using Uyghur as the medium of instruction. In academia In 1958, linguist Gāo Èrqiāng studied Sarikoli in collaboration with Tajik linguists, using 37 symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet for the transcription of the language. In the 1996 Sarikoli–Han dictionary, Gāo Èrqiāng uses an alphabet of 26 letters and 8 digraphs based on Pinyin. Uyghur Alphabet In recent years, Sarikoli speakers in China have used Uyghur Arabic alphabet to spell out their language. Phonology Vowels // may also be heard as [, ]. Sarikoli vowels as used in Russian works (IPA values in brackets): In some dialects also long variants of those vowels can appear: ā, ē, ī, ō, ū, ы̄, ǝ̄. (citation?) Consonants Sarikoli has 30 consonants: Sarikoli consonants according to Russian Iranologist transcription (IPA values in slashes): p , b , t , d , k , g , q , c , ʒ , č , ǰ , s , z , x̌ , γ̌ , f , v , θ , δ , x , γ , š , ž , h , w , y , m , n , l , r Stress Most words receive stress on the last syllable; however, a minority receive stress on their first syllable. Also, several noun declensions and verb inflections regularly place stress on their first syllable, including the imperative and interrogative. Vocabulary Although to a large extent the Sarikoli lexicon is quite close to those of other Eastern Iranian languages, there are a large number are words unique to Sarikoli and the closely related Shughni that are not found in other Eastern Iranian languages like Wakhi, Pashto or Avestan. References Further reading External links The Tajik Ethnic Group in China Pamir languages Eastern Iranian languages Languages of China Endangered Iranian languages Tajiks of Xinjiang