ÖLMEKTE OLAN DİL: GAGAVUZ DİLİ

The Ottoman-Russian wars determined the migration routes of the Gagavuz people living in the Balkans. Gagavuz people, whose religion is Orthodox Christian and language is Oghuz Turkish, were defined according to where they went. Those who stayed in Greece were called Greeks, those in Bulgaria were called Bulgarians, and those in Romania were called Romanians. Regardless of the name of the country in which Gagavuz Turks live, they have been subjected to assimilation policies everywhere and have almost lost their native language over time. Language is a living entity with a dynamic structure. It is unthinkable for language to be unchanging and static. Language changes, transforms and develops over time, both in terms of structure and function. These changes are not always changes that improve the language. Over time, the Gagavuz language interacted with other languages, and the interaction weakened the Gagavuz language instead of improving it. The fact that the Gagavuz language did not have its own alphabet until recently and that the Gagavuz people used their native language only as a spoken language at home has caused this language to gradually become weaker and disappear. For Gagavuz Turkish to revive and develop, the lost functions of Gagavuzian must be restored. In this study, brief information about the Gagavuz people is given, and then the status of Gagavuzian as a native language, especially in the Gagavuzia Autonomous Region, is elaborated.