Uyghur language

The Uyghur language, also called Turki or Eastern Turki, is a Turkic language spoken by many people. Most speakers are the Uyghur people, living mainly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Western China. You can also find Uyghur speakers in places like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

Uyghur is part of the Karluk group in the larger Turkic language family, which includes languages such as Uzbek. Like other Turkic languages, Uyghur changes words in small ways to show meaning and follows a special order in sentences: subject, then object, then verb.

Uyghur uses a special form of the Arabic script to write its words. This script was updated in the 20th century to always show all the vowels, which makes it easier to read. Some Latin and Cyrillic alphabets are also used, but they are less common.

History

Main article: Chagatai language

The Middle Turkic languages are the ancestors of the Karluk languages, which include Uyghur and the Uzbek language.

Modern Uyghur comes from the Karluk language spoken by the Kara-Khanid Khanate. Mahmud al-Kashgari wrote a dictionary and description of Turkic languages around 1077. His book shows the rich traditions of Turkic languages.

Middle Turkic languages later changed under the influence of Perso-Arabic languages and became the Chagatai language, a literary language used across Central Asia until the early 1900s. After that, the modern forms of Uyghur and Uzbek developed. Today’s Uyghur language still has many words borrowed from Persian.

The name “Uyghur” for the language was adopted in 1922 by officials in the Soviet Union and in 1934 in Xinjiang.

Classification

Main article: Turkic languages

The Uyghur language belongs to the Karluk Turkic group in the bigger Turkic language family. It is similar to languages like Äynu, Lop, Ili Turki, and the old Chagatay language. It is also a bit related to Uzbek.

Dialects

Main article: Uyghur dialects

Uyghur has three main dialects, based on where they are spoken. These dialects have small differences, but people can usually understand each other.

• Central: Spoken from Kumul south to Yarkand
• Southern: Spoken from Guma east to Qarkilik
• Eastern: Spoken from Qarkilik north to Qongköl. The Lop dialect, part of the Eastern group, is rarely spoken today but is important for research.

Most Uyghur speakers, about 90%, use the Central dialects. In the north, some sounds change more often than in the south.

Status

Uyghur is spoken by about 8 to 11 million people. Most live in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Western China. There are also speakers in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and other countries.

Uyghur is one of the main languages in Xinjiang, along with Standard Chinese. It is used in schools, government, and courts. Recently, many classes are now taught only in Chinese. This makes it harder for Uyghur children to learn their language well. Some people worry this could affect the future of the Uyghur language.

Phonology

Main article: Uyghur phonology

Vowels

Uyghur has seven vowel sounds. The vowel letters are a, e, ë, i, o, ö, u, and ü. These vowels change in how high, far back, and rounded they are.

Uyghur vowels are usually short, but they can be long because of old changes and words from other languages. Long vowels do not change as much and can affect which part of a word is stressed.

Consonants

Uyghur sounds at the start of words and between vowels can sound breathy. Some sounds switch between soft and strong depending on where they are in a word.

Phonotactics

The basic pattern of Uyghur syllables is usually one vowel with consonants before and after, like CV or CVC. Sometimes, more complex patterns like CVCC can happen.

Orthography

Main article: Uyghur alphabets

The Uyghur language uses a special kind of writing called the Perso-Arabic script, named Kona Yëziq, from around the 10th century. This started when a group called the Kara-Khanids adopted a new religion called Islam. In the 20th century, this writing was changed to better show all the sounds in the Uyghur language.

Today, Uyghur is mostly written with this Perso-Arabic-based alphabet. But some people also use three other alphabets: a Cyrillic alphabet, and two Latin alphabets. One special thing about Uyghur writing is that it shows all the vowel sounds clearly, which is not common for this kind of writing.

The four alphabets used today are:

• Uyghur Arabic alphabet or UEY
• Uyghur Cyrillic alphabet or USY
• The Uyghur New Script or UYY
• Uyghur Latin alphabet or ULY

Grammar

Main article: Uyghur grammar

Uyghur, like some other languages, has a special way of speaking. The most important word in a sentence comes last. Words change their endings to show if they are talking about one thing or many things. There are two ways to talk about numbers — one thing or many things. Words also change to show their job in the sentence.

Verbs, which are action words, change to show when something happens — now or before. They also change to show if the action is still going on or if it can happen. Verbs can also change to show who is doing the action.

Lexicon

The Uyghur language has many core words from Turkic roots. Over time, it has borrowed words from other languages. Languages like Kazakh, Uzbek, and Chagatai have influenced Uyghur. Words also came from Arabic through Persian and Tajik, especially after Islam arrived around the 10th century.

Chinese in Xinjiang and Russian have influenced Uyghur, especially with newer words. Some older words came from Dungan, a Mandarin language. A few words of German origin reached Uyghur through Russian.

People sometimes mix Standard Chinese words when speaking Uyghur, but this is not used in formal settings. For example, Xinjiang Television might use a Russian loanword instead of a common Mandarin loanword.

Sample text

Here is a short text written in the Uyghur language. It shows the first article from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with its meaning in English.