The key facts
- The law on the new Latin-based alphabet version was signed on October 21 and comes into force on April 22, 2027.
- The new version has 28 letters and an apostrophe instead of the hardness sign; the combinations Sh, Ch, Oʻ, Gʻ are replaced by the letters Ş, Ç, Ö, Ğ, while Ng is removed.
- The government has been tasked with developing a program for implementing the law within two months.
Timeline for the law's entry into force
The President of Uzbekistan signed the law on a new version of the Uzbek alphabet based on Latin script on October 21. According to Gazeta's publication, the document will come into force on April 22, 2027 — six months after signing. Under the law, documents, national currency and securities issued before that date with letters of the current alphabet remain valid and may remain in circulation.
Use of the old spellings
State symbols and attributes of bodies and organizations with letters of the current alphabet, bas-reliefs of the state emblem on buildings, signs and indicators with names of geographical objects, as well as other items and sources determined by the Cabinet of Ministers, may be used until they wear out or until the deadline set in the program of measures for implementing the law. The government has been tasked with developing and adopting this program within two months.
Changes to the alphabet
According to Gazeta, the new version of the alphabet contains 28 letters and an apostrophe instead of the hardness sign. The previous version included 26 letters and 3 letter combinations. Instead of the combinations Sh, Ch, Oʻ and Gʻ, the letters Ş, Ç, Ö and Ğ are introduced, while the combination Ng is removed from the alphabet.
Background
The Latin-based alphabet was introduced in 1993 with 33 letters and an apostrophe. It included letters with diacritical marks Ş, Ç, Õ, Ğ, Ĵ (denoting the sound 'zh', distinct from 'j') and Ń (the sound 'ng'), as well as the letter C for the sound 's'. In 1995, the letters with diacritics were replaced by the combinations Sh, Ch, Oʻ, Gʻ and Ng, and the letter C was removed. The full transition from Cyrillic to the Latin script was planned to be completed by 2000, however, as Gazeta notes, to date both writing systems are in fact used in the country. In October 2020, the president signed a decree on developing the Uzbek language and improving language policy, which provided for completing the full transition to the Latin script.
