Uyghur Arabic script is an Arabic alphabet used for writing 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...

, primarily by Uyghurs

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...

 living in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. It is one of several Uyghur alphabet

Uyghur alphabet

Uyghur is a Turkic language spoken in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, administered by China, by the Uyghur people. It is a language with a long literary tradition, and has been written using numerous writing systems through time...

s.

The first Arabic-derived alphabet for Uyghur was developed in the 10th century, when Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 was introduced to the Uyghur people. The version used for writing the Chagatai language

Chagatai language

The Chagatai language is an extinct Turkic language which was once widely spoken in Central Asia, and remained the shared literary language there until the early twentieth century...

, which became the regional literary language

Literary language

A literary language is a register of a language that is used in literary writing. This may also include liturgical writing. The difference between literary and non-literary forms is more marked in some languages than in others...

, is now known as the Chagatai script, and was used nearly exclusively up to the early 1920s

1920s

File:1920s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Sean Hogan during the Irish Civil War; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the 18th amendment, which made alcoholic beverages illegal throughout the entire decade; In...

. Alternative Uyghur scripts began being created then, and have collectively largely displaced Chagatai; Kona Yëziq, meaning "old script", now distinguishes it and UEY from the alternatives that are not derived from Arabic.

Alphabetical order for Uyghur Arabic Script

Letter

ئا،ا

ئە،ە

ب

پ

ت

ج

چ

خ

د

ر

ز

ژ

س

ش

غ

ف

ق

ك

گ

ڭ

ل

م

ن

ھ

ئو،و

ئۇ،ۇ

ئۆ،ۆ

ئۈ،ۈ

ۋ

ئې،ې

ئى،ى

ي

IPA

ɑ,a

ɛ,æ

b

p

t

ʤ

ʧ

χ,x

dʒ

r,ɾ

z

ʒ

s

ʃ

ʁ,ɣ

f,ɸ

q

k

g

ŋ

l

m

n

h,ɦ

o,ɔ

u,ʊ

ø

y,ʏ

w,v

e

i,ɨ

j

Several of the these alternatives were influenced by security-policy

Security policy

Security policy is a definition of what it means to be secure for a system, organization or other entity. For an organization, it addresses the constraints on behavior of its members as well as constraints imposed on adversaries by mechanisms such as doors, locks, keys and walls...

 considerations of 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....

 or the People's Republic of 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...

. (Soviet Uyghur areas experienced several non-Arabic alphabets, and the former CIS

CIS

CIS usually refers to the Commonwealth of Independent States, a modern political entity consisting of eleven former Soviet Union republics.The acronym CIS may also refer to:-Organizations:...

 countries, especially Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , 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...

, now use primarily the Cyrillic alphabet called Uyghur Siril Yëziqi

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....

.) A Pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

-derived alphabet, Uyghur Pinyin Yëziqi, was for a time the only officially approved alphabet used for Uyghur in Xinjiang

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...

. It had technical shortcomings and met social resistance; Uyghur Ereb Yëziqi, an expansion of the old Chagatai script, is now recognized; it is sometimes intended when the term "Kona Yëziq" is used.