Gagauz (Gagauz dili/Гагаузча)

Gagauz is a Turkic language spoken by about 150,000 people in Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Kazakhstan.

Gagauz was originally written with a version of the Greek alphabet. In 1957 the Cyrillic alphabet was adopted in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, and a version of the Latin alphabet based on the Turkish alphabet is used in Moldova, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey

Gagauz Latin alphabet (gagauz alfaviti)

Gagauz Latin alphabet

Notes

These pronunciations are used before ä, e, i, ö and ü
This pronunciation is used at the beginning of words
The letter Ţ ţ is only used in loanwords

Gagauz Cyrillic alphabet (гагауз алфавити)

Gagauz Cyrillic alphabet

Notes

These pronunciations are used before ä, е, и, ö and ÿ
This pronunciation is used at the beginning of words, after ъ and vowels
The letters in blue are only used in Russian names and loanwords

Sample text in Gagauz (Latin alphabet)

Insannar hepsi duuêrlar sebest hem birtakim kendi kiymetindä hem haklarinda. Onnara verilmis akil hem üz da läazim biri-birinä davransinnar kardaslik ruhuna uygun.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Do you speak Gagauz? Could you provide any more information about this language and/or a sample of spoken Gagauz? Please contact me if you can help.

Links

Information about the Gagauz language and people
http://www.geocities.com/ai320/gagauzplace.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gagauz_language
http://www.governpub.com/Languages-G/Gagauz.php

Related languages

Altay, Azerbaijani, Balkar, Bashkir, Chuvash, Crimean Tatar, Even, Evenki, Karakalpak, Kazak, Kumyk, Kyrghyz, Nanai, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Uyghur, Uzbek, Yakut

Other languages written with the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets

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