Gagauz language, alphabet and pronunciation


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

  1. G, K and L are palatalized / palatal before ä, e, i, ö and ü
  2. h = [h] at the beginning of words
  3. The letter Ţ ţ is only used in loanwords

Gagauz Cyrillic alphabet (гагауз алфавити)

Gagauz Cyrillic alphabet

Notes

  1. В, Г, К & Л are palatalized / palatal before ä, е, и, ö and ÿ
  2. Е = je and Ё = [jo] at the beginning of words, after ъ and after vowels
  3. The letters in blue are only used in Russian names and loanwords

Sample text in Gagauz (Latin alphabet)

Insannar hepsi duuêrlar serbest hem birtakım kendi kıymetindä hem haklarında. Onnara verilmiş akıl hem üz da läazım biri-birinä davransınnar kardaşlık ruhuna uygun.

Sample text in Gagauz (Cyrillic alphabet)

Ынсаннар хепси дууэрлар сербест хем биртакым кенди кыйметиндӓ хем хакларында. Оннара верилмиш акыл хем ӱз да лӓазым бири-биринӓ даврансыннар кардашлык рухуна уйгун.

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

Turkic languages

Other languages written with the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets