The Aromanian alphabet is a variant of the Latin script used for writing the Aromanian language. The current version of the alphabet was suggested in 1997 at the Symposium for Standardisation of the Aromanian Writing System in Bitola, Republic of Macedonia. It was then adopted by most Aromanian writers in the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria and Romania.
Contents
Alphabet
The alphabet consists of 34 letters, 7 of which are digraphs.
In addition, the digraphs "ch" (/k/ before "e" and "i") and "gh" (/ɡ/ before "e" and "i", /ɣ/ otherwise) are used.
History
Prior to adoption of the current writing system, Aromanian had been written using a wide variety of scripts, including Greek and Cyrillic.
With the standardisation of Romanian, a language closely related to Aromanian, and the opening of Romanian schools in the southern Balkans, the Romanian alphabet was used to write Aromanian.
In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a renewed push for creating a standard writing system. Aromanian began being taught in schools in the Republic of Macedonia, Albania, and Romania. Members of various Aromanian societies around the world held conferences every few years, all with the main goal of promoting a standard Aromanian alphabet.
Besides the standardized alphabet, there still exist other variants. Those based on the Latin alphabet often use the letters â, ă, î, ș, ț (as does Romanian) and also ḑ, ľ, ń. In Greece, Aromanian is usually written using the Greek script.