Uyghur Arabic alphabet
The Uighur alphabet (also: Uyghur alphabet) is the alphabet created by the Uighurs to read and write the Uighur language. It is based on the Arabic alphabet. Unlike the Arabic alphabet, however, Uighur has specific letters to write vowel sounds, rather than just diacritic marks. Writing vowels in Uighur is required, not optional. This means that the writing system is a true alphabet, not an abjad like Arabic.
Letters
[change | change source]The modern Uyghur Arabic alphabet has 8 vowels, 24 consonants, and 32 letters in all.
| Letter | IPA | English approximation |
|---|---|---|
| ئا | /ɑ/ | As o in off |
| ئە | /ɛ/ | As e in bed |
| ب | /b/ | As b in bat |
| پ | /p/ | As p in put |
| ت | /t/ | As t in top |
| ج | /d͡ʒ/ | As j in jump |
| چ | /t͡ʃ/ | As ch in chair |
| خ | /χ/ | As h in hat, but the tongue is way further back |
| د | /d/ | As d in dog |
| ر | /r/ | As r in red |
| ز | /z/ | As z in zebra |
| ژ | /ʒ/ | As g in montage |
| س | /s/ | As s in sing |
| ش | /ʃ/ | As sh in brush |
| غ | /ʁ/ | As g in good, but the tongue is way further back and the air is vibrating |
| ف | /f/ | As f in find |
| ق | /q/ | As k in king, but the tongue is further back |
| ك | /k/ | As k in king |
| گ | /g/ | As g in good |
| ڭ | /ŋ/ | As ng in sing |
| ل | /l/ | As l in lever |
| م | /m/ | As m in man |
| ن | /n/ | As n in not |
| ھ | /h/ | As h in hat |
| ئو | /o/ | As o in more |
| ئۇ | /u/ | As oo in boot |
| ئۆ | /ø/ | As u in cut, but the lips are rounded |
| ئۈ | /y/ | As i in bit, but the lips are rounded |
| ۋ | /v/~/w/ | As v in vine |
| ئې | /e/ | As ay in pay |
| ئى | /i/ | As ee in see |
| ي | /j/ | As y in yes |
