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{{Infobox language
|name=Western Yugur
|nativename=yoɣïr lar
|states=[[China]]
|region=[[Gansu]]
|ethnicity=7,000 [[Yugur]] (2007)<ref name=e18/>
|speakers=4,600
|date=2007
|ref=e18
|familycolor=Altaic
|fam1=[[Turkic languages|Turkic]]
|fam2=[[Common Turkic languages|Common Turkic]]
|fam3=[[Siberian Turkic languages|Siberian]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World|first=|last=|volume=|others=Contributors Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie|edition=revised|year=2010|publisher=Elsevier|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&pg=PA1109&lpg=PA1109&dq=salars+oghuz&source=bl&ots=SPnuDbxHW6&sig=CFU07TBa1CkA9QeLcOj7LSoU-cY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=dg2GUPPfG6mB0QGis4HwCg&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=salars%20oghuz&f=false|page=1109|isbn=0080877753|accessdate=24 April 2014| ref=harv }}</ref> (Northeastern Turkic)<ref>{{cite book|title=The Mainz Meeting: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Turkish Linguistics, August 3-6, 1994|series=Turcologica Series|editor-first=Lars|editor-last=Johanson|volume=|others=Contributor Éva Ágnes Csató|edition=|year=1998|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgNQdljvk70C&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=salar+oghuz&source=bl&ots=DCXu_gRpm1&sig=DHYwAlfcEka8ztNL_rtmho-B7Yw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Lw-GUJjCBs6x0QHssoGoAw&ved=0CGQQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=salar%20oghuz&f=false|page=28|isbn=3447038640|accessdate=24 April 2014| ref=harv }}</ref>
|ancestor=[[Old Uyghur language]]
|script=[[Old Uyghur alphabet]] (until 19th century)
|iso3=ybe
|glotto=west2402
|glottorefname=West Yugur
|notice=IPA
}}

'''Western Yugur''' (Western Yugur: {{lang|ybe|''yoɣïr lar''}}<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Roos |first=Marti |date=2000 |type=PhD |publisher=University of Leiden |title=The Western Yugur (Yellow Uygur) Language. Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary.|oclc=67439751 |url=http://members.home.nl/marcmarti/yugur/biblio/ROOS_WesternYugurLanguage.pdf}}</ref> (Yugur speech) or {{lang|ybe|''yoɣïr śoz''}} (Yugur word)) is the [[Turkic languages|Turkic language]] spoken by the [[Yugur]] people. It is contrasted with [[Eastern Yugur language|Eastern Yugur]], the [[Mongolic languages|Mongolic language]] spoken within the same community. Traditionally, both languages are indicated by the term "Yellow Uygur", from the [[endonym]] of the Yugur.

There are approximately 4,600 Turkic-speaking Yugurs.

==Classification==
Besides similarities with Uyghuric languages, Western Yugur also shares a number of features, mainly [[archaism]]s, with several of the [[Siberian Turkic languages|Northeastern Turkic languages]], but it is not closer to any one of them in particular. Neither Western nor Eastern Yugur are [[Mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]] with [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China|first=James|last=Olson|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=1998|page=377}}</ref>

Western Yugur also contains [[archaism]]s which are attested in neither modern Uyghuric nor Siberian, such as its [[anticipating counting system]] coinciding with Old Uyghur, and its [[copula (linguistics)|copula]] ''dro'', which originated from Old Uyghur but substitute the Uyghur copulative personal suffixes.<ref>Chen et al, 1985</ref>

==Geographic distribution==
Speakers of Western Yugur reside primarily in the western part of [[Gansu]] province's [[Sunan Yugur Autonomous County]].

==Phonology==
A special feature in Western Yugur is the occurrence of [[preaspiration]], corresponding to the so-called [[pharyngealisation|pharyngealised]] or low [[vowel]]s in [[Tuvan language|Tuva]] and Tofa, and [[short vowel]]s in [[Yakut language|Yakut]] and [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]]. Examples of this phenomenon include {{IPA|/oʰtɯs/}} "thirty", {{IPA|/jɑʰʂ/}} "good", and {{IPA|/iʰt/}} "meat".

The [[vowel harmony|vowel harmonical system]], typical of Turkic languages, has largely collapsed. [[voice (phonetics)|Voice]] as a [[Distinctive feature|distinguishing feature]] in [[plosive consonant|plosive]]s and [[affricate]]s was replaced by [[Aspiration (phonetics)|aspiration]], as in [[Chinese language|Chinese]].

===Consonants===
West Yugur has 28 native consonants and two more (indicated in paretheses) found only in loan words.
{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|+'''Consonant phonemes'''
|-
! colspan=2|
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA|m}}
| {{IPA|n}}
|
|
| {{IPA|ŋ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan=2| [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]] [[aspirated consonant|aspirated]]}}
| {{IPA|pʰ}}
| {{IPA|tʰ}}
|
|
| {{IPA|kʰ}}
| {{IPA|qʰ}}
|
|-
! {{small|plain [[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA|p}}
| {{IPA|t}}
|
|
| {{IPA|k}}
| {{IPA|q}}
|
|-
! rowspan=2| [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]] [[aspirated consonant|aspirated]]}}
|
| {{IPA|(t͡sʰ)}}
| {{IPA|ʈ͡ʂʰ}}
| {{IPA|t͡ɕʰ}}
|
|
|
|-
! {{small|plain [[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|
| {{IPA|t͡s}}
| {{IPA|ʈ͡ʂ}}
| {{IPA|t͡ɕ}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan=2| [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA|(f)}}
| {{IPA|s}}
| {{IPA|ʂ}}
| {{IPA|ɕ}}
| {{IPA|x}}
|
| {{IPA|h}}
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|
| {{IPA|z}}
| {{IPA|ʐ}}
|
| {{IPA|ɣ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan=2| [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
| {{IPA|r}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan=2| [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
|
| {{IPA|l}}
| {{IPA|j}}
| {{IPA|w}}
|
|
|}

===Vowels===
Western Yugur has eight vowel phonemes typical of many Turkic languages, which are {{IPA|/i, y, ɯ, u, e, ø, o, ɑ/}}.

===Diachronical processes===
Several sound changes affected Western Yugur phonology while evolving from its original [[Common Turkic]] form, the most prolific being:

====Vowels====
* High vowels were delabialized in non-initial syllables: CT *tütün > *tütin > WYu ''tuʰtïn'' "to smoke", CT *altun'' > *altïn > WYu ''aʰltïm'' "gold"
* CT *u was lowered to WYu ''o'' in some words, most commonly around velars and ''r'': CT *burun > WYu ''pʰorn'' "before, front"
* All high vowels were merged - as front vowels in palatal contexts, and as back otherwise: CT *üčün > WYu ''utɕin'' "with, using", CT *yïlan > WYu ''yilan'' "snake"
** This had several consequences:
**# It made the Common Turkic allophonic difference between *k and *q phonemic.
**# Vowel harmonic class of resulting words was thus determined lexically in Western Yugur.
**# Former vowel harmonic suffixes with high vowels became invariable: CT: *-Ki/*-Kï > WYu ''-Kï'' "attributive noun suffix"
* Front vowels *ä, *e, *ö were raised to *i, *ü except before *r, *l, *ŋ and (excluding *ö) *g: CT *ärän > WYu ''erin'' "man", CT *kȫk > WYu ''kük'', CT *-lar/*-lär > WYu ''-lar''/''-lir'' "plural suffix"
* CT *ay is reflected as WYu ''ey''~''e'' in the initial syllable and as ''i'' otherwise.
* In the initial syllable exclusively, short vowels acquire pre-aspiration of the following consonant, length distinction is otherwise lost.

====Consonants====
* As in most Turkic language, initial *b was assimilated to *m in words containing nasals.
* Initial plosives and affricates, CT *b, *t, *k, *g, *č, are all reflected as voiceless with unpredictable aspiration: CT *temir > WYu ''temïr'', CT *bog- > WYu ''pʰoɣ-'' "to tie with a rope"
* Labials are merged into *w intervocally and after liquids which later in some cases forms diphthongs or get elided: CT *yubaš > WYu ''yüwaʂ'' "calm", CT *harpa > WYu ''harwa'' "barley"
* Finally and in most consonant clusters *p is preserved and *b elided.
* Dental and velar voiceless plosives are preserved in most positions, with aspiration occurring almost exclusively in the initial position.
* CT *g is spirantized into ''ɣ'' and CT *d into ''z''.
* With some exceptions, CT *š develops into ''s'': CT *tāš > WYu ''tas'' "stone"
* CT *z is preserved, except for devoicing when final in polysyllabic words: CT *otuz > WYu ''oʰtïs'' "thirty"
* CT *č generally becomes WYu ''š'' in syllable codas.
* CT *ñ develops into WYu ''y''; initial CT *y- is mostly preserved; CT *h- is seemingly preserved in some words but the extent to which WYu ''h-'' corresponds to it is unclear.

==Vocabulary==
Western Yugur is the only Turkic language that preserved the [[anticipating counting system]], known from [[Old Turkic]].

For centuries, the Western Yugur language has been in [[language contact|contact]] with Mongolic languages, [[Standard Tibetan|Tibetan]], and Chinese, and as a result has adopted a large amount of [[loanword]]s from these languages, as well as grammatical features. Chinese dialects neighboring the areas where Yugur is spoken have influenced the Yugur language, giving it loanwords.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xGZedef70zAC&pg=PA664&dq=yellow+uyghurs&hl=en&ei=XyDPTK34N8b_lgeZxt3nCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=The Handbook of Language Contact|author=Raymond Hickey|year=2010|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|location=|page=664|isbn=1-4051-7580-X|pages=|accessdate=2010-10-31}}</ref>

==Grammar==
Personal markers in [[noun]]s as well as in [[verb]]s were largely lost. In the verbal system, the notion of [[evidentiality]] has been [[grammaticalisation|grammaticalised]], seemingly under the influence of Tibetan.

==Writing system==
{{main article|Old Uyghur alphabet}}

[[Grigory Potanin]] recorded a glossary of [[Salar language]], Western Yugur language, and [[Eastern Yugur language]] in his 1893 Russian language book ''The Tangut-Tibetan Borderlands of China and Central Mongolia''.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20120316172207/http://altaica.ru/LIBRARY/POPPE/poppe_salar.pdf</ref><ref>http://members.home.nl/marcmarti/yugur/biblio/ROOS_WesternYugurLanguage.pdf</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.arcor.de/marcmarti/yugur/yugurol.htm |title=Yugurology |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20031005162152/http://home.arcor.de/marcmarti/yugur/yugurol.htm |archivedate=October 5, 2003 }}</ref><ref name="Potanin1893">{{cite book|author=Grigoriĭ Nikolaevich Potanin|title=Tangutsko-Tibetskai͡a okraina Kitai͡a i TSentralnai͡a Mongolii͡a|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=crgQAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false|year=1893}}</ref><ref name="Потанин1893">{{cite book|author=Григорий Николаевич Потанин|title=Тангутско-Тибетская окраина Китая и Центральная Монголія: путешествіе Г.Н. Потанина 1884-1886. Том 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QMyAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false|year=1893|publisher=Тип. А.С. Суворина}}</ref><ref name="Потанин1893 1">{{cite book|author=Григорий Николаевич Потанин|title=Тангутско-Тибетская окраина Китая и Центральная Монголія: путешествіе Г.Н. Потанина 1884-1886|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_PwTAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false|year=1893|publisher=Тип. А.С. Суворина}}</ref>

==History==
{{main article|Old Uyghur language|Gansu Uyghur Kingdom}}

Modern Uyghur and Western Yugur belong to entirely different branches of the Turkic language family, respectively the [[Karluk languages]] spoken in the [[Kara-Khanid Khanate]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3tAqIU0dPsC&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145#v=onepage&q&f=false Arik 2008], p. 145</ref> (such as the Xākānī language described in [[Mahmud al-Kashgari]]'s ''Dīwānu l-Luġat al-Turk''<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Clauson | first1 = Gerard | last2 = | first2 = | year = Apr 1965 | title = Review An Eastern Turki-English Dictionary by Gunnar Jarring | journal = The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland | volume = | issue = 1/2 | pages = 57 | publisher = Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland | jstor = 25202808 }}</ref>) and the [[Siberian Turkic languages]], which include [[Old Uyghur language|Old Uyghur]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7XuMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA75#v=onepage&q&f=false Coene 2009], p. 75</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FqFMmVbfRfEC&pg=PA75#v=onepage&q&f=false Coene 2009], p. 75</ref>

The Yugur people are descended from the [[Gansu Uyghur Kingdom]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|title= One Thousand Languages: Living, Endangered, and Lost |first=Kagan|last=Arik|editor-first=Peter|editor-last=Austin|volume=|edition=illustrated|year=2008|publisher=University of California Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3tAqIU0dPsC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false|isbn=0520255607|accessdate=10 March 2014| ref = {{harvid||}} }}
* Chén Zōngzhèn & Léi Xuǎnchūn. 1985. Xībù Yùgùyǔ Jiānzhì [Concise grammar of Western Yugur]. Peking.
* {{cite book|title= The Caucasus - An Introduction |first=Frederik|last=Coene|editor-first=|editor-last=|volume=|edition=|series=Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series|year=2009|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7XuMAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false|isbn=1135203024|accessdate=10 March 2014| ref = {{harvid||}} }}
* {{cite book|title= The Caucasus - An Introduction |first=Frederik|last=Coene|editor-first=|editor-last=|volume=|edition=illustrated, reprint|series=Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series|year=2009|publisher=Taylor & Francis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FqFMmVbfRfEC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false|isbn=0203870719|accessdate=10 March 2014| ref = {{harvid||}} }}
* Léi Xuǎnchūn (proofread by Chén Zōngzhèn). 1992. Xībù Yùgù Hàn Cídiǎn [Western Yugur - Chinese Dictionary]. Chéngdu.
* Malov, S. E. 1957. Jazyk zheltykh ujgurov. Slovar' i grammatika. Alma Ata.
* Malov, S. E. 1967. Jazyk zheltykh ujgurov. Teksty i perevody. Moscow.
* Roos, Martina Erica. 2000. The Western Yugur (Yellow Yugur) Language: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary. Diss. University of Leiden. Leiden.
* Roos, Marti, Hans Nugteren, Zhong Jìnwén. 1999. On some Turkic proverbs of the Western and Eastern Yugur languages. ''Turkic Languages'' 3.2: 189-214.
* Tenishev, È. R. 1976. Stroj saryg-jugurskogo jazyka. Moscow.
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://horsethatleaps.com/chapter-11 Slide Shows and maps of author Eric Enno Tamm's visit to Lianhua and Hongwansi]
*[http://members.home.nl/marcmarti/yugur/index.htm "Western Yugur Steppe" - A collection of literature and linguistic information]

{{Languages of China}}
{{Turkic languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yugur, Western, Language}}
[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Uyghurs]]
[[Category:Siberian Turkic languages]]
[[Category:Languages of China]]

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