A Language and Three Alphabets: The Alphabets Used by Uyghur Turks from 20th Century to the Present

Abstract

Alphabet in Turkestan geography in 20th century is a notion whichwas directed by political authority, presented and transformed with modernizationand improvement ideals, yet utilized as a significant means ofcultural assimilation system. In context with the invasion of USSR of thelands on which Turkic people are living and the policies imposed on thereafterwards, Uyghur Turks who live in East Turkestan as a considerablepopulation has shared generally the same fate with other Turkish kins interms of alphabet policy. On the other hand the alphabet used by UyghurTurks in East Turkestan depended on the political and social conditions ofChina, the country which they are bound to.In the 20th century, Uyghurs used Arab, Cyrillic and Latin alphabets.The politicies adopted by the States governing Uyghur people forced Uyghursto use different alphabets and frequently change alphabets for ModernUyghur Turkish at the same time. Currently East Turkestan Uyghursuse Latin alphabet unofficially besides Uyghur-Arab alphabet. KazakhstanUyghurs and Kyrgyzstan Uyghurs both use Uyghur-Arab alphabetsunofficially besides Uyghur-Cyrillic alphabet. And Uyghurs in Turkeymake publications using Uyghur-Arab alphabet.Our study focuses on the alphabets that have been used by Uyghursfrom the beginning of the 20th century to the present. The purpose of ourstudy is to reveal the alphabet matter of Uyghurs since the 20th centuryand to examine the reasons of change of alphabet. Furthermore the studydraws attention to the matter of alphabet, which is one of the unsolvedproblems at present. Qualitative research method has been used in thestudy. Secondary sources have been used for the information unavailabledue to the cencorship on the sources in East Turkestan.