Lezgin alphabets

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).

• 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)