Russian language

Writing system

Alphabet

Russian is written using a modern version of the Cyrillic (?????????) alphabet, consisting of 33 letters.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The following table gives their majuscule forms, along with IPA values for each letter's typical sound:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Old letters that have been abolished at one time or another but occur in this and related articles include {{IPA|ѣ}} {{IPA|/?:/}} or {{IPA|/e/}}, ? {{IPA|/i/}}, and {{IPA|ѧ}} {{IPA|/ja/}} or {{IPA|/ ʲa/}}. The yers ? and ? were originally pronounced as ultra-short or reduced {{IPA|/?/}}, {{IPA|/?/}} (conventional transcription, not IPA).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For information on an informal approach on transliterating Russian into English, see the article Transliteration of Russian into English.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Orthography

Russian spelling is reasonably phonetic in practice. It is in fact a balance among phonetics, morphology, etymology, and grammar, and, like that of most living languages, has its share of inconsistencies and controversial points.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The current spelling follows the major reform of 1918, and the final codification of 1956. An update proposed in the late 1990's has met a hostile reception, and has not been formally adopted.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The punctuation, originally based on Byzantine Greek, was in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries reformulated on the French and German models.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~