Uyghur dialects
Encyclopedia
Uyghur is a Turkic language
spoken in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
, administered by China
, by the Uyghur people
. It is a language with two standard language
s and several dialect
s. However, these are all mutual intelligible
at large, in spite of the various differences.
s of Uyghur
have been proposed through time. Today, however, it is widely accepted that there are three major dialect groups. This was originally introduced by E. R. Tenishev, but has since been modified by other linguists, like M. Osmanov, though the original classification by E. R. Tenishev remains the most widely accepted.
The classification by E. R. Tenishev can be seen below.
R. F. Hahn divides the Central branch further into a Northern and Southern branch, and includes the dialects of Taranchi
, Ili
and Hami
as Northern Central dialects, and the dialects of Tarim
, Dolan
, Artux
and Mughal
as Southern Central dialects, also keeping the dialects proposed by E. R. Tenishev. And he also includes the dialects of Qiemo
, Charqaliq and perhaps Kelpin in the Southern branch.
The dialects included in the Central branch by R. F. Hahn are also included by M. Osmanov, although he also chooses to go further and divides the Southern branch into three sub-branches: a sub-branch including the dialect of Guma, a sub-branch including the dialects of Elchi and Karakax, and a sub-branch including the dialects of Cheriya, Keriya, Niya
and Qiemo
.
A classification where all these modifications are present can be seen below.
The dialectal classification of E. R. Tenishev is based on four parameters: the quality of the phoneme
/i/, metaphony
, consonant assimilation
and the conjugation
of verb
s in the future tense
. M. Osmanov on the other hand has based his classification on two different parameters: the conjugation
of the present
-future tense
and the form of the imperfect participle
.
The Central dialects are spoken by 90% of the Uyghur
-speaking population, while the two other branches of dialects only are spoken by a relatively small minority.
s of the Uyghur language
in use which can be seen below.
The first is the standard language used in Xinjiang, and is based upon the Northern Central dialect of Ürümqi
, while the second is the standard language used primarily in Kazakhstan, and is based upon the Northern Central dialect of Ili
. Notice that although the Soviet Union
no longer exists, the label Soviet has remained in the name.
The differences between the two standard languages are mostly seen in the orthography
, where Standard Xinjiang Uyghur uses an Arabic
-derived alphabet, Uyghur Ereb Yéziqi
, while Standard Soviet Uyghur uses an Cyrillic
-derived alphabet, Uyghur Siril Yéziqi
; and in the lexicon
where Standard Xinjiang Uyghur is heavily influenced by Chinese
, in particular Mandarin Chinese, while Standard Soviet Uyghur is heavily influenced by Russian
.
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...
spoken in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
, administered by China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, by the Uyghur people
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
. It is a language with two standard language
Standard language
A standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
s and several dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s. However, these are all mutual intelligible
Mutual intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is recognized as a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related languages can readily understand each other without intentional study or extraordinary effort...
at large, in spite of the various differences.
Dialects
Various classifications of the dialectDialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s of Uyghur
Uyghur language
Uyghur , formerly known as Eastern Turk, is a Turkic language with 8 to 11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Significant communities of Uyghur-speakers are located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and various other...
have been proposed through time. Today, however, it is widely accepted that there are three major dialect groups. This was originally introduced by E. R. Tenishev, but has since been modified by other linguists, like M. Osmanov, though the original classification by E. R. Tenishev remains the most widely accepted.
The classification by E. R. Tenishev can be seen below.
| Central | Dialect of Turpan |
|---|---|
| Dialect of Kucha Kucha Kuchaor Kuche Uyghur , Chinese Simplified: 库车; Traditional: 庫車; pinyin Kùchē; also romanized as Qiuzi, Qiuci, Chiu-tzu, Kiu-che, Kuei-tzu from the traditional Chinese forms 屈支 屈茨; 龜玆; 龟兹, 丘玆, also Po ; Sanskrit: Kueina, Standard Tibetan: Kutsahiyui was an ancient Buddhist kingdom... |
|
| Dialect of Aksu Aksu Prefecture Aksu Prefecture is located in mid-western Xinjiang, China. It has an area of 132,500 km² and 2.19 million inhabitants .The name Aksu is Turkic for 'white water'.-Geography:... |
|
| Dialect of Kashgar Kashgar Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately... |
|
| Dialect of Yarkand | |
| Southern | Dialect of Hotan |
| Eastern | Dialect of Lopnor |
R. F. Hahn divides the Central branch further into a Northern and Southern branch, and includes the dialects of Taranchi
Taranchi
The term Taranchi denotes the Muslim sedentary population living in oases around the Tarim Basin in today's Xinjiang, whose native language is Turkic Karluk, and whose ancestral heritages include Iranic and Tocharian populations of Tarim and the later Turco-Mongol immigrants of the Qarluq, Uyghur,...
, Ili
Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture
Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture , in northernmost Xinjiang, is the only Kazakh autonomous prefecture of the People's Republic of China.-Geography and coordinates:The following figures excludes both Tacheng Prefecture and Altay Prefecture....
and Hami
Hami Prefecture
Kumul Prefecture, also known as Hami Prefecture is located in eastern Xinjiang, China. It has an area of 140,749 km² and 492,096 inhabitants .- History :...
as Northern Central dialects, and the dialects of Tarim
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of about . It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The...
, Dolan
Dolan people
Dolan refers to a people or region of what is now Xinjiang Province, China. People who call themselves Dolan can be found in the Yarkand River valley, the Tarim River valley and the Lop Nur region of present-day Xinjiang...
, Artux
Artux
Artux, Atush or Atushi is a county-level city in Xinjiang. The area is 15,509 km² and the total population is 200,000 . Artux is the seat of Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture....
and Mughal
Mughal (tribe)
The term Mughal is simply a Turkic word and many groups in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh use the term Mughal to describe themselves...
as Southern Central dialects, also keeping the dialects proposed by E. R. Tenishev. And he also includes the dialects of Qiemo
Qiemo County
The Qiemo County , also known as Cherchen or Qarqan in the Uighur language, is a county under the administration of the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area is and, according to the 2002 census, it has a...
, Charqaliq and perhaps Kelpin in the Southern branch.
The dialects included in the Central branch by R. F. Hahn are also included by M. Osmanov, although he also chooses to go further and divides the Southern branch into three sub-branches: a sub-branch including the dialect of Guma, a sub-branch including the dialects of Elchi and Karakax, and a sub-branch including the dialects of Cheriya, Keriya, Niya
Niya (Tarim Basin)
The Ruins of Niya is an archaeological site located about north of modern Minfeng Town on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin in modern-day Xinjiang, China. Numerous ancient archaeological artifacts have been uncovered at the site....
and Qiemo
Qiemo County
The Qiemo County , also known as Cherchen or Qarqan in the Uighur language, is a county under the administration of the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area is and, according to the 2002 census, it has a...
.
A classification where all these modifications are present can be seen below.
| Central | Northern | Dialect of Ürümqi Ürümqi County Ürümqi County is a county within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administrative jurisdiction of the Ürümqi City. It contains an area of 4,601 km² and according to the 2002 census has a population of 80,000.-External links:... |
|---|---|---|
| Dialect of Ili Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture , in northernmost Xinjiang, is the only Kazakh autonomous prefecture of the People's Republic of China.-Geography and coordinates:The following figures excludes both Tacheng Prefecture and Altay Prefecture.... |
||
| Dialect of Taranchi Taranchi The term Taranchi denotes the Muslim sedentary population living in oases around the Tarim Basin in today's Xinjiang, whose native language is Turkic Karluk, and whose ancestral heritages include Iranic and Tocharian populations of Tarim and the later Turco-Mongol immigrants of the Qarluq, Uyghur,... |
||
| Dialect of Turpan | ||
| Dialect of qumul | ||
| Southern | Dialect of Kashgar Kashgar Prefecture Kashgar Prefecture or Kashi Prefecture is located in mid-western Xinjiang, China. It has an area of 112,057 km² and 3,979,362 inhabitants at the 2010 cenus with a population density of 36 inhabitants/km² ).... |
|
| Dialect of Dolan Dolan people Dolan refers to a people or region of what is now Xinjiang Province, China. People who call themselves Dolan can be found in the Yarkand River valley, the Tarim River valley and the Lop Nur region of present-day Xinjiang... |
||
| Dialect of Artush | ||
| Dialect of Tarim Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of about . It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The... |
||
| Dialect of Mughal Mughal (tribe) The term Mughal is simply a Turkic word and many groups in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh use the term Mughal to describe themselves... |
||
| Dialect of Kucha Kucha Kuchaor Kuche Uyghur , Chinese Simplified: 库车; Traditional: 庫車; pinyin Kùchē; also romanized as Qiuzi, Qiuci, Chiu-tzu, Kiu-che, Kuei-tzu from the traditional Chinese forms 屈支 屈茨; 龜玆; 龟兹, 丘玆, also Po ; Sanskrit: Kueina, Standard Tibetan: Kutsahiyui was an ancient Buddhist kingdom... |
||
| Dialect of Yarkant | ||
| Dialect of Aksu Aksu Prefecture Aksu Prefecture is located in mid-western Xinjiang, China. It has an area of 132,500 km² and 2.19 million inhabitants .The name Aksu is Turkic for 'white water'.-Geography:... |
||
| Southern | Branch #1 | Dialect of Guma |
| Branch #2 | Dialect of Echi | |
| Dialect of qaraqash | ||
| Branch #3 | Dialect of Cheriya | |
| Dialect of Keriya | ||
| Dialect of Niya Niya (Tarim Basin) The Ruins of Niya is an archaeological site located about north of modern Minfeng Town on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin in modern-day Xinjiang, China. Numerous ancient archaeological artifacts have been uncovered at the site.... |
||
| Dialect of Qiemo Qiemo County The Qiemo County , also known as Cherchen or Qarqan in the Uighur language, is a county under the administration of the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area is and, according to the 2002 census, it has a... |
||
| Dialect of Hotan | ||
| Eastern | Dialect of Lopnor | |
The dialectal classification of E. R. Tenishev is based on four parameters: the quality of the phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
/i/, metaphony
Metaphony
In historical linguistics, metaphony is a general term for a class of sound change in which one vowel in a word is influenced by another in a process of assimilation....
, consonant assimilation
Assimilation (linguistics)
Assimilation is a common phonological process by which the sound of the ending of one word blends into the sound of the beginning of the following word. This occurs when the parts of the mouth and vocal cords start to form the beginning sounds of the next word before the last sound has been...
and the conjugation
Grammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
of verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s in the future tense
Future tense
In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,...
. M. Osmanov on the other hand has based his classification on two different parameters: the conjugation
Grammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
of the present
Present tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
-future tense
Future tense
In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,...
and the form of the imperfect participle
Participle
In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier...
.
The Central dialects are spoken by 90% of the Uyghur
Uyghur language
Uyghur , formerly known as Eastern Turk, is a Turkic language with 8 to 11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Significant communities of Uyghur-speakers are located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and various other...
-speaking population, while the two other branches of dialects only are spoken by a relatively small minority.
Standard languages
There are two standard languageStandard language
A standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
s of the Uyghur language
Uyghur language
Uyghur , formerly known as Eastern Turk, is a Turkic language with 8 to 11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Significant communities of Uyghur-speakers are located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and various other...
in use which can be seen below.
- Standard Xinjiang Uyghur: Used primarily in XinjiangXinjiangXinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
- Standard Soviet Uyghur: Used primarily in KazakhstanKazakhstanKazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
The first is the standard language used in Xinjiang, and is based upon the Northern Central dialect of Ürümqi
Ürümqi
Ürümqi , formerly Tihwa , is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, in the northwest of the country....
, while the second is the standard language used primarily in Kazakhstan, and is based upon the Northern Central dialect of Ili
Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture
Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture , in northernmost Xinjiang, is the only Kazakh autonomous prefecture of the People's Republic of China.-Geography and coordinates:The following figures excludes both Tacheng Prefecture and Altay Prefecture....
. Notice that although the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
no longer exists, the label Soviet has remained in the name.
The differences between the two standard languages are mostly seen in the orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
, where Standard Xinjiang Uyghur uses an Arabic
Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet or Arabic abjad is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right to left, in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters. Because letters usually stand for consonants, it is classified as an abjad.-Consonants:The Arabic alphabet has...
-derived alphabet, Uyghur Ereb Yéziqi
Uyghur Ereb Yéziqi
Uyghur Arabic script is an Arabic alphabet used for writing the Uyghur language, primarily by Uyghurs living in China. It is one of several Uyghur alphabets....
, while Standard Soviet Uyghur uses an Cyrillic
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
-derived alphabet, Uyghur Siril Yéziqi
Uyghur Siril Yéziqi
The Uyghur Cyrillic alphabet is a Cyrillic-derived alphabet used for writing the Uyghur language, primarily by Uyghurs living in Kazakhstan and former CIS countries....
; and in the lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
where Standard Xinjiang Uyghur is heavily influenced by Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, in particular Mandarin Chinese, while Standard Soviet Uyghur is heavily influenced by Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
.