There is a large amount of alliterative Uighur poetry found among the historical documents of Dunhuang. The use of alliteration in Uighur documents is not only limited to folk literature and religious poetry, but also appears in Buddhist documents, particularly in the prologues and postscripts of Buddhist scriptures. Furthermore, ancient Uighur peoples often used the alliterative form when translating Buddhist scriptures, which was highly unique for the time. The type of alliterative meter used in these texts is somewhat unique as well: the first words or syllables of the first sentence in a poem or text rhyme with that of the second sentence. The history of this form can be traced to the runic inscriptions in Old Turkic found in the Mongolian Plateau.The meter used by these inscriptions gradually became popularized throughout the region, was adopted and individualized by disparate local cultures, and ultimately exerted an influence on many Altaic languages.
