zhiguli wrote:I use a Russian textbook - Уйгурский язык - Касымова (The Uyghur Language - Kasymova)
and also the site I mentioned above, which has a short grammar.
Ah... I don't know Russian. So I have to put up with textbooks in Chinese and English.There are very few... Are there are lot of Uyghur textbooks in Russian?
zhiguli wrote:Here's what it has to say about vowel reduction:
5. Reduction of narrow vowels /у/ (u), /ү/(ü), /и/ (i).
At the very beginning of a word before voiceless consonants narrow vowels practically lose their length and sonorance (?), when pronouncing them all that comes out is a puff of air:
У (u), ү (ü), и (i) before к (k), т (t), х (x), ч (ç), ш (ş), с (s), п (p), қ (q) are almost not pronounced - икки (ikki) /шки (şki)/, ишт (işt) /шт (şt)/, ука (uka) /фка (fka)/, үч (üç) /ш (ş)/, иппәк (ippək) /шпәк (şpək)/.
Narrow vowels undergo the same changes between two voiceless consonants in monosyllabic words:
Чиш (çiş) - чш (çş), миқ (miq) /мқ (mq)/, қуш (quş) /қш (qş)/, хиш (xiş) /хш (xş)/.
About i:
2. Vowel и (i) short, high, narrow. It can be very short, almost not pronounced between a sonorant (м m, н n, р r, л l, й y) and a voiceless consonant, and also between two voiceless consonants: тил (til) /тл (tl)/, пил (pil) /пл (pl)/, ис (is) /с (s)/, хиш (xiş) /хш (xş)/, чиш (çiş) /чш (çş)/, тит (tit) /тт (tt)/, тик /тк (tk)/.
Another song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNFIH2NlfVA
you can hear it very clearly in the title, "yaşisun", which sounds more like yaşsun.
Oh I've noticed this as well!! In fact the textbook I'm using, 'A Basic Course of Uyghur' (in Chinese) marks compulsory vowel devoicing, including the examples like ikki and işçan. The vowels aren't lost. You can still hear the 'shape' of the vowel with a puff of air.
I like the song! Too add an example, there's çüşkən (at about 1:50) -> çşkən.