Turkmen alphabet

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The current official Turkmen alphabet as used in Turkmenistan is a modified Latin alphabet based the Turkish alphabet, but with notable differences: J is used instead of the Turkish C; Ž is used instead of the Turkish J; Y is used instead of the dotless i (I/ı); Ý is used instead of the Turkish consonantal Y; and the letters Ä and Ň have been added to represent the phonetic values [æ] and [ŋ], respectively. At the start of the 20th century, when Turkmen first started to be written, it used the Arabic script, but in 1928 the Latin alphabet was adopted. In 1940, the Soviet Union's influence in Turkmenistan prompted a switch to a Cyrillic alphabet, and a modified Turkmen Cyrillic alphabet (shown below in the table alongside the Latin) was created. When Turkmenistan became independent again in 1991, president Saparmurat Niyazov immediately instigated a return to the Latin alphabet. When it was first reintroduced it was supposed to contain some rather unusual letters, such as the pound, dollar, yen, and cent signs, but these were later replaced by more orthodox letter symbols.

Turkmen is still often written with an adapted Arabic alphabet in other countries where the language is spoken and where the Arabic script is dominant (such as Afghanistan).

Due to the unusual pronunciation of the letters S as [θ] (th) and z as [ð] (dh), the language has a distinctive lisping sound.

[edit] Letters

Latin letter	Cyrillic equivalent	Phonetic value
A a	А а	[a]
B b	Б б	[b]
Ç ç	Ч ч	[ʧ]
D d	Д д	[d]
E e	Е е	[je], [e]
Ä ä	Ә ә	[æ]
F f	Ф ф	[ɸ]
G g	Г г	[g~ʁ]
H h	Х х	[h~x]
I i	И и	[i]
J j	Җ җ	[ʤ]
Ž ž	Ж ж	[ʒ]
K k	К к	[k~q]
L l	Л л	[l]
M m	М м	[m]
N n	Н н	[n]
Ň ň	Ң ң	[ŋ]
O o	О о	[o]
Ö ö	Ө ө	[ø]
P p	П п	[p]
R r	Р р	[r]
S s	С с	[θ]
Ş ş	Ш ш	[ʃ]
T t	Т т	[t]
U u	У у	[u]
Ü ü	Ү ү	[y]
W w	В в	[β]
Y y	Ы ы	[ɯ]
Ý ý	Й й	[j]
Z z	З з	[z]