Uyghur language

The Uyghur language, also known as Turki or Eastern Turki, is a Turkic language spoken by about 8 to 13 million people. Most of these speakers are the Uyghur people, who mainly live in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Western China. You can also find Uyghur speakers in countries like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

Uyghur belongs to the Karluk branch of the larger Turkic language family, which also includes languages like Uzbek. Like many Turkic languages, Uyghur adds small changes to words to show meaning and has a specific word order where the subject comes first, followed by the object, and then the verb.

Uyghur uses a special version of the Arabic script to write its words. This script was changed in the 20th century to always show all the vowels, making it easier to read. There are also some Latin and Cyrillic alphabets used, but they are not as 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, as described by Mahmud al-Kashgari in the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk. Robert Dankoff noted that the Turkic language in Kashgar used in Kara Khanid works was Karluk, not Old Uyghur.

Mahmud al-Kashgari, a scholar from Kashgar in what is now Xinjiang, wrote a dictionary and description of Turkic languages around 1077. His book shows the rich traditions of Turkic languages, with stories and poems about many topics.

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 Chaghatai stopped being used, the modern forms of Uyghur and Uzbek developed from its dialects, keeping many Chaghatai influences. 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, replacing the older name “Eastern Turki.”

Classification

Main article: Turkic languages

The Uyghur language is part of the Karluk Turkic group within the larger Turkic language family. It shares similarities with languages like Äynu, Lop, Ili Turki, and the ancient Chagatay language. It is also somewhat related to Uzbek.

Dialects

Main article: Uyghur dialects

Uyghur has three main dialects, grouped by where they are spoken. These dialects have smaller variations, but people can generally 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 very 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 around 8 to 11 million people. Most live in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Western China, but there are also speakers in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and many other countries.

Uyghur is one of the main languages used in Xinjiang, along with Standard Chinese. It is used in schools, government, and courts. However, in recent years, the Chinese government has been teaching many classes only in Chinese, which makes it harder for Uyghur children to learn their own language well. Some worry this could threaten the future of the Uyghur language.

Phonology

Main article: Uyghur phonology

Vowels

Uyghur has seven vowel sounds. The vowel letters in the Uyghur language are a, e, ë, i, o, ö, u, and ü. These vowels change based on height, backness, and roundness.

Uyghur vowels are usually short, but they can be long because of historical changes and loanwords. Long vowels resist certain changes and can affect stress in words.

Consonants

Uyghur voiceless sounds at the start of words and between vowels have a strong breathy sound. Some pairs of sounds switch between voiced and unvoiced depending on their position in the word.

Phonotactics

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

Orthography

Main article: Uyghur alphabets

The Uyghur language began using a special kind of writing called the Perso-Arabic script, known as Kona Yëziq, around the 10th century. This happened when a group called the Kara-Khanids turned to a new religion called Islam. Later, in the 20th century, this writing system was changed to better show all the sounds in the Uyghur language.

Today, Uyghur is mostly written with this Perso-Arabic-based alphabet. But there are also three other alphabets that some people use: a Cyrillic alphabet, and two Latin alphabets. One special thing about the 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 other languages in its family, follows a special pattern where the most important word comes at the end of a sentence. Words change their endings to show if they are talking about one thing or many things, and to show their role in the sentence. There are two ways to talk about numbers — singular (one) and plural (many). Words also change to show six different roles they can play.

Verbs, which are action words, change to show when something happens — now or in the past. They also change to show if the action is happening continuously or if it’s possible. Verbs can also be changed to show if something is being done to the subject or if the subject is causing the action.

Lexicon

The core words of the Uyghur language come from Turkic roots, but throughout history, it has borrowed many words from other languages. Languages like Kazakh, Uzbek, and Chagatai have greatly influenced Uyghur. Many words also entered the language from Arabic through Persian and Tajik, especially after Islam was introduced around the 10th century.

Chinese in Xinjiang and Russian elsewhere have had a strong influence on Uyghur, especially with newer borrowed words. Some older borrowings also exist from Dungan, a Mandarin language. A few words of German origin reached Uyghur through Russian.

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

Sample text

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