Language/Uighur/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-pronunciation
English Equivalent
| ئا | [ɑ] as in act |
| ئە | [æ] as in about |
| ب | [b] as in bat |
| پ | [p] as in play |
| ت | [t] as in time |
| ج | [d͡ʒ] as in gym |
| چ | [t͡ʃ] as in chat |
| خ | [x] as in Bach |
| د | [d] as in day |
| ر | [r] as in ring |
| ز | [z] 12 as in Zulu |
| ژ | [ʒ] as in vision |
| س | [s] as in sing |
| ش | [ʃ] as in shine |
| غ | [ʁ] as in Ghana |
| ف | [f] as in fly |
| ق | [q] as in squid |
| ك | [k] as in kit |
| گ | [ɡ] as in jam |
| ڭ | [ŋ] as in sing |
| ل | [l] as in love |
| م | [m] as in map |
| ن | [n] as in nice |
| ھ | [h] as in hot |
| ئو | [o] as in ok |
| ئۇ | [u] as in Uzbakistan |
| ئۆ | [ø] as in old |
| ئۈ | [y] as in yes |
| ۋ | [v~w] as in vast |
| ئې | [e] as in eat |
| ئى | [ɪ] as in ink |
| ي | [j] as in yes |
Vowels
Uyghur has 7-9 vowel phonemes, depending on the dialect. They can be either short or long. Vowel length makes a difference in word meaning.
Like most Turkic languages, Uyghur is characterized by vowel harmony, a type of phonological process that involves constraints on what vowels may be found near each other. There are two kinds of vowels — front vowels, which are produced at the front of the mouth, e.g., /i/, /e/, and back vowels, produced at the back of the mouth, e.g., /a/, /u/, /o/. Native Uyghur words can contain only all front or all back vowels, and all suffixes must conform to the vowel of the syllable preceding them in the word.
The table below shows the vowels of Uyghur.
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Rounded | Unrounded | Rounded | |
| Close | i | y | ɨ | u |
| Close-mid | e | ø | o | |
| Near-open | æ | |||
| Open | a | |||
- /y/ = second vowel in statue
- /ø/ has no equivalent in English
- /æ/ = a in cat
- /ɨ/ similar to e in roses
Consonants
Uyghur has 25 consonant phonemes, i.e., sounds that distinguish word meaning.
| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Dental/Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | voiceless | p | t | k | ||||
| voiced | b | d | g | |||||
| Fricatives | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | x | h | ||
| voiced | v | z | ʒ | ɣ | ||||
| Affricates | voiceless | tʃ | ||||||
| voiced | dʒ | |||||||
| Nasals | m | n | ŋ | |||||
| Tap (flap) | r | |||||||
| Lateral | l | |||||||
| Approximant | w | j |
- /ʔ/ = sound between the vowels in uh-oh
- /x, ɣ/ have no equivalents in English
- /ʃ/ = sh in shop
- /ʒ/ = s in vision
- /tʃ/ = ch in chop
- /dʒ/ = j in job
- /ŋ/ = ng in song
- /j/ = y in yet
Stress
Uyghur words are normally stressed on the final syllable.