Romanization of Macedonian

The romanization of Macedonian is the transliteration of text in Macedonian from the Macedonian Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet. Romanization can be used for various purposes, such as rendering of proper names in foreign contexts, or for informal writing of Macedonian in environments where Cyrillic is not easily available. Official use of romanization by North Macedonia's authorities is found, for instance, on road signage and in passports. Several different codified standards of transliteration currently exist and there is widespread variability in practice.

Romanization systems

Road sign to Dolno Sonje in Macedonian Cyrillic (above) with romanization (below)

For a number of Cyrillic letters, transliteration into matching Latin letters is straightforward. Cyrillic а, б, в, г, д, е, з, и, к, л, м, н, о, п, р, с, т, у, ф are matched with Latin a, b, v, g, d, e, z, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, f, according to all conventions. Cyrillic ц (pronounced [ts]) is mostly rendered as c, in accordance with the conventions for many other Slavic (and non-Slavic) languages. The letter х is typically rendered as h, matching the pronunciation in Macedonian. For the Macedonian/Serbian letter ј, the preferred transliteration is its visual Latin counterpart j (rather than y, otherwise widely used in English for the rendering of the same glide sound in other languages). For other Cyrillic letters, the choice is between a single Latin letter with a diacritic, and a digraph of two Latin letters. This goes mainly for the letters denoting palatalised consonants, and for those denoting fricatives and affricates in the alveolar and palatal range.

Digraph system

This system uses digraphs instead of diacritics, making it easier for use in environments where diacritics may pose a technical problem, such as typing on computers. Common usage has gj, kj for ѓ, ќ, either dj or dzh for џ, and sometimes ts for ц. Such a diacritic-free system, with digraphs ch, sh, zh, dz, dj, gj, kj, lj, nj has been adopted since 2008 for use in official documents such as passports, ID cards and driver's licenses. The system adopted for digraph transliteration is ICAO Doc 9303.^[1] The Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences and the State Statistical Office of North Macedonia use similar digraph system.^[2]

ISO 9 system

A standardized system of transliteration based on Gaj's Latin alphabet has been used since 1950s^[3] and defined in ISO 9:1968; this system was also adopted by the Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1970,^[4] BGN/PCGN (in 2013), and ALA-LC and is taught in schools in North Macedonia^{[5][full citation needed]} It uses letters with diacritics ž, č, š for Cyrillic ж, ч, ш respectively (as for many other Slavic languages), and ǵ, ḱ for the special Macedonian letters ѓ, ќ. The palatalised consonants of Cyrillic љ, њ are rendered with digraphs lj, nj (although the academic orthography also permits using ĺ, ń), and the voiced affricates of Cyrillic ѕ, џ with dz, dž respectively. The most recent edition of the Macedonian orthography^[6][7] mentions this system as well as the digraphic system, saying that the latter is used for personal names in official documents.

The palatal plosives ѓ, ќ are also sometimes rendered as Latin đ, ć, following a Serbian convention (đ, ć are the Gaj's Latin equivalents of Serbian Cyrillic ђ and ћ, which etymologically correspond to Macedonian ѓ, ќ in many words.) This convention is found in the system adopted by the US Board on Geographic Names (BGN) and the British PCGN in 1981,^[8] (before 2013) as well as by the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographic Names (UNCSGN).^[9] According to this system, ѓ, ќ are transliterated as plain g and k before front vowels (е, и), but as đ and ć respectively in other environments. Otherwise, this system is identical to that of ISO 9 (R:1968).^[10]

The Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences uses gj and kj for the palatal plosives on its official website.^[11]

The ISO 9:1995 is a standard that completely avoids digraphs and permits to romanize any Cyrillic text without knowing in what language it is. However, it is rarely used because of having unusual diacriticized letters.

Comparative table of some standard romanizations of the Macedonian letters

Cyrillic	IPA	ISO 9 (1995)[12]	ISO 9 (1968), National Academy (1970), BGN/PCGN (2013), ALA-LC	BGN/PCGN (pre-2013)[8]/UN[9]	Official Documents/Cadastre[1]	MJMS/SSO[2]	Gaj's Alphabet
А а	/a/	A a
Б б	/b/	B b
В в	/v/	V v
Г г	/ɡ/	G g
Д д	/d/	D d
Ѓ ѓ	/ɟ/	Ǵ ǵ		G/Đ g/đ	Gj gj		Đ đ
Е е	/ɛ/	E e
Ж ж	/ʒ/	Ž ž			Zh zh		Ž ž
З з	/z/	Z z
Ѕ ѕ	/dz/	Ẑ ẑ	Dz dz
И и	/i/	I i
Ј ј	/j/	J̌ ǰ	J j
К к	/k/	K k
Л л	/l/	L l
Љ љ	/ʎ/	L̂ l̂	Lj lj
М м	/m/	M m
Н н	/n/	N n
Њ њ	/ɲ/	N̂ n̂	Nj nj
О о	/ɔ/	O o
П п	/p/	P p
Р р	/r/	R r
С с	/s/	S s
Т т	/t/	T t
Ќ ќ	/c/	Ḱ ḱ		K/Ć k/ć	Kj kj		Ć ć
У у	/u/	U u
Ф ф	/f/	F f
Х х	/x/	H h
Ц ц	/ts/	C c				Ts ts / C c	C c
Ч ч	/tʃ/	Č č			Ch ch		Č č
Џ џ	/dʒ/	D̂ d̂	Dž dž		Dj dj	Dzh dzh	Dž dž
Ш ш	/ʃ/	Š š			Sh sh		Š š

See also

• Cyrillic alphabets
• Cyrillic script
• Macedonian alphabet

Notes

1. Cadastre Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine/ICAO Doc 9303 (page 33, 34) Archived 2017-10-19 at the Wayback Machine
2. Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences Archived 2012-08-28 at the Wayback Machine/State Statistical Office Archived 2013-09-01 at the Wayback Machine
3. Lunt, Horace G. (1952). Grammar of the Macedonian Literary Language. Skopje.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
4. Macedonian Latin alphabet, Vidoeski, B. (Б. Видоески); Dimitrovski, T. (Т. Димитровски); Koneski, K. (К. Конески); Tošev, K. (К. Тошев); Ugrinova-Skalovska, R. (Р. Угринова-Скаловска) (1970). Pravopis na makedonskiot literaturen jazik Правопис на македонскиот литературен јазик (in Macedonian). Skopje: Prosvetno delo. p. 99.
5. Da čitame i pišuvame Latinica (in Macedonian)., primary school textbook
6. Institut za makedonski jazik "Krste Misirkov (2015–2016). Pravopis na makedonskiot jazik Правопис на македонскиот јазик (in Macedonian). Skopje. p. 167.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
7. Institut za makedonski jazik "Krste Misirkov" (2017). Pravopis na makedonskiot jazik Правопис на македонскиот јазик (PDF) (in Macedonian) (2nd ed.). Skopje. p. 169. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-11-20. Retrieved 2018-11-20.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
8. Romanization System for Macedonian Cyrillic: BGN/PCGN 1981 Agreement (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2010-04-05 – via earth-info.nga.mil.
9. UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems: Report on the Current Status of United Nations Romanization Systems for Geographical Names, Version 2.2, January 2003 Archived 2011-05-13 at the Wayback Machine
10. Transliteracija na makedonskata kirilica Транслитерација на македонската кирилица (PDF) (in Macedonian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
11. "Full and Corresponding Members". Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Archived from the original on 2017-08-04. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
12. "ISO 9:1995: Information and Documentation — Transliteration of Cyrillic Characters Into Latin Characters — Slavic and Non-Slavic Languages". ISO. Retrieved 2021-12-20.

References

• British Standard 2979 : 1958, London: British Standards Institution.
• G. Selvelli. Su alcuni aspetti ideologici dei sistemi di traslitterazione degli alfabeti cirillici nei Balcani. Archived 2016-06-24 at the Wayback Machine Studi Slavistici XII (2015). pp. 159–180.