authors proscribed its use (see also History of the Macedonian language
). However, in Bulgaria have issued books in Macedonian dialects and in 1920s
and 1930s
in Yugoslavia were published some texts in Macedonian dialects, too. Greek was used in areas under Greek control.
as the Socialist Republic of Macedonia
, the Yugoslav authorities recognized a distinct Macedonian ethnic identity and language. The Anti-Fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM, effectively the Macedonian provisional government) formed a committee to standardize the literary Macedonian language and alphabet.
ASNOM rejected the first committee's recommendations, and formed a second committee, whose recommendations were accepted. The (second) committees' recommendations were strongly influenced by the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (28 of the Macedonian alphabet's 31 letters are common to both Macedonian and Serbian, the letters unique to Macedonian being Ѓ
, Ѕ
, and Ќ
), and by the works of Krste Misirkov.
It is widely assumed by many commentators that there was some political pressure exerted by Yugoslav authorities to ensure that the Macedonian literary language and alphabet were sufficiently dissimilar to Bulgarian to deflect opinions about the Bulgarian character of the Macedonian language.
There were also pragmatic political pressures to adopt an alphabet similar to the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, which was already an official alphabet of Yugoslavia.
The first committee met from November 27, 1944 to December 4, 1944, and was composed of prominent Macedonian academics and writers (see list below). The committee chose the dialects of Veles
, Prilep
and Bitola
as the basis for the literary language (as Misirkov had in 1903), and proposed a Cyrillic alphabet. The first committee's recommendation was for the alphabet to use
ASNOM rejected the first committee's recommendations, and convened a second committee. Although no official reason was provided, several reasons are supposed for the rejection of the first committee's recommendation, including internal disagreement over the inclusion of Ъ
(the Big Yer
, as used in Bulgarian), and the view that its inclusion made the alphabet "too close" to the Bulgarian alphabet.
While some Macedonian dialects contain a clear phonemic
schwa
and used a Bulgarian-style Ъ
, according to some opinions the western dialects on which the literary language is based do not. Blaže Koneski
objected to the inclusion of the Big Yer on the basis that since there was no Big Yer in the literary language (not yet standardized), there was no need for it to be represented in the alphabet. By excluding it from the alphabet, speakers of schwa
-dialects would more rapidly adapt to the standard dialect. On the other hand, opponents of Koneski indicatеd that this phoneme is distributed among the western Macedonian dialects too and a letter Ъ should be included in the standardized at that time literary language.
With the rejection of the first committee's draft alphabet, ASNOM convened a new committee with five members from the first committee and five new members. On May 3, 1945, the second committee presented its recommendations, which were accepted by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia that same day, and published in Nova Makedonija
, the official newspaper.
The committee's recommendations were:
The rejection of the Ъ (Big Yer), together with the adoption of four Serbian Cyrillic letters (Ј
, Џ
, Љ
and Њ
), led to accusations that the committee was "Serbianizing
" Macedonian, while those in favor of including the Big Yer (Ъ) were accused of "Bulgarianizing" Macedonian. Irrespective, the new alphabet was officially adopted in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia on May 16, 1945, and is still used in the Republic of Macedonia and among Macedonian communities around the world.
Macedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
includes an alphabet , which is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script, as well as language-specific conventions of spelling and punctuation.
The Macedonian alphabet was standardized in 1944 by a committee formed in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia
Socialist Republic of Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
(then part of the federation of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
) after the liberation from the Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The alphabet was similar to, and influenced by, the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two standard modern alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being Latin...
, and used the same phonemic
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
principles employed by Vuk Karadžić
Vuk Stefanovic Karadžic
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić was a Serbian philolog and linguist, the major reformer of the Serbian language, and deserves, perhaps, for his collections of songs, fairy tales, and riddles to be called the father of the study of Serbian folklore. He was the author of the first Serbian dictionary...
and Krste Petkov Misirkov.
Before standardization, the language had been written in a variety of different versions of Cyrillic by different writers, influenced by Bulgarian, Early Cyrillic
Early Cyrillic alphabet
The Early Cyrillic alphabet is a writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th or 10th century to write the Old Church Slavonic liturgical language...
or Serbian
Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two standard modern alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being Latin...
orthography.
The Alphabet
Origins:- Phoenician alphabetPhoenician alphabetThe Phoenician alphabet, called by convention the Proto-Canaanite alphabet for inscriptions older than around 1050 BC, was a non-pictographic consonantal alphabet, or abjad. It was used for the writing of Phoenician, a Northern Semitic language, used by the civilization of Phoenicia...
- Greek alphabetGreek alphabetThe Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
- Latin alphabetLatin alphabetThe Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
- Cyrillic script
- Macedonian Cyrillic alphabet
- Latin alphabet
- Greek alphabet
The following table provides the upper and lower case forms of the Macedonian alphabet, along with the IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
value for each letter:
| Cyrillic IPA |
А а A (Cyrillic) A is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents an open front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨a⟩ in "father".The Cyrillic letter A is romanized using the Latin letter A.-History:... /a/ |
Б б Be (Cyrillic) Be is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. It commonly represents the voiced bilabial plosive , like the English pronunciation of ⟨b⟩ in "bee"... /b/ |
В в Ve (Cyrillic) Ve is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiced labiodental fricative , like the pronunciation of ⟨v⟩ in "very".... /v/ |
Г г Ge (Cyrillic) Ge is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. It is also known in some languages as He. In Unicode this letter is called "Ghe".It commonly represents the voiced velar plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨g⟩ in "go".... /ɡ/ |
Д д De (Cyrillic) De is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.De commonly represents the voiced dental plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨d⟩ in admit.De is romanized using the Latin letter D.-History:... /d/ |
Ѓ ѓ Gje Gje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is used in Macedonian to represent the voiced palatal plosive or the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate , similar to the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jet".... /ɟ/ |
Е е Ye (Cyrillic) Ye is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. In some languages this letter is called E.It commonly represents the vowel or , like the pronunciation of ⟨e⟩ in "yes".Ye is romanized using the Latin letter E.... /ɛ/ |
Ж ж Zhe (Cyrillic) Zhe is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiced postalveolar fricative , like the pronunciation of ⟨s⟩ in "treasure".Zhe is romanized as ⟨zh⟩ or ⟨ž⟩.-History:... /ʒ/ |
З з Ze (Cyrillic) Ze is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiced alveolar fricative , like the pronunciation of ⟨z⟩ in "zoo".Ze is romanized using the Latin letter ⟨z⟩.... /z/ |
Ѕ ѕ Dze Dze is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used in the Macedonian language to represent the voiced alveolar affricate , pronounced like ⟨ds⟩ in "pods".... /d͡z/ |
И и I (Cyrillic) I is a letter used in almost all ancient and modern Cyrillic alphabets.It commonly represents the close front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨i⟩ in "machine", or the near-close near-front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨i⟩ in "bin".-History:The Cyrillic letter I was... /i/ |
Ј ј Je (Cyrillic) Je is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the palatal approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨y⟩ in "yes".-Usage:-Related letters and other similar characters:... /j/ |
| Cyrillic IPA |
К к Ka (Cyrillic) Ka is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless velar plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨k⟩ in "king".-History:... /k/ |
Л л El (Cyrillic) El is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.El commonly represents the alveolar lateral approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨l⟩ in "lip".-Form:... /l/, /ɫ/ |
Љ љ Lje Lje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.Lje represents a palatal lateral , a sound similar to the palatalized alveolar lateral which is represented by the digraph ЛЬ and pronounced like the ⟨ll⟩ in "million".Lje was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić... /lj/, /l/ |
М м Em (Cyrillic) Em is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.Em commonly represents the bilabial nasal consonant , like the pronunciation of ⟨m⟩ in "him".It is derived from the Greek letter Mu .... /m/ |
Н н En (Cyrillic) En is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the alveolar nasal consonant , like the pronunciation of ⟨n⟩ in "nice".-History:The Cyrillic letter En was derived from the Greek letter Nu .... /n/ |
Њ њ Nje Nje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is a ligature of the Cyrillic letters En ⟨Н⟩ and Soft Sign ⟨Ь⟩. It was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. It corresponds to the digraph ⟨nj⟩ in the Serbian Latin and Croatian alphabets.It is used in Macedonian and Serbian, where it represents a... /ɲ/ |
О о O (Cyrillic) O is a letter of the Cyrillic script.O commonly represents the close-mid back rounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨o⟩ in "go".-History:The Cyrillic letter O was derived from the Greek letter Omicron .... /ɔ/ |
П п Pe (Cyrillic) Pe is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless bilabial plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨p⟩ in "pack".-History:... /p/ |
Р р Er (Cyrillic) Er is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the alveolar trill , like the "rolled" sound in the Scottish pronunciation of ⟨r⟩ in "curd".-History:... /r/ |
С с Es (Cyrillic) Es is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless alveolar fricative , like the pronunciation of ⟨s⟩ in "sand".-History:... /s/ |
Т т Te (Cyrillic) Te is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless alveolar plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨t⟩ in "tick".-History:... /t/ |
Ќ ќ Kje Kje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used only in the Macedonian alphabet, where it It represents the voiceless palatal plosive , or the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate . Kje is the 24th letter In this alphabet... /c/ |
| Cyrillic IPA |
У у U (Cyrillic) U is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. It commonly represents the close back rounded vowel , somewhat like the pronunciation of ⟨oo⟩ in "boot"... /u/ |
Ф ф /f/ |
Х х /x/ |
Ц ц Tse (Cyrillic) Tse is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless alveolar affricate , like the pronunciation of ⟨ts⟩ in "cats".In English, Tse is commonly romanized as ⟨ts⟩... /t͡s/ |
Ч ч Che (Cyrillic) Che or Cha is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless postalveolar affricate , like the pronunciation of ⟨ch⟩ in "change".... /t͡ʃ/ |
Џ џ Dzhe Dzhe is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet used in Serbian and Macedonian to represent the voiced postalveolar affricate , like the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jump"... /d͡ʒ/ |
Ш ш Sha For other uses, see Sha .Sha is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. It commonly represents the voiceless postalveolar fricative , like the pronunciation of ⟨sh⟩ in "sheep", or the somewhat similar voiceless retroflex fricative . It is used in every variation of the Cyrillic alphabet, for Slavic and... /ʃ/ |
In addition to the standard sounds of the letters Ѓ
Gje
Gje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is used in Macedonian to represent the voiced palatal plosive or the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate , similar to the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jet"....
and Ќ
Kje
Kje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used only in the Macedonian alphabet, where it It represents the voiceless palatal plosive , or the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate . Kje is the 24th letter In this alphabet...
above, in some accent
Accent (linguistics)
In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside , the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language In...
s these letters represent /dʑ/ and /tɕ/, respectively.
Cursive Alphabet
The above table contains the printed form of the Macedonian alphabet; the cursive scriptCursive
Cursive, also known as joined-up writing, joint writing, or running writing, is any style of handwriting in which the symbols of the language are written in a simplified and/or flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing easier or faster...
is significantly different, and is illustrated below in lower and upper case (letter order and layout below corresponds to table above).
Specialized Letters
Macedonian has a number of phonemePhoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s not found in neighbouring languages. The committees charged with drafting the Macedonian alphabet decided on phonemic principle with a one-to-one match between letters and distinctive sounds.
Unique Letters
Ѓ and Ќ
In "On Macedonian Matters", MisirkovKrste Misirkov
Krste Petkov Misirkov was a philologist, slavist, historian, ethnographer, publicist author of the first book and scientific magazine in Macedonian, where he for the first time outlined the principles of the literary Macedonian language...
used the combinations Г' and К' to represent the phonemes ɟ and c, which are unique to Macedonian among South Slavic languages
South Slavic languages
The South Slavic languages comprise one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches by a belt of German, Hungarian and Romanian speakers...
. In his magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
"Vardar", Misirkov used the letters Ѓ and Ќ, as did Dimitar Mirčev in his book. Eventually, Ѓ
Gje
Gje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is used in Macedonian to represent the voiced palatal plosive or the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate , similar to the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jet"....
and Ќ
Kje
Kje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used only in the Macedonian alphabet, where it It represents the voiceless palatal plosive , or the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate . Kje is the 24th letter In this alphabet...
were adopted for the Macedonian alphabet.
In 1887, Temko Popov of the Secret Macedonian Committee used the digraphs гј and кј in his article "Who is guilty?". The following year, the committee published the "Macedonian primer" (written by Kosta Grupče and Naum Evro) which used the Serbian letters Ђ and Ћ for these phonemes.
Marko Cepenkov
Marko Cepenkov
Marko Kostov Cepenkov was a Bulgarian folklorist from the region of Macedonia. In the Republic of Macedonia he is regarded a Macedonian writer and poet. In his own time, his language was described as Bulgarian, and Cepenkov regarded it this way himself...
, Gjorgjija Pulevski and Parteniy Zografski
Parteniy Zografski
Parteniy Zografski was a 19th-century cleric, philologist, folklorist and enlightener from Macedonia, one of the early figures of the Bulgarian National Revival...
used ГЬ and КЬ.
Despite their forms, Ѓ and Ќ are ordered not after Г
Ge (Cyrillic)
Ge is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. It is also known in some languages as He. In Unicode this letter is called "Ghe".It commonly represents the voiced velar plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨g⟩ in "go"....
and К
Ka (Cyrillic)
Ka is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless velar plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨k⟩ in "king".-History:...
, but after Д
De (Cyrillic)
De is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.De commonly represents the voiced dental plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨d⟩ in admit.De is romanized using the Latin letter D.-History:...
and Т
Te (Cyrillic)
Te is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless alveolar plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨t⟩ in "tick".-History:...
respectively, based on phonetic similarity. This corresponds to the alphabet positions of Serbian
Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two standard modern alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being Latin...
Ђ
Dje
Dje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.Dje is the sixth letter of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet and of the Montenegrin Cyrillic alphabet, used in the Serbian language to represent the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate , similar to the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jet".Dje corresponds to the Latin...
and Ћ
Tshe
Tshe is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used only in the Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin alphabets, where it represents the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate , somewhat like the pronunciation of ⟨ch⟩ in "chew". The sound of Tshe is produced from the voiceless alveolar plosive by iotation....
respectively. These letters often correspond to Macedonian Ѓ and Ќ in cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
s (for example, Macedonian "шеќер" (šeḱer, sugar) is analogous to Serbian/Croatian "шећер/šećer"), but they are phonetically different.
Ѕ
The Cyrillic letter DzeS
S is the nineteenth letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet.-History: Semitic Šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative . Greek did not have this sound, so the Greek sigma came to represent...
(S s), representing the sound /d͡z/, is based on Dzělo, the eighth letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet
Early Cyrillic alphabet
The Early Cyrillic alphabet is a writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th or 10th century to write the Old Church Slavonic liturgical language...
. Although a homoglyph
Homoglyph
In typography, a homoglyph is one of two or more characters, or glyphs, with shapes that either appear identical or cannot be differentiated by quick visual inspection. This designation is also applied to sequences of characters sharing these properties....
to the Latin letter S
S
S is the nineteenth letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet.-History: Semitic Šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative . Greek did not have this sound, so the Greek sigma came to represent...
, the two letters are not directly related. Both the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet
Romanian Cyrillic alphabet
The Romanian Cyrillic alphabet was used to write the Romanian language before 1860–1862, when it was officially replaced by a Latin-based Romanian alphabet. Cyrillic remained in occasional use until circa 1920...
and the Russian alphabet
Russian alphabet
The Russian alphabet is a form of the Cyrillic script, developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
also had a letter Ѕ, although Romanian Cyrillic was replaced with a Latin alphabet
Romanian alphabet
The Romanian alphabet is a modification of the Latin alphabet and consists of 31 letters:The letters Q , W , and Y were officially introduced in the Romanian alphabet in 1982, although they had been used earlier...
in the 1860s, and the letter Ѕ was abolished in Russian in the early 18th century.
It should be noted that while Ѕ is generally transcribed as dz, it is a distinct phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
and is not analogous to ДЗ, which is also used in Macedonian orthography for /d.z/. Ѕ is sometimes described as soft-dz.
Dimitar Mirčev was most likely the first writer to use this letter in print prior to the standardization of 1944.
Ј
Prior to standardization, the IPAInternational Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
/j/ (represented by Ј
Je (Cyrillic)
Je is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the palatal approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨y⟩ in "yes".-Usage:-Related letters and other similar characters:...
in the modern Macedonian alphabet) was represented variously as:
- Й/йShort IShort I is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. It is made of the Cyrillic letter И with a breve.Short I represents the palatal approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨y⟩ in toy....
(by Gjorgjija Pulevski in "Macedonian fairy"); - І/і (by MisirkovKrste MisirkovKrste Petkov Misirkov was a philologist, slavist, historian, ethnographer, publicist author of the first book and scientific magazine in Macedonian, where he for the first time outlined the principles of the literary Macedonian language...
in On Macedonian Matters, Marko CepenkovMarko CepenkovMarko Kostov Cepenkov was a Bulgarian folklorist from the region of Macedonia. In the Republic of Macedonia he is regarded a Macedonian writer and poet. In his own time, his language was described as Bulgarian, and Cepenkov regarded it this way himself...
, Dimitar Mirčev, in four of Gjorgjija Pulevski's works, in the "Macedonian primer" by the Secret Macedonian Committee and by members of the "Vinegrover" movement); or - Ј/јJe (Cyrillic)Je is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the palatal approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨y⟩ in "yes".-Usage:-Related letters and other similar characters:...
(by Gjorgjija Pulevski in his "Dictionary of four languages" and "Dictionary of three languages", and by Temko Popov in his article "Who is guilty?")
Eventually the Ј
Je (Cyrillic)
Je is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the palatal approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨y⟩ in "yes".-Usage:-Related letters and other similar characters:...
was selected to represent /j/.
Љ and Њ
The letters ЉLje
Lje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.Lje represents a palatal lateral , a sound similar to the palatalized alveolar lateral which is represented by the digraph ЛЬ and pronounced like the ⟨ll⟩ in "million".Lje was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić...
and Њ
Nje
Nje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is a ligature of the Cyrillic letters En ⟨Н⟩ and Soft Sign ⟨Ь⟩. It was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. It corresponds to the digraph ⟨nj⟩ in the Serbian Latin and Croatian alphabets.It is used in Macedonian and Serbian, where it represents a...
(/lj/ and /ɲ/) are ultimately from the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet. Historically, Macedonian writers have also used:
- the digraphs ЛЬ and НЬ (used by Gjorgjija Pulevski and in the "Macedonian primer" of the Secret Macedonian Committee)
- the digraphs ЛЈ and НЈ (used by Temko Popov)
- the combinations Л' and Н' (used by Krste Misirkov and Dimitar Mirčev)
Џ
The letter ЏDzhe
Dzhe is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet used in Serbian and Macedonian to represent the voiced postalveolar affricate , like the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jump"...
(representing the phoneme /dʒ/) was likely adopted from the Serbian alphabet and used by Gjorgjija Pulevski in four of his works, as well as by the Secret Macedonian Committee and Dimitar Mirčev. Misirkov used the digraph
Digraph (orthography)
A digraph or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined...
ДЖ. The letter Џ is used today.
Accented Letters
The accented letters Ѐ and are not regarded as separate letters, nor are they accented letters (as in FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, for example). Rather, they are the standard letters Е
Ye (Cyrillic)
Ye is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. In some languages this letter is called E.It commonly represents the vowel or , like the pronunciation of ⟨e⟩ in "yes".Ye is romanized using the Latin letter E....
and И
I (Cyrillic)
I is a letter used in almost all ancient and modern Cyrillic alphabets.It commonly represents the close front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨i⟩ in "machine", or the near-close near-front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨i⟩ in "bin".-History:The Cyrillic letter I was...
topped with an accent when they stand in words that have homograph
Homograph
A homograph is a word or a group of words that share the same written form but have different meanings. When spoken, the meanings may be distinguished by different pronunciations, in which case the words are also heteronyms. Words with the same writing and pronunciation A homograph (from the ,...
s, so as to differentiate between them (for example, "сè се фаќа" – se se fakja, "all may be touched").
Development of the Macedonian alphabet
Until the modern era, Macedonian was predominantly a spoken language, with no standardized written form of the vernacularVernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s. Formal written communication was usually in the Church Slavonic language (in Pirin and Vardar Macedonia
Vardar Macedonia
Vardar Macedonia is an area in the north of the Macedonia . The borders of the area are those of the Republic of Macedonia. It covers an area of...
) or in Greek (in Greek Macedonia
Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
), which were the languages of liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
, and were therefore considered the 'formal languages'.
The decline of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
from the mid-19th century coincided with Slavic resistance to the use of Greek in Orthodox churches and schools, and a resistance amongst some Macedonians to the introduction of standard Bulgarian in Vardar Macedonia. However during the period of Bulgarian National Revival
Bulgarian National Revival
The Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...
many Bulgarians from Macedonia supported the struggle for creation of Bulgarian cultural, educational and religious institutions, including Bulgarian schools that used the version of Cyrillic adopted by other Bulgarians. The majority of the intellectual and political leaders of the Macedonian Bulgarians used this version of the Cyrillic script, which was also changed in the 19th and early 20th century.
The latter half of the 19th century saw increasing literacy and political activity amongst speakers of Macedonian dialects, and an increasing number of documents were written in the dialects. At the time, transcriptions of Macedonian used Cyrillic with adaptations drawing from Old Church Slavonic, Serbian and Bulgarian, depending on the preference of the writer.
Early attempts to formalize written Macedonian included Krste Misirkov's book "On Macedonian Matters" (1903). Misirkov used the Cyrillic script with several adaptations for Macedonian:
- i (where ЈJe (Cyrillic)Je is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the palatal approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨y⟩ in "yes".-Usage:-Related letters and other similar characters:...
is used today); - л' (where ЉLjeLje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.Lje represents a palatal lateral , a sound similar to the palatalized alveolar lateral which is represented by the digraph ЛЬ and pronounced like the ⟨ll⟩ in "million".Lje was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić...
is used today); - н' (where ЊNjeNje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is a ligature of the Cyrillic letters En ⟨Н⟩ and Soft Sign ⟨Ь⟩. It was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. It corresponds to the digraph ⟨nj⟩ in the Serbian Latin and Croatian alphabets.It is used in Macedonian and Serbian, where it represents a...
is used today); - г' (where ЃGjeGje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is used in Macedonian to represent the voiced palatal plosive or the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate , similar to the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jet"....
is used today); - к' (where ЌKjeKje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used only in the Macedonian alphabet, where it It represents the voiceless palatal plosive , or the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate . Kje is the 24th letter In this alphabet...
is used today); and - ѕ (as used today).
Another example is from Bulgarian folklorist from Macedonia Marko Cepenkov
Marko Cepenkov
Marko Kostov Cepenkov was a Bulgarian folklorist from the region of Macedonia. In the Republic of Macedonia he is regarded a Macedonian writer and poet. In his own time, his language was described as Bulgarian, and Cepenkov regarded it this way himself...
who published in two issues of the "A Collection of folklore, science and literature" (1892, 1897) folklore materials from Macedonia. Cepenkov used a version of Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet with his own adaptations for some of the local Macedonian dialects. He did not use ѣ
Yat
Yat or Jat is the thirty-second letter of the old Cyrillic alphabet. Its name in Old Church Slavonic is jěd’ or iad’ . In the common scientific Latin transliteration for old Slavic languages, the letter is represented by e with caron: .The yat represented a Common Slavic long vowel...
, using е
Ye (Cyrillic)
Ye is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. In some languages this letter is called E.It commonly represents the vowel or , like the pronunciation of ⟨e⟩ in "yes".Ye is romanized using the Latin letter E....
instead, and did not use the ъ
Yer
The letter yer of the Cyrillic alphabet, also spelled jer or er, is known as the hard sign in the modern Russian and Rusyn alphabets and as er golyam in the Bulgarian alphabet...
in the final position of masculine nouns. Other adaptations included:
- і (where ЈJe (Cyrillic)Je is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the palatal approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨y⟩ in "yes".-Usage:-Related letters and other similar characters:...
is used today); - щ (where Шт is used today);
- ль (where ЉLjeLje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.Lje represents a palatal lateral , a sound similar to the palatalized alveolar lateral which is represented by the digraph ЛЬ and pronounced like the ⟨ll⟩ in "million".Lje was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić...
is used today); - нь (where ЊNjeNje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is a ligature of the Cyrillic letters En ⟨Н⟩ and Soft Sign ⟨Ь⟩. It was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. It corresponds to the digraph ⟨nj⟩ in the Serbian Latin and Croatian alphabets.It is used in Macedonian and Serbian, where it represents a...
is used today); - гь (where ЃGjeGje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is used in Macedonian to represent the voiced palatal plosive or the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate , similar to the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jet"....
is used today); - кь (where ЌKjeKje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used only in the Macedonian alphabet, where it It represents the voiceless palatal plosive , or the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate . Kje is the 24th letter In this alphabet...
is used today); - дж (where ЏDzheDzhe is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet used in Serbian and Macedonian to represent the voiced postalveolar affricate , like the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jump"...
is used today); - ѫYusLittle Yus and Big Yus , or Jus, are letters of the Cyrillic script, representing two Common Slavonic nasal vowels in the early Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets. Each can occur in iotified form , formed as ligatures with the letter Decimal I...
(somtimes for АA (Cyrillic)A is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents an open front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨a⟩ in "father".The Cyrillic letter A is romanized using the Latin letter A.-History:...
).
Between the expulsion of the Ottoman Empire from Macedonia in the Balkan Wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
of 1912/13, and the liberation of Vardar Macedonia from the Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in 1944, Northern Macedonia was divided between Serbia (within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
) and Bulgaria, and standard Serbian and Bulgarian were the official languages. The Serbian and Bulgarian authorities considered Macedonian to be a dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
of Serbian or Bulgarian respectively, and according to some authors proscribed its use (see also History of the Macedonian language
History of the Macedonian language
Standard Macedonian was adopted as an official language in August 1944 by a provisional government run by the Anti-Fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia when it declared the formation of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia—a constituent state within the Socialist Federative...
). However, in Bulgaria have issued books in Macedonian dialects and in 1920s
1920s
File:1920s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Sean Hogan during the Irish Civil War; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the 18th amendment, which made alcoholic beverages illegal throughout the entire decade; In...
and 1930s
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson show the effects of the Great Depression; Due to the economic collapse, the farms become dry and the Dust Bowl spreads through America; The Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese...
in Yugoslavia were published some texts in Macedonian dialects, too. Greek was used in areas under Greek control.
Standardization of the Macedonian Alphabet
With the liberation of Vardar Macedonia from German–Bulgarian occupation 1944 and the incorporation of the territory into the Socialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
as the Socialist Republic of Macedonia
Socialist Republic of Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
, the Yugoslav authorities recognized a distinct Macedonian ethnic identity and language. The Anti-Fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM, effectively the Macedonian provisional government) formed a committee to standardize the literary Macedonian language and alphabet.
ASNOM rejected the first committee's recommendations, and formed a second committee, whose recommendations were accepted. The (second) committees' recommendations were strongly influenced by the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (28 of the Macedonian alphabet's 31 letters are common to both Macedonian and Serbian, the letters unique to Macedonian being Ѓ
Gje
Gje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is used in Macedonian to represent the voiced palatal plosive or the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate , similar to the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jet"....
, Ѕ
Dze
Dze is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used in the Macedonian language to represent the voiced alveolar affricate , pronounced like ⟨ds⟩ in "pods"....
, and Ќ
Kje
Kje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used only in the Macedonian alphabet, where it It represents the voiceless palatal plosive , or the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate . Kje is the 24th letter In this alphabet...
), and by the works of Krste Misirkov.
Committee Controversy
The extent (if any) to which Yugoslav politics overshadowed linguistics in the decisions behind the standardization of the Macedonian language and alphabet will never be fully known.It is widely assumed by many commentators that there was some political pressure exerted by Yugoslav authorities to ensure that the Macedonian literary language and alphabet were sufficiently dissimilar to Bulgarian to deflect opinions about the Bulgarian character of the Macedonian language.
There were also pragmatic political pressures to adopt an alphabet similar to the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, which was already an official alphabet of Yugoslavia.
The First Committee
Veles (city)
Veles is a city in the center of the Republic of Macedonia on the Vardar river. The city of Veles is the seat of Veles Municipality.-Name:The city's name was Vylosa in Ancient Greek and before the Balkan Wars, it was a township with the name Köprülü in the Üsküp sandjak, Ottoman empire for 600...
, Prilep
Prilep
Prilep is the fourth largest city in the Republic of Macedonia. It has a population of 66,246 citizens. Prilep is known as "the city under Marko's Towers" because of its proximity to the towers of Prince Marko.-Name:...
and Bitola
Bitola
Bitola is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia. The city is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba and Nidže mountains, 14 km north of the...
as the basis for the literary language (as Misirkov had in 1903), and proposed a Cyrillic alphabet. The first committee's recommendation was for the alphabet to use
- the SerbianSerbian Cyrillic alphabetThe Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two standard modern alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being Latin...
ЈJe (Cyrillic)Je is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the palatal approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨y⟩ in "yes".-Usage:-Related letters and other similar characters:...
and ЏDzheDzhe is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet used in Serbian and Macedonian to represent the voiced postalveolar affricate , like the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jump"...
; - the Old Church SlavonicEarly Cyrillic alphabetThe Early Cyrillic alphabet is a writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th or 10th century to write the Old Church Slavonic liturgical language...
ЅDzeDze is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used in the Macedonian language to represent the voiced alveolar affricate , pronounced like ⟨ds⟩ in "pods"....
; - the Old Church SlavonicEarly Cyrillic alphabetThe Early Cyrillic alphabet is a writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th or 10th century to write the Old Church Slavonic liturgical language...
ЪYerThe letter yer of the Cyrillic alphabet, also spelled jer or er, is known as the hard sign in the modern Russian and Rusyn alphabets and as er golyam in the Bulgarian alphabet...
(schwaSchwaIn linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
); and - Venko MarkovskiVenko MarkovskiVenko Markovski, in Bulgarian and Macedonian Венко Марковски, born as Veniamin Milanov Toshev; was a Bulgarian and Macedonian writer, poet and Communist politician.-Biography:...
's versions of Љ, Њ, Ќ and Ѓ (which contained a small circle in the bottom-right of ЛEl (Cyrillic)El is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.El commonly represents the alveolar lateral approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨l⟩ in "lip".-Form:...
, НEn (Cyrillic)En is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the alveolar nasal consonant , like the pronunciation of ⟨n⟩ in "nice".-History:The Cyrillic letter En was derived from the Greek letter Nu ....
and КKa (Cyrillic)Ka is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless velar plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨k⟩ in "king".-History:...
, and a small circle in the top-right of ГGe (Cyrillic)Ge is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. It is also known in some languages as He. In Unicode this letter is called "Ghe".It commonly represents the voiced velar plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨g⟩ in "go"....
).
ASNOM rejected the first committee's recommendations, and convened a second committee. Although no official reason was provided, several reasons are supposed for the rejection of the first committee's recommendation, including internal disagreement over the inclusion of Ъ
Yer
The letter yer of the Cyrillic alphabet, also spelled jer or er, is known as the hard sign in the modern Russian and Rusyn alphabets and as er golyam in the Bulgarian alphabet...
(the Big Yer
Yer
The letter yer of the Cyrillic alphabet, also spelled jer or er, is known as the hard sign in the modern Russian and Rusyn alphabets and as er golyam in the Bulgarian alphabet...
, as used in Bulgarian), and the view that its inclusion made the alphabet "too close" to the Bulgarian alphabet.
While some Macedonian dialects contain a clear phonemic
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
schwa
Schwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
and used a Bulgarian-style Ъ
Yer
The letter yer of the Cyrillic alphabet, also spelled jer or er, is known as the hard sign in the modern Russian and Rusyn alphabets and as er golyam in the Bulgarian alphabet...
, according to some opinions the western dialects on which the literary language is based do not. Blaže Koneski
Blaže Koneski
Blaže Koneski was one of the most distinguished Macedonian poets, writers, literary translators, and linguistic scholars...
objected to the inclusion of the Big Yer on the basis that since there was no Big Yer in the literary language (not yet standardized), there was no need for it to be represented in the alphabet. By excluding it from the alphabet, speakers of schwa
Schwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
-dialects would more rapidly adapt to the standard dialect. On the other hand, opponents of Koneski indicatеd that this phoneme is distributed among the western Macedonian dialects too and a letter Ъ should be included in the standardized at that time literary language.
The Second Committee and Adoption
Nova Makedonija (newspaper)
Nova Makedonija is the oldest daily newspaper in the Republic of Macedonia. It was established with decision of the presidium of ASNOM...
, the official newspaper.
The committee's recommendations were:
- acceptance of SerbianSerbian Cyrillic alphabetThe Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two standard modern alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being Latin...
ЈJe (Cyrillic)Je is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the palatal approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨y⟩ in "yes".-Usage:-Related letters and other similar characters:...
and ЏDzheDzhe is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet used in Serbian and Macedonian to represent the voiced postalveolar affricate , like the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jump"...
; - acceptance of Old Church SlavonicEarly Cyrillic alphabetThe Early Cyrillic alphabet is a writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th or 10th century to write the Old Church Slavonic liturgical language...
ЅDzeDze is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used in the Macedonian language to represent the voiced alveolar affricate , pronounced like ⟨ds⟩ in "pods"....
; - adoption of SerbianSerbian Cyrillic alphabetThe Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two standard modern alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being Latin...
ЉLjeLje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.Lje represents a palatal lateral , a sound similar to the palatalized alveolar lateral which is represented by the digraph ЛЬ and pronounced like the ⟨ll⟩ in "million".Lje was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić...
and ЊNjeNje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is a ligature of the Cyrillic letters En ⟨Н⟩ and Soft Sign ⟨Ь⟩. It was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. It corresponds to the digraph ⟨nj⟩ in the Serbian Latin and Croatian alphabets.It is used in Macedonian and Serbian, where it represents a...
, which were similar in appearance to MarkovskiVenko MarkovskiVenko Markovski, in Bulgarian and Macedonian Венко Марковски, born as Veniamin Milanov Toshev; was a Bulgarian and Macedonian writer, poet and Communist politician.-Biography:...
's proposed letters; - creation and adoption of ЌKjeKje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, used only in the Macedonian alphabet, where it It represents the voiceless palatal plosive , or the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate . Kje is the 24th letter In this alphabet...
and ЃGjeGje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is used in Macedonian to represent the voiced palatal plosive or the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate , similar to the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jet"....
(over MarkovskiVenko MarkovskiVenko Markovski, in Bulgarian and Macedonian Венко Марковски, born as Veniamin Milanov Toshev; was a Bulgarian and Macedonian writer, poet and Communist politician.-Biography:...
's proposed letter forms); and - rejection of Old Church SlavonicEarly Cyrillic alphabetThe Early Cyrillic alphabet is a writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th or 10th century to write the Old Church Slavonic liturgical language...
ЪYerThe letter yer of the Cyrillic alphabet, also spelled jer or er, is known as the hard sign in the modern Russian and Rusyn alphabets and as er golyam in the Bulgarian alphabet...
(Big YerYerThe letter yer of the Cyrillic alphabet, also spelled jer or er, is known as the hard sign in the modern Russian and Rusyn alphabets and as er golyam in the Bulgarian alphabet...
).
The rejection of the Ъ (Big Yer), together with the adoption of four Serbian Cyrillic letters (Ј
Je (Cyrillic)
Je is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the palatal approximant , like the pronunciation of ⟨y⟩ in "yes".-Usage:-Related letters and other similar characters:...
, Џ
Dzhe
Dzhe is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet used in Serbian and Macedonian to represent the voiced postalveolar affricate , like the pronunciation of ⟨j⟩ in "jump"...
, Љ
Lje
Lje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.Lje represents a palatal lateral , a sound similar to the palatalized alveolar lateral which is represented by the digraph ЛЬ and pronounced like the ⟨ll⟩ in "million".Lje was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić...
and Њ
Nje
Nje is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is a ligature of the Cyrillic letters En ⟨Н⟩ and Soft Sign ⟨Ь⟩. It was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. It corresponds to the digraph ⟨nj⟩ in the Serbian Latin and Croatian alphabets.It is used in Macedonian and Serbian, where it represents a...
), led to accusations that the committee was "Serbianizing
Serbianisation
Serbianisation or Serbification or Serbisation is the spread of Serbian culture, people, or politics, either by integration or assimilation.-Serbianisation:...
" Macedonian, while those in favor of including the Big Yer (Ъ) were accused of "Bulgarianizing" Macedonian. Irrespective, the new alphabet was officially adopted in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia on May 16, 1945, and is still used in the Republic of Macedonia and among Macedonian communities around the world.
Committee Members
| First Committee | Second Committee |
| m denotes military appointee c denotes civilian appointee * denotes member also served on the second committee |
* denotes member also served on the first committee |
| Epaminonda Popandonov (m) | Vasil Iljoski Vasil Iljoski Vasil Iljoski was a Macedonian writer, dramatist, professor and an important figure in the Macedonian literature, especially in Macedonian drama between the two World Wars. He was born in Kruševo in 1902. His play Begalka, or known as "Lenče Kumanovče", performed in 1928 in the Skopje theatre is... * |
| Jovan Kostovski Jovan Kostovski Jovan Kostovski is a Macedonian footballer who most recently played for Turkish side Orduspor.-External links:**... (c) |
Blaže Koneski Blaže Koneski Blaže Koneski was one of the most distinguished Macedonian poets, writers, literary translators, and linguistic scholars... * |
| Milka Balvanlieva (m) | Venko Markovski Venko Markovski Venko Markovski, in Bulgarian and Macedonian Венко Марковски, born as Veniamin Milanov Toshev; was a Bulgarian and Macedonian writer, poet and Communist politician.-Biography:... * |
| Dare Džambaz (m) | Mirko Pavlovski* |
| Vasil Iljoski Vasil Iljoski Vasil Iljoski was a Macedonian writer, dramatist, professor and an important figure in the Macedonian literature, especially in Macedonian drama between the two World Wars. He was born in Kruševo in 1902. His play Begalka, or known as "Lenče Kumanovče", performed in 1928 in the Skopje theatre is... * (c) |
Krum Tošev* |
| Georgi Kiselinov (c) | Kiro Hadži-Vasilev |
| Blaže Koneski Blaže Koneski Blaže Koneski was one of the most distinguished Macedonian poets, writers, literary translators, and linguistic scholars... * (m) |
Vlada Maleski |
| Venko Markovski Venko Markovski Venko Markovski, in Bulgarian and Macedonian Венко Марковски, born as Veniamin Milanov Toshev; was a Bulgarian and Macedonian writer, poet and Communist politician.-Biography:... * (m) |
Ilija Topalovski |
| Mirko Pavlovski* (c) | Gustav Vlahov |
| Mihail Petruševski Mihail Petruševski Mihail Petruševski was a Macedonian academic, philologist and founder of the Faculty of Philosophy at the Skopje University... (c) |
Ivan Mazov |
| Risto Prodanov (m) | |
| Georgi Šoptrajanov (m) | |
| Krum Tošev* (m) | |
| Hristo Zografov (c) | |
| Source: Victor A Friedman | |
See also
- Macedonian languageMacedonian languageMacedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
- Political views on the Macedonian languagePolitical views on the Macedonian languageThe existence and distinctiveness of the Macedonian language is disputed among the politicians, linguists and common people from the neighboring countries...
- Serbian Cyrillic alphabetSerbian Cyrillic alphabetThe Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two standard modern alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being Latin...
- Cyrillic script
- Transliteration of MacedonianRomanisation of MacedonianThe Romanization of Macedonian is the transliteration of text in the Macedonian language from the Macedonian Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet. Romanization can be used for various purposes, such as rendering of proper names in foreign contexts, or for informal writing of Macedonian in...
- Scientific transliteration of Slavic languagesScientific transliterationScientific transliteration, variously called academic, linguistic, or scholarly transliteration, is an international system for transliteration of text from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet...
- Anti-Fascist Assembly of the National Liberation of Macedonia