Theromanization of Macedonian is thetransliteration of text inMacedonian from theMacedonian Cyrillic alphabet into theLatin alphabet.Romanization can be used for various purposes, such as rendering ofproper names in foreign contexts, or for informal writing of Macedonian in environments where Cyrillic is not easily available. Official use of romanization byNorth Macedonia's authorities is found, for instance, on road signage and in passports. Several different codified standards of transliteration currently exist and there is widespread variability in practice.
Although used for transliteration, Macedonian Latin script is neither widespread nor used in any formal or semi-formal communication in Macedonia. The language law of Macedonia emphasizes Cyrillic as the only alphabet of Macedonian language.
For a number of Cyrillic letters, transliteration into matching Latin letters is straightforward. Cyrillic а, б, в, г, д, е, з, и, к, л, м, н, о, п, р, с, т, у, ф are matched with Latina, b, v, g, d, e, z, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, f, according to all conventions. Cyrillic ц (pronounced[ts]) is mostly rendered asc, in accordance with the conventions for many other Slavic (and non-Slavic) languages. The letter х is typically rendered ash, matching the pronunciation in Macedonian. For the Macedonian/Serbian letter ј, the preferred transliteration is its visual Latin counterpartj (rather thany, otherwise widely used in English for the rendering of the same glide sound in other languages). For other Cyrillic letters, the choice is between a single Latin letter with adiacritic, and adigraph of two Latin letters. This goes mainly for the letters denotingpalatalised consonants, and for those denotingfricatives andaffricates in thealveolar and palatal range.
This system usesdigraphs instead ofdiacritics, making it easier for use in environments where diacritics may pose a technical problem, such as typing on computers. Common usage hasgj, kj for ѓ, ќ, eitherdj ordzh for џ, and sometimests for ц. Such a diacritic-free system, with digraphsch, sh, zh,dz, dj, gj, kj, lj, nj has been adopted since 2008 for use in official documents such as passports, ID cards and driver's licenses. The system adopted for digraph transliteration isICAO Doc 9303.[1]The Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences and the State Statistical Office of North Macedonia use similar digraph system.[2]
A standardized system of transliteration based onGaj's Latin alphabet has been used since 1950s[3] and defined inISO 9:1968; this system was also adopted by the Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1970,[4] BGN/PCGN (in 2013), and ALA-LC and is taught in schools in North Macedonia.[5][full citation needed] It uses letters with diacriticsž, č, š for Cyrillic ж, ч, ш respectively (as for many other Slavic languages), andǵ,ḱ for the special Macedonian letters ѓ, ќ. The palatalised consonants of Cyrillic љ, њ are rendered with digraphslj, nj (although the academic orthography also permits usingĺ, ń), and the voiced affricates of Cyrillic ѕ, џ withdz, dž respectively. The most recent edition of the Macedonian orthography[6][7] mentions this system as well as the digraphic system, saying that the latter is used for personal names in official documents.
The palatal plosives ѓ, ќ are also sometimes rendered as Latinđ, ć, following aSerbian convention (đ, ć are theGaj's Latin equivalents of Serbian Cyrillic ђ and ћ, which etymologically correspond to Macedonian ѓ, ќ in many words.) This convention is found in the system adopted by theUS Board on Geographic Names (BGN) and the BritishPCGN in 1981,[8] (before 2013) as well as by theUnited Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographic Names (UNCSGN).[9] According to this system, ѓ, ќ are transliterated as plaing andk before front vowels (е, и), but asđ andć respectively in other environments. Otherwise, this system is identical to that of ISO 9 (R:1968).[10]
The Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences usesgj andkj for the palatal plosives on its official website.[11]
TheISO 9:1995 is a standard that completely avoids digraphs and permits to romanize any Cyrillic text without knowing in what language it is. However, it is rarely used because of having unusual diacriticized letters.
| Cyrillic | IPA | ISO 9 (1995)[12] | National Academy (1970),BGN/PCGN (2013),ALA-LC | BGN/PCGN (pre-2013)[8]/ UN[9] | ISO 9 (1968)[10] | MJMS/SSO[2] | Official Documents/ Cadastre[1] | Gaj's Alphabet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| А а | /a/ | A a | ||||||
| Б б | /b/ | B b | ||||||
| В в | /v/ | V v | ||||||
| Г г | /ɡ/ | G g | ||||||
| Д д | /d/ | D d | ||||||
| Ѓ ѓ | /ɟ/ | Ǵ ǵ | G g / Đ đ | G g | Gj gj | Đ đ | ||
| Е е | /ɛ/ | E e | ||||||
| Ж ж | /ʒ/ | Ž ž | Ž ž | Zh zh | Ž ž | |||
| З з | /z/ | Z z | ||||||
| Ѕ ѕ | /dz/ | Ẑ ẑ | Dz dz | |||||
| И и | /i/ | I i | ||||||
| Ј ј | /j/ | J̌ ǰ | J j | |||||
| К к | /k/ | K k | ||||||
| Л л | /l/ | L l | ||||||
| Љ љ | /ʎ/ | L̂ l̂ | Lj lj | |||||
| М м | /m/ | M m | ||||||
| Н н | /n/ | N n | ||||||
| Њ њ | /ɲ/ | N̂ n̂ | Nj nj | |||||
| О о | /ɔ/ | O o | ||||||
| П п | /p/ | P p | ||||||
| Р р | /r/ | R r | ||||||
| С с | /s/ | S s | ||||||
| Т т | /t/ | T t | ||||||
| Ќ ќ | /c/ | Ḱ ḱ | K k / Ć ć | K k | Kj kj | Ć ć | ||
| У у | /u/ | U u | ||||||
| Ф ф | /f/ | F f | ||||||
| Х х | /x/ | H h | Kh kh | H h | ||||
| Ц ц | /ts/ | C c | Ts ts | Ts ts / C c | C c | |||
| Ч ч | /tʃ/ | Č č | Ch ch | Č č | ||||
| Џ џ | /dʒ/ | D̂ d̂ | Dž dž | Dzh dzh | Dj dj | Dž dž | ||
| Ш ш | /ʃ/ | Š š | Sh sh | Š š | ||||
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