Komi writing

The first writing for the Komi language was compiled by the missionary Stefan of Perm around 1372–1375. This writing was created for the needs of the Christianization of the Komi region. It is believed that when choosing the style of letters, Stefan of Perm was guided by both the Greek and Cyril alphabet, and the traditional Komi tribal characters - passes . This writing was called anbourg (by the name of the first two letters of the alphabet). In the modern scientific literature, the terms ancient Komi script and ancient Perm script are also used ^{[1] [2]} .

To this day, several icons with inscriptions on the granary (for example, the Zyryansk Trinity ), as well as a number of manuscript lines in books, have survived. The total volume of preserved coherent texts on the embankment is 236 words ^[3] .

Komi-Permian alphabet from the ABC book of 1897

Starting from the XVIII century, separate publications of Komi texts appear both in the Latin alphabet and in the Cyrillic alphabet. So, in the second edition of N. Witsen ’s book “Northern and Eastern Tataria”, published in 1705, a translation of the prayer “ Our Father ” into the Komi language, written in Latin, was published ^[4] .

In 1787-1789, about 200 words in the Komi language in the Cyrillic alphabet were published in the book by P. S. Pallas “Comparative Dictionary of All Languages ​​and Adverbs” ^[5] .

In 1808, students of the Vologda Theological Seminary Philip Kozlov compiled the first grammar of the Komi-Zyryan language. It used the alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet: A a, B b, C c, D g, D d, E e, F, Z, I and, I, C, L, M m, N n, Oh, Ӧ ӧ, P p, R p, C s, T t, U y, H h, Ӵ ӵ, W sh, b, Y s, b, Yu, I, I. This grammar has not been published ^[6] . In 1813, on the basis of this grammar, the teacher of the same seminary, A. F. Flerov, released the first printed Komi grammar - “Zyryansk Grammar, Published from the Main Directorate of Schools” ^[7] .

In the 1820s and 1950s, a whole series of Komi grammars and dictionaries were published that used various Komi language recording systems, both Cyrillic ( P. I. Savvaitov , A. M. Shygren ) and Latinized ( M. A. Castren ) ^[8] .

In the second half of the 19th century, on the basis of previously created grammars, two main systems for recording the Komi language developed. So, in the works of G. S. Lytkin, in addition to the standard Russian letters, the signs ӧ, j , the ligatures ԫ, ꚉ were used , and the softness of the consonants was indicated by a diacritic sign - gravel . For a number of other authors, the softness of consonants was indicated by the addition of the sign j ^[9] .

In the last years of the 19th century, the active publication of primers in the Komi-Zyryan and Komi-Permyak languages ​​begins. These primers were compiled by different authors and they used different versions of the Komi Cyrillic alphabet.

The differences between the alphabets of the Komi primers of the XIX - early XX centuries. from the modern alphabet:

• Komi-Zyryansky
  • Popov A. "The ABC for the Zyryansky youth, or the easiest way for the Zyryans to learn Russian literacy." St. Petersburg, 1865. There are no letters Yo yo, yy . There are Ԫ ԫ, Ꚉ ꚉ, Cḣ cḣ, ii ъi, Ѣ ѣ, Ji ji, Jo jo, Jӧ jӧ, Jy jy, Ѳ ѳ, Ѵ ѵ .
  • "The alphabet for Zyr-Izhemtsy living in the Pechersk district of the Arkhangelsk province ." Arkhangelsk, 1895. The letters Ѣ ѣ, Ѳ ѳ are present.
  • Lytkin G.S. "ABC book Zyryansk-Russian- Church Slavonic ." St. Petersburg, 1900. There are no letters Yo, And and, Ф ф, Х х, Ц ц, Щ Щ , b , b , E , Yu , I, I. There are d̀ , s̀ , ј , l̀ , ǹ , s̀ , t̀ , ch̀ .
• Komi-Permyak
  • “ Let’s stand out Perm Pond .” Perm, 1894. There is no letter Ӧ ӧ . There are Ѣ ѣ, Ѳ ѳ .
  • "Primer for (northeastern, Yinven) Permians." Kazan, 1897. There are no letters I i, Ф ф, Х х, Ц ц, Щ щ . There are Ӂ ӂ, Z̆ z̆, Sh̆ sh̆, Y̆y̆ .
  • "Primer for the Perm of the Ivensky region." Kazan, 1899. There are no letters I i, Ц Ц, Щ щ . Present Ӂ ӂ, Z̆ z̆, yi , Ӵ ӵ, yi , Ѳ ѳ
  • "Primer for (northeastern, Yinven) Permians." Kazan, 1900. There are no letters I i, Ф ф, Х х, Ц ц, Щ щ . There are Ӂ ӂ, Z̆ z̆, Ӵ ӵ, Y̆y̆ .
  • Popov E. “ Let ’s stand out of the Komi Republic and the pond servants ”. Kazan, 1904. There are no letters Ӧ ӧ, Ф ф, Х х, Ц ц, Щ щ . Present d̅z̅ , d̅zh̅ , ch̅sh̅ , Ѣ ѣ, Ӭ ӭ
  • Moshegov Kondraty Mikhailovich. "Primer for Perm children (in the Cherdyn dialect)." Kazan, 1908. There are no letters b, b . There are Ӝ ӝ, Ӟ ӟ, Ӵ ӵ, Ѳ ѳ .

Due to the lack of a standard alphabet and the insignificance of editions in the Komi language (about 60-70 books and brochures in Komi were published in 1813-1914), these alphabets did not receive noticeable distribution among the population ^[9] .

In 1918, the sphere of use of the Komi language expanded significantly - teaching was introduced in schools, local newspapers began to publish separate articles in the Komi language, etc. Under these conditions, the need arose to create a permanent alphabet and develop spelling norms ^[9] .

In May – June 1918, a meeting of teachers was held in Ust-Sysolsk , at which teacher V. A. Molodtsov spoke and acquainted the meeting participants with their draft alphabet for the Komi language. In August of the same year, Molodtsov’s alphabet was approved at a meeting of teachers in Ust-Vymi ^[10] . The lack of necessary fonts did not immediately allow us to start publishing printed materials in this alphabet, which is why until 1920 a modified Russian alphabet was used, compiled by A. A. Zember ^[9] .

Molodtsov’s alphabet was based on the Cyrillic alphabet, but had a number of specific letters to indicate soft consonants and affricates . Since 1921, an active book publishing began on this alphabet. Despite the merits of this alphabet (strict phonemic, economical writing), it also had a number of drawbacks, the main of which was the complexity of the handwriting due to the special form of characters for soft consonants ^[11] .

Back in 1924, Professor A.N. Gren proposed translating the Komi script on a Latinized basis. According to his design, the alphabet should include the following letters: A a, B b, D d, Dj dj, E e, G g, Zs zs, Dzs dzs, I i, J j, K k, L l, Lj lj, M m, N n, Nj nj, O o, Ö ö, P p, R r, S s, Sj sj, Sch sch, Cs cs, Csj csj, T t, Tj tj, U u, V v, Y y , Z z, Zj zj, Dz dz ^[13] . At that time, few supported Grena, but at that time in the USSR an active process of the Latinization of writing began, and soon this question was raised again. In 1929, at the Komi Linguistic Conference of Glavnauki, a resolution was adopted on the need to switch to the Latinized alphabet, using the experience of Latinizing the Turkic scripts of the peoples of the USSR. In September 1930, the Bureau of the Komi Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) officially decided to translate the Komi script into Latin. The alphabet itself was approved in November 1931, after which the transfer of paperwork , education and publishing to a new script began. This process was generally completed in 1934 ^{[14] [9]} .

The Latin Komi alphabet essentially became a transliteration of the youthful alphabet - it preserved strict phonemicity , the designation of soft consonants by adding a “tail” to the letter, and special signs for affricates . Thus, both the advantages and disadvantages of the previous letter were preserved ^[14] .

The change in the political situation in the USSR in the mid-1930s led to the abandonment of the Latinized Komi alphabet - the country began the process of cyrillization . Regarding the writing of Komi, this resulted in a rejection of the Latin alphabet in 1936. Instead, Molodtsov’s alphabet was restored, but in 1938 it was replaced by a new version of the Cyrillic alphabet, much more similar to the Russian script ^[14] .

For the Komi-Permyak language, in May 1937, the district alphabetical commission approved the alphabet containing all 33 letters of the Russian alphabet and additional signs Җ җ, Ҙ ҙ, I і, Ӧ ӧ, Ӹ ӹ (the author of the project is V. I. Yakimov). In July 1937, this version of the alphabet was discussed at the Leningrad branch of the Institute of Language and Writing, where it underwent some changes - знак ә, Җ җ, Ҙ ҙ, І і, Ӵ ӵ became additional characters to the 33 letters of the Russian letter. However, a few days later the Central Institute of Language and Writing in Moscow recommended replacing the signs Җ җ, Ҙ ҙ, Ӵ ӵ with digraphs j , dz , tsh . In the final version of the alphabet, the sign Ә ә was replaced by Ӧ ӧ ^[15] .

The modern alphabet for the Komi-Zyryan and Komi-Permyak languages ​​was introduced in 1938. It contains all the letters of the Russian alphabet, as well as the signs Ӧ ӧ and І і . Digraphs j , dz and tsh are used to indicate affricates. Sometimes these digraphs are included in the alphabet, sometimes not.

The letter II (“solid and”) is used after the letters d , s , l , n , s , t to denote their hardness (before “ordinary” and they are soft ). The letter Ӧ ӧ denotes the non-labialized sound of the middle row of the middle rise. The softness of consonants is indicated by the soft sign following them ^{[17] [18]} .

Modern Komi alphabet:

The Komi-Yazvin language , long considered one of the dialects of the Komi-Permian language, received its original writing only in the early 2000s, when the first primer was published on it. The alphabet of this publication includes all the letters of the Russian alphabet, specific characters Ӧ ӧ , Ө ө , Ӱ ӱ , as well as digraphs j , dh , tsh ^{[19] [20]} . The later Russian-Komi-Yazvin dictionary contains an alphabet that has, in addition to the 33 Russian letters І і , Ӧ ӧ , Ө ө , Ӱ ӱ . At the same time, affricates are indicated by combinations of letters dz, j, tsh (they are not considered separate letters in this edition) and the letter h ^[21] .

Publications in the Izhem dialect of the Komi language use standard Komi writing ^[22] .

Comments

Sources

• Komi language. Encyclopedia / G.V. Fedyuneva. - M .: Publishing house DiK, 1998 .-- 608 p. - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 5-7903-0045-6 .
• Kastren M.A. De Litteris // Fundamentals of Zyryan Grammar = Elementa grammatices Syrjaenae. - Helsingforsiae , 1844. - S. 1-15.
• Rogov N. A. Branch First. About letters // Grammar experience of Perm language . - SPb. , 1860. - S. 1-8.