Erzya alphabet

On Valks the Erzya language is written in the Latin script. Below are the letter correspondences; consonant palatalization (softness) is marked with a diacritic (acute — ń ŕ ś ź ć, caron — ľ ť ď; the caron also marks the sibilants č š ž), the sound /j/ is written j.

Vowels

aаeеiиoоuуäяëэïы

Consonants

bбvвgгdдzзjйkкlлmмnнpпrрsсtтfфhхcц

Sibilants

čчšшžжščщ

Palatalized consonants

ľльńньŕрьśсьźзьťтьďдьćць

How Erzya speech is written

Below are the rules the whole Valks dictionary is written by. There are few of them, and nearly all say one thing: the softness mark goes where softness cannot be guessed from the neighbouring letters. Every example has been checked with the same converter that builds the dictionary; underlined words open a card.

1. Write the sound, not the Cyrillic letter

The Valks Latin script renders Erzya pronunciation directly, so the Cyrillic ь, ъ, я, ё, ю, щ have no letters of their own: their work is done by the softness mark, the letter j and the cluster šč. Hence the basic rule: write from how the word sounds.

ащемс	→	aščems	щ → šč
вайгель	→	vajgel	й → j
кши	→	kši	bread

2. Softness: mark it only where it cannot be predicted

This is the core rule. A consonant's palatalisation is marked (ń ŕ ś ź ć, ľ ť ď) only when it cannot be inferred from the neighbouring letters. If a front vowel e, i, ë stands next to it, palatalisation is predictable and the mark is left out.

кель	→	kel	language
пертьпелькс	→	pertpelks	surroundings
менельчирьксэнть	→	menelčirksënt	the author's own example: the mark is dropped inside a cluster too

3. Before a, o, u the mark is obligatory — it distinguishes words

Before back vowels nothing hints at palatalisation, so the mark carries meaning: ća is not ca, ľa is not la. Here the mark is always kept.

цёра	→	ćora	boy, son
анелямс	→	aneľams	to spoil (a child)
сюро	→	śuro	grain
ацорямс	→	acoŕams	to wipe

4. ś and ź always keep the mark

Two consonants are exempt from the general rule: ś and ź keep the mark in every position, including next to e, i, ë.

весть	→	veśt	once
ансяк	→	anśak	only
алтазь	→	altaź	promised

5. The consonants b v g ž k m p f h č š do not carry palatalisation

These consonants take no mark themselves and do not pass palatalisation on. When such a consonant stands between a front vowel and a soft consonant, the hint is broken and the mark must be written. One special case: ť after any consonant is written plain, as t.

тевть	→	tevť	a form of tev 'matter, deed'
тевтне	→	tevtne	same stem — ť after a consonant → t
аптяж	→	apťaž	friend

6. я, ё, ю, е: word-initially and after a vowel — with j

At the start of a word and after a vowel these letters sound with /j/ — and are written ja, jo, ju, je.

яла	→	jala	always
ёвкс	→	jovks	fairy tale
ядо	→	jado	let us
теемс	→	tejems	to make — after a vowel

7. я, ё, ю after a consonant — the softness moves to the consonant

After d z l n r s t c palatalisation is marked on the consonant itself and the vowel is written plain: a, o, u. After consonants that carry no palatalisation (b v g ž k m p f h č š), я is written ä, while ё and ю become jo and ju.

тюжа	→	ťuža	yellow
лём	→	ľom	bird cherry
мявкснемс	→	mävksnems	to miaow — я after a non-palatalising consonant → ä
копёр	→	kopjor	dill — ё after a non-palatalising consonant → jo
кювонь кал	→	kjuvoń kal	weatherfish — ю likewise → ju

8. э, ы and other individual letters

э is written e word-initially and ë inside a word. ы is ï. й is j, х is h, ц is c, ч ш ж are č š ž. Doubled consonants stay doubled.

эрямс	→	eŕams	to live — initial э
алнэ	→	alnë	little egg — э inside the word
сыргамс	→	sïrgams	to set off
ванномс	→	vannoms	to look — doubled consonant

9. Exception words: they are simply remembered

In a few words pronunciation departs from the rule — where living speech has a reduced vowel, or at a morpheme seam. The author of the script chose not to add a rule for them: such words are written as in Cyrillic and learnt by heart, while the exact pronunciation is shown by the transcription on the word card.

верка	→	verka	quick — pronounced with a reduced vowel
чуделма	→	čudelma	the author's own example: soft d at a morpheme seam
ил	→	il	a loanword

The letters ö and ü. These letters are not part of the Erzya alphabet: after a non-palatalising consonant «ё» and «ю» are written jo and ju. The one exception is borrowed proper names from languages that do have them — the Estonian place name Lilleküla keeps its spelling. Neither letter occurs in any of the 24,722 dictionary entries.

Check yourself

Hover over a word — or tap it — to reveal the answer.

Or type your own Cyrillic word into the transliterator below — it follows the same rules.

Transliterator: Cyrillic → Latin

The same algorithm used to write the entire Valks dictionary (A. Nazarenko's system).

The Latin script for Erzya was developed by Aleksanteri Nazarenko. Full description of the orthography: Learn Erzya — About the spelling ↗

⌨ How to type these letters — keyboard layouts and macro →