Moldovan, the official language, is considered a dialect of Romanian rather than a separate language. It is derived from Latin but, unlike the other Romance languages, preserved the neuter gender and a system of three cases. There are a large number of Slavonic-derived words. Under Soviet rule the language was written in the Cyrillic alphabet, but Roman script was restored in 1989. Russian and Gagauz, a Turkish dialect, are also spoken.
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