The modern Yakut alphabet consists of 40 letters. It is based on 33 letters of the Russian alphabet plus 2 letter combinations дь and нь and 5 special letters ү, ө, һ, ҥ, ҕ, which reflect phonetic peculiarities of the Yakut (Sakha) language. Currently the iOS standard keyboard doesnt support the Yakut layout, so Yakut speakers have to resort to using the Russian letters when texting in Yakut which causes the distortion of language. Such constant misuse of words can have a negative influence on the language in the long term.
SakhaKey - the new keyboard for the Yakut (Sakha) language - was developed to facilitate the proper usage of language.
SakhaKey has two different modes: extended and basic. In the extended mode the Yakut letters Ү, Ө, Һ, Ҥ, Ҕ are placed in a separate row above the Russian keyboard layout. For your convenience the main punctuation marks were also added in this row. In the basic mode the Yakut letters are hidden behind the Russian ones: Ү is behind У, Ө is behind О, Һ is behind С, Ҥ is behind Н, Ҕ is behind Г and Х. To select a Yakut letter, press and hold the corresponding Russian key.
SakhaKey supports Predictive text in Russian and Yakut. Users can also add new words to the keyboard dictionary by simply tapping the words they type. This will help create a personalized dictionary to make text messaging easier and more efficient. The newly added words will be suggested in the predictive text bar above the keyboard.
SakhaKey is compatible with iPhone and iPad.