The Uyghur or Uighur language (/ˈwiːɡʊər, -ɡər/; ئۇيغۇر تىلى, Уйғур тили, Uyghur tili, Uyƣur tili, IPA: [ujɣur tili] or ئۇيغۇرچە, Уйғурчә, Uyghurche, Uyƣurqə, IPA: [ujɣurˈtʃɛ], CTA: Uyğurçä; formerly known as Eastern Turki), is a Turkic language written in a Uyghur Perso-Arabic script with 8-11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Significant communities of Uyghur speakers are located in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, and various other countries have Uyghur-speaking expatriate communities. Uyghur is an official language of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; is widely used in both social and official spheres, as well as in print, television, and radio; and is used as a common language by other ethnic