View source for Social:Gagauz language

{{Short description|Oghuz Turkic language of Eastern Europe}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Gagauz
| nativename       = Gagauz dili<br/>Gagauzça
| image            = File:Gagauz.svg
| imagecaption     = Gagauz in Latin and Cyrillic scripts
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|gag|ɡɑɡɑˈuzt͡ʃɑ|}}
| states           = Moldova, {{wipe|Ukraine}}, {{wipe|Russia}}, [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]]
| region           = Gagauzia
| ethnicity        = Gagauz
| speakers         = 148,720 (total speakers), 115,000 (in Moldova)
| date             = 2014
| ref              = e23
| script           = Latin (Gagauz alphabet, current)<br/>[[Social:Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] (historical)<br/>Greek (historical)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ciachir |first=M. |title=Basarabialâ gagauzlarân istoriassi |date=1933 |location=Chișinău |page=133}}</ref>
| nation           = Gagauzia (Moldova)
| minority         = {{wipe|Ukraine}}
| familycolor      = Altaic
| fam1             = [[Social:Turkic languages|Turkic]]
| fam2             = [[Social:Common Turkic languages|Common Turkic]]
| fam3             = [[Social:Oghuz languages|Oghuz]]
| fam4             = Western Oghuz
| iso3             = gag
| glotto           = gaga1249
| glottorefname    = Gagauz
| lingua           = part of [[Social:Oghuz languages|44-AAB-a]]
| map              = Lang Status 60-DE.svg
| mapcaption       = {{center|{{small|Gagauz is classified as Definitely Endangered by the [[Organization:UNESCO|UNESCO]] Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010)}}}}
| notice           = IPA
}}

'''Gagauz''' ({{lang|gag|gagauz dili}} or {{lang|gag|gagauzça}}) is a [[Social:Turkic languages|Turkic language]] spoken by the Gagauz people of Moldova, {{wipe|Ukraine}}, {{wipe|Russia}} and [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]] and it is an official language of the Autonomous Region of Gagauzia in Moldova. Gagauz belongs to the [[Social:Oghuz languages|Oghuz]] branch of Turkic languages, alongside [[Social:Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]], [[Social:Turkmen language|Turkmen]], and [[Social:Turkish language|Turkish]]. Gagauz is a distinct language from [[Social:Balkan Gagauz Turkish|Balkan Gagauz Turkish]] to some degree.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009 |editor-last=Lewis, M. Paul |title=Language Family Trees: Altaic, Turkic, Southern, Turkish |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=1710-16 |access-date=2011-04-29 |website=Ethnologue: Languages of the World |publisher=SIL International |location=Dallas, Texas}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Higgins |first1=Andrew |date=2023-10-04 |title='Our Language Is Dying' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/world/europe/moldova-gagauz-languages-soviet-union.html |access-date=2023-10-04 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Though it was established as a written language in 1957, Gagauz was not used in schools until 1959.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Menz |first=Astrid |title=Evidentials: Turkic, Iranian and Neighbouring Languages |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |date=2000 |isbn=978-3-11-080528-4 |editor-last=Johanson |editor-first=Lars |page=103 |chapter=Indirectivity in Gagauz |editor-last2=Utas |editor-first2=Bo |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8VEiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA103}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Friedman |first=Victor A. |date=2011 |title=The Balkan Languages and Balkan Linguistics |journal=Annual Review of Anthropology |volume=40 |pages=275–291 |doi=10.1146/annurev-anthro-081309-145932 |jstor=41287733}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kvilinkova |first=E. N. |date=2013 |title=The Gagauz Language Through the Prism of Gagauz Ethnic Identity |journal=Anthropology & Archeology of Eurasia |volume=52 |pages=74–94 |doi=10.2753/AAE1061-1959520105 |s2cid=144122722}}</ref> About 150,000 Gagauz resided in Moldova in 1986, where they lived in settlements within the Comrat, Ceadîr-Lunga and Vulcănești Rayons.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Varsahr |first1=A. M. |last2=Spitsyn |first2=V. A. |last3=Bychcovscaya |first3=L. S. |last4=Kravchuk |first4=O. I. |date=2001 |title=To the research of the gene pool of the Gagauz population of Moldavia |journal=Anthropologischer Anzeiger |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=11–17 |doi=10.1127/anthranz/59/2001/11 |jstor=29540987 |pmid=11360805}}</ref> Along with the majority of the Gagauz living in Moldova, there are four other cities in Bulgaria in which the Gagauz reside.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chinn |first1=Jeff |last2=Roper |first2=Steven D. |date=1998 |title=Territorial Autonomy in Gagauzia |journal=Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=87–101 |doi=10.1080/00905999808408552|s2cid=154359743 }}</ref>

== History ==
Between 1750 <!-- Russia only took this territory in 1812. --> and 1846, ancestors of the Gagauz today 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nasidze |first1=I. |last2=Quinque |first2=D. |last3=Udina |first3=I. |last4=Kunizheva |first4=S. |last5=Stoneking |first5=M. |date=2007 |title=The Gagauz, a Linguistic Enclave, are not a genetic isolate |journal=Annals of Human Genetics |volume=71 |issue=3 |pages=379–389 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-1809.2006.00330.x |pmid=17147693 |s2cid=21390260}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Protsyk |first=Oleh |title=Asymmetric Autonomy and the Settlement of Ethnic Conflicts |date=2010 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=9780812222388 |editor-last=Weller |editor-first=Marc |pages=231–251 |chapter=Gagauz Autonomy in Moldova: The Real and the Virtual in Post-Soviet State Design |jstor=j.ctt3fhcx2.13 |editor-last2=Nobbs |editor-first2=Katherine}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Neukirch |first=Claus |title=Autonomy and Conflict Transformation: The Case of the Gagauz Territorial Autonomy In the Republic of Moldova |date=2002 |s2cid=31174219}}</ref>

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===
{|  class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+ Consonant phonemes of Gagauz
|-
! colspan="2" |
! Labial
! Dental
! Alveolar
! Palatal
! Velar
! Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" |Nasal
| {{IPA link|m}}
|
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |Plosive/<br>Affricate
!<small>voiceless</small>
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t̪|t}}
|{{IPA link|t͡s}}
|{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}
| {{IPA link|k}}
|
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d̪|d}}
|
|{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |Fricative
!<small>voiceless</small>
|{{IPA link|f}}
|
| {{IPA link|s}}
| {{IPA link|ʃ}} 
|
|{{IPA link|h}}
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
| {{IPA link|v}}
|
| {{IPA link|z}}
| {{IPA link|ʒ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Rhotic
|
|
|{{IPA link|ɾ}}~{{IPA link|r}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Approximant
|
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|}

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+Vowel phonemes of Gagauz
!
! colspan="2" |Front
!Central
! colspan="2" |Back
|-
!Close
| {{IPA link|i}}
| {{IPA link|y}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɯ}}
| {{IPA link|u}}
|-
!Mid
|{{IPA link|e}}
|{{IPA link|ø}}
|{{IPA link|ə}}
| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|o}}
|-
!Open
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|æ}}
|
| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|ɑ}}
|}

== Orthography ==
It appears that the first alphabet to be used for the language was the Greek alphabet<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ciachir |first=M. |title=Basarabialâ gagauzlarân istoriassi |date=1933 |location=Chișinău |page=133}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Măcriș |first=Anatol |title=Găgăuzii |date=2008 |publisher=Editura PACO |location=Bucharest |page=71 |language=ro}}</ref>

Beginning in 1957, [[Social:Cyrillic script|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.<ref>{{Citation |title=Hotărîre Nr. 1421 din 13.05.1993 "pentru trecerea scrisului limbii găgăuze la grafia latină" |url=http://lex.justice.md/viewdoc.php?action=view&view=doc&id=306820&lang=1 |trans-title=Parliament Decision No. 1421 of 13 May 1993 "for the passage of the writing of the Gagauz language in the Latin spelling" |language=ro |access-date=2019-11-03 |via=lex.justice.md}}</ref> This was subsequently amended in 1996.<ref>{{Citation |title=Hotărîre Nr. 816 din 24.04.1996 "privind modificarea şi completarea Hotărîrii Parlamentului pentru trecerea scrisului limbii găgăuze la grafia latină" |url=http://lex.justice.md/viewdoc.php?action=view&view=doc&id=306590 |trans-title=Parliament Decision No. 816 of 24 April 1996 "on amending and supplementing the Parliament's Decision on the transfer of the Gagauzian writing to the Latin spelling" |language=ro |access-date=2019-11-03 |via=lex.justice.md}}</ref> The Gagauz alphabet adopted is modelled on the modern [[Social:Turkish alphabet|Turkish alphabet]], with the addition of three letters: {{angle bracket|ä}} to represent the sound of {{IPA|[æ]}} (as {{angle bracket|ə}} in [[Social:Azerbaijani alphabet|Azeri]]), {{angle bracket|ê}} to represent the {{IPA|[ə]}} (schwa) sound, which does not exist in Turkish, and {{angbr|ţ}} to represent the sound {{IPA|[ts]}} from the Romanian alphabet. On the other hand, unlike Crimean Tatar, Turkish, and some other Turkic languages, Gagauz does not have the letter {{angle bracket|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'':

{| style="font-size:1.4em; border-color:#000000; border-width:1px; border-style:solid; border-collapse:collapse; background-color:#F8F8EF"
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | A a
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ä ä
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | B b
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | C c
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ç ç
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | D d
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | E e
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ê ê
|-
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | F f
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | G g
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | H h
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | I ı
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | İ i
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | J j
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | K k
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | L l
|-
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | M m
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | N n
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | O o
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ö ö
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | P p
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | R r
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | S s
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ş ş
|-
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | T t
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ţ ţ
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | U u
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Ü ü
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | V v
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | Y y
| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | 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.<ref>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."</ref>

=== 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.<ref name="Dağdeviren Kırmızı">{{Cite thesis |last=Dağdeviren Kırmızı |first=Gülin |title=Emotional and Functional Attitudes of Native Speakers Towards Gagauz as an Endangered Language |date=2015 |degree=PhD |publisher=Hacettepe University |hdl=11655/1251 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Dağdeviren Kırmızı" /> There are, however, some notable efforts to increase Gagauz language education.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kahl |first=Thede |editor-last= |editor-first= |title=Die Gagausen und ihre Autonomie. Eine kritische Betrachtung aus der Perspektive der Mehrsprachigkeit (Moldauisch/Rumänisch, Russisch, Gagausisch/Türkisch) |url=https://www.academia.edu/22505196 |journal=Wiener Romanistische Landeswissenschaft(en), Bachelor Master Studies |publisher=Praesens |publication-place=Vienna |volume=1 |pages=147–165}}</ref> 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 Gagauz Radio Televisionu (GRT) produces radio and television broadcasts in Gagauz.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* Ulutaş, İsmail. 2004. ''Relative clauses in Gagauz syntax''. Istanbul: Isis Press. {{ISBN|975-428-283-8}}
* Shabashov A.V., 2002, Odesa, Astroprint, ''"Gagauzes: terms of kinship system and origin of the people"'', (Шабашов А.В., ''"Гагаузы: система терминов родства и происхождение народа"'')
* Kortmann, Bernd; Van der Auwera, Johan. 2011. ''The Languages and Linguistics of Europe: A Comprehensive Guide.'' Walter de Gruyter.
* Pokrovskaja, Ljudmila A. 1964. Grammatika gagauzskogo jazyka: fonetika i morfologija. Moskva: Nauka.
* Pokrovskaja, Ljudmila A. 1997. ''Gagauzskij jazyk''. Jazyki mira: Tjurkskie jazyki, 224–235. Moscow: Indrik.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{InterWiki|code=gag}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061110054203/http://anasozu.com/songs/yasha_halkim.mp3 A Gagauz song "'''Yaşa, Halkım'''!" by Andrey İVANOV]
* [http://maviboncuk.blogspot.com/2011/11/concise-gagauz-dictionary.html  "''A Concise Gagauz-English dictionary with etymologies and Azerbaijani and Turkmen cognates''" by Andras Rajki (download)]
* [http://sozluk.gagauz.in/ Russian-Gagauz Gagauz-Russian Dictionary]
* [http://www.anasozu.com/ anasozu.com Gagauz language web site]

{{Turkic languages}}

[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]

{{Sourceattribution|Gagauz language}}