Gagauz language
| Gagauz | |
|---|---|
| Gagauz dili, Gagauzca | |
| Pronunciation | [ɡaɡaˈuzd͡ʒa] |
| Native to | Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey |
| Region | Gagauzia |
|
Native speakers
|
590,000 (2009) |
|
Turkic
|
|
| Latin (Gagauz alphabet) | |
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
 Gagauzia ( Moldova) |
|
Recognised minority
language in |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | gaga1249 |
| Linguasphere | part of 44-AAB-a |
The Gagauz language (Gagauz: Gagauz dili, Gagauzca) is a Turkic language spoken by the Gagauz people of Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey, and it is the official language of the Autonomous Region of Gagauzia in Moldova. Gagauz belongs to the Oghuz branch of Turkic languages, alongside Azeri, Turkmen, Crimean Tatar, and Turkish. Gagauz has two dialects, Bulgar Gagauzi and Maritime Gagauzi. Gagauz is a distinct language from Balkan Gagauz Turkish.
It appears that the first alphabet to be used for the language was the Greek alphabet in the late 19th century. For example, orientalist Otto Blau claims that plays of Euripides had been translated into the Gagauz language and had been written with Greek letters.
Beginning in 1957, Cyrillic was used up until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Gagauz currently uses a Latin-based alphabet, modelled after the modern Turkish alphabet, with the addition of three letters: ⟨ä⟩ to represent the sound of [æ] (as ⟨ə⟩ in Azeri), ⟨ê⟩ to represent the [ə] (schwa) sound, which does not exist in Turkish, and ⟨ț⟩ or ⟨ţ⟩ to represent the sound [ts] as in Romanian. On the other hand, Gagauz lacks the Turkish letter ⟨ğ⟩, which had become completely silent in the Gagauz language.
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Wikipedia