First printed Macedonian alphabet by Gjorgji Pulevski

[ramo]

Slognica rečovska - published in 1880 in Sofia by Gjorgji Pulevski in an attempt to create the first official Macedonian alphabet, spelling and grammar.

Big letters:
А Б В Г Д Е Є Ж З И І К Л М Н О П Р С Т У Ф Х Ц Ч Ш Щ Џ Ѳ Ь Ъ Ѣ Ы Ю Ѫ Я

Small letters:
а б в г д е є ж з и і к л м н о п р с т у ф х ц ч ш щ џ ѳ ь ъ ѣ ы ю ѫ я

http://mk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Слогница_речовска

In this book he names the macedonian as separate language (slavic-macedonian).



If we look at the text written in cyrillic aplhabet during 17, 18, 19, and early 20 century you will see many differences. Usually when today we speak about the cyrilic alphabet we usually mean the version used in the early 20 century. Today modern Macedonian alphabet is good, we only need the " ъ " letter because we pronounce many words with it. For most Macedonians in the republic this letter is not acceptable but for me it is because i am more comfortable with the history and i can not consider it "bulgarian" because the cyrilic alphabet is made on basis on the Macedonian dialects and most of the slavic countries use it. Further more most Macedonians educated in Bulgaria and Macedonia used it extensively. My point is that all countries made some kind of reform to the older cyrilic alphabet so it is absolutely no problem we did the same. I will give some examples how people from Croatia, Bulgaria and Serbia wrote differently from today.

Bulgarian cyrilic from 18 century.





Croatian cyrilic 16 century.

Prvi dél No-
voga Teštamenta,
va tom su vsi četiri Evan-
gelisti i Apustolska d’jan’ja iz’
mnozih’ jazikov’ v sadašnji općeni i
razumni H’rvatski jazik’, po Antonu
Dalmatinu i Stipanu Istrijanu, s po-
moću drugih’ bratov’, verno st’l-
mačeni, i s ciruličskimi
slovi najp’rvo sada
štampani

Serbian cyrillic in 1874.



This is how Miladinovi brothers wrote in 1861.



So none of them wrote with exactly the same letters they use today in Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia. If we go back in time let's say 13-17 century it becomes less and less understandable. It is because most of the books were meant to be read in churches for old-church slavonic language not in schools for the people that spoke the language at home.

P.S. I saw there is a poll on this thread after i posted. My opinion is that this alphabet although close to today's alphabet should not be used. It was only a proposal from Pulevski. There are some symbols that are either obsolete and mean nothing or repeating or there are some symbols that can be replaced with others. So, as i said if i was to decide i was going to put only the "ъ" symbol because it is used in many words.



(prvo) првo - "пръвo" or "първo"
(drvo) дрво - „дърво"

[Daskalot]

Macedonians used most of these letters before 1944. I don't mind the current alphabet, I was just wondering which one people like most.

Welcome Otis Otus, regarding the change of alphabet I do not think it is a good idea due to the fact that it would create a lot of confusion.

[Niko777]

This is the ideal alphabet in my opinion (Misirkov's letters in red):

А Б В Г Д Ѓ Е Ж З Ѕ И I К Л Љ М Н Њ О П Р С Т Ќ У Ф Х Ц Ч Ш Ъ

I don't mind keeping Љ and Њ only because they both look exactly like their original Cyrillic predecessors ЛЬ and НЬ.

[Niko777]

That's a different sound though...isn't it?

Nope, before "Џ" was introduced, the same sound was spelled using "ДЖ" beside each other.

[Niko777]

The letter Я is a Russian variation. The original letter was Ѧ, but IA could be used (instead of JA) if the J was dropped from today's alphabet.

Exactly we don't need too many vowels like "Я", or "Ю". We can spell it out using two existing letter.

[Vangelovski]

I meant taking out the letter "Џ" and spelling it out the original way which was "ДЖ"

That's a different sound though...isn't it?

[Niko777]

500 years of Turks has ensured "Џ" will remain.

I meant taking out the letter "Џ" and spelling it out the original way which was "ДЖ"

[Soldier of Macedon]

А Б В Г Д Е Є Ж З И І К Л М Н О П Р С Т У Ф Х Ц Ч Ш Щ Џ Ѳ Ь Ъ Ѣ Ы Ю Ѫ Я

I would support a change in the alphabet because I am somewhat a purist. But I voted no to your poll question, because the above has some letters which were not part of the original Cyrillic alphabet developed by Macedonian educators.

One could argue that this version has a heavy Russian/Bulgarian influence......

It has some foreign influence but most of the letters were present in the original Cyrillic alphabet.

....why not go all the way back to the original Glagolithic or Cyrillic from the 10th century?

I think it would have been great for Macedonians to have revived the Glagolitic alphabet.

And only a moron would think "Я" is a Bulgarian variation.

The letter Я is a Russian variation. The original letter was Ѧ, but IA could be used (instead of JA) if the J was dropped from today's alphabet.

[Risto the Great]

Also something else related to this topic....

There is NO such thing as "latinica" in the Macedonian language!

If you want to spell ЦАР using the English alphabet, then you spell it like this: "TSAR".

Tsar = King
Car = 4 wheeled vehicle that you drive in.

Yes I'm suggesting Скопје should be spelled as Skopye in English.

Totally agree.
It only looks normal to former Yugoslavians and a few other Euro types in my opinion.

[Risto the Great]

There are a few things I don't agree with in the new alphabet, one of them being the removal of "Ъ".

Utterly ridiculous removing this! It amuses me when Macedonians feel so proud when they say our language is spelled phonetically.

And only a moron would think "Я" is a Bulgarian variation.

500 years of Turks has ensured "Џ" will remain.

OK, I have vented now.

[Niko777]

Also something else related to this topic....

There is NO such thing as "latinica" in the Macedonian language!

If you want to spell ЦАР using the English alphabet, then you spell it like this: "TSAR".

Tsar = King
Car = 4 wheeled vehicle that you drive in.

Yes I'm suggesting Скопје should be spelled as Skopye in English.

[Niko777]

There are a few things I don't agree with in the new alphabet, one of them being the removal of "Ъ".

I would replace "J" with "I"

Get rid of "Џ" completely.

[George S.]

Russians didn't ivanov go to the Russians only to find that the Russian alphabet owes it all to the Macedonian alphabet ie Methodius & kiril visits,
Well if we go the old church Glagolitic & Slavonic scripts why don't we go back to the ancient Macedonian im sure there was one with 36 letters I saw it in one of our threads..There was such a thing as a prehistoric alphabet.Otis I meant it in a doubt situation a hypothetical.

[Vangelovski]

It can only have a Macedonian influence. I don't mind that alphabet. But history solved the problem for us.

To an extent - Russians in particular developed their own letters for their own specific sounds. Importing those would not necessarily be Macedonian.

[Otis Otus]

Latin letters? One could argue that this version has a heavy Russian/Bulgarian influence...why not go all the way back to the original Glagolithic or Cyrillic from the 10th century?

Macedonians used most of these letters before 1944. I don't mind the current alphabet, I was just wondering which one people like most.