Italian Media: Central Asian landlocked country Uzbekistan plans to modify four letters in its alphabet
Legislators in Tashkent have approved a bill proposing to replace the current letters o', g', ch, and sh with other characters to standardize the spelling of Uzbek words in international digital systems, thus avoiding issues in electronic payment systems, machine translation, and online dictionaries.
Tashkent (Asia News) – The Tashkent Academy explained the necessity of changing four letters in the Uzbek alphabet, which is based on Latin script with various diacritical marks. Deputy Director Bakhrom Abdukhalimov stated that the existing letters o', g', ch, and sh cause spelling and technical problems, including during the digitization of the language.
The bill was unanimously passed by members of parliament and proposes replacing the current Uzbek letters with Latin ones during the legislative session of the Uzbek Parliament on July 7, transitioning to the principle of "one sound, one letter," and has now been submitted to the Senate for consideration.
Abdukhalimov pointed out that the goal of improving the alphabet and spelling rules was explicitly stated in presidential decrees issued on October 21, 2019, and October 20, 2020.
Additionally, on June 5, 2023, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, during a meeting with voters in Tashkent, said after discussions with intellectuals and the public that it was necessary to complete the project of modernizing the alphabet.
The academy’s deputy director remarked: “Today, we are at a critical stage of a matter that has been discussed for years.”
As he noted, extensive scientific research has been conducted in this field over the past decade; public opinions and suggestions have also been studied; and multiple scientific conferences, seminars, and debates were held by the National University of Uzbek Language and Literature in Tashkent and the Institute of Uzbek Language, Literature, and Folklore of the Academy.
Abdukhalimov said: “Linguists, writers, lawmakers, teachers, IT experts, publishing representatives, bloggers, and ordinary citizens all participated in these discussions, and their suggestions and opinions were carefully considered.” He added that after seminars held on September 22 and December 18, 2023, experts concluded that the main issues lay with four letters in the current alphabet: o', g', ch, and sh.
The spokesperson highlighted that the current writing forms of the letters "o" and "g" (using apostrophes) require multiple IT-related steps and actually have more than a dozen different variants, hindering the establishment of a unified standard.
He noted: “Since these characters are not independent letters in the International Unicode standard, they create serious technical challenges for computers, electronic payment systems, machine translation, electronic dictionaries, and the digitization of the Uzbek language.”
He also pointed out that the letter combinations "ch" and "sh" are widely used in Uzbek, such as in words like shoshilinch, xushchaqchaq, and achchiqtosh—words frequently using these combinations, leading to difficulties in reading and writing. Moreover, names like Is'hoq and As'hobiddin are often misspelled as Ishoq and Ashobiddin.
Exceptions must be made for words like mo'tabar, mo'tadil, and mo'jiza to prevent the apostrophe of the letter "o" from being adjacent to a hard sign.
Experts believe that to achieve the principle of "one sound, one letter," it is recommended to replace the four problematic letters in the current alphabet: Ş to replace Sh, Ç to replace Ch, Ö to replace O', and Ğ to replace G'.
Thus, the new alphabet should contain 28 letters plus an apostrophe; Abdukhalimov believes this will align with the experience of related nations and conform to the general Turkic alphabet principles.
As he emphasized, “The letters proposed to represent sh, ch, g', and o' have already been successfully used in numerous languages, including Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Gagauz, Crimean Tatar, German, Swedish, Finnish, and Hungarian… Today, nearly 300 million people use these letters.”
From an information technology perspective, these letters “have been thoroughly tested and comply with international standards.”
After the law is passed, new spelling rules will be established, existing regulations adjusted to align with the law, and the government will develop a specific implementation plan to gradually enforce the law without requiring excessive funding.
Bakhrom Abdukhalimov concluded: “Today, what we are doing is not merely modifying individual letters, but shaping the future development of the Uzbek language—to harmonize it with digital technology and, according to our national characteristics, create a modern and practical writing system for our people.”
Author: Vladimir Rozanskij
Original: toutiao.com/article/1870409950807049/
Disclaimer: This article reflects the personal views of the author