Estonian alphabet
Encyclopedia
The Estonian alphabet is used for writing the Estonian language
and is based on the Latin alphabet
, with German
influence. As such, the Estonian alphabet has the letters Ä
, Ö
, and Ü
(A, O, and U with umlaut), which represent the vowel sounds [æ], [ø] and [y], respectively. Unlike the German umlauts, they are considered to be separate letters and part of the alphabet, and are alphabetised as separate letters. The most distinguishing letter in the Estonian alphabet, however, is the Õ
(O with tilde), which was added to the alphabet in the 19th century by Otto Wilhelm Masing
and stands for the vowel [ɤ]. In addition, the alphabet also differs from the Latin alphabet by the addition of the letters Š
and Ž
(S and Z with caron
/háček), and by the position of Z in the alphabet: it has been moved from the end to between S and T (or Š and Ž).
In Blackletter
W was used instead of V.
Johannes Aavik
insisted that the letter Ü be replaced by Y, as it has been in the Finnish alphabet.
The official Estonian alphabet has 27 letters:
The oblique
letters are so-called "foreign letters" (võõrtähed).
F, Š, Z and Ž occur only in loanword
s and foreign proper names.
C, Q, W, X and Y do not occur in Estonian words, but are used in writing foreign proper names.
Including also the "foreign letters", alphabet consists of the following 32 letters:
The alphabet is occasionally written and recited without even the letters appearing only in loanwords. In that case, it has 23 letters:
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
and is based on the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
, with German
German alphabet
The modern German alphabet is an extended Latin alphabet consisting of 30 letters – the same letters that are found in the Basic modern Latin alphabet plus four extra letters.In German, the individual letters have neuter gender: das A, das B etc....
influence. As such, the Estonian alphabet has the letters Ä
Ä
"Ä" and "ä" are both characters that represent either a letter from several extended Latin alphabets, or the letter A with an umlaut mark or diaeresis.- Independent letter :...
, Ö
Ö
"Ö", or "ö", is a character used in several extended Latin alphabets, or the letter O with umlaut to denote the front vowels or . In languages without umlaut, the character is also used as a "O with diaeresis" to denote a syllable break, wherein its pronunciation remains an unmodified .- O-Umlaut...
, and Ü
Ü
Ü, or ü, is a character which can be either a letter from several extended Latin alphabets, or the letter U with an umlaut or a diaeresis...
(A, O, and U with umlaut), which represent the vowel sounds [æ], [ø] and [y], respectively. Unlike the German umlauts, they are considered to be separate letters and part of the alphabet, and are alphabetised as separate letters. The most distinguishing letter in the Estonian alphabet, however, is the Õ
Õ
"Õ", or "õ" is a composition of the Latin letter O with the diacritic mark tilde.The HTML entity is Õ for Õ and õ for õ.-Estonian:...
(O with tilde), which was added to the alphabet in the 19th century by Otto Wilhelm Masing
Otto Wilhelm Masing
Otto Wilhelm Masing was an early Livonian Estophile and a major advocate of peasant rights, especially regarding education....
and stands for the vowel [ɤ]. In addition, the alphabet also differs from the Latin alphabet by the addition of the letters Š
Š
The grapheme Š, š is used in various contexts, usually denoting the voiceless postalveolar fricative. In the International Phonetic Alphabet this sound is denoted with , but the lowercase š is used in the Americanist phonetic notation, as well as in the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet.For use in computer...
and Ž
Ž
The grapheme Ž is formed from Latin Z with the addition of caron . It is used in various contexts, usually denoting the voiced postalveolar fricative, a sound similar to English g in mirage, or Portuguese and French j...
(S and Z with caron
Caron
A caron or háček , also known as a wedge, inverted circumflex, inverted hat, is a diacritic placed over certain letters to indicate present or historical palatalization, iotation, or postalveolar pronunciation in the orthography of some Baltic, Slavic, Finno-Lappic, and other languages.It looks...
/háček), and by the position of Z in the alphabet: it has been moved from the end to between S and T (or Š and Ž).
In Blackletter
Blackletter
Blackletter, also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 to well into the 17th century. It continued to be used for the German language until the 20th century. Fraktur is a notable script of this type, and sometimes...
W was used instead of V.
Johannes Aavik
Johannes Aavik
Johannes Aavik was an Estonian philologist and Fennophile who played a significant role in the modernization and development of the Estonian language.-Education and career:...
insisted that the letter Ü be replaced by Y, as it has been in the Finnish alphabet.
The official Estonian alphabet has 27 letters:
The oblique
Oblique type
Oblique type is a form of type that slants slightly to the right, used in the same manner as italic type. Unlike italic type, however, it does not use different glyph shapes; it uses the same glyphs as roman type, except distorted...
letters are so-called "foreign letters" (võõrtähed).
F, Š, Z and Ž occur only in loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s and foreign proper names.
C, Q, W, X and Y do not occur in Estonian words, but are used in writing foreign proper names.
Including also the "foreign letters", alphabet consists of the following 32 letters:
The alphabet is occasionally written and recited without even the letters appearing only in loanwords. In that case, it has 23 letters:
Recitation
| A | [ɑː] | B | [b̥eː] | C | [tseː] | D | [d̥eː] | E | [eː] | F | [eff] |
| G | [ɡ̊eː] | H | [hɑː] or [hɑʃ] | I | [iː] | J | [jotʲː] | K | [kɑː] | L | [ell] |
| M | [emm] | N | [enn] | O | [oː] | P | [peː] | Q | [kuː] | R | [err] or [ærr] |
| S | [ess] | Š | [ʃɑː] | Z | [zeː], [seː] or [tsett] | Ž | [ʒeː] or [ʃeː] | T | [teː] | U | [uː] |
| V | [veː] | W | [kɑksisveː] | Õ | [ɤː] | Ä | [æː] | Ö | [øː] | Ü | [yː] |
| X | [iks] | Y | [iɡrek] or [ypsilon] | ||||||||