Unified Northern Alphabet

The Unified Northern Alphabet (UNA) (Russian: Единый северный алфавит) was created during the Latinisation in the Soviet Union for the "small" languages of the North.

The Latin-based Unified Northern Alphabet

Systematic work on the development of writing in the languages of the peoples of the North began in 1926, when the Northern Faculty (known as the Institute of the Peoples of the North (IPN) since 1930) of the Leningrad Oriental Institute (ru) was established.

The alphabet was initially planned to serve as an alphabet for Chukchi, Even, Evenki, Gilyak, Itelmen, Ket, Koryak, Mansi, Nanai, Nenets, Saami, Selkup, Siberian Yupik and Udihe.

Alphabet

A a	B ʙ	C c	Ꞓ ꞓ	D d	Ʒ ʒ	З з	E e	Ə ə	Æ æ
F f	G g	H h	Ꜧ ꜧ	I i	Ь ь	J j	K k	L l	Ł ł
M m	N n	Ŋ ŋ	O o	Ɵ ɵ	P p	Q q	R r	Ɍ ɍ	S s
Ꞩ ꞩ	T t	U u	V v	W w	X x	Y y	Z z	Ƶ ƶ

Letters in use across different languages

	Saami	Nenets	Selkup	Mansi	Khanty	Evenki	Even	Nanai	Udihe	Itelmen	Chukchi	Koryak	Yupik	Aleut	Ket	Gilyak
A a	A a Ā ā	A a Ā ā	A a Ā ā	A a	A a	A a Ā ā	A a Ā ā	A a Ā ā	A a Ā ā	A a	A a Ā ā	A a	A a	A a	A a	A a
B в	B в B̦ в̦	B в B̦ в̦	B в	—	—	B в	B в	B в	B в	B в B̦ в̦	—	—	B в B̦ в̦	B в	B в	B в
C c	C c	C c Ç ç	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	C c Ç ç	—	—	C c	C c	—	—
Є є	Є є	—	Є є	—	Є є	Є є	Є є	Є є	Є є	—	Є є	Є є	—	—	—	Є є
D d	D d D̦ d̦	D d D̦ d̦	D d	—	—	D d	D d	D d	D d	D d D̦ d̦	D d	—	D d	D d	D d	D d D̦ d̦
Ӡ ӡ	Ӡ ӡ	—	—	—	—	Ӡ ӡ	Ӡ ӡ	Ӡ ӡ	Ӡ ӡ	—	—	—	—	Ӡ ӡ	—	—
З з	З з	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
E e	E e	E e Ē ē	E e	E e	E e	E e	E e	E e	E e Ē ē	E e	E e Ē ē	E e	E e	E e	E e	E e
Ə ə	Ə ə	Ə ə Ə̄ ə̄	Ə ə	—	Ə ə	Ə ə Ə̄ ə̄	Ə ə Ə̄ ə̄	Ə ə Ə̄ ə̄	Ə ə Ə̄ ə̄	Ə ə	Ə ə Ə̄ ə̄	Ə ə	Ə ə	Ə ə	Ə ə	Ə ə
Æ æ	Æ æ	—	Æ æ	—	—	—	—	—	Æ æ	—	—	—	—	—	Æ æ	—
F f	F f	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	F f	F f	—	—	F f	F f	—	F f
G g	G g	G g	G g	G g	—	G g	G g	G g	G g	G g Ģ ģ	G g	G g	G g	G g	G g	G g
H h	H h	H h	—	H h	H h	H h	H h	H h	H h	H h	—	—	H h	H h	H h	H h
Ꜧ ꜧ	—	Ꜧ ꜧ	—	Ꜧ ꜧ	Ꜧ ꜧ	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Ꜧ ꜧ	Ꜧ ꜧ
I i	I i Ī ī	I i Ī ī	I i	I i	I i	I i	I i	I i Ī ī	I i Ī ī	I i	I i Ī ī	I i	I i	I i	I i	I i
Ь ь	Ь ь	Ь ь Ь̄ ь̄	Ь ь	Ь ь	Ь ь	—	—	—	—	Ь ь	Ь ь Ь̄ ь̄	Ь ь	Ь ь	Ь ь	Ь ь	—
J j	J j	J j	J j	J j	J j	J j	J j	J j	J j	J j	J j	J j	J j	J j	J j	J j
K k	K k Ķ ķ	K k	K k	K k	K k	K k	K k	K k	K k	K k Ķ ķ	K k	K k	K k	K k	K k	K k K' k'
L l	L l Ļ ļ	L l Ļ ļ	L l Ļ ļ	L l Ļ ļ	L l Ļ ļ	L l	L l	L l	L l	L l Ļ ļ	L l	L l Ļ ļ	L l Ļ ļ	L l Ļ ļ	L l Ļ ļ	L l
Ł ł	—	—	—	—	Ł ł	—	—	—	—	Ł ł	—	—	Ł ł	Ł ł	—	—
M m	M m M̦ m̦	M m M̦ m̦	M m	M m	M m	M m	M m	M m	M m	M m M̦ m̦	M m	M m	M m	M m	M m	M m
N n	N n Ņ ņ	N n Ņ ņ	N n Ņ ņ	N n Ņ ņ	N n Ņ ņ	N n Ņ ņ	N n Ņ ņ	N n Ņ ņ	N n Ņ ņ	N n Ņ ņ	N n	N n Ņ ņ	N n Ņ ņ	N n	N n Ņ ņ	N n Ņ ņ
Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ŋ ŋ
O o	O o Ō ō	O o Ō ō	O o	O o	O o	O o Ō ō	O o Ō ō	O o Ō ō	O o Ō ō	O o	O o Ō ō	O o	O o	O o	O o	O o
Ө ө	—	—	Ө ө	—	Ө ө	—	—	—	Ө ө	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
P p	P p P̦ p̦	P p P̦ p̦	P p	P p	P p	P p	P p	P p	P p	P p P̦ p̦	P p	P p	P p	P p	P p	P p P' p'
Q q	—	—	Q q	—	Q q	—	—	—	—	Q q	Q q	Q q	Q q	Q q	Q q	Q q Q' q'
R r	R r Ŗ ŗ	R r Ŗ ŗ	R r	R r	R r	R r	R r	R r	R r	R r Ŗ ŗ	R r	R r	R r	R r	R r	R r R' r'
Ɍ ɍ	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Ɍ ɍ	—	—
S s	S s Ș ș	S s Ș ș	S s	S s	S s Ș ș	S s	S s	S s	S s	S s Ș ș	S s	S s	S s Ș ș	S s	S s Ș ș	S s
Ꞩ ꞩ	—	—	Ꞩ ꞩ	Ꞩ ꞩ	Ꞩ ꞩ	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
T t	T t Ț ț	T t Ț ț	T t	T t Ț ț	T t Ț ț	T t	T t	T t	T t	T t Ț ț	T t	T t Ț ț	T t	T t	T t Ț ț	T t Ț ț T' t'
U u	U u Ū ū	U u Ū ū	U u	U u	U u	U u	U u	U u Ū ū	U u Ū ū	U u	U u Ū ū	U u	U u	U u	U u	U u
V v	V v V̦ v̦	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	V v V̦ v̦	V v	V v	V v	V v	—	V v
W w	—	W w	W w	W w	W w	W w	W w	W w	W w	W w	W w	W w	W w	W w	W w	—
X x	X x	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	X x	X x	—	—	X x	X x	—	X x
Y y	—	—	Y y	—	Y y	—	—	—	Y y	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Z z	Z z	Z z Z̦ z̦	Z z	—	—	—	—	—	Z z	Z z Z̦ z̦	—	—	Z z	—	—	Z z
Ƶ ƶ	Ƶ ƶ	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Ƶ ƶ	—	—

Further development

Since 1932, textbooks began to be published in the UNA. The UNA was used for 15 out of the 16 planned languages (all except Aleutian).

After 1937, the UNA was abandoned, and those languages that were to continue to have an official writing system were to adopt Cyrillic. In practice, this spelt the end of writing for many of these minority languages this halted their written use for decades to come.

References

Grenoble, L. A. (2003). Language policy in the Soviet Union (Vol. 3). Springer Science & Business Media.
Partanen, N.; M. Rießler (2019). An OCR system for the Unified Northern Alphabet. ACL Anthology.

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