Uzbekistan’s Senate has approved changes to the country’s Latin-based alphabet, replacing four existing forms with individual letters: Oʻ will become Ö, Gʻ will become Ğ, Sh will become Ş, and Ch will become Ç. The revised alphabet will contain 28 letters and one apostrophe instead of the current 26 letters and three letter combinations.
The law was approved at the Senate’s 19th plenary session on September 10 and sent to the president for consideration. The changes are expected to affect schools, official documents, media, publishing, and digital technologies.
The reform follows years of debate over Uzbekistan’s transition from Cyrillic to Latin script and attempts to resolve technical problems created by the version of the alphabet adopted in the 1990s.
Senator Odiljon Mamatkarimov, who presented the legislation, said the new system moves Uzbek closer to the principle of “one sound, one letter.”
Particular attention has focused on Oʻ and Gʻ. According to Mamatkarimov, different apostrophe-like characters are used to write them, producing more than ten variants in practice. This can cause software and search systems to treat different spellings of the same word as separate entries, complicating indexing, electronic dictionaries, and other digital applications.
The Ng combination will be removed from the alphabet as a separate unit. Its use and pronunciation will instead be regulated through spelling rules.
Officials also argue that standardized characters will simplify the development of Uzbek-language keyboards, software, and artificial intelligence tools, including speech-to-text systems.
The selected characters are already used in other Latin-based alphabets. Azerbaijani and Turkish, for example, use several of the same letters. Officials have also presented the changes as a way to improve compatibility between Uzbek and other Turkic languages using Latin scripts.
Textbook Transition Planned by 2031
The reform will require changes to textbooks, teaching materials, software, and publications. Deputy Minister of Preschool and School Education Azizbek Turdiyev said the transition would follow the existing textbook replacement schedule.
“If the law comes into force in 2027, we will print first-grade textbooks in the new alphabet,” Turdiyev said. “By 2031, all textbooks will be published in the new alphabet.”
According to Turdiyev, this should avoid separate spending on wholesale textbook replacement. First-grade textbooks are already renewed annually, those for grades two through four every three years, and books for grades five through eleven every five years.
Seminars on the proposed alphabet have also been held for teachers and students, he said, and examinations will eventually use the revised system.
Changes to the education system come as Uzbekistan is already overhauling school materials and teaching methods.
Cyrillic Remains Widely Used
Uzbekistan officially began moving from Cyrillic to Latin script after independence, adopting a Latin alphabet in 1993 and revising it in 1995. More than three decades later, both scripts remain widely visible.
Nodir Jonuzoq, head of the Cabinet of Ministers’ Department for the Development of the State Language, said the government intends to end this parallel use in official communication.
“We have been caught between two alphabets, Cyrillic and Latin,” Jonuzoq said. “After the law comes into force, we want to put an end to this situation.”
The government plans to require state institutions and mass media to use the revised Latin alphabet as a common standard.
The transition will be gradual. Documents issued under the existing alphabet will remain valid, as will national currency and securities already in circulation. Existing official symbols, signs, and information boards will not have to be replaced immediately and may remain in use until they wear out or reach the end of their designated service period.
The Senate said these provisions are intended to limit disruption during the changeover.
Critics Question the Evidence
The reform has drawn criticism from education expert Komil Jalilov, who questioned whether the authorities had conducted enough research into its effects before approving the changes.
Jalilov said the technical problems surrounding Oʻ and Gʻ were understandable, but asked whether they had sufficiently examined technological alternatives. He also questioned how replacing Sh and Ch would affect millions of people already accustomed to reading and writing Uzbek in the existing Latin script.
He called for comparative research into reading, writing, and comprehension speeds under the existing and proposed systems across different age groups. Jalilov also raised potential costs for publishers and businesses, as well as the burden on people who are already literate in the current alphabet.
During the transition, the same Uzbek words could circulate in multiple written forms as older books, documents, signs, and digital content coexist with material produced under the new rules.
The Senate’s public explanation focused primarily on technical problems with the existing alphabet and the gradual implementation plan. It did not provide details of comparative reading or comprehension studies addressing the questions raised by Jalilov.
If signed and implemented as planned, the reform will mark another stage in Uzbekistan’s three-decade transition to the Latin script. The four new letters may be relatively small typographical changes, but they will eventually have to be absorbed across a country of nearly 40 million people – from school textbooks and government records to keyboards, search engines, and AI systems.
