Finally, the public has been presented with a new version of the Kazakh alphabet in Latin script!
I believe that our people have achieved an epic victory over bureaucracy in their effort to please their superiors and have successfully fended off the terrible versions with digraphs and apostrophes.
The presented version looks the most successful of all previously proposed.
We have ultimately leaned towards the Turkic alphabet. And I believe this is the right decision. We belong to the same group, and it would be logical to replicate the spellings of specific sounds that have already been established in Turkish, Azerbaijani, Tatar, and other alphabets.
However, there are a few points with which I don’t entirely agree.
Firstly, why are the letters “F” and “V” included in the Kazakh alphabet, representing the sounds “F” and “V”? It is well known that there are no such sounds in the Kazakh language. They are used in foreign and borrowed words, mostly from the Russian language. Was their addition to the alphabet dictated by political considerations? I understand that it will be unusual and even funny for Russian-speaking Kazakhs, who are now the majority in the country, to pronounce words like “Pederasia” instead of “Federation” or “Şekop” instead of “Chekhov.” But many Russian words sound unusual and funny to the Kazakh ear. Russians don’t change their alphabet because of this. I believe that in pursuit of the political realities of a certain stage of our development, our people should not rebuild their original language. Using foreign sounds will distort the pronunciation of Kazakhs for future generations. And this is a fateful change for any nation.
Secondly, to represent the sound “Ң,” I would use the more common symbol “Ñ” instead of “Ŋ,” found in many alphabets worldwide. It would be understood by at least all Spanish-speaking people in the world, which is half a billion people.
Thirdly, I have doubts about the correctness of assigning the letter “Y” the value of the Kazakh sound “Ы.” I think this letter corresponds more to the sound “Й.” For example, “bay” (бай), “lay” (лай), etc.
As far as I understand, this version of the alphabet has not yet been approved by the President of the country, so I hope that my opinion, as well as the opinions of other ordinary citizens of the country, will be taken into account when making the final decision.
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