Kashubian alphabet

The earlier version of Kashubian alphabet, which dates back to 1850

Kashubian keyboard layout [1]

The Kashubian or Cassubian alphabet (kaszëbsczi alfabét, kaszëbsczé abecadło) is the script of the Kashubian language, based on the Latin alphabet. The Kashubian alphabet consists of 34 letters:

A, Ą, Ã, B, C, D, E, É, Ë, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, Ł, M, N, Ń, O, Ò, Ó, Ô, P, R, S, T, U, Ù, W, Y, Z, Ż

The Kashubian language also use some digraphs: ch, cz, dz, dż, rz and sz. The digraphs cz, dż, sz, ż are pronounced in a different manner from their Polish counterparts – they are palato-alveolar, not retroflex – but "rz" is pronounced exactly the same as in Polish.

Pronunciation

Upper case	Lower case	Name of letters [2]	Pronunciation
A	a	a	[a]
Ą	ą	ą	[õ], [ũ]
Ã	ã	ã	[ã] [ɛ̃] (Puck County, Wejherowo County)
B	b	bé	[b]
C	c	cé	[ts]
D	d	dé	[d]
E	e	e	[ɛ]
É	é	é	[e] [ɨj] in some dialects [i]/[ɨ] from Puck to Kartuzy [ɨ] at the end of a word
Ë	ë	szwa	[ə]
F	f	éf	[f]
G	g	gé	[ɡ]
H	h	ha	[x]
I	I	i	[i]
J	j	jot	[j]
K	k	ka	[k]
L	l	él	[l]
Ł	ł	éł	[w]
M	m	ém	[m]
N	n	én	[n]
Ń	ń	éń	[ɲ] [n]
O	o	o	[ɔ]
Ò	ò	ò	[wɛ]
Ó	ó	ó	[o] [u] (southern dialects)
Ô	ô	ô	[ɞ] [ɛ] (western dialects) [ɔ] (Wejherowo County) [o]/[u] (southern dialects)
P	p	pé	[p]
R	r	ér	[r]
S	s	és	[s]
T	t	té	[t]
U	u	u	[u]
Ù	ù	ù	[wʉ]
W	w	wé	[v]
Y	y	igrek	[i]
Z	z	zet	[z]
Ż	ż	żet	[ʒ]

Consonants combination

Upper case	Lower case	Pronunciation
Ch	ch	[x]
Cz	cz	[tʃ]
Dz	dz	[dz]
Dż	dż	[dʒ]
Rz	rz	[ʐ]
Sz	sz	[ʃ]

Literature

• Eugeniusz Gòłąbk: Wkôzë kaszëbsczégò pisënkù. Oficyna Czec, Gduńsk 1997, p. 25 ISBN 83-87408-02-6.

See also

• Ł-l merger
• Polish language

External links

• Omniglot
• Kaszëbskô Mowa: Freeing the Kashubian Language