Latest / The Story of Uzbekistan: Silk Road Kingdoms and Soviet Legacy — Fexingo History / The Three Alphabets of Uzbekistan: Arabic, Cyrillic, Latin
Transcript
- Lucas: If you've been following our conversations about Central Asia, you know that language is never just words. It's politics, identity, memory. And few places show that more vividly than Uzbekistan, where the Uzbek language has been written in three entirely different scripts in less than a century. Luna: Three scripts? Arabic, Cyrillic, and now Latin, right? Lucas: Exactly. But the shift from Arabic to Latin wasn't gradual. It was a deliberate Soviet project in the 1920s, part of the broader korenizatsiya — indigenization — policy. The idea was to modernize, to break ties with the Islamic world, and to make literacy accessible. Lucas: Before 1917, Uzbek was written in a variant of the Arabic script, used for centuries in the Chagatai literary tradition. But only about 2 percent of the population was literate. The Jadid reformers — we talked about them in episode 164 — saw script reform as essential. They pushed for a modified Arabic alphabet called 'Yaña imlâ' — new orthography. Luna: So the first reform was still Arabic-based? That's not what I expected. Lucas: It was a bridge. But by 1926, the Soviet government in Moscow decided that all Turkic languages of the USSR should shift to the Latin alphabet. They convened a Turcological Congress in Baku, and the Uzbek delegation, led by the communist Yuldash Akhunbabayev, voted for Latinization. Lucas: In 1929, a new Latin-based alphabet was introduced. It was called the 'Uzbek Latin alphabet' — or Yaña imlâ actually got repurposed into the Latin context. Suddenly, all books printed in Arabic script became obsolete. And this was during the height of the cultural revolution — the state wanted to wipe out the old. Luna: But they switched again just a decade later, right? Lucas: Yes, in 1940, Stalin ordered a shift to Cyrillic. The official reason was to 'strengthen friendship among Soviet peoples,' but really it was about centralizing control. The Cyrillic alphabet made it easier for Uzbek speakers to learn Russian, and harder to connect with Turkic communities outside the USSR. Lucas: The transition was abrupt. Schoolteachers had to retrain. Libraries were purged of Latin-script books. The generation that learned in Latin found themselves functionally illiterate in the new script. And the works of the great Jadid poets — Cholpan, Fitrat, who were executed in the 1930s — were locked in a script no one could read. Luna: So the Soviet alphabet shifts also erased a literary legacy? Lucas: Exactly. Cholpan's poetry, once widely read in Arabic and then Latin script, became inaccessible. It wasn't until the 1990s that scholars began reprinting his work in Cyrillic — and then later, in Latin again. Lucas: After independence in 1991, the new government under President Islam Karimov made a symbolic break. In 1993, a law mandated a return to the Latin alphabet by the year 2000. But it's been a slow, messy transition. Even today, you see mix — some signs in Latin, some in Cyrillic, especially outside Tashkent. Luna: And there are practical challenges, right? I mean, changing a writing system isn't just about street signs. Lucas: Absolutely. It affects education, publishing, administrative records. Many people trained in Cyrillic resisted. And the economic cost — reprinting textbooks, updating computer systems — was enormous. By 2010, only about 40 percent of publications were in Latin. The target kept getting pushed back. Luna: And now? Is it still ongoing? Lucas: Yes. Under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, there's been renewed push. In 2019, he declared that by 2023 all official documents must be in Latin. But it's still a work in progress. And some argue that the Latin alphabet they chose — with apostrophes for sounds like 'o' and 'g' — is clumsy and hard to type. Lucas: You know, this whole story reminds me why we do this show ad-free. We want to tell history on its own terms, without selling anything. If you value that, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It keeps us independent and focused. Luna: Yeah, and it's a way to preserve these stories that matter — like these alphabet shifts that shape identity for millions. Lucas: Exactly. So back to the script story — after independence, there was also a push to revive the Arabic script, but it didn't gain traction. Most people wanted Latin because it symbolized openness to the world, not a return to the Islamic past. Lucas: But the transition created a kind of generational divide. People who grew up in the 1980s and earlier are comfortable with Cyrillic, and they often prefer it. My own grandmother, for example, says she 'reads' Latin but 'feels' Cyrillic. It's a deeply personal thing. Luna: That's a beautiful way to put it. 'Feels' Cyrillic. Lucas: And the debate also touches on which Latin alphabet to use. Some linguists argue for a more phonetic one, others for one that fits the keyboard. Meanwhile, many online use a kind of ad hoc Latin with numbers — like 'o' for 'o', 'e' for 'e' — not the official version. Lucas: Ultimately, the alphabet story is about power. Who gets to decide how a people write their own language? The Soviets imposed two alphabets in twenty years, and now the independent state imposes a third. But the people adapt, resist, and improvise. Luna: And that's history in action, not just past tense. Lucas: Exactly. And I think it's a reminder that language is alive. The script changes, but the stories carry on.