Volapuk encoding
Encyclopedia
Volapuk encoding or latinitsa (латиница) is a slang term for rendering the letters of the Cyrillic script with Latin
ones. Unlike Translit
(in which characters are replaced to sound the same), in volapuk characters can be replaced to look or sound the same.
constructed language
, for two reasons. Cyrillic text written in this way looks strange and often funny, just as a Volapük-language text may appear. At the same time, the word "Volapük" ("Волапюк/Воляпюк" Volapyuk/Volyapyuk in Russian) itself sounds funny
to Russian ears, so the name stuck.
The term was popularized by its use in the first Soviet commercially-available UUCP
and TCP/IP network, RELCOM
(a typical networking software package included Cyrillic KOI-8 to Volapuk transcoding utilites called tovol and fromvol, originally implemented by Vadim Antonov), making it the likely origin of the usage of Volapuk as applied to Cyrillic encoding.
have been in use since the early days of the Internet
to write e-mail
messages and other texts in Russian where the support of Cyrillic fonts was limited: either the sender did not have a keyboard with Cyrillic letters or the receiver did not necessarily have Cyrillic screen fonts. In the early days, the situation was aggravated by a number of mutually incompatible computer encodings for the Cyrillic script, so that the sender and receiver were not guaranteed to have the same one. Also, the 7-bit character encoding
of the early days was an additional hindrance.
Some Russian e-mail providers even included Volapuk encoding in the list of available options for the e-mails routed abroad, e.g.,
By the late 90s, the encoding problem had been almost completely resolved, due to increasing support from software manufacturers and Internet service providers. Volapuk still maintains a level of use for SMS text messages, because it is possible to fit more characters in a Latinized SMS message than a unicode one. It is also used in computer games that don't allow Russian typing in chat, particularly Counter-Strike
.
As some numeric digits are used to represent Cyrillic letters, the result may resemble leet
speak.
Encoding depends on the language as well. For example, Ukrainian
users have their own traditions, distinct from the Russian ones.
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...
ones. Unlike Translit
Translit
Translit is a method of encoding Cyrillic letters with Latin ones. The term is derived from transliteration, the system of replacing letters of one alphabet with letters of another....
(in which characters are replaced to sound the same), in volapuk characters can be replaced to look or sound the same.
Etymology
The name Volapuk encoding comes from the VolapükVolapük
Volapük is a constructed language, created in 1879–1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Roman Catholic priest in Baden, Germany. Schleyer felt that God had told him in a dream to create an international language. Volapük conventions took place in 1884 , 1887 and 1889 . The first two conventions used...
constructed language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
, for two reasons. Cyrillic text written in this way looks strange and often funny, just as a Volapük-language text may appear. At the same time, the word "Volapük" ("Волапюк/Воляпюк" Volapyuk/Volyapyuk in Russian) itself sounds funny
Inherently funny word
Words may be considered inherently funny, for reasons ranging from onomatopoeia to phonosemantics. Such words have been used by a range of influential comedians, including W. C...
to Russian ears, so the name stuck.
The term was popularized by its use in the first Soviet commercially-available UUCP
UUCP
UUCP is an abbreviation for Unix-to-Unix Copy. The term generally refers to a suite of computer programs and protocols allowing remote execution of commands and transfer of files, email and netnews between computers. Specifically, a command named uucp is one of the programs in the suite; it...
and TCP/IP network, RELCOM
RELCOM
RELCOM or Relcom , an acronym for "RELiable COMmunications" is a computer network in Russia. It was launched in the Soviet Union on August 1, 1990 in the Kurchatov Institute in collaboration with DEMOS co-operative RELCOM or Relcom , an acronym for "RELiable COMmunications" is a computer network in...
(a typical networking software package included Cyrillic KOI-8 to Volapuk transcoding utilites called tovol and fromvol, originally implemented by Vadim Antonov), making it the likely origin of the usage of Volapuk as applied to Cyrillic encoding.
History
Volapuk and TranslitTranslit
Translit is a method of encoding Cyrillic letters with Latin ones. The term is derived from transliteration, the system of replacing letters of one alphabet with letters of another....
have been in use since the early days of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
to write e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
messages and other texts in Russian where the support of Cyrillic fonts was limited: either the sender did not have a keyboard with Cyrillic letters or the receiver did not necessarily have Cyrillic screen fonts. In the early days, the situation was aggravated by a number of mutually incompatible computer encodings for the Cyrillic script, so that the sender and receiver were not guaranteed to have the same one. Also, the 7-bit character encoding
Character encoding
A character encoding system consists of a code that pairs each character from a given repertoire with something else, such as a sequence of natural numbers, octets or electrical pulses, in order to facilitate the transmission of data through telecommunication networks or storage of text in...
of the early days was an additional hindrance.
Some Russian e-mail providers even included Volapuk encoding in the list of available options for the e-mails routed abroad, e.g.,
- "MIME/BASE64, MIME/Quoted-Printable, volapuk, uuencode"
By the late 90s, the encoding problem had been almost completely resolved, due to increasing support from software manufacturers and Internet service providers. Volapuk still maintains a level of use for SMS text messages, because it is possible to fit more characters in a Latinized SMS message than a unicode one. It is also used in computer games that don't allow Russian typing in chat, particularly Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation which originated from a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe...
.
Rules
Volapuk often replaces Cyrillic letters with Latin ones in order to look the same or at least similar as typed or handwritten Cyrillic letters.- Replace "the same" letters: a, e, K, M, T, o. Capitalize when necessary for closer resemblance (к: K better than k, м: M better than m (which looks exactly like 't' in handwritten Cyrillic), т: T better than t).
- Replace similar-looking letters: в – B, г – 2 (handwritten resemblance) or r, з – 3, л – J| or /\ (the last is again handwritten resemblance), н – Н, п – n (handwritten resemblance), р – p, с – c, у – y, х – x, ч – 4. This may vary.
- Replace all other non-obvious hard-to-represent characters; there are many options for each letter. (For example, letter 'щ' can be encoded in more than 15 different ways). Examples: ж – *, я – 91, щ – LLI_, э – -) and so on. The choice for each letter depends on the preferences of the individual user.
As some numeric digits are used to represent Cyrillic letters, the result may resemble leet
Leet
Leet , also known as eleet or leetspeak, is an alternative alphabet for the English language that is used primarily on the Internet. It uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace Latinate letters...
speak.
Encoding depends on the language as well. For example, Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
users have their own traditions, distinct from the Russian ones.
Table
- А — A
- Б — 6, b
- В — B
- Г — F, I", I¯, r, 2, s (lowercase)
- Д — D, g (lowercase)
- Е — E
- Ё — E, E", Ë (Latin)
- Ж — *, }I{, >I<, >K
- З — 3
- И — N, u (lowercase), I/I
- Й — N', Ñ, u' or ú (both lowercase)
- К — K
- Л — JI, /\, JT
- М — M
- Н — H
- О — O
- П — II, n, TT (two Latin "T"-s)
- Р — P
- С — C
- Т — T, m (lowercase)
- У — y
- Ф — Ø, qp, @ ("at" sign), (|), Q, o|o, 0(zero), cp
- Х — X
- Ц — "U,", LL (two Latin "L"-s)
- Ч — 4
- Ш — W, LLI
- Щ — "W," or "W_" or LLL
- Ъ — b or 'b
- Ы — bl
- Ь — b
- Э — ~), € (Euro sign)
- Ю — IO, I-O
- Я — R, 91, 9I, °/I
Example
- СОВЕТСКИЙ СОЮЗ (Cyrillic) [Soviet Union]
- COBETCKNN' COIO3 ("volapuk")
- SOVETSKIY SOYUZ (transliteration)
See also
- TranslitTranslitTranslit is a method of encoding Cyrillic letters with Latin ones. The term is derived from transliteration, the system of replacing letters of one alphabet with letters of another....
- Informal romanizations of RussianInformal romanizations of RussianInformal or ad hoc romanizations of Russian have been in use since the early days of electronic communications, starting from early e-mail and bulletin board systems...
- Romanization of RussianRomanization of RussianRomanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet...
- Romanization of UkrainianRomanization of UkrainianThe romanization or Latinization of Ukrainian is the representation of the Ukrainian language using Latin letters. Ukrainian is natively written in its own Ukrainian alphabet, a variation of Cyrillic....
- Faux CyrillicFaux CyrillicFaux Cyrillic, pseudo-Cyrillic, pseudo-Russian or faux Russian typography is the use of Cyrillic letters in Latin text to evoke the Soviet Union or Russia, regardless of whether the letters are phonetic matches. For example, R and N in RUSSIAN may be replaced by Cyrillic Я and И, giving "ЯUSSIAИ"...
– The reverse, e.g. "ЯUSSIAИ" - Arabic Chat AlphabetArabic Chat AlphabetThe Arabic chat alphabet, Arabizi, Arabish or Araby, , is an alphabet used to communicate in the Arabic language over the Internet or for sending messages via cellular phones when the actual Arabic alphabet is unavailable for technical reasons...
– the same idea in Arabic - MojibakeMojibake, from the Japanese 文字 "character" + 化け "change", is the occurrence of incorrect, unreadable characters shown when computer software fails to render text correctly according to its associated character encoding.-Causes:...
- GreeklishGreeklishGreeklish, a portmanteau of the words Greek and English, also known as Grenglish, Latinoellinika/Λατινοελληνικά or ASCII Greek, is the Greek language written using the Latin alphabet...