Bujanski alphabet

The **Bujanski alphabet** is the official script for the Bujanski language.

In informal and poetic settings, the alphabet used to write Bujanski is sometimes known as the **Tridsjachet**, or the Thirty-Four, referring to the number of basic letters.

## Terminology

* tridsjačet - "thirty four"
	+ Referring to the number of basic letters.
* varonditsa - "v-a-r-o-n-d", the Bujanski alphabet
	+ From the first six letters of the Bujanski alphabet: v, a, r, o, n, d.
	+ "varonda" refers to any alphabet, while "varonditsa" refers specifically to the Bujanski script.
* makanitsa - (humorous) hook letters
	+ From the Eosome words "makan", meaning "hook", referring to the letters' shapes.

## Basic letters

v, a, r, o, n (formerly nj), d, e, ž, u, s, i, t, z, m, y, (n), j, b, p, kh, dz, ts, l (formerly lj), š, šč, g, k, (ɫ), dž, č, (ǔ), ǐ, æ, ja, ju, je, (ę), (ję), (ǫ), (jǫ), jo

Modern: v, a, r, o, n, d, e, ž, u, s, i, t, z, m, y, j, b, p, kh, dz, ts, l, š, šč, g, k, dž, č, (ǔ), ǐ, æ, ja, ju, je, jo

There are thirty-four letters in the modern Bujanski alphabet.

## Foreign letters

Twelve more letters are not counted as the official alphabet, but are used to transcribe foreign sounds and are learned in middle school classes. Including the twelve other letters, there are actually forty-six letters.

q, f, th, dh, gh, ng/ñ, oe, ô, h, lw, rw, x (ks)

Q, th, ô, rw, and lw are mostly from Sarmelonid loanwords, used in classical or prestigious settings.

From 402 AT onwards, oe was written in a new form that was based on the corresponding Eosome letter. The old form is still used in Koscheigrad and Lidongrad, although limited to signboards and personal writing.

## Five others

Five other symbols are used in written Bujanski, but they are not considered as letters due to their grammatical functions:

-i, -y, jo, i/es, ili

If those symbols are included, there are fifty-one letters in total.

## Origins

The Bujanski alphabet was derived from a commonly-used alphabet throughout southern Darros, originally from Rukania. In fact, the similar-looking modern alphabets for Rukanian and Bujanski developed independently, but were ultimately from the same source in ancient Rukania.

The archaic vowels and consonants were removed in 304 AT, resulting in the Bujanski alphabet being its current thirty-four letters.

## In-depth study about the alphabet

### Easy reference

v, a, r, o, n
d, e, ž, u, s
i, t, z, m, y
j, b, p, kh, dz
ts, l, š, šč, g
k, dž, č, (ǔ), ǐ, æ,
ja, je, ju, jo

var, az, ročjo, oroi, nje
data, erjo, že, umjo, slavja
īrja, tōr, zvesta, mjanda, issæssa
jāra, bogjo, pravja, khaša, dzælo
tsvæi, ljūbjo, šāsja, ščomja, glōsja,
krallo, džori, čestja, istinna, jætjo
jasnja, jestja, justǐ, jorja.

#### Short names

Especially used in quick speech. They are instead the official names of the letters in international Zvestarid.

va(r), a(z), rō, o(i), ne,
da, ei, že, un, sō,
ī, tō, zō/zē, mja, iju,
jā, bo, pa, kha, dzæ,
tsa, lā, šā, ščo, gā,
ke/ko, dzǎ, če, ije, æ/ai,
 ja, je, ju, jo

### Names of letters

The names of the Bujanski letters were chosen during the Kingdom of Zvesta's standardisation as a patriotic campaign, celebrating the nation, its monarchy, its religions, and moral values. They are considered old-fashioned in modern speech, but at still used as the names of the alphabet's letters.

* var - "king"
* az - "I"
* rochjo - "hand"
* oroi - "mountain, peak"
* nje (not used in the modern language, but usually to count) - no meaning, but sometimes interpreted as "cat".
	+ "Nje" was a word for "cat" during 7000 BT among the Slavic residents of an earlier kingdom, Koturran.
* data - "path, walking"
* eirola, erjo - "waves, water"
* zhe - "awareness"
* umjo - "mind"
* sareitja, sartj > slavja - "glorious, words"
* īrja - "sunshine"
* tōruz, tōr - "shield"
* zvesta, zvesj/zol(ta) - "star"/"gold"
* mjanda, mjan(na) - "waking up, laughter"
* issæsa (y, mostly written as ѵ, written as a plural as и; never as ы) - "twilight, purple"
	+ Sometimes this letter is also known as "yl", from the Eosome (classical native language) word for "down".
* jāra - "year"
* bogjo - "the Gods"
* pravja - "justice, truth"
* khasha - "righteous, virtuous, fair, just"
* dzælo - "domain, abode, comfort"
* tsvæi - "blossom"
* ljūbjo - "love, kindness"
* shāsja - "six, Svetovid, bliss, yellow, gold, morning"
* schomja - "patience"
* glōssosja, glōsja - "beautiful music, masterpiece, monument, beautiful"
* krallo, kral - "ship, adventure, progress, triumph"
* džori - "dawn, sunrise, east"
* chestja - "honour, wisdom, right actions, harvest, gain"
* istinna, stin - "accuracy, focus, concentration"
* jætjo (ѣ) - "freedom"
* jasnja - "clearness, innocence, discipline, sharpness"
* jestja - "truth, justice, beginning, birth"
* justǐ - "south, happiness, warmth"
* jorja (јо - ѻ in formal writing, ә as a ligature) - "roar"

### "Foreign letters"

There are twelve "foreign letters" for non-Bujanski sounds. They are sometimes assigned to each of the months of the year.

* q - qor
* f - fjo
* th - tho
* dh - dha
* gh - gho
* ng - ngod
* ö - oein
* ô - on (Vozonid ô)
* h - handa
* lw - lwura (Sarmelonid lh)
* rw - rwola (Sarmelonid rh)
* x - joksa (x)

### Five signs

* -i - plural
* -y - plural
* jo - "I am"
* i, es - "and"; "es" is used after i or j
* ili - "or"

### Additional signs

These marks are usually not listed in the official list of Bujanski foreign letters, as they are considered too archaic or technical for ordinary use.

In addition, ḑ and ţ were used for Sarmelonid and Sanskrit; and ņ and ŗ for retroflex n and syllabic r in Sanskrit.

Three other marks are used for the rising and falling tone in Sarmelonid texts, and the aspiration for some consonants (t', p', k', g'; bh, th. ph, kh) in the Sarmelonid and Sanskrit languages.

"W" is sometimes used in pronunciation guides.

* ḑ - d, du-
* ţ - t, tu-
* aspirated consonant - -j-
* w - u-, v

## Cyrillic/Common

Common, also known as Obishta, is the script used when writing in Bujanski in other nations. Within Bujan it is not an official alphabet for the Bujanski language, but still in widespread, informal usage, even in many signboards.

* в - v
	+ Sometimes pronounced as "w" in formal or ceremonial settings.
	+ At the end of commonly-used words and affixes, -v becomes -u. So "av" is "au", and "ov" is "ôu" or less often "oi". This is the standard in formal speech, although it is also in casual, rushed speech.
* а - a
* р - r
* о - o
* н <њ> - n
* д - d
* е - e
* ж - ž
* у - u
* с - s
* і - i
	+ Proposals to write ї or й as a plural.
* т - t
* з - z
* ѵ - y
	+ Pronounced [ɯ].
	+ Colloquially, pronounced as [-ø] for plural -y.
	+ To differentiate the plural suffix form from the vowel y, it is written as и at the ends of words.
		- Some authors proposed ѷ to write the plural -y, and ꙇ or љ for the plural -i.
		- Sometimes, ї is used for the plural -i in official settings. It is still considered acceptable, to the point that it is sometimes written as і̂ to differentiate it from -і̄.
	+ Officially, ѵ has two different forms: -и for the plural ending, and ъ for transcribing consonant clusters and awkward words.
	+ One way to tell a Russian from a Bujanski is whether do they write "y" as ы or ѵ. Bujanski always write it as ѵ, while Russians write it as ы. Ukrainians instead write the sound as и even if it is not for a plural -y.
	+ In Ukrainian and Russian, this letter was formerly used for Greek words, but is no longer used at all except in rare archaic style writing. In Bujanski, however, this is always used for the vowel "y", making it one of several national symbols.
	+ When the Zavtranians used a "V" as one of their emblems, the Zvestarids made sure that they write a curl or a tail whenever "ѵ" is written. "Uncurled", "ѵ" written as "v", became a slang term for a traitor or a Terran.
* <н> - <n>
* ј - j
* б - b
* п - p
* х - kh
* ѕ - dz
* ц - ts
	+ tts - тц
* л <љ> - l
* ш - š
* щ - šč
* г - g
* к - k
* <л> - <ł>
* џ - dž
* ч - č
* <ъ> - ǔ; y, o
	+ Not considered an official letter because it is a form of ѵ.
	+ Mostly used to transcribe consonant clusters considered difficult or impossible for ordinary Bujanski speakers. Placed between consonants or after the "impossible" cluster at the end of a word.
	+ Also used in Russian texts only in one-consonant words, where it is always pronounced as "o".
* ь - ǐ
* ѣ - æ
	+ In Bujanski, THIS is a very important letter, as it is pronounced differently from "e". It sounds like the short "a" in English cat.
	+ Ѣ, together with Ѵ and Јо (Ѻ), are national symbols of Bujan, representing the distinctive features of the national language and its culture. Because it was proudly used against the pro-Russian coup's Z, the Zavtranians referred Bujan as "Yatistan".
	+ Ѣ is placed before and after a sentence if it is a royal decree, a national slogan, or to celebrate the country. Some people also put it after a very happy statement or a joyous greeting.
* ја - ja
* је - je
* ју - ju
* <ѧ> - <ę, en/an>
* <ѩ> - <je, jen/jan>
* <ѫ> - <ǫ, on>
* <ѭ> - <jǫ, jon>
* јо - jo
	+ This was a recent addition into the Bujanski language during the early Zvestarid era. Originally, there were proposals to add "jo" as the newest letter of the Bujanski alphabet, but with the Zavtranian war and the Russian Terran invasions, "jo" was unanimously added as the 34th letter of the present alphabet, not counting foreign letters.
	+ Originally written as ѻ in ceremonial documents and decoration, later developed as ә as a ligature from јо. Later on, ѻ became the proper way to write "jo" (I, me) in all settings since its adoption as the new letter.
	+ ѻ is the only Cyrillic letter in Bujanski where a j-vowel is written with one letter instead of two; more or less similar to "jo" in Russian.

### Proposed Bujanski Cyrillic

These were the proposed letters used for writing Cyrillic for Bujanski during Wannaenid rule:

* ѣ (ae) - ә
* і - и
* ј - й
* је - е
* јо, ѻ - ё (when stressed), йо/ьо
* ју - ю
* ја - я
* јѣ - йә
* ѵ, и - ы
* е - э
* џ - дж

## Foreign letters

* ҁ - q
	+ Only used in Vozonid words and names.
* ф - f
	+ Often found in Irajonian, Norse, and Heronoi words and names.
* ѳ - th
* ԁ - dh
* ґ - gh
	+ Often found in Vozonid words and names.
* ң - ng
* ѫ - ö
* w - ô
	+ Only used in Vozonid words and names, and in some languages.
* һ - h
* ԯ - lh
	+ Only used in Vozonid words and names.
* р̹ - rh
	+ Only used in Vozonid words and names.
* ѯ - x, ks

## See also

* Bujanski glossary
* Bujanski slang