Uyghur language
This article is about the modern language, also called "New Uyghur"; for the language of the medieval Uyghurs, see Old Turkic language.
The Uyghur language (Uyghur ئۇيغۇرچە Uyghurche, Cyrillic Уйғурчә, Уйғур тили, Yengi Uyƣurqə, Chinese 維吾爾語 / 维吾尔语, Pinyin Wéiwú'ěryǔ, also ئۇيغۇر تىلى Uyƣur tili, Uyghur tili) is a Turkic language spoken primarily by Uyghurs native to the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.
Uyghur is written today with a modified Persian-Arabic alphabet.
Designations and delimitation
In Turkological research in Turkey, the language is called "Uyghur Turkish" (Uygur Türkçesi). In the 19th century and early 20th century, the language was referred to as "Turkish" (Turki), and in German Turkology also as "East Turkic" until well into the 20th century. The forerunner is "Chagatai".
The language of the medieval Uyghurs and the so-called Uyghur texts named after them, which have been found in large numbers at various sites in Xinjiang from the 9th to the 17th century, must be distinguished from the Uyghur language discussed here. The language of these texts and that of the medieval Uyghurs is attributed to Old Turkic. The descendants of the medieval Uyghurs are the Yugur, as far as they did not adopt Islam and merged into the Islamic and Turkic-speaking population of Xinjiang, which today is called Uyghur.
Classification
Together with the Uzbek language, the Uyghur language belongs to the Karluk languages, a subcategory of the Turkic languages. Other Uyghur languages are Yugur, Ainu and Ili Turki.
