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Salar is a Turkic language spoken by the Salar people, who mainly live in the provinces of Qinghai and Gansu in China; some also live in Ghulja, Xinjiang. The Salar number about 90,000 people, of whom about 70,000 speak the Salar language; the remaining 20,000 speak Chinese.
The Salar arrived at their current location in the 14th century, having migrated there from the west, according to a Salar legend from Samarkand. Linguistic evidence points to a possible western Turkic, Oghuz origin of the Salar. Contemporary Salar is heavily influenced by contact with Tibetan and Chinese.
[edit] Phonology
Salar phonology has been influenced by Tibetan and Chinese. In addition, /k, q/ and /g, ɢ/ have become separate phonemes due to loanwords, as it has in other Turkic languages.[1]
Salar vowels are as in Turkish, with the back vowels a, ɨ, o u and the corresponding front vowels e, i, ø, y.[2]
[edit] Writing system
Salar does not have an established orthography, as Salars have traditionally preferred other written languages, such as Chinese.
- ^ a b Dwyer & 2007 (96)
- ^ Dwyer (2007:121)
[edit] Sources
- Hahn, R. F. 1988. Notes on the Origin and Development of the Salar Language, Acta Orientalia Hungarica XLII (2-3), 235-237.
- Dwyer, A. 1996. Salar Phonology. Unpublished dissertation University of Washington.
- Dwyer, A. M. 1998. The Turkic strata of Salar: An Oghuz in Chaghatay clothes? Turkic Languages 2, 49-83.
[edit] References
- Dwyer, Arienne M (2007). Salar: A Study in Inner Asian Language Contact Processes; Part 1: Phonology. Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 3447040912.
[edit] External links
