| Also Known As: Uyghur,Wiga,Uighuir,Uigur,Novouygur,Uyghuri,Uighur,Weiwuer,Uygur,Uiguir,Uighor,Wighor
Description:
Uyghur (ئۇيغۇرچە/Uyghurche/Уйғурчә, or ئۇيغۇر تىلى/Uyghur tili/Уйғур тили) is a Turkic language spoken by the Uyghur people in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a Central Asian region administered by China. In English, the name of the ethnicity and its language is spelled variously as Uyghur, Uighur, Uygur and Uigur, with the preferred spelling being Uyghur. Many English speakers pronounce it as /ˈwiː.ɡər/, though the native pronunciation is [ʔʊɪˈʁʊː].
The Uyghur language belongs to the Uyghuric group of the Turkic language family, which is among the Altaic languages. The languages most closely related to it include Uzbek, Salar, Ili Turki, and Aini.
Early linguistic scholarly studies of Uyghur include Julius Klaproth's 1812 Dissertation on language and script of the Uighurs (Abhandlung über die Sprache und Schrift der Uiguren) which was disputed by Isaak Jakob Schmidt. In this period, Klaproth asserted that Uyghur was a Turkic language, while Schmidt was persuaded that Uyghur should be classified with Tangut languages.
Uyghur is spoken by 10 million (2007)(20 million according to some unofficial sources) in China, mostly in the far western Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Uyghur is..... full article at Wikipedia |
