ALPHABET

ALPHABET, a system of graphical characters – letters, conveying the sound image of the language by means of symbols, representing individual sound elements. Bashkirs used family signs before alphabetic writing, they were familiar with runic writing. With the adoption of Islam, the Arabic script began to be used. In 1924, the A. based on the Arabic graphics of 33 letters was approved. In1928, anew Bashkir A. was adopted based on the Latin alphabet, which corresponded more to the phonetics of the Bashkir language. The modern Bashkir A. based on the Russian graphics with 9 additional letters for designation of special sounds of the Bashkir language (ғ, ҙ, ҡ, ң, ѳ, ҫ, ү, һ , ә) has been functioning since 1940. It consists of 42 letters.