Gagauz language

Short description: Oghuz Turkic language of Eastern Europe

Not to be confused with Balkan Gagauz Turkish.

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Gagauz

* gagauz dili
* gagauzça

Gagauz in Latin and Cyrillic scripts

Pronunciation| gag
Native to| Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey
Region| Gagauzia
Ethnicity| Gagauz

Native speakers

| 148,720 (total speakers), 115,000 (in Moldova) (2014)[1]

Language family

Turkic

* Common Turkic
* Oghuz
* Western Oghuz
* Gagauz

Early forms

Old Anatolian Turkish

* Ottoman Turkish

Writing system

| Latin (Gagauz alphabet, current)
Cyrillic (historical)
Greek (historical)[2]
Official status

Official language in

| Gagauzia (Moldova)

Recognised minority
language in

Ukraine[3][4]

Language codes
ISO 639-3| `gag`
Glottolog| `gaga1249`[5]
Linguasphere| `part of 44-AAB-a`

Gagauz is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010)

This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Gagauz (/ɡæɡəˈuːz/;[6] gagauz dili or gagauzça) is a Turkic language spoken by the Gagauz people of Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey and is an official language of the Autonomous Region of Gagauzia in Moldova. Gagauz belongs to the Oghuz branch of Turkic languages, alongside Azerbaijani, Turkmen, and Turkish. Gagauz is a distinct language from Balkan Gagauz Turkish to some degree.[7][8]

Though it was established as a written language in 1957, Gagauz was not used in schools until 1959.[9] Gagauz is a language derived from Balkan Gagauz Turkish; Balkan linguistics was the first to view the consequences of language contact as normal rather than corrupt.[10] The term "Gagauz language" and the identification of one's language as "Gagauz" were established concurrently with or even after the creation of national self-awareness.[11] About 150,000 Gagauz resided in Moldova in 1986, where they lived in settlements within the Comrat, Ceadîr-Lunga and Vulcănești districts.[12] Along with the majority of the Gagauz living in Moldova, there are four cities in Bulgaria in which the Gagauz reside.[which?][13]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Phonology
* 2.1 Consonants
* 2.2 Vowels
* 3 Orthography
* 4 Current situation
* 4.1 Education
* 4.2 Media
* 5 References
* 6 Further reading
* 7 External links

## History

Between 1750 and 1846, the ancestors of the Gagauz emigrated from the current-day Bulgarian Black Sea coast north of Varna to Russia and settled in the region that is now the current-day Republic of Moldova, allowed to do so on the condition that they converted to Orthodox Christianity by Empress Catherine.[14] In the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the 1994 law on Special Legal Status of Gagauzia was passed in Moldova, which was put into effect in 1995, granting the Gagauz territorial autonomy.[15][16]

## Phonology

### Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Gagauz  | Labial  | Dental  | Alveolar  | Palatal  | Velar  | Glottal

|
|
|
|
|
|

Nasal  | m |  | n |  |  |
Plosive/
Affricate  | voiceless | p | t | t͡s | t͡ʃ | k |
voiced | b | d |  | d͡ʒ | ɡ |
Fricative  | voiceless | f |  | s | ʃ |  | h
voiced | v |  | z | ʒ |  |
Rhotic  |  |  | ɾ~r |  |  |
Approximant  |  |  | l | j |  |

### Vowels

Vowel phonemes of Gagauz  | Front  | Central  | Back

|
|
|

Close  | i | y |  | ɯ | u
Mid  | e | ø | ə | o
Open  | æ |  | ɑ

## Orthography

It appears that the first alphabet to be used for the language was the Greek alphabet[17] 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.[18]

Beginning in 1957, Cyrillic was used until 1993. On May 13, 1993, the parliament of the Republic of Moldova passed a decision providing for the official adoption of the Latin-based alphabet for the Gagauz language.[19] This was subsequently amended in 1996.[20] The Gagauz alphabet adopted is modelled on 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 ⟨ţ⟩ to represent the sound [ts] from the Romanian alphabet. On the other hand, unlike Crimean Tatar, Turkish, and some other Turkic languages, Gagauz does not have the letter ⟨ğ⟩, which had become completely silent in the Gagauz language.

Dotted and dotless I are separate letters, each with its own uppercase and lowercase form. I is the capital form of ı, and İ is the capital form of i. The Gagauz alphabet has no q, w or x. Instead, those characters are transliterated into Gagauz as k, v and ks.

Modern Gagauz alphabet:

A a  | Ä ä  | B b  | C c  | Ç ç  | D d  | E e  | Ê ê

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

F f  | G g  | H h  | I ı  | İ i  | J j  | K k  | L l
M m  | N n  | O o  | Ö ö  | P p  | R r  | S s  | Ş ş
T t  | Ţ ţ  | U u  | Ü ü  | V v  | Y y  | Z z  |

## Current situation

A study in 2012 was conducted on the Gagauz community to assess the current situation and sociocultural context. The findings show that within Gagauzia, official documents, printed publications, and official web sites are only in Russian. The National Passport System in Moldova does not allow the spelling of names in Gagauz. Signposts in Gagauzia are mostly in Romanian, and the names of squares and streets have not changed since the time of the Soviet Union.[21]

### Education

Despite various laws that support the rights of citizens to education in their native language, almost all instruction in Gagauzian schools is in Russian. Gagauz, while the native language of all students, is only taught as a "native language" class for a few hours per week.[22] Research has also shown that there are not serious desires or attempts to institute Gagauz as a language of instruction. In a study, 80.6% of respondents preferred Russian as the medium of instruction at schools.[22] There are, however, some notable efforts to increase Gagauz language education.[23] Todur Zanet, editor-in-chief of the Ana Sözü local newspaper, has played an active role in encouraging readers and local authorities to promote instruction in their mother tongue. Zanet has also contributed significantly to efforts to standardize the language and increase its accessibility through print and other mediums.

### Media

Ana Sözü is the largest local newspaper in Gagauzia. It is also the only local newspaper still written entirely in Gagauz, and was the first newspaper of any kind published in the Gagauz language. Apart from Ana Sözü, there are various newspapers published in the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, including Açık Göz, Gagauz Yeri, Gagauz Sesi, Halk Birlii, Novıy Vzgliad, Vesti Gagauzii, and Znamea.

In addition to printed materials, the company Gagauzia Radio Television (GRT) produces radio and television broadcasts in Gagauz.

## References

1. ↑ Gagauz at Ethnologue (23rd ed., 2020)
2. ↑ Ciachir, M. (1933). Basarabialâ gagauzlarân istoriassi. Chișinău. p. 133.
3. ↑ What languages does the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages apply to?
4. ↑ "Про затвердження переліку мов національних меншин (спільнот) та корінних народів України, яким загрожує зникнення". 7 June 2024. https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/670-2024-п.
5. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds (2017). "Gagauz". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/gaga1249.
6. ↑ Olausson & Sangster (2006) Oxford BBC Guide to Pronunciation
7. ↑ Lewis, M. Paul, ed (2009). "Language Family Trees: Altaic, Turkic, Southern, Turkish". Dallas, Texas: SIL International. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=1710-16.
8. ↑ Higgins, Andrew (2023-10-04). "'Our Language Is Dying'" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/world/europe/moldova-gagauz-languages-soviet-union.html.
9. ↑ Menz, Astrid (2000). "Indirectivity in Gagauz". in Johanson, Lars. Evidentials: Turkic, Iranian and Neighbouring Languages. Mouton de Gruyter. p. 103. ISBN 978-3-11-080528-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=8VEiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA103.
10. ↑ Friedman, Victor A. (2011). "The Balkan Languages and Balkan Linguistics". Annual Review of Anthropology 40: 275–291. doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-081309-145932.
11. ↑ Kvilinkova, E. N. (2013). "The Gagauz Language Through the Prism of Gagauz Ethnic Identity". Anthropology & Archeology of Eurasia 52: 74–94. doi:10.2753/AAE1061-1959520105.
12. ↑ Varsahr, A. M.; Spitsyn, V. A.; Bychcovscaya, L. S.; Kravchuk, O. I. (2001). "To the research of the gene pool of the Gagauz population of Moldavia". Anthropologischer Anzeiger 59 (1): 11–17. doi:10.1127/anthranz/59/2001/11. PMID 11360805.
13. ↑ Chinn, Jeff; Roper, Steven D. (1998). "Territorial Autonomy in Gagauzia". Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity 26 (1): 87–101. doi:10.1080/00905999808408552.
14. ↑ Nasidze, I.; Quinque, D.; Udina, I.; Kunizheva, S.; Stoneking, M. (2007). "The Gagauz, a Linguistic Enclave, are not a genetic isolate". Annals of Human Genetics 71 (3): 379–389. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1809.2006.00330.x. PMID 17147693.
15. ↑ Protsyk, Oleh (2010). "Gagauz Autonomy in Moldova: The Real and the Virtual in Post-Soviet State Design". in Weller, Marc. Asymmetric Autonomy and the Settlement of Ethnic Conflicts. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 231–251. doi:10.2307/j.ctt3fhcx2.13. ISBN 9780812222388.
16. ↑ Neukirch, Claus (2002), Autonomy and Conflict Transformation: The Case of the Gagauz Territorial Autonomy In the Republic of Moldova
17. ↑ Ciachir, M. (1933). Basarabialâ gagauzlarân istoriassi. Chișinău. p. 133.
18. ↑ Măcriș, Anatol (2008) (in ro). Găgăuzii. Bucharest: Editura PACO. p. 71.
19. ↑ (in ro) Hotărîre Nr. 1421 din 13.05.1993 "pentru trecerea scrisului limbii găgăuze la grafia latină", http://lex.justice.md/viewdoc.php?action=view&view=doc&id=306820&lang=1, retrieved 2019-11-03
20. ↑ (in ro) Hotărîre Nr. 816 din 24.04.1996 "privind modificarea şi completarea Hotărîrii Parlamentului pentru trecerea scrisului limbii găgăuze la grafia latină", http://lex.justice.md/viewdoc.php?action=view&view=doc&id=306590, retrieved 2019-11-03
21. ↑ Sirkeli, M. & Lisenco, S. (2012). "Policy Brief: Implementation of linguistic rights of the Gagauz of Moldova. Integration of the Gagauz Community into the Society of Moldova."
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Dağdeviren Kırmızı, Gülin (2015). Emotional and Functional Attitudes of Native Speakers Towards Gagauz as an Endangered Language (PhD thesis). Hacettepe University. hdl:11655/1251.
23. ↑ Kahl, Thede. "Die Gagausen und ihre Autonomie. Eine kritische Betrachtung aus der Perspektive der Mehrsprachigkeit (Moldauisch/Rumänisch, Russisch, Gagausisch/Türkisch)". Wiener Romanistische Landeswissenschaft(en), Bachelor Master Studies (Vienna: Praesens) 1: 147–165. https://www.academia.edu/22505196.

## Further reading

* The Languages and Linguistics of Europe: A Comprehensive Guide. de Gruyter Mouton. 2011. doi:10.1515/9783110220261. ISBN 978-3-11-022025-4.
* Pokrovskaja, Ljudmila A. (1997). "Gagauzskij jazyk". Jazyki mira: Tjurkskie jazyki. Moscow: Indrik. pp. 224–235.
* Pokrovskaja, Ljudmila A. (1964). Grammatika gagauzskogo jazyka: fonetika i morfologija. Moskva: Nauka.
* Shabasho, A. V. (2002). Odesa: Astroprint.
* Ulutaş, İsmail (2004). Relative clauses in Gagauz syntax. Istanbul: Isis Press. ISBN 975-428-283-8.

## External links

|  Gagauz edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

|

* English-Gagauz Gagauz-English Dictionary
* A Gagauz song "Yaşa, Halkım!" by Andrey İVANOV
* "A Concise Gagauz-English dictionary with etymologies and Azerbaijani and Turkmen cognates" by Andras Rajki (download)
* anasozu.com Gagauz language web site

* v
* t
* e

Turkic languages

Proto-language|

* Proto-Turkic

Common Turkic|

| Arghu|

* Khalaj

|

Karluk|

* Äynu1
* Ili Turki
* Uyghur
* Uzbek
* Extinct
* Middle Turkic
* Khorezmian
* Chagatai

Kipchak|

| Ponto-Caspian|

* Crimean Tatar
* Karachay-Balkar
* Karaim
* Krymchak
* Kumyk
* Urum
* Extinct
* Kipchak
* Cuman

|

Aralo-Caspian|

* Siberian Tatar
* Karakalpak
* Kazakh
* Kyrgyz
* Nogai
* Extinct
* Fergana Kipchak

Uralo-Caspian|

* Bashkir
* Tatar
* Extinct
* Old Tatar

Oghuz|

* Azerbaijani
* Gagauz
* Khorasani Turkic
* Qashqai
* Rumelian Turkish
* Salar
* Turkish
* Turkmen
* Extinct
* Pecheneg2
* Old Anatolian Turkish
* Ottoman Turkish

Siberian|

* Altai
* Chulym
* Dolgan
* Khakas
* Shor
* Tofa
* Tuvan
* Yakut
* Western Yugur2
* Extinct
* Orkhon Turkic
* Old Turkic
* Old Uyghur
* Fuyu Girgis
* Dukhan

Oghur|

* Chuvash
* Extinct
* Khazar2
* Bulgar

* 1 Mixed language.
* 2 Classification disputed.

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