Chagatai language
In 1981 Bregel moved to the United States, to Bloomington, Indiana, where he joined what was then Indiana University's Department of Uralic and Altaic Studies (later renamed Department of Central Eurasian Studies), augmenting the department's research profile and course offerings in Central Asian history and historiography and in the study of Turkic (Chagatai language) and Persian manuscripts, while also enhancing the Library's holdings of rare primary and secondary sources.