Uzbekistan has officially concluded the long-debated reform of its Latin-based alphabet by legally replacing four problematic letters. The characters O‘, G‘, Sh, and Ch, which have historically caused various technical and practical issues in digital environments, are now substituted with unified letters featuring diacritics (Ö, Ğ, Ş, Ç) under the “one sound, one letter” principle. The legislation regarding this significant linguistic transition was signed into law by the country's leadership.

The newly adopted law is scheduled to officially enter into force six months after its publication, specifically on April 22, 2027. The Cabinet of Ministers has been given a strict two-month deadline to approve a comprehensive implementation program. Authorities noted that official state symbols, emblems, signboards, and public indicators will be updated to the improved alphabet gradually, either as they become unusable or in accordance with timelines established by the government framework.

Observers recall that diacritically marked versions of these four specific letters were originally introduced in the initial Uzbek-Latin alphabet back in 1993, before being altered in 1995 to include apostrophes and digraphs. Over subsequent years, as computers and mobile phones became widespread, these digraphs triggered numerous technical hurdles. Following extensive discussions by various working groups over multiple political cycles, the finalized legislation has finally been enacted to streamline the writing system.

Source: kun.uz