Gerenian alphabet
The Gerenian alphabet (Gerenian: leture gherenies) is a modification of the classical Latin Alphabet and currently consists on 33 letters: 11 vowels and 22 consonants.
Modern alphabet
| Letter | Name | IPA | English example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aa | a [a] | a | father |
| Ää | ahad [a'had] | ɛ | bed |
| Ee | e [ɛ] | ɛ | bed |
| Bb | be [bɛ] | b | bit |
| Vv | ve [vɛ] | v | vine |
| Ff | fe [fɛ] | f | face |
| Cc | ce [ɕɛ] | ɕ | sheer (a voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative) |
| Čč | če [tʃɛ] | tʃ | catch |
| Ss | se [sɛ] | s | see |
| Zz | ze [θɛ] | θ | thin |
| Žž | že [ʐɛ] | ʐ | pleasure |
| Dd | de [dɛ] | d | do |
| Gg | ge [gɛ] | g | game |
| Hh | he [hɛ] | h | house |
| Ii | i [ɪ] | ɪ | me |
| Îî | în [əŋ] | ə | above |
| Jj | j [ɨ] | ɨ | roses (close central unrounded vowel) |
| Ĵĵ | ĵe [xɛ] | x | loch (Scottish) |
| Yy | i enoes [ɪ ɛ'noɛs] | ɪ | me |
| Ŷŷ | ŷe [ʃɛ] | ʃ | shine |
| Kk | ke [kɛ] | k | kitten |
| Ll | le [lɛ] | l | lamp |
| Mm | me [mɛ] | m | map |
| Nn | ne [nɛ] | n | not |
| Oo | o [o] | o | more |
| Öö | ö [œ] | œ | feu (French), burn |
| Pp | pe [pɛ] | p | spell |
| Rr | re [rɛ] | r | rolled r |
| Tt | te [tɛ] | t | stool |
| Țț | țe [t͡sɛ] | t͡s | sits |
| Uu | u [ʊ] | ʊ | moon |
| Üü | ü [ʏ] | ʏ | tu (French), über (German) |
| Ww | wa [wa] | w | wash |
History
Proto-Gerenian alphabet
In July 2004, it was invented the Proto-Gerenian alphabet, which consisted on 28 letters. The creation of the Gerenian language (as its early form) began later that year, and was not related to the alphabet. The reason was that the Proto-Gerenian alphabet was created to encode texts.
The Proto-Gerenian alphabet remained unchanged until June 2006, when some modifications were introduced: a new letter equivalent to the Latin n, and slight alterations to other letters.
No changes were made to the alphabet until early 2010. A new accent system was adopted, and it was created the sign h to mark the stressed syllable. The numbers were also determined.
In spite of the above-mentioned changes, there have been criticism regarding the similarity between some Proto-Gerenian letters and Latin ones. With the aim to revert this, a reform proposal was made in September 2011, which would have introduced drastic changes to the alphabet. After a short trial period, the newest version as rejected, and the Proto-Gerenian alphabet gradually fell into desuse during the following months.
Modern alphabet
For Archaic Gerenian, the standard Latin alphabet was adopted, and it was established a rule to mark vowels with acute accents in certain cases. Between 2004 and 2011, due to the slow development of the language, the alphabet remained practically unaltered.
In late 2011, with the fresh impetus given to the evolution of the Gerenian language (caused by the foundation of Gerenia), it was necessary to agree on an alphabet. The letters h, w and x were removed. However, during the first half of 2012, new letters began being added to enrich the Gerenian phonology: the letters ä, ö and ü were adopted from German, the letters î and ț from Romanian, and the letter ž from Estonian. Also, the letters "ĵ" and "ŷ" were also included. The confusion aroused obliged the Gerenian government to establish the Gerenian Language National Commission. A fourth version of the alphabet was soon approved by the Commission, nevertheless, it was modified again in November. Also, the Commission rejected the proposal to adopt the Proto-Gerenian alphabet, either to replace the Modern one or to be used alongside it.
The last modification made to the alphabet was the inclusion of a 33rd letter: č, in December 2012.
The chart below shows the evolution of the Modern alphabet:
| Dec 2004 | Dec 2011 | Jan 2012 | Jun 2012 | Dec 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | A | A | A | A |
| B | B | B | B | B |
| C | C | C | C | C |
| D | D | D | D | D |
| E | E | E | E | E |
| F | F | F | F | F |
| G | G | G | G | G |
| H | H | H | H | |
| I | I | I | I | I |
| J | J | J | J | J |
| K | K | K | K | K |
| L | L | L | L | L |
| M | M | M | M | M |
| N | N | N | N | N |
| O | O | O | O | O |
| P | P | P | P | P |
| R | R | R | R | R |
| S | S | S | S | S |
| T | T | T | T | T |
| U | U | U | U | U |
| V | V | V | V | V |
| W | W | |||
| X | ||||
| Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Z | Z | Z | Z | Z |
| Î | Î | Î | Î | |
| Ä | Ä | Ä | Ä | |
| Ö | Ö | Ö | Ö | |
| Ü | Ü | Ü | Ü | |
| Ž | Ž | |||
| Ț | Ț | |||
| Ĵ | ||||
| Ŷ | ||||
| Č |
Notes:
- In the 2012 columns, the order of the letters do not correspond to the order established by the Gerenian Language National Commission and its predeccesor.
- Some letters remained through the years, though the sounds they represent have changed.
