1The hamza carrier
In the Uyghur Arabic script a vowel cannot stand alone at the start of a word. Any word beginning with a vowel writes that vowel on the hamza carrier ئ: ئا, ئە, ئې, ئى, ئو, ئۇ, ئۆ, ئۈ.
The same applies inside a word when two vowels meet: the second one takes a carrier, as in مائارىپ and سائەت.
A word-initial vowel is carried by hamza, not by ھ.
ھ and ئ are different sounds; word-initially the vowel needs ئ.
ئۈ, ئۆ and ئې are all written on the hamza carrier.
Confusing the carrier with ھ is the single most common error. They are different things: ھ is a consonant, the hamza is a silent seat for a vowel.
2Telling the vowels apart
Uyghur has eight vowels — ا ە ې ى و ۇ ۆ ۈ — and each one is a distinct letter with its own meaning. Substituting one for another produces a different word, not a variant spelling.
- Back vowels: ا, و, ۇ
- Front vowels: ە, ې, ۆ, ۈ
- ى is neutral and occurs in both
ا and ە are distinct; a front-vowel word takes ە.
ې and ى are separate vowels; the stem دې- keeps ې.
A front-vowel word takes ۈ rather than ۇ.
و and ۇ differ; this stem takes ۇ.
3Vowel harmony
A suffix takes its vowel from the stem it attaches to. A back-vowel stem gets a back-vowel suffix, a front-vowel stem a front-vowel one.
| Suffix | Back-vowel stem | Front-vowel stem |
|---|---|---|
| Plural | بالىلار | ئۆيلەر |
| Locative | باغدا | ئۆيدە |
| Dative | باغقا | ئۆيگە |
| Adjectival | ياشلىق | كىشىلىك |
A front-vowel stem takes the front suffix -گە.
The second-person suffix is invariably -سەن.
Back-vowel stems take -لىق, front-vowel stems -لىك.
4Suffix spelling
Beyond harmony, the consonant a suffix begins with also changes with the sound the stem ends in. After a voiceless consonant the hard forms appear: -قا, -كە, -تا, -تە.
After a voiceless consonant the participle hardens to -قان/-كەن.
Back-vowel stem plus -لىق; ش must not become خ.
The locative on a front-vowel word is -دە.
A suffix is never separated by a space: مەكتەپكە, never مەكتەپ كە.
5Confusable consonants
These pairs sound close enough that they are routinely swapped in writing: ك / ق, گ / غ, ھ / خ, ش / خ, ج / ژ.
ك and ق are different consonants; a back-vowel word takes ق.
ش is not خ, and the suffix consonant here is ق.
خ and ھ are distinct; خەت begins with خ.
گ and غ are distinct; a back syllable takes غ.
6Hyphens
The hyphen joins reduplicated stems and paired compounds. It is part of the word, and the checker treats it as an internal letter rather than a word boundary — 7,879 dictionary entries contain one.
Reduplicated stems are joined with a hyphen.
Paired compounds take a hyphen between the parts.
7Loanwords
Borrowed terms have one settled Uyghur spelling. Approximating them by ear reliably produces an error.
Loanwords have one fixed Uyghur spelling; approximating by ear fails.
Chinese loans use ج here, not ژ.
The personal dictionary is most useful here: add a technical term or a proper name once and it will not be flagged again.