Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet

Moldovan Cyrillic
Script type	Alphabet
Time period	ca. 1930–today
Languages	Moldovan/Romanian
Related scripts
Parent systems	Phoenician alphabet Greek alphabet Glagolitic alphabet Cyrillic script Moldovan Cyrillic
Sister systems	Romanian Cyrillic alphabet

"Welcome" (Bine ați venit!) sign in Moldovan Cyrillic, Tiraspol, Transnistria 2012

The Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet is a Cyrillic alphabet designed for the "Moldovan language" in the Soviet Union and was in official use from 1924 to 1932 and 1938 to 1989 (and still in use today in the Moldovan region of Transnistria).

History

Until the 19th century, Moldovan/Romanian was usually written using a local variant of the Cyrillic alphabet. A variant based on the reformed Russian civil script, first introduced in the late 18th century, became widespread in Bessarabia after its annexation to the Russian Empire, while the rest of the Moldavian Principality gradually switched to a Latin-based alphabet, adopted in official after its union with Wallachia resulted in the creation of Romania. The Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet was introduced in the early 1920s, in the Soviet bid to standardise the orthography of Moldovan/Romanian in the Moldavian ASSR, at the same time furthering political objectives by marking a clear distinction from the "bourgeois" Latin-based Romanian orthography introduced in Romania in the 1860s. As was the case with other Cyrillic-based languages in the Soviet Union, such as Russian, Ukrainian or Belarusian, obsolete and redundant characters were dropped in an effort to simplify orthography and boost literacy. It was abandoned for a Latin-based alphabet during the Union-wide Latinisation campaign in 1932. Its re-introduction was decided by the Central Executive Committee of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on May 19, 1938, albeit with an orthography more similar to standard Russian. Following the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, it was established as the official alphabet of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic until 1989, when a law returned to the standard, Latin-based, Romanian alphabet.

There were several requests to switch back to the Latin alphabet, which was seen "more suitable for the Romance core of the language," in the Moldovan SSR. In 1965, the demands of the 3rd Congress of Writers of Soviet Moldavia were rejected by the leadership of the Communist Party, the replacement being deemed "contrary to the interests of the Moldavian people and not reflecting its aspirations and hopes".

The Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet is still the official and the only accepted alphabet in Transnistria for this language.

Description

All but one of the letters of this alphabet can be found in the modern Russian alphabet, the exception being the character zhe (ж) with breve: Ӂ ӂ (U+04C1, U+04C2).

The following chart shows the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet compared with the Latin alphabet currently in use. IPA values are given for the post-1957 literary standard.

Cyrillic letter:	Equates to Latin letter:	Name	As employed in this context:	IPA
А а	a	а		/a/
Б б	b	бе		/b/
В в	v	ве		/v/
Г г	g, gh	ге	gh used before i or e, elsewhere g	/ɡ/
Д д	d	де		/d/
Е е	e, ie	е	ie after a vowel or if it alternates with ia, elsewhere e	/e/, /je/
Ж ж	j	же		/ʒ/
Ӂ ӂ	g, ge, gi	ӂе	g before i and e, ge before a, gi elsewhere	/dʒ/
З з	z	зе		/z/
И и	i, ii	и	ii used at end of word, i elsewhere	/i/
Й й	i	и скурт	before and after vowels	/j/
К к	c, ch	ка	ch before i and e, c elsewhere	/k/
Л л	l	ле		/l/
М м	m	ме		/m/
Н н	n	не		/n/
О о	o	о		/o/
П п	p	пе		/p/
Р р	r	ре		/r/
С с	s	се		/s/
Т т	t	те		/t/
У у	u	у		/u/
Ф ф	f	фе		/f/
Х х	h	ха		/h/
Ц ц	ț	це		/ts/
Ч ч	c, ce, ci	че	c before i and e, ce before a, ci elsewhere	/tʃ/
Ш ш	ș	ше		/ʃ/
Ы ы	â, î	ы	â in middle of word, î at beginning and end of word	/ɨ/
Ь ь	i	семнул моале	At end of word (usually)	/ʲ/ (i.e. palatalization of preceding consonant)
Э э	ă	э		/ə/
Ю ю	iu	ю		/ju/, /ʲu/
Я я	ea, ia	я	ea after a consonant or е, ia elsewhere	/ja/, /ʲa/

Example text

Limba noastră

Latin script		Moldovan Cyrillic script
Limba noastră-i o comoară În adâncuri înfundată Un șirag de piatră rară Pe moșie revărsată. Limba noastră-i foc, ce arde Într-un neam, ce fără veste S-a trezit din somn de moarte, Ca viteazul din poveste. Limba noastră-i frunză verde, Zbuciumul din codrii veșnici, Nistrul lin, ce-n valuri pierde Ai luceferilor sfeșnici. Limba noastra-i limbă sfântă, Limba vechilor cazanii, Care o plâng și care o cântă Pe la vatra lor țăranii. Răsări-va o comoară În adâncuri înfundată, Un șirag de piatră rară Pe moșie revărsată.		Лимба ноастрэ-й о комоарэ Ын адынкурь ынфундатэ Ун шираг де пятрэ рарэ Пе мошие ревэрсатэ. Лимба ноастрэ-й фок, че арде Ынтр-ун ням, че фэрэ весте С-а трезит дин сомн де моарте, Ка витязул дин повесте. Лимба ноастрэ-й фрунзэ верде, Збучумул дин кодрий вешнич, Ниструл лин, че-н валурь пиерде Ай лучеферилор сфешнич. Лимба ноастрэ-й лимбэ сфынтэ, Лимба векилор казаний, Каре о плынг ши каре о кынтэ Пе ла ватра лор цэраний. Рэсэри-ва о комоарэ Ын адынкурь ынфундатэ, Ун шираг де пятрэ рарэ Пе мошие ревэрсатэ.

See also

• Romanian alphabet
• Romanian Cyrillic alphabet
• Ӂ

References

• King, Charles (2000). The Moldovans: Romania, Russia and the Politics of Culture. Hoover Institution Press. ISBN 0-8179-9792-X.
• Jeffrey Chinn (1994). "The Politics of Language in Moldova" (PDF). Demokratizatsya. pp. 309–315. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 29, 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

External links

• Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet – example text and comparison with Latin script
• Moldovan Cyrillic (молдовеняскэ) • Keyboard Layout for Windows