Transcription of the Ukrainian Cyrillic alphabet

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Under the Romanization of Ukrainian means the transcription or transcription and playback of the Ukrainian writing in Latin letters . This is also known as romanization.

Cyrillic alphabet

In the Ukrainian language a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet is used, which differs from the alphabet used in the Russian language . The purpose of romanized transcription is to make the language understandable for people who cannot read the Cyrillic characters. This concerns, among other things, tourism, the field of international politics, trade and global organizations. Texts can also be edited using the transcription on a computer that does not have a Ukrainian keyboard. In the course of history there have been several proposals for changing the Ukrainian alphabet in different variants, most of which were based on the West Slavic languages . None of the various variants that have been used up to now and come into consideration have so far been successful.

Transcription and transliteration

Part of a table with letters from the alphabet of the Ruthenian language , by Ivan Uschewytsch , the Grammatica sclavonica "Грамматыка словенская" from 1645. In the columns of the manuscript, the letters are shown in Cyrillic and Latin forms, as well as common letter forms. Part 2 , part 3 .

There are two ways to achieve a Latin transcription: via transcription and transliteration . Some variants used are a hybrid between the two.

  • A transcription tries to reproduce the pronunciation of Ukrainian with the means of a language known to the reader reasonably aptly. The so-called national variant or the most popular transcriptions depend on the target language by definition: for example, the name Грушевський appears when transcribing into Dutch as Hroesjevsky , into English as Hrushevsky , into German as Hruschewskyj , into French as Hrouchevsky, etc. Such transcriptions are above all Widely used in the media landscape, for example in newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias and atlases. On the basis of these transcripts, the original Ukrainian version cannot always be clearly reconstructed without knowledge of the language.
  • A transliteration does not rely on the pronunciation, but reproduces the spelling of the Ukrainian text in a different script (e.g. the Latin one) to the letter. The aim is to represent Ukrainian texts with the Latin script so precisely that the text written in Cyrillic can be reconstructed easily and clearly. Transliterations are typically used in academic circles, literature, libraries, and the like. The transliteration of Ukrainian into Latin script is standardized in DIN 1460 .

The different transcriptions and romanization variants

The Ukrainian-Canadian linguist Jaroslaw Bohdan Rudnyckyj (Jaroslav Rudnyckyj) classified the transliteration variants of the Ukrainian alphabet into different systems, such as a scientific system, which is mainly used in academic and especially in linguistic works, and practical systems, which are mainly used in Administration, journalism, post, schools etc. should be applied. The different systems of transcription or Romanization of the Ukrainian language emerged in history due to encounters with Western European, Western Slavonic and German-speaking regions and are still used frequently. Some of these transcription variants have been changed periodically over time and have undergone different development or have experienced different variations. The academic or scientific system in use today is the most widely used internationally. But it has very few variations, while the various practical methods of transliteration are adapted to the different orthographic conventions in the respective languages, such as English, French, German etc. In order to reproduce the original Ukrainian text as it sounds in the original language, individual adjustments or changes are sometimes made depending on the purpose of the transcription.

  • The International Scientific Transcription or the International Scientific Transcription is mainly based on the Latin Croatian alphabet of the Serbo-Croatian language. The current scientific transliteration in Slavic studies is based on the Czech alphabet . This transcription is mainly used by linguists such as B. for publications in Slavic Studies . This dates from the nineteenth century, where it was included in the library regulations as Prussian Instructions ( PI ). This set of rules contains the guidelines for libraries and was codified there in 1898. These guidelines were later adopted by the International Organization for Standardization ( ISO ), with small differences from ISO / R 9 .
The necessary diacritics on computers require Unicode , Latin-2 , Latin-4 , or Latin-7 encoding. Other Slavic-based transcriptions used are sometimes based on the Slovak alphabet or the Polish alphabet , which contain the symbols for palatalized consonants.
  • National 1996 is the official system used both by Ukraine itself in its international foreign relations and at the United Nations . This is generally used to translate Ukrainian geographical names, which before 1991 were known almost exclusively by their Russian name. This system is essentially based on English spelling and then shows many similarities to British transcription.
  • ISO 9: 1954 , an older ISO standard , is based on the older scientific transliteration and therefore provides slightly different transliterations for Ukrainian and Russian; ISO 9: 1968 still allows these differences, but also provides a uniform transliteration for all languages ​​written in Cyrillic; DIN 1460: 1982 is derived from ISO 9: 1968, but only allows special transliteration for Ukrainian. This peculiarity affects the Ukrainian letters Г and И, which (in contrast to other languages) are transliterated as H and Y respectively; the Ukrainian letters Ґ and І are transliterated as G and I, respectively.
  • ISO 9: 1995 is the latest ISO standard and represents an extreme form of transliteration: each Cyrillic letter is represented by a Latin letter. No distinction is made between the Г , which is pronounced / g / in Russian and / h / in Ukrainian, so it is always transcribed as G. Because it is a very reliable one-to-one transcription, the system is widely used.
  • Transcription or romanization in other languages To make it easier to understand for readers in the other corresponding languages, it is usually phonetically transcribed into the familiar orthography. For example, the Ukrainian letters uй, х, ч, ш, щ anglophone as y, kh, ch, sh are transcribed differently than in German-language transcriptions, where these are usually represented as j, ch, ch, sch, shtsch, or they can in Latin letters according to the usual orthography of other Slavic languages, such as Polish, Czech or Croatian (as well as with the established scientific systems). These well-known transcriptions are a reliable way to give the Ukrainian equivalent in a specific target language. The German language also uses its own transcription of Ukrainian. When transcribing a text that contains Ukrainian names and / or words, it should always be taken into account in which language the source material is available. A variant was used by the British Museum and the British Library, but has been cataloged in their new acquisitions since 1975, Library of Congress Transliteration.
  • IPA The International Phonetic Alphabet ( IPA ) is used to represent the pronunciation of a language as closely as possible. This system is mainly used in dictionaries and in linguistic publications, but it does not always have to represent a Romanization. The IPA does not consist exclusively of Latin letters.
  • Ad hoc transliteration users of publicly accessible computers or mobile SMS services often improvise with informal transliteration due to keyboard or character set limitations. These can replace both vowels and consonants. Example: YKPAIHCbKA ABTOPKA for "УКРАЇНСЬКА АВТОРКА"; as below also with the Volapük encoding: This also only uses its limited available character set.
  • Ukrainian Telegraph Code Telegraph Transmission: Every single Ukrainian letter has a Latin 1: 1 equivalent in this variant. So the Latin letters Q, W, V, X are equivalent to Ukrainian Я (or Щ sometimes), В, Ж, Ь. Other letters are transcribed phonetically. This character set for the character encoding of the Ukrainian Cyrillic alphabet in the KOI8-U table is mainly used in computer systems in the Ukrainian language.

Conventional romanization of proper names

In many contexts it is common to use a modified system of transcription rules and this can of course also be developed through the use of anglophones. Transcriptions from Ukrainian are also used for the names of people with Ukrainian ancestors in the respective countries (people often have the same or similar common names, such as "Alexander", which is mostly used for Oleksandr, or the common name in English-speaking countries) "Terry" for Taras). Many such international transcriptions are based either on use in the Library of Congress (in North America) or on the British Standard in the UK. Such a simplified system usually leaves out the diacritics and spars, simplifies the endings -yj and -ij to "-y" and ignores the Ukrainian soft characters (ь) and apostrophes ('), and can replace ya, ye, yu , yo for ia, io ie iu, at the beginning of the words. It can also lead to further simplifications of double letters. Conventional transliterations mostly reflect the origin or history of a person or place. Many well-known spellings and transcriptions are based on Latin alphabets in other languages, such as German or Polish rendering. In other variants, the corresponding names were transcribed into other languages, such as: from the Ukrainian Pavlo ("Paul") were by the Russian pedant Pavel, Ukrainian: Kyiv from Russian corresponds to Kiev or Kiev. Sometimes an apostrophe is used to translate, although the apostrophe is often left out of all other names and words. The various transcription and romanization systems have become very complex as a result. For example, the English translation of Kubijovyč of Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopædia uses a modified Library of Congress ( ALA-LC ) as listed for Ukrainian and Russian names — with the exception of endings or doubled consonants — using various personal and geographical names. For various traditional, habitual and also technical reasons, cards use different naming conventions in the encyclopedia. The names of the people are mostly given in the international spelling in the British transcription for encyclopedic texts. but also in their original form in the index. Different geographical names in their English, German transcription, from the Russian or Ukrainian spelling and the Polish forms reproduce the w and v in different forms. Scientific transliteration is mainly used in linguistic articles.

Tables for the different transcription and romanization variants

Systems for transcribing the Ukrainian alphabet
Cyrillic Scholarly * ALA-LC † British ‡ BGN / PCGN ** ISO 9 National †† French ‡‡ German ***
А а a a a a a a a a
Б б b b b b b b b b
В в v v v v v v v w
Г г H H G H G h, gh ¹ H H
Ґ ґ G G G G G G G G
Д д d d d d d d d d
Е е e e e e e e e e
Є є ever i͡e ye ye ê not a typical ie, ye ² not a typical ie ever
Ж ж ž tenacious zh zh ž zh j sh
З з z z z z z z z s
И и y y y y i y y y
І і i i i i ì i i i
Ї ї ji (ï) ï ï yi ï i, yi ² ï ji
Й й j ĭ ĭ y j i, y² y j
К к k k k k k k k k
Л л l l l l l l l l
М м m m m m m m m m
Н н n n n n n n n n
О о O O O O O O O O
П п p p p p p p p p
Р р r r r r r r r r
С с s s s s s s s s, ss
Т т t t t t t t t t
У у u u u u u u ou u
Ф ф f f f f f f f f
Х х ch kh kh kh H kh kh ch
Ц ц c t͡s ts ts c ts ts z
Ч ч č ch ch ch č ch tch ch
Ш ш š sh sh sh š sh ch sch
Щ щ šč shch shch shch ŝ shch chtch shch
Ь ь ′ ′ ′ ' ′ - - -
Ю ю ju i͡u yu yu û iu, yu ² iou ju
Я я Yes i͡a ya ya â ia, ya ² ia Yes
' - (″) - ″ ” ' - - -
* Scholarly transliteration
If two different transliterations are given, the first option corresponds to the traditional system and the second to the ISO / R 9 standard .
† ALA-LC
When strictly applied, ALA-LC requires the use of ligature arches to denote double articulations ; in practice, however, these are often left out.
British Standard
The ending -ий and -ій can be simplified to -y for proper names .
** BGN / PCGN
The letter combinations зг = z h , кг = k h , сг = s h , тс = t s , and цг = ts h are romanized with a middle point to distinguish them from the digraphs ж = zh , х = kh , ш = sh , ц = ts and the letter combination тш = tsh .
†† Ukrainian national transliteration
1. gh is used to romanize зг = zgh to avoid confusion with ж = zh .
2. The second variant is used at the beginning of the word.
‡‡ French
Jean Girodet (1976), Dictionnaire de la langue francaise , Paris: Editions Bordas.
*** German
(2000) Duden , v 22, Mannheim: Dudenverlag .
Official Ukrainian transliteration system
Cyrillic GOST 1971 GOST 1986 Derzhstandart 1995 National 1996 Passport 2004 Passport 2007 National 2010
А а a a a a a a a
Б б b b b b b b b
В в v v v v v, w v v
Г г G G gh h, gh * ^ h, g G h, gh * ^
Ґ ґ - - G G g, h G G
Д д d d d d d d d
Е е e e e e e e e
Є є ever ever ever not a typical ie, ye * not a typical ie, ye * not a typical ie not a typical ie, ye *
Ж ж zh ž zh zh zh, j zh zh
З з z z z z z z z
И и i i y y y y y
І i i i i i i i i
Ї ї ji i ji i, yi * i, yi * i i, yi *
Й й j j j ** i, y * i, y * i i, y *
К к k k k k k, c k k
Л л l l l l l l l
М м m m m m m m m
Н н n n n n n n n
О о O O O O O O O
П п p p p p p p p
Р р r r r r r r r
С с s s s s s s s
Т т t t t t t t t
У у u u u u u u u
Ф ф f f f f f f f
Х х kh H kh kh kh kh kh
Ц ц c c c ts ts ts ts
Ч ч ch č ch ch ch ch ch
Ш ш sh š sh sh sh sh sh
Щ щ shh šč shh sch shch shch shch
Ь ь ' ' j *** ' ' - -
Ю ю ju ju ju iu, yu * iu, yu * iu iu, yu *
Я я Yes Yes Yes ia, ya * ia, ya * ia ia, ya *
' * " '**** ” - - -
  • * The second transliteration is used at the beginning of the word.
  • ** At the beginning of a word, after vowels or after an apostrophe.
  • *** After consonants.
  • **** The apostrophe is used on the one hand before the jotated vowels ja , ju , je , ji , jo , and on the other hand to distinguish the combination ьа ( j'a ) in compound words from я ( ja ), for example: Волиньавто = Volynj'avto.
  • * ^ gh is used in the romanization of зг ( zgh ) to avoid confusion with ж ( zh ).

The National System (1996) is a simplified form of transliteration:

  • Double consonants ж, х, ц, ч, ш are only represented simply, for example Запоріжжя = Zaporizhia .
  • Apostrophes and soft characters are omitted, with the exceptions ьо = 'o and ьї = ' i .

literature

  • Daniels, Peter T. , and William Bright, Eds. (1996). The World's Writing Systems , pp. 700, 702, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507993-0 .
  • US Board on Geographic Names , Foreign Names Committee Staff (1994). Romanization Systems and Roman-Script Spelling Conventions , p. 105.
  • Rudnyc'kyj, Jaroslav B. (1948). Чужомовні транслітерації українських назв: Iнтернаціональна, англійська, французька, німецька, еспанська й португальська (Foreign transliteration of Ukrainian names: International, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese), Augsburg: Iнститут родо- й знаменознавства.
  • Kubijovyč, Volodymyr , ed. (Ed.): Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopædia, Vol. 1 . University of Toronto Press, Toronto 1963, ISBN 0-8020-3105-6 , pp. Xxxii-xxxiv.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b “ Searching for Cyrillic items in the catalogs of the British Library: guidelines and transliteration tables ”
  2. ↑ Rudnyckyj 1948, P 1.
  3. ↑ http://intranet.library.arizona.edu/users/brewerm/sil/lib/transhist.html
  4. ↑ a b Resolution no.55 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine , January 27, 2010
  5. ^ Romanization systems in the Ukraine (PDF; 177 kB), paper presented on East Central and South-East Europe Division of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names
  6. ↑ Oxford Style Manual (2003), “Slavonic Languages”, s 11.41.2, p 350. Oxford University Press.
  7. ↑ Decision no.858 from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine , July 26, 2007