Uyghur Arabic alphabet
Uyghur alphabet ئۇيغۇر يېزىقى | ||
---|---|---|
Script type | ||
Languages | Unicode range | U+0600 to U+06FF U+FE70 to U+FEFF |
Uyghur alphabet |
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ي |
Extended Perso-Arabic script |
The Uyghur Arabic alphabet (
The first Perso-Arabic derived alphabet for Uyghur was developed in the 10th century, when
Alternative Uyghur scripts then began emerging and collectively largely displaced Chagatai. Between 1937 and 1954, the Perso-Arabic alphabet used to write Uyghur was modified by removing redundant letters and adding markings for vowels.[7][8] The Uyghur Cyrillic alphabet was introduced around 1937, and the Latin-based Uyghur New Script in 1958.[9] The modern Uyghur Perso-Arabic alphabet was made official in 1978 and reinstituted by the Chinese government in 1983, with modifications for representing Uyghur vowels.[10][11][12][13]
The reformed modern Uyghur Arabic alphabet eliminated letters whose sounds were found only in Arabic and spelled Arabic and Persian loanwords such as Islamic religious words, as they were pronounced in Uyghur and not as they were originally spelled in Arabic or Persian.
Current Official Alphabet
The table below lists all 32 letters of the current official Uyghur alphabet used in Xinjiang in alphabetical order, along with their IPA transcriptions.
No. | Letter | IPA | No. | Letter | IPA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ئا | /ɑ/ | 17 | ق | /q/ |
2 | ئە | /ɛ/ | 18 | ك | /k/ |
3 | ب | /b/ | 19 | گ | /ɡ/ |
4 | پ | /p/ | 20 | ڭ | /ŋ/ |
5 | ت | / t /
|
21 | ل | / l /
|
6 | ج | /d͡ʒ/ | 22 | م | /m/ |
7 | چ | /t͡ʃ/ | 23 | ن | / n /
|
8 | خ | /χ/ | 24 | ھ | /h/ |
9 | د | / d /
|
25 | ئو | /o/ |
10 | ر | / r /
|
26 | ئۇ | /u/ |
11 | ز | /z/ | 27 | ئۆ | /ø/ |
12 | ژ | /ʒ/ | 28 | ئۈ | /y/ |
13 | س | /s/ | 29 | ۋ | /v/~/w/ |
14 | ش | /ʃ/ | 30 | ئې | /e/ |
15 | غ | /ʁ/ | 31 | ئى | /i/ |
16 | ف | /f/ | 32 | ي | /j/ |
Note: ئ also represents /ʔ/ but it is usually ignored at the beginning of words. It still reads /ʔ/ in the middle, such as سائەت /saʔɛt/ hour.
Spelling of Suffixes
Uyghur spelling borrowed heavily from Chagatai influences. The spelling of the suffixes from Uyghur also matched Chagatai spellings which were kept largely static. Below is an incomplete list of suffixed spellings and their vowel harmony alternatives. Frequently, some Chagatai suffixes were separated from their root words by a zero width non-joiner while in modern Uyghur the root+suffix would be joined.
Part of speech | IPA | UEY | UEY Example | Traditional Spelling | Traditional Example |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plural Suffix | /-lɛr/ | لەر | ئۆردەك + لەر = ئۆردەكلەر | لار | اوردک + لار = اوردکلار |
/-lar/ | لار | قۇش + لار = قۇشلار | قوش + لار = قوشلار |
Historical Spellings
Letter | ا | ب | پ | ت | ث | ج | چ | ح | خ | د | ذ | ر | ز | س | ش | ص |
ULY | a | b | p | t | s | j | ch | h | x | d | z | r | z | s | sh | s |
Letter | ض | ط | ظ | ع | غ | ف | ق | ک | گ | ݣ | ل | م | ن | و | ه | ى |
ULY | z | t | z | gh | f | q | k | g | ng | l | m | n | w, o, u | h | y, e, i |
Mark | ـَ | ـِ | ـُ |
Name | zabar | zer | pesh |
Letter | ا | ي | و |
Name | alif | ye | wáo |
Old and Modern Alphabet Spelling Comparisons
Old Perso-Arabic alphabet (Kona Yëziq) used before the 1950s |
Modern Uyghur Arabic alphabet | Latin | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
بغرا | بۇغرا | bughra | bull camel |
ارسلان | ئارىسلان | arislan | lion |
سلطان | سۇلتان | sultan | sultan |
يوسف | يۈسۈپ | Yüsüp | Yusuf |
حسن | ھەسەن | Hesen | Hassan |
خلق | خەلق | xelq | people |
كافیر | كاپىر | kapir | infidel |
مسلمان | مۇسۇلمان | musulman | Muslim |
منافق | مۇناپىق | munapiq | hypocrite |
اسلام | ئىسلام | Islam | Islam |
دين | دىن | din | religion
|
كاشقر | قەشقەر | Qeshqer | Kashgar |
ختن | خوتەن | Xoten | Khotan |
ينگي حصار | يېڭىسار | Yëngisar | Yangi Hissar |
ساريق قول | سارىقول | Sariqol | Sarikol |
قيرغيز | قىرغىز | Qirghiz | Kirghiz |
دولان | دولان | Dolan | Dolan people |
كوندوز | كۈندۈز | kündüz | day-time |
ساريغ or ساريق | سېرىق | seriq | yellow |
مارالباشي | مارالبېشى | Maralbëshi | Maralbexi County |
لونگي | لۇنگى | Lungi | Lungi |
آلتی شهر | ئالتە شەھەر | Alte sheher | Altishahr |
آفاق خواجه | ئاپاق خوجا | Apaq Xoja | Afaq Khoja |
پيچاق | پىچاق | pichaq | knife |
References
- ^ XUAR Government Document No. XH-1982-283
- ^ Shaw, Robert Berkley (1878). A Sketch of the Turki Language as Spoken in Eastern Turkistan (Kàshgar and Yarkand). Calcutta: Printed by J. W. Thomas, at the Baptist Mission Press. p. 13 – via Google Books.
- ^ Shaw, Robert Barkley (1878). A Sketch of the Turki Language as Spoken in Eastern Turkistan (Kàshgar and Yarkand). Calcutta: Printed by J. W. Thomas, at the Baptist Mission Press. p. 15 – via Google Books.
- ^ Shaw, Robert Berkley (1878). A Sketch of the Turki Language as Spoken in Eastern Turkistan (Kàshgar and Yarkand). Calcutta: Printed by J. W. Thomas, at the Baptist Mission Press – via Google Books.
- ^ Shaw, Robert Barkley (1880). A Sketch of the Turki Language as Spoken in Eastern Turkistan (Kàshgar and Yarkand): Part II: Vocabulary, Turki-English. Calcutta: Printed by J. W. Thomas, at the Baptist Mission Press – via Google Books.
- ^ "Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal". 1878 – via Google Books.
- ISBN 3-11-017896-6– via Google Books.
- ISBN 978-0-203-06610-2– via Google Books.
- ISBN 1-56324-781-X– via Google Books.
- ISBN 0-7007-1026-4– via Google Books.
- ISBN 0-7656-1317-4– via Google Books.
- ISBN 0-203-16664-7– via Google Books.
- ISBN 978-0-231-13924-3– via Google Books.