Kök Turki Alphabet

Kök Turki alphabet, writing system used by Turkic-speaking peoples in Central Asia from the 6th to the 8th century ad. It is sometimes called Kök Turki runes because of the resemblance of its letter forms to those of the (Germanic) runic alphabet. The script occurred in two forms, monumental and cursive, and was written either vertically downward or horizontally from right to left. The monumental form has many symbols that resemble runic letters but represent entirely different sounds. The resemblance, therefore, must be assumed to be coincidental.

The script occurs in many inscriptions and a few manuscript fragments from eastern Turkistan, northwestern Mongolia, and south-central Siberia. The language of the inscriptions is the earliest recorded form of Turkic, and the alphabet is probably related to Pahlavik or Sogdian (two Persian scripts derived from the Aramaic alphabet). Kök Turki has 38 letters, 4 of them vowels; many of the consonants occur in several forms, depending on what vowel precedes or follows them.