1. Uyghur

Uyghur (also spelled Uighur), natively uyγur tili or uyγurčä (Chinese Wéiwú’ěryǔ 維吾爾語) is a Turkic language spoken by approximately ten million people in Xīnjiāng who form the largest minority group there (figure 1). In Xīnjiāng, designated an autonomous region of China, Uyghur is co-official with Mandarin Chinese. It is also used as a lingua franca by other local minorities such as Kazakhs, Kyrgy…