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The modernGagauz alphabet is a 31-letterLatin-based alphabet modelled on theTurkish alphabet andAzerbaijani. It is used to write theGagauz language.

During its existence, it has functioned on different graphic bases and has been repeatedly reformed. Previously, duringSoviet rule, Gagauz's official script wasCyrillic, close to theMoldovan Cyrillic alphabet.

There are 3 stages in the history of Gagauz writing:

• before 1957 – early attempts to create writing;
• 1957–1993 – writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet;
• since 1993 – modern writing based on the Latin alphabet.

Gagauz was first written inGreek letters in the late 19th century.^[1][2] OrientalistOtto Blau claims that one of the first instances of written Gagauz was with plays ofEuripides being translated into the Gagauz language and written with Greek letters.^[2]

The first specimens of Gagauz were collected by the Russian ethnographerValentin Moshkov, who collected folklore texts from the Gagauz in Bessarabia, published in 1904. Until that time, up to the establishment of Gagauz as one of the official languages of the Soviet Union in 1957, the priestMihail Ciachir was the only native speaker to attempt to write in Gagauz. His products were, for the most part, translations of religious texts but were also a history of the Gagauz people, which he first wrote in Romanian and subsequently translated into Gagauz.^[3] From 1909 to 1914, Ciachir wrote Gagauz in Cyrillic script but from 1932 to 1938, he wrote in Latin script.

The alphabet of these editions contained the letters:^[4]

a, â, ă, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, î, j, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, ş, t, ţ, u, v, ƶ, as well as di-, tri- and tetragraphs:aa, ââ, ee, ea, eaea, ii, ia, îa, ăă, io, ioio, iu, iuiu, oo, uu, ce, cea, ci, cia, cio, ciu, dj

Beginning in 1957,Cyrillic was used until 1993.

The Gagauz alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet was introduced by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR dated July 30, 1957. Initially, the Gagauz alphabet was compiled on the basis of the Russian alphabet without additional letters for individual Gagauz sounds, which were indicated by digraphs:Аь аь, Оь оь, Уь уь. In December of the same year, instead of digraphs, three additional letters were added to the Gagauz alphabet:Ӓ ä, Ӧ ö, Ӱ ÿ. In 1968, the letterӁ ӂ was added to the Gagauz alphabet. As a result, the Gagauz Cyrillic alphabet took the following form:^[5]

The lettersЁ ё, Щ щ, Ъ, ъ, Ь, ь, Ю ю, Я я were used only in borrowings from the Russian language.

On 13 May 1993, the parliament of the Republic of Moldova passed a decision providing for the official adoption of aLatin-script alphabet for the Gagauz language.^[6] This was subsequently amended in 1996.^[7] The official Gagauz alphabet adopted is modelled after the modernTurkish alphabet, with the addition of three letters:⟨ä⟩ to represent the sound of[æ] (as⟨ə⟩ inAzeri);⟨ê⟩ to represent the[ə] (schwa) sound, which does not exist in Turkish; and⟨ț⟩ or⟨ţ⟩ to represent the sound[ts] as inRomanian. On the other hand, unlikeCrimean Tatar, Turkish, and some other Turkic languages, Gagauz does not have the letter⟨ğ⟩, which had become completely silent in the Gagauz language. Note that cedillas should be used instead of commas for Ç, Ş, and Ţ for consistency, since C with comma does not exist in Romanian and Turkish uses cedillas for Ç and Ş, although Ț is often seen.

In their standard order, the letters of the Gagauz alphabet are:

A,Ä,B,C,Ç,D,E,Ê,F,G,H,I,İ,J,K,L,M,N,O,Ö,P,R,S,Ş,T,Ţ,U,Ü,V,Y,Z.

Note thatdotted anddotless I are separate letters, each with its own uppercase and lowercase form.I is the capital form ofı, andİ is the capital form ofi. The Gagauz alphabet has no q, w or x. Instead, those characters are transliterated into Gagauz as k, v and ks, respectively.

• Latin alphabets
• Gagauz language
• Alphabets used by Turkic languages
• Culture of Moldova

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