TheUzbek language has been written in various scripts:Latin,Cyrillic andArabic.^[1] The language traditionally used Arabic script, but the official Uzbek government under the Soviet Union started to use Cyrillic in 1940, which is whenwidespread literacy campaigns were initiated by the Soviet government across the Union. In 1992, Latin script was officially reintroduced inUzbekistan along with Cyrillic. In theXinjiang region of China, some Uzbek speakers write using Cyrillic, others with an alphabet based on theUyghur Arabic alphabet. Uzbeks ofAfghanistan also write the language usingArabic script, and the Arabic Uzbek alphabet is taught at some schools.

Like allTurkic languages inCentral Asia and its literary predecessorChagatai, Uzbek was written in various forms of theArabic script historically. Following theRussian revolution and Soviet takeover ofRussian Turkestan, in January 1921, a reformed Arabic orthography designed by theJadidists was adopted, which replaced theharakat marks used for short vowels with a fully alphabetic system that indicated every vowel and removed all letters that occurred only in Arabic loanwords and did not have a distinct phonetic value. It had six vowels and twenty-three consonants. Notably, unlike the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets that followed, it did not contain a letter to represent/f/, due to the argument that it was always assimilated to/p/ in the orthophony. Some had also proposed that there be no letter to represent/h/, due to many dialects assimilating it to/x/, but this was not implemented in the end.^[2]

The Arabic script is still used for writing Uzbek in Afghanistan and by Afghan-Uzbek diaspora elsewhere. In the early 21st century, with the publication of dictionaries^[3][4] and literature by Afghan-Uzbek scholars, as well as the adaptation of Uzbek Arabic script by domestic as well as international news outlets (just likeBBC News Uzbek Afghanistan andTRT Afghani Uzbek), the Arabic script has undergone a process of documentation and standardization.

The question of the transition of the Uzbek language to the Latin alphabet was raised back in 1920. In January 1921, it was discussed at the regional congress in Tashkent, but then supporters of romanization did not receive approval from numerous adherents of reforming the Arabic script. This issue was raised for the second time in 1926 at the First Turkic Congress in Baku. At this congress, the transition of all Turkic languages of the peoples of the USSR to the new Latin alphabet,Yañalif was approved. To implement the transition to the Latin alphabet, the New Alphabet Committee was created under the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of the Uzbek SSR. Various projects for the new alphabet were widely discussed on the pages of the press, various meetings, meetings, and conferences. Significant discussion flared up on the issue of displaying synharmonism in writing. It was decided to display synharmonism in writing, for which 9 letters were introduced into the alphabet to display vowels.^[5]

In 1929, as part of comprehensive programs to "educate" (politically influence)Uzbek people, who for the first time now had their own cartographically delineated (administrative) region, Uzbek writing in theUzbek SSR was switched to Latin script. The latinization of Uzbek was carried out in the context oflatinization of all languages in theSoviet Union.^[6] The new Latin script also brought about the letterf to represent/f/ and distinction of back and front vowels, adding a number of new characters for them.

At the Republican Spelling Conference in Samarkand, held in May 1929, a new Uzbek alphabet of 34 characters was approved:

In 1934, the script underwent another reform, which reverted the addition of back-front vowel distinctions.^[2] The lettersӨ ө, Y y, Ь ь were removed from the alphabet, while the letterƏ ə had its usage reduced, being primarily replaced byA a. This reform simplified Uzbek spelling, but did not solve all its problems.^[7] In this regard, in 1937, a team of scientists under the leadership of A.K. Borovkov began to develop a new version of the Uzbek alphabet and spelling. The alphabet compiled by this team had the following order:A a, B b, V v, G g, D d, E e, Ƶ ƶ, Z z, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, Å å, O o, P p, R r, S s, T t, U u, F f, X x, C c, Ş ş, Ç ç, Q q, Ƣ ƣ, H h, Ꞑ ꞑ. However, at this time the Cyrillization process was already gaining momentum in the USSR, which made the reform of the Latinized alphabet irrelevant.^[5]

In 1939, a commission was created at the Collegium of the People's Commissariat of Education of the Uzbek SSR to develop the Uzbek alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet. This commission developed an alphabet that included all 33 letters of theRussian alphabet, as well as six additional charactersҢ ң, Ҷ ҷ, Ө ө, Қ қ, Ƶ ƶ, Ҳ ҳ and an apostrophe. However, this project was heavily criticized by linguists and educators for its cumbersomeness and the presence of extra letters. Most critics proposed eliminating the letters Щ щ and Ы ы from the alphabet. Some considered it necessary to also exclude the letters Е е, Ё ё, Ц ц, Ю ю, Я я. It was proposed to take the letter A a for the sound [ɔ], and to use Ə ə for [ä]. In addition to the main project of the Uzbek Cyrillic alphabet, a number of others were proposed:^[5]

In 1940, Uzbek wasswitched to theCyrillic script underJoseph Stalin:

The Uzbek Cyrillic alphabet contains all the letters of the Russian alphabet, apart from Щ and Ы, plus four extra ones, namely Ў, Қ, Ғ and Ҳ. These four letters are considered as separate letters and not letter variants. They come in alphabetical order after the letter Я.

The letters Ц and Ь are not used in Uzbek native words, but are included in the alphabet for writing loanwords, e. g. кальций (calcium). However, Щ and Ы are not included, so they are replaced by ШЧ and И in loanwords and names from Russian, e. g. the Russian surnames Щедрин (Shchedrin) and Быков (Bykov) are rendered Шчедрин and Биков in Uzbek Cyrillic.

Despite further reforms, this alphabet is still in use both in Uzbekistan and neighboring countries (Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan).

Until 1992, Uzbek in the USSR continued to be written using aCyrillic alphabet almost exclusively, but now in Uzbekistan theLatin script has been officially re-introduced, although the use of Cyrillic is still widespread. The deadline in Uzbekistan for making this transition has been repeatedly changed. In 1993, President of Uzbekistan at the timeIslam Karimov proposed a new Uzbek alphabet with ⟨c⟩ /ts/, ⟨ç⟩, ⟨ğ⟩, ⟨ɉ⟩, ⟨ñ⟩, ⟨ö⟩, ⟨ş⟩, until it was replaced with the current 1995 alphabet. The letter J with stroke is said to have been the equivalent of Cyrillic letterZhje.^[8] The order of the first Latin alphabet post-independence was as follows:A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, X x, Y y, Z z, Ç ç, Ğ ğ, Ɉ ɉ, Ñ ñ, Ö ö, Ş ş, ʼ.^[9]

Education in many areas of Uzbekistan is in the Latin script, and in 2001 the Latin script began to be used oncoins. Since 2004, some official websites have switched over to using the Latin script when writing in Uzbek.^[10] Most street signs are also in the new Latin script. The main national TV channel of Uzbekistan,Oʻzbekiston Telekanali (owned byMTRK), has also switched to the Latin script when writing in Uzbek, although news programs are still broadcast in Cyrillic script (compare with another TV channel owned by the same company, Yoshlar, which broadcasts news programs in Latin script). Additionally, in Afghanistan Uzbek continues to be written in the Arabic script.

In 2018, the Uzbek government launched another reform effort for the Uzbek Latin alphabet. The new proposal called for replacing somedigraphs withdiacritical signs.^[11] In March 2021, the proposed changes were put up for public discussion and debate. They called for replacing Ch ch, Sh sh, Gʻ gʻ, Oʻ oʻ with Ç ç, Ş ş, Ḡ ḡ, Ō ō (and, in loans, Ts ts with C c).^[12][13] This would largely reverse the 1995 reform and bring the orthography closer to those ofTurkish,Turkmen,Karakalpak,Kazakh (2018 version) andAzerbaijani.^[14] This was met with mixed reactions from the citizens. The proposal was put up again for discussion in May of the same year, this time with a deadline of 1 November 2021.^[15]

In February 2021, the Uzbek government announced that Uzbekistan plans to fully transition the Uzbek language from the Cyrillic script to a Latin-based alphabet by 1 January 2023.^[16][17] Similar deadlines had been extended several times.^[18]

Generally the younger generation prefers to use the Latin alphabet, while the older generation, who grew up in the Soviet era, prefers the Cyrillic alphabet. The Latin alphabet is mainly used in business and tourism, and the Cyrillic alphabet is mainly used in official government documents.^[19]

According to a report in 2023, Uzbek publishing houses still mostly used the Cyrillic alphabet.^[20]

In September 2023, linguists proposed another project for reform of the Latin alphabet. Thus, in the new alphabet it is proposed to modify four letters: Ў/ў, Ғ/ғ, Ч/ч, & Ш/ш respectively to Õ/õ, Ğ/ğ, C/c, Ş/ş. This is the third attempt to reform the Uzbek alphabet since 2018.^[21]

The current (1995) Uzbek Latin alphabet has 29 letters:

The symbol ⟨‘⟩ does not constitute a separate letter.

Below is a table of Uzbek Cyrillic and Latin alphabets with represented sounds.^[27][28]Note that in Arabic script, vowel-initial words begin with a silent ا (traditional alphabet; may be replaced with an etymological ع in loans) or with a silent ئ (Yangi Imlo alphabet).

The Cyrillic letters Ё ё, Ю ю, Я я correspond to the sound combinationsyo, yu, ya.

The Cyrillic letters Ц ц and ь (capital Ь occurs only in all-capitals writing), called(t)se andyumshatish belgisi respectively, are used only in loanwords. In the modern Uzbek Latin alphabet ц becomests after vowels,s otherwise; ь is omitted (except ье, ьи, ьо, that becomeye, yi, yo).

The lettersc (apart from the digraphch) andw, not considered distinct letters of the Uzbek alphabet, are named(t)se anddubl-ve respectively. In mathematics,x, y, z are namediks, igrek, zet.

Notes

When theUzbek language is written using the Latin script, the lettersOʻ (CyrillicЎ) andGʻ (CyrillicҒ) are properly rendered^{[citation needed]} using the characterU+02BB ʻMODIFIER LETTER TURNED COMMA,^[30] which is also known as theʻokina. However, since this character is absent from most keyboard layouts (except for the Hawaiian keyboard in Windows 8, or above, computers) and many fonts, most Uzbek websites – including some operated by the Uzbek government^[10] – use eitherU+2018 ‘LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK orU+0027 'APOSTROPHE to represent these letters.

The characterU+02BC ʼMODIFIER LETTER APOSTROPHE (tutuq belgisi) is used to mark the phoneticglottal stop when it is put immediately before a vowel in borrowed words, as insanʼat (art). The modifier letter apostrophe is also used to mark along vowel when placed immediately after a vowel, as inmaʼno (meaning).^[31] Since this character is also absent from most keyboard layouts, many Uzbek websites useU+2019 ’RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK orU+0027 'APOSTROPHE instead.

Currently most typists do not bother with the differentiation between the modifier letter turned comma and modifier letter apostrophe as their keyboard layouts likely accommodate only the straight apostrophe.

Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights:

• Uzbek: extended Latin and Cyrillic
• Saida Mirzoyoyeva on Uzbek alphabet reform: ‘We should make final decision'
• Буквы преткновения: Затянувшаяся на 30 лет реформа узбекского алфавита (The letters of stumbling: The reform of the Uzbek alphabet, which has dragged on for 30 years)(in Russian)

• Alphabets used by Turkic languages
• Cyrillic alphabets
• Latin alphabets
• Uzbek language
• Arabic alphabets

• Articles containing Uzbek-language text
• CS1 Uzbek-language sources (uz)
• CS1 Russian-language sources (ru)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
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• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023
• Articles with Russian-language sources (ru)