Uyghur alphabet

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Uyghur (Уйғур /ئۇيغۇر) is a Turkic language with about 10 million speakers mainly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Uyghur was originally written with the Orkhon alphabet, a runiform script derived from or inspired by the Sogdian script, which was ultimately derived from the Aramaic script.

Contents 1 History 2 Etymology 3 Old Uyghur alphabet 4 Uyghur alphabet evolution 5 Comparison of orthographies 6 Text example 7 See also 8 References

[edit] History

Between the 8th and the 16th century, Uyghur was written with an alphabet derived from Sogdian known as Old Uyghur. Unlike Sogdian, which was written from right to left in horizontal lines, the Old Uyghur alphabet was written from left to right in vertical columns, or in other words, it was a version of Sogdian rotated 90° to the left. Shift from the Orkhon runic script to a new alphabet, known as Old Uyghur, was caused by the adoption in 763 AD of Uyghur Empire Manichaeism religion as the state religion.

From the the 16th century until the early 20th century, Uyghur was written with a version of the Arabic alphabet known as 'Chagatai'. During the 20th century a number of versions of the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets were adopted to write Uyghur in different Uyghur-speaking regions. However the Latin alphabet was unpopular and in 1987 the Arabic script was reinstated as the official script for Uyghur in China. It was, however, edited a little.

[edit] Etymology

The name of this language is variously spelt Uigur, Uiguir, Uighuir, Uygur, Uighur, Uygur, Uyghur or in Chinese, 维吾尔语 (Wéiwú'ěryǔ). Uyghur is the preferred spelling in the Latin alphabet: this was confirmed at a conference of the Ethnic Languages and Script Committee of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region held in October 2006. ^[1]

[edit] Old Uyghur alphabet

Most of the Old Uyghur letters have different shapes depending on their position in a word. The initial shapes are used at the beginning of words, the medial shapes in the middle, and the final shapes at the ends of words.

[edit] Uyghur alphabet evolution

The Uyghur alphabet is any of the following systems for writing the Uyghur language:

• A descendant of the Sogdian alphabet, known as the Old Uyghur alphabet, used for texts with Buddhist, Manichæan and Christian content for 700–800 years in Uyghurstan. The last known manuscripts are dated to the 18th century. This was the prototype for the Mongolian and Manchu alphabets.
• The Chagatai script, being a form of the Perso-Arabic script, used by Muslim Uyghurs from the Middle Ages until 1969.
• UPNY (Uyghur Pinyin Yéziqi), a modification of Pinyin used in China between 1960s and 1980s. A modified Latin alphabet, used by Uyghurs in Chinese Uyghurstan from 1969 to 1987. This, or an alternative based on the modern Turkish alphabet, is in use for Internet communications in Uyghur..
• UEY (Uyghur Ereb Yéziqi), a modified form of the Arabic alphabet used by modern Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China, from the 1980s to the present day.
• ULY (Uyghur Latin Yéziqi), a further modification of the Latin alphabet devised in 2000.
• USY (Uyghur Siril Yéziqi), a modified Cyrillic alphabet, used by Uyghurs in former Soviet Republics of Central Asia.

[edit] Comparison of orthographies

The different orthographies are compared as the following table.

Order	Uyghur Ereb Yéziqi(UEY)	Uyghur Latin Yéziqi (ULY)	Uyghur Siril Yéziqi (USY)	Uyghur Pinyin Yéziqi (UPNY)	IPA
01	ا/ئا	A a	А а	A a	/a/
02	ە/ئە	E e	Ə ә	Ə ə	/æ/
03	ب	B b	Б б	B b	/b/
04	پ	P p	П п	P p	/p/
05	ت	T t	Т т	T t	/t/
06	ج	J j	Җ җ	J j	/ʤ/
07	چ	Ch ch	Ч ч	Q q	/ʧ/
08	خ	X x	Х х	H h	/x/
09	د	D d	Д д	D d	/d/
10	ر	R r	Р р	R r	/r/
11	ز	Z z	З з	Z z	/z/
12	ژ	J j/Zh zh	Ж ж	Ⱬ ⱬ	/ʒ/
13	س	S s	С с	S s	/s/
14	ش	Sh sh	Ш ш	X x	/ʃ/
15	غ	Gh gh	Ғ ғ	Ƣ ƣ	/ʁ/
16	ف	F f	Ф ф	F f	/f/
17	ق	Q q	Қ қ	Ⱪ ⱪ	/q/
18	ك	K k	К к	K k	/k/
19	گ	G g	Г г	G g	/g/
20	ڭ	Ng ng	Ң ң	Ng ng	/ŋ/
21	ل	L l	Л л	L l	/l/
22	م	M m	М м	M m	/m/
23	ن	N n	Н н	N n	/n/
24	ھ	H h	Һ һ	Ⱨ ⱨ	/h/
25	و/ئو	O o	О о	O o	/o/
26	ۇ/ئۇ	U u	У у	U u	/u/
27	ۆ/ئۆ	Ö ö	Ө ө	Ɵ ɵ	/ø/
28	ۈ/ئۈ	Ü ü	Ү ү	Ü ü	/y/
29	ۋ	W w	Вв	W w/V v	/w,v/
30	ې/ئې	É é	Е е	E e	/e/
31	ى/ئى	I i	И и	I i	/i,ɨ/
32	ي	Y y	Й й	Y y	/j/

[edit] Text example

Here the example of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1) in Uyghur:

Example of writing in various Uyghur orthographies

Kona Yezik̡	ھەممە ئادەم زاتىدىنلا ئەركىن، ئىززەت-ھۆرمەت ۋە ھوقۇقتا بابباراۋەر بولۇپ تۇغۇلغان. ئۇلار ئەقىلغە ۋە ۋىجدانغا ئىگە ھەمدە بىر-بىرىگە قېرىنداشلىق مۇناسىۋىتىگە خاس روھ بىلەن مۇئامىلە قىلىشى كېرەك
Yengi Yezik̡	H̡əmmə adəm zatidinla ərkin, izzət-h̡ɵrmət wə hok̡uk̡ta babbarawər bolup tuƣulƣan. Ular ək̡ilƣə wə wijdanƣa igə h̡əmdə bir-birigə k̡erindaxlik̡ munasiwitigə hax roh bilən mu’amilə k̡ilixi kerək.
Cyrillic Uyghur	Һәммә адәм затидинла әркин, иззәт-һөрмәт вә һоқуқта баббаравәр болуп туғулған. Улар әқилғә вә виджданға игә һәмдә бир-биригә қериндашлиқ мунасивитигә хаш рох билән му’амилә қилиши керәк.
ULY	Hemme adem zatidinla erkin, izzet-huermet we hoquqta babbarawer bolup tughulghan. Ular eqilghe we wijdan'gha ige hemde bir-birige qeerindashliq munasiwitige xash rox bilen muamile qilishi keerek.
Turkish Uyghur	Hemme adem zatidinla erkin, izzet-hörmet we xoquqta babbarawer bolup tuğulğan. Ular eqilğe we wicdanğa ige hemde bir-birige qérindaşliq munasiwitige xaş rox bilen mu’amile qilişi kérek.
English	All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

[edit] See also

• Orkhon script (used by Uyghurs in the 6th and 7th centuries).

[edit] References