Silesian orthography consists of many systems for writing the Silesian language. The current de facto standard is the Ślabikŏrzowy szrajbōnek or ślabikŏrz for short, largely but not entirely displacing the first Silesian alphabet, the Steuerowy szrajbůnek ("Steuer's alphabet). These systems use variants of the Silesian alphabet, which derives from the Latin alphabet, but includes some additional letters with diacritics. The orthography is mostly phonetic, or rather phonemic—the written letters (or combinations of them) correspond in a consistent manner to the phonemes of spoken Silesian.

Steuer's alphabet The first major and widely adopted writing system for Silesians was created by doctor Feliks Steuer in the 1930s. It consists of 30 graphemes and 8 digraphs, based partially on Polish orthography and partially on Czech orthography. + Steuer's alphabetMajuscule forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)A B C Ć D E F GH I J K L Ł M NŃO P R S Ś T U Ů W Y Z Ź ŻMinuscule forms (also called lowercase or small letters)a b c ć d e f gh i j k l ł m nń o p r s ś t u ůw y z ź żPhonetic realizations in IPAa b t͡s t͡ɕ d ɛ f ɡx i j k l w m nɲ ɔ p r s ɕ t u ov ɪ z ʑ ʐ

+ DigraphsMajuscule forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)AU CH CZ DZ DŹ DŻ RZ SZ OUMinuscule forms (also called lowercase or small letters)au ch cz dz dź dż rz sz ouPhonetic realizations in IPAau x t͡ʂ d͡z d͡ʑ d͡ʐ ʐ~ʂ ʂ ou

Steuer's alphabet did not account for voicing assimilation, so any voiced letter such as <d> might also be pronounced unvoiced when before an unvoiced consonant or at the end of a word. Palatalized consonants are written with <j>.

Ślabikŏrz Ślabikŏrzowy szrajbōnek was adopted by Pro Loquela Silesiana, a group using the Cieszyn dialect of Silesian, the closest one to Polish. in 2010 and has since become the main writing systems for Silesian, attempting to account for dialectal variation. It uses the Latin alphabet with additional digraphs and diacritics.

+ Ślabikŏrzowy szrajbōnekMajuscule forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)A Ã B C Ć D E FG H I J K L Ł MN Ń O Ŏ Ō Ô Õ P RS Ś T U W Y Z Ź ŻMinuscule forms (also called lowercase or small letters)a ã b c ć d ef g h i j k l łm n ń o ŏ ō ô õ pr s ś t u w y z ź żPhonetic realizations in IPAa ã b t͡s t͡ɕ d ɛf g x i j k l wm n ɲ ɔ ɔu~ɔ o wɔ ɔ̃ pr s ɕ t u v ɪ z ʑ ʐ

+ DigraphsMajuscule forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)AU CH CZ DZ DŹ DŻ EU RZ SZMinuscule forms (also called lowercase or small letters)au ch cz dz dź dż eu rz szPhonetic realizations in IPAau x t͡ʂ d͡z d͡ʑ d͡ʐ eu ʐ~ʂ ʂ

Spelling rules Vowels are largely pronounced as they are written. <Ŏŏ> can vary from /ɔu~ɔ/, where /ɔu/ is largely pronounced in Opole and /ɔ/ everywhere else, making it a homograph of <o>. Ôô is used largely at the beginning of words, sometimes word-medially with affixed words ( and compounds (). <Ãã>, <Õõ>, and <Ŏŏ> are used more in formal literature, as many dialects do not retain their pronunciations, and replace <Ãã> with <Aa>, and <Õõ> and <Ŏŏ> with <Oo>.

Consonants are regularly voiced or devoiced depending on the end consonant in a cluster. is pronounced is pronounced Two notable exceptions are the groups <w> and <rz>, which do not determine the voicing of the cluster. is pronounced is pronounced

Consonants are also devoiced at the end of a word, known as final-obstruent devoicing. is pronounced

Rarely, is not a digraph and represents two separate sounds: in various forms of the verb (i.e. ) – "to freeze" in borrowings, for example (from German Ersatz)

Palatal and palatalized consonants The spelling rule for the alveolo-palatal sounds is as follows: before the vowel the plain letters are used; before other vowels the combinations are used; when not followed by a vowel the diacritic forms are used. This is different from Steuer's alphabet, where soft consonants are always written with the acute accent. For example, the in ("grey-haired"), the in ("sulphur") and the in ("holy") all represent the sound .

SoundWord-finally or before a consonantBefore a vowel other than Before ćcicdździdzśsisźzizńnin

Other points The letter represents in the digraphs and in loanwords, for example ; but not in native words, like , pronounced .

Writing words with or without a space It is prescribed to write prepositional, adverbal, numeral, particle, conjunctional, and pronominal phrases with a space. , not , not

Some fully lexicalized prepositional phrases serving as adverbs or conjunctions are prescribed to be written together. , "that is why; therefor" , "really"

Punctuation It is prescribed to use the same punctuation rules as in Polish orthography, namely: Periods <.> are to be used To end sentences in the indicative mood After ordinal numbers written in Arabic numerals, e.g. "the second dog" In initialisms In dates given in Arabic numerals After the hour when a time is written in Arabic numerals, e.g. 12.03 Commas <,> are to be used generally to separate coordinating and subordinating clauses except: Before the conjunctions when the subject of all verbs in the clause are the same Colons <:> are to be used After the name of a quoted word before the quotation To specify or clarify a noun Ellipses <...> are to be used To show interruption or missing text To show a pause in speech, usually for emphasis Question marks <?> are to be used to mark questions Exclamation marks <!> are to be used show surprise

Capitalization Capitalization is used at the beginning of a sentence or to mark a proper noun, such as place names or given names, among others.

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