Uyghur language

Not to be confused with Old Uyghur or Western Yugur language.

Uyghur
Uighur
ئۇيغۇر تىلى, Уйғур тили, Uyghur tili,
Uyƣur tili, Uyğur tili
"Uyghur" written in Perso-Arabic script
Pronunciation[ʊj.ʁʊɾˈtʃɛ], [ʊjˈʁʊɾ.tɪ.lɪ]
Native toChina, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
EthnicityUyghurs
Native speakers
8–13 million (2021)[1]
Early forms
Karakhanid
Dialects
Uyghur alphabets: Perso-Arabic (official in China), Cyrillic, Latin, New Script
Official status
Official language in
Xinjiang (China)[2]
Regulated byWorking Committee of Ethnic Language and Writing of Xinjiang
Language codes
ISO 639-1ug Uighur, Uyghur
ISO 639-2uig Uighur, Uyghur
ISO 639-3uig Uighur, Uyghur
Glottologuigh1240  Uighur
Uyghur is spoken in Northwest China
Geographical extent of Uyghur Language in China (Xinjiang) and outskirts of Xinjiang.
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Uyghur or Uighur (/ˈwiːɡʊər, -ɡər/;[3] ئۇيغۇر تىلى, Уйғур тили, Uyghur tili, Uyƣur tili, IPA: [ʊjˈʁʊɾ.tɪ.lɪ] or ئۇيغۇرچە, Уйғурчә, Uyghurche, Uyƣurqə, IPA: [ʊj.ʁʊɾˈtʃɛ], CTA: Uyğurçä; formerly known as Turki or Eastern Turki) is a Turkic language written in a Uyghur Perso-Arabic script with 8–13 million speakers,[1] spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Apart from Xinjiang, significant communities of Uyghur speakers are also located in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, and various other countries have Uyghur-speaking expatriate communities.[4] Uyghur is an official language of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; it is widely used in both social and official spheres, as well as in print, television, and radio. Other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang also use Uyghur as a common language.[5]

Uyghur belongs to the Karluk branch of the Turkic language family, which includes languages such as Uzbek. Like many other Turkic languages, Uyghur displays vowel harmony and agglutination, lacks noun classes or grammatical gender, and is a left-branching language with subject–object–verb word order. More distinctly, Uyghur processes include vowel reduction and umlauting, especially in northern dialects. In addition to other Turkic languages, Uyghur has historically been strongly influenced by Arabic and Persian, and more recently by Russian and Mandarin Chinese.

The modified Arabic-derived writing system is the most common and the only standard in China,[6] although other writing systems are used for auxiliary and historical purposes. Unlike most Arabic-derived scripts, the Uyghur Arabic alphabet has mandatory marking of all vowels due to modifications to the original Perso-Arabic script made in the 20th century. Two Latin alphabets and one Cyrillic alphabet are also used, though to a much lesser extent. The two Latin-based and the Arabic-based Uyghur alphabets have 32 characters each; the Uyghur Cyrillic alphabet also uses two iotated vowel letters (Ю and Я).

  1. ^ a b Han, Yawen; Johnson, David Cassels (2021). "Chinese Language Policy and Uyghur Youth: Examining Language Policies and Language Ideologies". Journal of Language, Identity & Education. 20 (3): 186. doi:10.1080/15348458.2020.1753193. S2CID 225676857. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  2. ^ "China". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  3. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). "Uyghur". Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
  4. ^ "Uyghur". Ethnologue. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  5. ^ Engesæth 2009, p. 7
  6. ^ Hamut & Joniak-Lüthi 2015