The Avar Alphabet

The Avar alphabet contains 46 symbols:

	Аа		Бб		Вв		Гг		Гъгъ		Гьгь		ГIгI		Дд
	Ее		Ёё		Жж		Зз		Ии		Йй		Кк		Къкъ
	Кькь		КIкI		Лл		Лълъ		Мм		Нн		Оо		Пп
	Рр		Сс		Тт		ТIтI		Уу		Фф		Хх		Хъхъ
	Хьхь		ХIхI		Цц		ЦIцI		Чч		ЧIчI		Шш		Щщ
	ъ		ы		ь		Ээ		Юю		Яя

The letters in gray are found in loans from Russian (though ф and ъ can also be found in more recent loans from Arabic).
There is also a letter лI, but it is only used to transcribe sounds from dialects and has been superseded by лъ/лълъ in the literary language.
Doubled consonants like кк, кIкI, лълъ, сс, хх, etc. and labialized consonants that are written as consonant+в are not considered separate letters and are listed under the same heading as their single counterparts in dictionaries.

Being based on Russian Cyrillic, certain orthographic rules have been carried over to Avar. The semivowel й+vowel is spelled with one letter in the following cases:
й+а = я
й+у = ю
In the case of й+и and й+о the letters are kept separate. The letter ё which is the phonetic representation of й+о is only used in loan words from Russian.
In the case of the vowel sound э and й+э, the rules are two-fold:
When the sound э occurs at the beginning of a word or following a vowel inside a word, it is written э. Otherwise the same sound is written е (following consonants).
When the sound й+э occurs at the beginning of a word or following a vowel inside a word, it is written е.
A few examples to illustrate these rules:
эбел "mother" (pronounced эбэл)
ессарухъан "(female) weaver" (pronounced йэссарухъан)
къебед "smith" (pronounced къэбэд)
нижее "to us" (pronounced нижэйэ)
беэнлъи "fat/grease" (pronounced бэ-энлъи)

Phonology

Vowels

Avar has only 5 vowels:

	front	central	back
high	и		у
mid	э(е)		о
low		а

These are like the "pure" vowels of French or Spanish, they are not diphthongized like in English and they are always pronounced short.
In Russian loan words unstressed о is pronounced as а.

Three of these - а, о, у - take on a pronunciation similar to the German umlaut vowels ä, ö, ü in the neighbourhood of the consonants хI and гI.

Consonants

Avar, like most other Caucasian languages, is characterized by a wealth of consonant sounds:

	Stops			Affricates		Fricatives		Liquids	Semivowels
	Voiced	Aspirated	Glottalized	Aspirated	Glottalized	Voiced	Voiceless
Labial	б	п						м	в
Dental	д	т	тI	ц, цц	цI, цIцI	з	с, сс	н
Alveolar				ч, чч	чI, чIчI	ж	ш, щ	р
Lateral				(лI)	кь		лъ, лълъ	л
Palatal									й
Velar	г	к	кI, кIкI				хь, хьхь
Uvular				хъ	къ	гъ	х, хх
Pharyngeal						гI	хI
Laryngeal			ъ				гь

Tense/lax consonants

The stops that are written double indicate a tensed pronunciation. Doubled fricatives on the other hand *are* pronounced double (note - щ is the long counterpart of ш). Кь (лI), хъ, къ, хь and хI, though written single, are always pronounced tense/doubled.

The difference between tense and lax consonants is phonemic. Minimal pairs:

кIал mouth кIкIал ravine
наку knee накку chaff
хам uncultivated ххам fabric cloth
мах birch махх iron
иц moth ицц spring (body of water)
си tower сси way
чин rank ччин year-old kid (goat)

Stress

Stress in Avar is irregular, though it tends to fall on either the first or second syllable of a word:

It is also mobile, i.e. it can shift onto different syllables in different forms of the same word:

Vowel reduction

In general, there is no vowel reduction in Avar. Loan words from Russian are an exception - in most cases they retain their Russian pronunciations, together with the characteristic vowel reductions known as оканье (where unstressed о​ gets pronounced roughly as а) and аканье (where е and я in most positions get pronounced и).

Below all the letters are given in alphabetic order with their IPA equivalents:

Letter	Name	IPA Value	Approx. English sound	Example
А	А	a	axe	а "come"
Б	Бэ	b	beet	багIараб "red"
В	Вэ	w	wait; vote in Russian loans	вac "boy"; адвокат "lawyer"
Г	Гэ	g	good	гуржи "Georgian"
Гъ	Гъэ	ʁ	no equivalent; like Arabic غ	гъалатI "mistake"
Гь	Гьэ	h	hoard	гьумер "face"
ГI	ГIэ	ʕ	no equivalent; Arabic ع	гIадан "man"
Д	Дэ	d	doll	Дагъистан "Dagestan"
Е	е	je/e	yell; end	ессарухъан "(female) weaver"; эбел "mother"
Ё	ё	jo	yolk	самолёт "airplane"
Ж	Жэ	ʒ	garage	жаваб "answer"
З	Зэ	z	zoo	зоб "sky"
И	И	i	eel	ине "to go"
Й	Й	j	yolk	йо "hey!" (calling to a woman)
К	Ка	kʰ	kid	керен "breast"
Къ	Къа	qʼ:	no equivalent; like Arabic ق, but glottalized	къалам "pen"
Кь	Кье	tɬʼ:	no equivalent; t+Welsh ll+glottalization	кье "give"
КI	КIа	kʼ	like к, but glottalized	кIал "mouth"
Л	Эль	l	leaf; never dark as in hall	ле "hey!" (calling to a man)
Лъ	Элъ	ɬ:	no equivalent; like Welsh ll	лъимер "child"
М	Эм	m	maze	микьго "seven"
Н	Эн	n	nose	накIкI "cloud"
О	о	o	hold	огь "oh, woe"
П	Пэ	p	peace	пайда "profit, advantage, benefit"
Р	Эр	r	like Spanish r but flapped, not trilled	ракI "heart"
С	Эс	s	seal	сапар "journey, trip"
Т	Тэ	tʰ	tape	талихI "luck, fortune"
ТI	ТIэ	tʼ	like the above, but glottalized	тIолго "all"
У	У	u	like oo in pool	унтизе "to ache/be sick"
Ф	Эф	f	fear	фашизм "fascism"
Х	Ха	χ	no equivalent; like German ch in Bach	хер "grass"
Хъ	Хъа	qʰ:	no equivalent; like Arabic ق	хъизан "family"
Хь	Хьа	ç:	no equivalent; like ch in German ich	хьаг "cooking pot, cauldron"
ХI	ХIа	ħ:	no equivalent; Arabic ح	хIарп "letter (of the alphabet)"
Ц	Цэ	ts	eats	цо "one"
ЦI	ЦIэ	tsʼ	like the above, but glottalized	цIализе "to read"
Ч	Че	tʃ	church	чи "man"
ЧI	ЧIэ	tʃʼ	like the above, but glottalized	чIегIераб "black"
Ш	Ша	ʃ	ship	шиша "bottle"
Щ	Ща	ʃ:	like the above, but pronounced longer	щай "why"
ъ	ер	ʔ	(only used in loan words)	Kъуръан "the Koran"
ы	еры	ɨ	(only used in Russian loans)	выставка "exhibition"
ь	Ерь	_	(only used in Russian loans)	учитель
Э	Э	e	end	эбел
Ю	Ю	ju	you	юкъарухъан "seamstress"
Я	Я	ja	yard	яс "girl"