How to identify Cyrillic alphabets in Slavic languages.
A guide for visual researchers, investigators and Osint practitioners.
Cyrillic is one of the most widely used writing systems. One of the oldest still in continuous use across the Slavic and non-Slavic languages across more than fifty different languages.
Cyrillic is the third official alphabet of the European Union, thanks to Bulgaria joining the pact on 24 May 2007.
In this article, I will focus on only the Slavic languages that use the Cyrillic script.
Conventionally, Slavic language is divided into three branches, based on geographical and genealogical principles and extralinguistic features.
I have only included the national languages, not the sub-national or extinct languages.
There are eleven Slavic countries.
Six use the Cyrillic alphabet, marked with an *.
Two use both the Cyrillic and Latin Alphabets, marked with two **.
East Slavic
- Belarusian*
- Russian*
- Ukrainian*
West Slavic
- Czech
- Slovakian
- Polish
South Slavic
- Bulgarian*
- Macedonian**
- Croatian
- Serbian**
- Bosnian
Below you will find the alphabets of each language along with a straightforward pronunciation. At the bottom of the page, you will see a comparison chart for each language with unique letters highlighted.
Comrie, B., & Corbett, G. G. (Eds.). (1993). The Slavonic languages. Routledge.
Cyrillic alphabet | Definition, History, & Facts. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 17 May 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cyrillic-alphabet
Orban, L. (2014). Cyrillic, the third official alphabet of the EU, was created by a truly multilingual European [Press release]. European Commissioner responsible for Multilingualism. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-07-330_en.htm
Sussex, R., & Cubberley, P. V. (2006). The Slavic languages. [Electronic resource] (Online Resources). Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press; cat01619a. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat01619a&AN=up.818585&site=eds-live
