Uyghur alphabet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 East Turkestan. 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.
• A modified Latin alphabet, used by Uyghurs in Chinese East Turkestan from 1969 to 1987. This, or an alternative based on the modern Turkish alphabet, is in use for Internet communications in Uyghur.
• UPNY (Uyghur Pinyin Yéziqi), a modification of Pinyin used in China between 1960s and 1980s.
• 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.

See also:

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