Starting in 1977, the Russian Socialist Republic Ministry of Education initiated the development of new material for primary education in the Nivkh language. A new alphabet was presented on June 29, 1979,Ŝetinina, 2013. and primers published in 1981 (Sakhalin Island dialect)Sangi & Otaina, 1981. and 1982 (Amur dialect).Mikhailovich et al, 1982. The following years saw a number of Nivkh publications.Ŝetinina, 2013.
The implementation of the orthography reveals some variation. The house style of the textbook publishing house Просвещение (“Enlightenment”) uses hooked forms (Ӄ, Ӈ, Ӽ),Anderson, 2022. while the bilingual Nivkh-Russian newspaper Нивх диф (Nivkh Dif, “Nivkh Word”) – published in monthly editions since 1990 – prefers straight descenders (Қ, Ң, Ҳ).Mygun, 2025.
Anderson, D. (2022, December 29). UTC and Script Ad Hoc: Comments on CYRILLIC CHE WITH HOOK’s use in Khanty and Tofa (Tofalar) (L2/22-280). Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from unicode.org
Mikhailovich, T. Č., Nikolaevna, P. M. & Mikhailovna, V. A. (1982). Букварь: для подготовительного класса нивхских школ: амурский диалект [ABC Book: for the Preparatory Class of Nivkh Schools: Amur Dialect]. Prosveshchenie. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from e.nlrs.ru
Mygun, F. S. (Ed.). (2025). Нивх диф [Nivkh Dif] 1(359). Sakhalin Oblast. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from morningislands.ru
Sangi, V. & Otaina, G. (1981). Ньиғвӈгун буквар̌ [Nyigovgun alphabet book]. Ministry of Education of the RSFSR. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from twirpx.com
Ŝetinina, G. S. (2013). Развитие письменности малочисленных народов Севера. Обучение детей-нивхов родному языку [Development of the Writing System of the Indigenous Peoples of the North: Teaching Nivkh Children Their Native Language]. ICRAP. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from web.archive.org
