THE EVOLUTION OF CONSONANT CLUSTERS: A BRIEF SURVEY INTO CONSONANT CLUSTERS IN MODERN UIGHUR

Abstract

Consonant clusters are two or three consonant letters in a syllable. In the native words of modern Uighur the occurrence of consonant clusters is very rare. They mostly occur in the copy words from other languages. Most consonant clusters in modern Uighur are the combination of two consonants. The combination of more than two consonants is never seen in native words. In modern Uighur, consonant clusters may appear in the initial, especially in the Russian copy words, or final position of a syllable. In the Arabic, Persian and native words they only appear in the final position. In this article I give, first, an explanation to the evolution of consonant clusters in modern Uighur; secondly, a list of most commonly used clustered words which are intelligible to the average Uighurs