View source for BGN/PCGN romanization of Kazakh

'''BGN/PCGN romanization system for Kazakh''' is a method for [[romanization]] of [[Cyrillic]] [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]] texts, that is, their [[transliteration]] into the [[Latin alphabet]] as used in the English language.

The BGN/PCGN system for transcribing Kazakh was designed to be relatively intuitive for [[English-speaking world|anglophones]] to pronounce. It is part of the larger set of [[BGN/PCGN romanization]]s, which includes methods for twenty-nine different languages.  It was developed by the [[United States Board on Geographic Names]] and by the [[Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use]].

This romanization of Kazakh can be rendered using the basic letters and punctuation found on English-language keyboards plus three diacritical marks: an [[umlaut (diacritic)|umlaut]] (¨) to represent [[front vowel]]s not otherwise represented by a roman character, a [[macron]] (ˉ) to represent "[[long vowels]]", and an [[overdot]] (˙) to differentiate between two ⟨e⟩s.  The [[interpunct]] character (·) can also optionally be used to avoid certain ambiguity presented by the use of digraphs (e.g. ⟨ng⟩ represents ⟨ң⟩, and ⟨n·g⟩ may be used to represent ⟨нг⟩).

The following table describes the system and provides examples.

{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background: #efefef;"
! Cyrillic<br />letter
! Romanization
! Special provision
!style="width:20em"| Examples
|-
| А (а) || A (a) || None
| '''А'''бай = '''A'''bay
|-
| Ә (ә) || Ä (ä) || None
| '''Ә'''уезов = '''Ä'''ūezov
|-
| Б (б) || B (b) || None
| A'''б'''ай = A'''b'''ay
|-
| В (в) || V (v) || This letter occurs principally in Russian borrowings.
| '''В'''ладимир = '''V'''ladīmīr
|-
| Г (г) || G (g) || None
| 
|-
| Ғ (ғ) || Gh (gh) || None
|
|-
| Д (д) || D (d) || None
| 
|-
| Е (е) || E (e) || None
|
|-
| Ё (ё) || Yo (yo) || This letter occurs principally in Russian borrowings.
|
|-
| Ж (ж) || Zh (zh) || None
| '''Ж'''амбыл = '''Zh'''ambyl
|-
| З (з) || Z (z) || None
| 
|-
| И (и) || Ī (ī) || None
| Ш'''и'''елі = Sh'''ī'''eli
|-
| Й (й) || Y (y) || This letter does not occur in the beginning of a word in native Kazakh words.
| Семе'''й''' = Seme'''y''' 
|-
| К (к) || K (k) || None
| Шым'''к'''ент = Shym'''k'''ent
|-
| Қ (қ) || Q (q) || None
|
|-
| Л (л) || L (l) || None
| 
|-
| М (м) || M (m) || None
| 
|-
| Н (н) || N (n) || None
| Өскеме'''н''' = Öskeme'''n'''
|-
| Ң (ң) || Ng (ng) || This letter does not occur in the beginning of a word
| Қаскеле'''ң''' = Qaskele'''ng'''
|-
| О (о) || O (o) || None
| 
|-
| Ө (ө) || Ö (ö) || None
| '''Ө'''скемен = '''Ö'''skemen
|-
| П (п) || P (p) || None
| 
|-
| Р (р) || R (r) || None
| 
|-
| С (с) || S (s) || None
| 
|-
| Т (т) || T (t) || None
| 
|-
| У (у) || Ū (ū) || This letter represents both "long ū" and /w/ in Kazakh, the latter before and after vowels.
| 
|-
| Ұ (ұ) || U (u) || None
|
|-
| Ү (ү) || Ü (ü) || None
|
|-
| Ф (ф) || F (f) || This letter occurs principally in Russian borrowings.
| '''Ф'''урманов = '''F'''urmanov
|-
| Х (х) || Kh (kh) || None
| 
|-
| Һ (һ) || H (h) || None
|
|-
| Ц (ц) || Ts (ts) || This letter occurs principally in Russian borrowings.
| Ель'''ц'''ин = Yel’tsīn
|-
| Ч (ч) || Ch (ch) || This letter occurs principally in Russian borrowings.
| 
|-
| Ш (ш) || Sh (sh) || None
| Көк'''ш'''етау = Kök'''sh'''etaū
|-
| Щ (щ) || Shch (shch) || With a few exceptions, this letter principally occurs in Russian borrowings.
| 
|-
| Ъ (ъ) || ” || This letter does not occur in the beginning of a word, and only occurs in Russian borrowings.
| 
|-
| Ы (ы) || Y (y) || This letter may optionally be transcribed as ɨ.
| Алмат'''ы''' = Almat'''y'''
|-
| І (і) || I (i) ||
| Шиел'''і''' = Shīel'''i'''
|-
| Ь (ь) || ’ || This letter does not occur in the beginning of a word, and only occurs in Russian borrowings.
| 
|-
| Э (э) || Ė (ė) || This letter only occurs in Russian borrowings.
|
|-
| Ю (ю) || Yu (yu) || This character actually represents y + ū in native Kazakh words, and does not occur at the beginning of native Kazakh words.
| 
|-
| Я (я) || Ya (ya) || This letter does not occur at the beginning of native Kazakh words.
| 
|}

==See also==
*[[ISO 9]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*[[United States Board on Geographic Names|U.S. Board on Geographic Names]] Foreign Names Committee Staff, 1994.  ''Romanization Systems and Roman-Script Spelling Conventions'', pp.&nbsp;47–48.

{{Romanization}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:BGN PCGN romanization of Kazakh}}
[[Category:Romanization of Cyrillic|Kazakh]]
[[Category:BGN/PCGN romanization|Kazakh]]
[[Category:Kazakh language]]


{{CAsia-stub}}