Officially, the ⟨г⟩ represents both /ɣ/ and /ɡ/, but the latter occurs only in borrowings and mimesis. The ⟨ґ⟩ is used by some for the latter sound but, with the exception of Taraškievica, has not been standard.
A ⟨д⟩ followed by ⟨ж⟩ or ⟨з⟩ may denote either two distinct respective sounds (in some prefix-root combinations: пад-земны, ад-жыць) or the Belarusian affricates⟨дж⟩ and ⟨дз⟩ (for example, падзея, джала). In some representations of the alphabet, the affricates are included in parentheses after the letter ⟨д⟩ to emphasize their special status: ⟨… Дд (ДЖдж ДЗдз) Ее …⟩.
⟨Ў⟩ is not a distinct phoneme but the neutralization of /v/ and /l/ when there is no following vowel, like before a consonant or at the end of a word.
Palatalization of consonants is usually indicated through choice of vowel letter, as illustrated here with /p/ and /pʲ/, both written with the letter ⟨п⟩:
palatalization
/p/
/pʲ/
final
п
пь
before /a/
па
пя
before /ɛ/
пэ
пе
before /i/
пы
пі
before /ɔ/
по
пё
before /u/
пу
пю
When a consonant is not palatalized and precedes /j/, the apostrophe ⟨'⟩ is used to separate the iotated vowel: ⟨п'я п'е п'і п'ё п'ю⟩/pjapjɛpipjɔpju/. (⟨і⟩ is the palatalizing version of ⟨ы⟩, and arguably, they represent a single phoneme). The apostrophe is not considered a letter and so is not taken into account for alphabetical order. In pre-Second World War printing, the form ⟨‘⟩ was used. When computers are used, the form is frequently substituted by ⟨'⟩.
History
The medieval Cyrillic alphabet had 43 letters. Later, 15 letters were dropped, the last 4 after the introduction of the first official Belarusian grammar in 1918. Since four new letters were added, there are now 32 letters.
The new letters were:
The ⟨э⟩ ((CYRILLIC) EH) appeared in Belarusian texts in about the late-15th century.
The ⟨й⟩ ((CYRILLIC) SHORT I) evolved from ⟨и⟩ ((CYRILLIC) I), combined with a diacritical sign by the end of the 16th century.
The ⟨ё⟩ ((CYRILLIC) IO) came from the Russian alphabet and introduced by Nikolay Karamzin in 1797.
The ⟨ў⟩ ((CYRILLIC) SHORT U) was proposed by Russian linguist Pyotr Bezsonov in 1870.
In the 1920s and notably at the Belarusian Academical Conference (1926), miscellaneous changes of the Belarusian alphabet were proposed. Notable were replacing ⟨й⟩ with ⟨ј⟩ ((CYRILLIC) JE), and/or replacing ⟨е⟩, ⟨ё⟩, ⟨ю⟩, ⟨я⟩ with ⟨је⟩ (or else with ⟨јє⟩), ⟨јо⟩, ⟨ју⟩, ⟨ја⟩, respectively (as in the Serbian alphabet), replacing ⟨ы⟩ with ⟨и⟩, introducing ⟨ґ⟩ (see also Ge with upturn; both proposed changes would match the Ukrainian alphabet) and/or introducing special graphemes/ligatures for affricates: ⟨дж⟩, ⟨дз⟩ etc. Even the introduction of the Latin script was contemplated at one moment (as proposed by Zhylunovich at the Belarusian Academical Conference (1926)). Nothing came of it.
Noted Belarusian linguist Yan Stankyevich in his later works suggested a completely different form of the alphabet:
Layout of the Belarusian alphabet (Stankyevich, 1962)
^Himelfarb, Elizabeth J. "First Alphabet Found in Egypt", Archaeology 53, Issue 1 (Jan./Feb. 2000): 21.
Да рэформы беларускай азбукі. // Працы акадэмічнае канферэнцыі па рэформе беларускага правапісу і азбукі. – Мн. : [б. м.], 1927.
Ян Станкевіч. Які мае быць парадак літараў беларускае абэцады [1962] // Ян Станкевіч. Збор твораў у двух тамах. Т. 2. – Мн.: Энцыклапедыкс, 2002. ISBN985-6599-46-6
Б. Тарашкевіч. Беларуская граматыка для школ. – Вільня : Беларуская друкарня ім. Фр. Скарыны, 1929; Мн. : <Народная асвета>, 1991 [факсімільн.]. – Выданьне пятае пераробленае і пашыранае.
Што трэба ведаць кожнаму беларусу. Выданне „Вольнае Беларусі“. – Менск : друк-ня А. Я. Грынблята, 1918; Менск : Беларускае коопэрацыйна-выдавецкае таварыства ″Адраджэньне″, 1991 [факсімільн.]. – Зборнік артыкулау розных аутарау: М. Міцкевіча, Я. Лёсіка, В. Ластоўскаго, М. Багдановіча, Пётр[?] з Арленят і інш.
