Uzbek Senate Approves Transition to New 28-Letter Alphabet
Uzbekistan
The Senate of Uzbekistan’s Oliy Majlis approved on September 10 a bill on a revised Uzbek alphabet based on the Latin script. The proposal would replace the current system of 26 letters and three letter combinations with an alphabet consisting of 28 letters and an apostrophe.
The bill was passed in three readings by the Legislative Chamber in early July. It introduces amendments to the 1993 law “On the Introduction of the Uzbek Alphabet Based on the Latin Script.”
Previously issued documents, securities and the national currency will remain legally valid until the law enters into force. Certain state symbols, signs and information boards may also continue to be used until the established deadline or until they become unusable.
According to senators, the reform is intended to improve the Uzbek Latin alphabet and spelling rules while supporting the digitalization of the state language. The Legislative Chamber had proposed a phased implementation to avoid the simultaneous replacement of documents, forms and signs and additional budget costs.
Bakhrom Abdukhalimov, Vice President of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, previously highlighted problems involving the letters o', g', ch and sh. In particular, o' and g' do not have their own codes in the international Unicode standard, creating technical difficulties for search engines, machine translation and electronic dictionaries. The ch and sh digraphs, he said, can also complicate reading and writing in some words.
The proposed solution is to replace g', o', sh and ch with the symbols ğ, ö, ş and ç. According to Abdukhalimov, these symbols are used by around 300 million people worldwide.
Previously issued documents, securities and the national currency will remain legally valid until the law enters into force. Certain state symbols, signs and information boards may also continue to be used until the established deadline or until they become unusable.
According to senators, the reform is intended to improve the Uzbek Latin alphabet and spelling rules while supporting the digitalization of the state language. The Legislative Chamber had proposed a phased implementation to avoid the simultaneous replacement of documents, forms and signs and additional budget costs.
Bakhrom Abdukhalimov, Vice President of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, previously highlighted problems involving the letters o', g', ch and sh. In particular, o' and g' do not have their own codes in the international Unicode standard, creating technical difficulties for search engines, machine translation and electronic dictionaries. The ch and sh digraphs, he said, can also complicate reading and writing in some words.
The proposed solution is to replace g', o', sh and ch with the symbols ğ, ö, ş and ç. According to Abdukhalimov, these symbols are used by around 300 million people worldwide.
Powered by Froala Editor