Language of publications issued in Kasghar in the years between 1923 and 1940: A comparison with Chagatai and new Uigur languages

In this essay, language features of New Uigur Language, spoken by Uigurs in East Turkestan in the years between 1923 and 1940, are examined by comparison with Chagatai and today's New Uigur Langauge. In the beginning of 20th century, Central Asian Islamic Turkish written language Chagatai gave its place to local dialects which started to be preferred literary languages. It's widely accepted that New Uigur Language, one of aforementioned local dialects, became widespread after 1955. According to some researchers, it is possible to be seen traces of New Uigur Language in the 1930s. The period of 1923 -1940, the transition period from Chagatai to New Uigur, is examined in terms of language features with reference to publications available. The features specified are compared with the features of Chagatai and Today's New Uigur Languages. Study materials contains Psalter of King David printed in a swedish print house in Kasghar in 1923 and newspapers named Şarki Türkistan, Erkin Türkistan ve Yeni Hayat issued in Kasghar between 1933 – 1937. First texts are translated, second grammatical index of text formed, third features of phonetics and morphology determined and finally the findings are compared to Chagatai and Today's New Uigur Languages. In the end, language features of texts are shown by evaluating the findings. Keywords: Chagatai, New Uigur, Psalter, Şarki Türkistan Hayatı, Erkin Türkistan, Yeni Hayat