The Russian Alphabet Writing Reforms
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Kerrin - 2 August 2025
Hello back. My name is Kerrin and I’m going to talk about the Russian alphabet reform. As we all know, the Russian alphabet has 33 letters, with 10 vowels, 21 consonants and 2 letter symbols that affect the pronunciation. But, actually there used to be some older letters that fall out of use.
After I had read the history of the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, there used to be some major writing reforms:
- Peter the great writing reform
- Russian spelling reform 1918
- Russian spelling reform 1956
I am going to tell you about the history of the original Russian alphabet to Peter the great’s writing reform.
As we all know, St. Cyril and St. Methodius created the Cyrillic alphabet. Whilst creating the alphabet, they basically modelled after the Greek alphabet and added some sounds found in Slavic languages and not Greek language. This early alphabet was very suitable for writing the Slavic languages and also the Old Church Slavonic, due to its phonetic nature. Also, this early Cyrillic alphabet use Ustav (Устав) style. The ustav style was based on the Greek uncial script (capital script), so the letters were all typically large and lacked word separations.
Here are the list of the early Cyrillic alphabet, the Greek equivalent and their phonological values:
| Early Cyrillic Alphabet | IPA Pronunciation | The Greek Equivalents |
|---|---|---|
| А а | Open front unrounded vowel /a/ | Α α |
| Б б | Voiced bilabial plosive /b/ | Greek variation of Beta ( ) |
| В в | Voiced labiodental fricative /v/ | Β β |
| Г г | Voiced velar plosive /g/ | Γ γ |
| Д д | Voiced alveolar plosive /d/ | Δ δ |
| Є є | open-mid front unrounded vowel /ɛ/ | Ε ε |
| Ж ж | Voiced postalalveolar fricative /ʒ/ | - |
| Ѕ ѕ | Voiced alveolar affricate /dz/ | Greek ς |
| Ꙁ ꙁ / З з | Voiced alveolar fricative /z/ | Ζ ζ |
| И и | Close-front unrounded vowel /i/ | Η η |
| І і | Close-front unrounded vowel /i/ | Ι ι |
| К к | Voiceless velar plosive /k/ | Κ κ |
| Л л | Voiced lateral approximant /l/ | Λ λ |
| М м | Voiced bilabial nasal /m/ | Μ μ |
| Н н | Voiced alveolar nasal /n/ | Ν ν |
| О о | Close-mid back rounded vowel /o/ | Ο ο |
| П п | Voiceless bilabial plosive /p/ | Π π |
| Р р | Alveolar trill /r/ | Ρ ρ |
| С с | Voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ | Σ σ |
| Т т | Voiceless alveolar plosive /t/ | Τ τ |
| Ꙋ ꙋ / Ѹ ѹ | Close back rounded vowel /u/ | The greek digraph Ου ου |
| Ф ф | Voiceless labiodental fricative /f/ | Φ φ |
| Х х | Voiceless velar fricative /x/ | Χ χ |
| Ѡ ѡ | Close-mid back rounded vowel /o/ | Ω ω |
| Ц ц | Voiceless alveolar affricate /ts/ | - |
| Ч ч | Voiceless postalveolar affricate /t͡ʃ/ | - |
| Ш ш | Voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ | - |
| Щ щ | /ʃt/ | - |
| Ъ ъ | Near-close near-back rounded vowel /ʊ/ | - |
| Ы ы | Close back unrounded vowel /ɯ/ | - |
| Ь ь | Near-close near-front unrounded vowel /ɪ/ | - |
| Ѣ ѣ | Near-open front unrounded vowel /æ/ | - |
| Ꙗ ꙗ | /ja/ | - |
| Ѥ ѥ | /jε/ | - |
| Ю ю | /ju/ | - |
| Ѫ ѫ | Nasalized open-mid back rounded vowel /ɔ̃/ | - |
| Ѭ ѭ | /jɔ̃/ | - |
| Ѧ ѧ | Nasalized open-mid front unrounded vowel /ɛ̃/ | - |
| Ѩ ѩ | /jɛ̃/ | - |
| Ѯ ѯ | /ks/ | Ξ ξ |
| Ѱ ѱ | /ps/ | Ψ ψ |
| Ѳ ѳ | Voiceless labiodental fricative /f/ | Θ θ |
| Ѵ ѵ | Close front rounded vowel /y/ | Υ υ |
| Ҁ ҁ | - | The ancient Greek letter Ϙ ϙ |
As you can see, some early Cyrillic letters have nasal vowels, where the vowels are produced by letting the airflow through both the mouth and the nose. The Slavic languages had nasal phonemes, and they were being represented by the letters Ѫ, Ѭ, Ѧ and Ѩ, or the /ɔ̃/, /jɔ̃/, /ɛ̃/ and /jɛ̃/ in the IPA pronunciation. This early cyrillic letter also being used in the Orthodox Church, with the prevailing typeface церковнославя́нский шрифт (tserkovnoslavyanskiy shrift).
Besides, the early Cyrillic alphabet also contained letters for numerals. This system is directly adopted from the Greek alphabet, where the alphabet also represents the numerical values. The early Cyrillic alphabet also contains diacritics and ligatures (for stress marks, aspirations, and other pronunciation indications). These diacritics and ligatures were directly adopted from the polytonic Greek alphabet orthography, which was quite redundant. As the Russian language evolves, it underwent some phonological changes, such as the nasal vowel denasalization. Gradually, the letters Ѫ, Ѭ, Ѧ and Ѩ were discarded in the common usage.
Then, there was the need to standardize the Cyrillic alphabet in the 15th and the 16th century. As the centralized Russian State was awakened, there was a need for a standardized alphabet. The standardized alphabet would be of use for the bureaucracy use, economy, administrative and legal affairs. There were some attempts in standardizing the alphabet in order to ensure the language as the practical tool of communication.
Since the early Cyrillic alphabet script lacked the distinction between the uppercase and the lowercase, the poluustav (полуустав) or semi-uncial script was being introduced. The previous script had some shortcomings, such as time-consuming writing and the need for more written texts.
Fast forward to the 18th century. In the 18th century, there was a need to modernize and westernize Russia by Tsar Peter the Great. He sought to modernize Russia because he recognized that Russia was lacking in technologies, governance and trade. While visiting European countries, he studied shipbuilding, paintings, and several others. He was so impressed with their technological advances and the European customs that he decided to make a major reform in order to westernize Russia.
Besides the three major reforms he did (the social, administrative and economic reforms), Peter the Great also reformed the Cyrillic alphabet. In 1708, Peter the Great introduced the grazhdanskiy shrift (гражданский шрифт) or civil script. This script was being created for printing the official administrative publications, technical, military, and the other publications, and also this script replaced the poluustav (полуустав) or semi-uncial script. In this Cyrillic alphabet reform, some alphabets were being discarded or being changed in appearances.
Here are some of the discarded Cyrillic alphabets:
| Cyrillic Alphabet | IPA Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| Ѯ ѯ | /ks/ |
| Ѱ ѱ | /ps/ |
| Ѡ ѡ | Close-mid back rounded vowel /o/ |
| Ѥ ѥ | /jε/ |
| Ꙗ ꙗ | /ja/ |
| Ѩ ѩ | /jɛ̃/ |
| Ѭ ѭ | /jɔ̃/ |
| Ꙋ ꙋ / Ѹ ѹ | Close back rounded vowel /u/ |
| Ѫ ѫ | /jɔ̃/ |
Meanwhile, the letter Ѧ was being changed with the letter Я.
Besides, Peter the Great also removed the diacritics and accents in the Cyrillic script (with the exception of й) in order to simplify the orthography. Then the Arabic numericals were being introduced, removing the cyrillic numerical notations in order to align with the Western mathematical and scientific notations.
At the end, after Peter the Great’s alphabet reform, the total alphabet was 38. The Cyrillic alphabet continued to evolve alongside with the Russian language, which led to another reform.
The Russian Alphabet Major Writing Reform
Peter the Great’s alphabet reform influenced every aspect of life. The alphabets decreased to 38, and their typeface became simpler and rounder. Also, this reform brought the usage of capital letters and punctuation marks, by which it helped to oversee the rise of printing in Russia, which indirectly contributed to the development of modern Russian literature.
One of them is the newspaper. In 1711, the first Vedomosti (Ведомости) newspaper was published. It was being published in the new alphabet, and this publication covered information about military affairs, foreign and domestic events. Also this first newspaper was intended for public consumption. Before the reign of Peter the Great, there used to be a previous Russian handwritten newspaper–Vestovye Pisma (Вестове Письма) or Kuranty (Куранты)–only for The Tsar and his attendants.
Fast forward to the 18th and the 19th century. Russian phonology has changed. There were redundant letters that didn’t reflect the pronunciation changes. Here are some of the details:
The alphabet ѵ, which used to be pronounced as close front rounded vowel /y/, came to be pronounced as close-front unrounded vowel /i/. To add complications, since this alphabet came from the Greek υ (upsilon), it also used to denote the sound voiced labiodental fricative /v/ after the letter а, е and э, like the original Greek letter. For example:
- Аѵгустъ (Avgust”), comes from the Greek Αύγουστος (Avgoustos)
- Еѵангелистъ (Evangelist”), comes from the Greek Ευαγγελιστής (Evaggelistís)
Thus, there were 3 redundant alphabets for pronouncing the close-front unrounded vowel /i/ sound, which were і, и and ѵ.
Meanwhile the alphabet Ѳ, which came from the Greek θ (theta), was pronounced as voiceless labiodental fricative /f/, so this alphabet’s pronunciation was the same with the alphabet Фф. It was only used to denote a name, nouns or place of Greek origin. For example:
- Ѳома́ (thoma), comes from the Greek Θωμάς (Thomás)
- Виѳфа́гія (Vithfagiya), comes from the Greek Βηθφαγή (Bethphage, in modern Greek it is Vithfagí)
- Ана́ѳема (Anathema), comes from the Greek Ανάθεμα (anáthema)
For the alphabet Ъ, it used to be pronounced as near-close near-back rounded vowel /ʊ/. But it became silent due to phonological changes. This alphabet was normally written at the end of a word after a non-palatal consonant, like this example:
- Котъ (kot”) = cat
Which didn’t affect the pronunciations at all.
For the alphabet ь, it used to be pronounced as near-close near-front unrounded vowel /ɪ/, but over time the phonological changes has taken it’s toll. The specific vowel sound was eliminated and merged with other vowel sounds.
As for the alphabet Ѣ, it used to be pronounced as near-open front unrounded vowel /æ/, but it becomes /je/, synonymous with the Russian letter Е е. Therefore, there were redundant alphabets for the sound /je/.
In order to encourage mass literacy among the Russian speakers, there was a discussion about the orthography reform. During the “Great Reforms” of Tsar Alexander II, there were talks about enacting the orthography reform, besides modernizing the country, military reforms, economic reforms, educational reforms and several others. This talk garnered intense debates from both the supporters of the proposed orthography reform and the opponents of the orthography reform. According to the supporters of the orthography reform, the archaism contained in the alphabet aggravated literacy and learning, therefore it needed to change. Besides, according to them, the orthography needs to portray the speech faithfully. Meanwhile, according to the opponents of the orthography reform, the complex alphabet reflects the historical development of the Russian alphabet, its connection to the Old Church Slavonic, and its linguistic heritage, so it was argued that the orthography would sever all the connections for its heritage. At the end the talk of the orthography reform stopped.
The 1918 Orthographical Reform
And finally, the orthographical reform was being done in 1918. This orthographical reform was done by the Bolsheviks. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, which oversaw the overthrow of the Tsarist era, the Bolsheviks took the power vacuum, and besides aimed for encouraging the mass literacy among the populations, they also wanted to instill the socialist ideology among them. According to the Bolsheviks, the new orthographical reform would help build a national identity with a classless state. This reform removes the four redundant letters: і, ѳ, ѵ and ѣ
- Previously, both the letter і, ѵ and и denotes the sound close-front unrounded vowel /i/. After this reform, that sound was assigned to only И и. For example: Россія (Rossiya) becomes Россия (Rossiya), and сѵнодъ (Synod”) becomes синод (sinod)
- The alphabet Ѵ also denoted the sound voiced labiodental fricative /v/ after the letter а, е and э like its original Greek letter. After the reform, this sound was assigned to only В в. For example: Еѵангелистъ (Evangelist”) becomes Евангелист (Evangelist)
- The alphabet Ѳ denoted the sound voiceless labiodental fricative /f/. After the reform, this sound was assigned to Ф ф. For example: мараѳонъ (marathon”) becomes марафон (marafon)
- The alphabet Ѣ denoted the sound /je/. After the reform, this sound was assigned to Е е. For example: дѣти (dyeti) becomes дети (dyeti)
Meanwhile, the use of the alphabet Ъ at the end of the word was being abolished, but that letter is being reassigned as a sign. This alphabet Ь also met the same fate. Both Ъ and Ь becomes a hard sign and soft sign respectively.
The effects of this orthographical reform was, after the removal of the obsolete letters, helped to raise the literacy rates. Politically, this orthographical reform symbolized the new regime break from Tsarist Russia, as the symbol of progress and modernity.
Meanwhile, the alphabet Ë ë (which is pronounced as /jo/) appeared in the 18th century, but its use was inconsistent and optional. That alphabet letter appeared due to a proposal from Princess Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova, the director of the Academy of Russian Literature, in order to accurately represent the /jo/ sound, which at that time was being written with a digraph. Despite its introduction, its use was never made mandatory and inconsistent, therefore many people just substitute it with the letter Е е.
Also, fast forward, Russian languages adopted a lot of new loanwords. But the loanwords were being written in an inconsistent approach, especially in spelling a double consonant from the borrowed loanwords. There weren’t any clear and definite guidelines for writing them.
The 1956 Orthographical Reform
And finally, this 1956 reform happened. In this reform, a book called Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language (Орфографический Словарь Русского Языка) was published. This 1956 reform was being done in order to codify the Ë ë letter usage, and solidified the new orthography by creating clear guidelines for writing loanwords which hadn’t been mentioned in the 1918 reform.
And finally the Russian alphabet has 33 letters as we all know, with 10 vowels, 21 consonants and 2 letter symbols that affect the pronunciation. Thank you for reading ;))