Salar language
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Salar language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator |
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This article or section appears to contradict itself about the Salar writing system. Is it Chinese, Arabic, or Latin?. Please see the talk page for more information. (February 2012) |
| Salar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salırça سالارچا |
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| Spoken in | China | |||
| Region | Qinghai, Gansu | |||
| Native speakers | 60,000 (1999) | |||
| Language family | ||||
| Writing system | Arabic, Chinese, Pinyin-based Latin, and a separate Latin alphabet | |||
| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-3 | slr | |||
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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 Yining, Xinjiang. The Salar number about 105,000 people, of whom about 60,000 speak the Salar language; the remaining 45,000 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.
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[edit] Status
The Salar language is the official language in all Salar autonomous areas.[1] Such autonomous areas are the Xunhua Salar Autonomous County and the Jishishan Bonan, Dongxiang and Salar Autonomous County.
[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.[2]
| Labial | Dental | Retroflex | Alveolopalatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | k | ɡ | q | ɢ | ||||||
| Affricate | t͡ʂ | d͡ʐ | t͡ɕ | d͡ʑ | ||||||||||
| Fricative | f | v | s | z | ʂ | ɕ | x | ʁ | h | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||||||||
| Approximant | l r | j | ||||||||||||
Salar vowels are as in Turkish, with the back vowels a, ɨ, o u and the corresponding front vowels e, i, ø, y.[3]
[edit] Chinese and Tibetan Influence
In Amdo, Salar language has heavy Chinese and Tibetan influence. Although of Turkic origin, major linguistic structures have been absorbed from Chinese. Around 20% of the vocabulary is of Chinese origin, and 10% is also of Tibetan origin. Yet the official Communist Chinese government policy deliberately covers up these influences in academic and linguistics studies, trying to emphasize the Turkic element and completely ignoring the Chinese in the Salar language.[4] The Salar use the Chinese writing system since they do not have their own.[5] Salar language has taken loans and influence from neighboring Chinese languages.[6] It is neighboring variants of Chinese which have loaned words to the Salar language.[7]
[edit] Writing system
Salar used to be written in Arabic script, they still use it at present.[8] There are calls to standardize the Arabic based script for Salar. However, the Chinese government has refused to do so, rejecting both calls by some Salar for a Latin script, and calls by Salar elders who disliked the Latin script to help standardize the Arabic script, leaving the Salar language without an official script.[9] This lack of an official script has led the Salar to use Chinese writing.[10]
Despite there being an unofficial Latin-script alphabet based on the orthography for Turkic languages for the Salar, the Latin script is unpopular among the Salar and has failed to catch on. Arabic script is much more popular among Salar. The government desires there to be no script available for them at all. The Arabic script has historical precedent among the Salar, centuries old documents in the Salar language were written in the Arabic script when discovered.[11]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Fèlix Martí (2005). Fèlix Martí. ed. Words and worlds: world languages review. Volume 52 of Bilingual education and bilingualism (illustrated ed.). Multilingual Matters. p. 123. ISBN 1853598275. http://books.google.de/books?id=9hrT4YGBNGEC&pg=PA123&dq=salar+china&hl=de&ei=F73OTeXDAenw0gGlquntDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CGIQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=salar%20china&f=false. Retrieved 6-3-2011.
- ^ a b Dwyer & 2007 (96)
- ^ Dwyer (2007:121)
- ^ William Safran (1998). William Safran. ed. Nationalism and ethnoregional identities in China. Volume 1 of Cass series--nationalism and ethnicity (illustrated ed.). Psychology Press. p. 72. ISBN 071464921X. http://books.google.com/books?id=MT0VFdKklYoC&pg=PA72&dq=salar+han+chinese&hl=en&ei=XFGtTOiPJYWclgf-uInXBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=salar%20han%20chinese&f=false. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- ^ Thammy Evans (2006). Great Wall of China: Beijing & Northern China (illustrated ed.). Bradt Travel Guides. p. 42. ISBN 1841621587. http://books.google.com/books?id=C5w9M8n9_a8C&pg=PA42&dq=salar+turkic+han+chinese&hl=en&ei=klGtTITwDoPGlQfv27yGBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CE8Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=salar%20turkic%20han%20chinese&f=false. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- ^ Raymond Hickey (2010). Raymond Hickey. ed. The Handbook of Language Contact (illustrated ed.). John Wiley and Sons. p. 664. ISBN 140517580X. http://books.google.com/books?id=xGZedef70zAC&pg=PA664&dq=yellow+uyghurs&hl=en&ei=XyDPTK34N8b_lgeZxt3nCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- ^ Raymond Hickey (2010). Raymond Hickey. ed. The Handbook of Language Contact (illustrated ed.). John Wiley and Sons. p. 664. ISBN 140517580X. http://books.google.de/books?id=xGZedef70zAC&pg=PA664&dq=salar+xinjiang&hl=de&ei=aLrOTdLFN7Tr0QH6__meDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CFIQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=salar%20xinjiang&f=false. Retrieved 6-3-2011.
- ^ Ainslie Thomas Embree, ed. (1988). Encyclopedia of Asian history, Volume 4 (2 ed.). Scribner. p. 154. ISBN 0684189011. http://books.google.com/books?id=ilAYAAAAIAAJ&q=There+are+30000+speakers+of+Salar,+which+is+closely+related+to+Uighur,+virtually+all+of+whom+live+in+Gansu+Province,+China%3B+they+use+the+Arabic+script&dq=There+are+30000+speakers+of+Salar,+which+is+closely+related+to+Uighur,+virtually+all+of+whom+live+in+Gansu+Province,+China%3B+they+use+the+Arabic+script&hl=en&ei=fCglTcuTHoK8lQf2g_iHAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAA. Retrieved 2011-01-01.(Original from the University of Michigan)
- ^ William Safran (1998). William Safran. ed. Nationalism and ethnoregional identities in China. Volume 1 of Cass series--nationalism and ethnicity (illustrated ed.). Psychology Press. p. 77. ISBN 071464921X. http://books.google.com/books?id=MT0VFdKklYoC&pg=PA77&dq=salar+arabic+script&hl=en&ei=2iclTcyiEISBlAebz7i5AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=salar%20arabic%20script&f=false. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
- ^ Thammy Evans (2006). Great Wall of China: Beijing & Northern China (illustrated ed.). Bradt Travel Guides. p. 42. ISBN 1841621587. http://books.google.com/books?id=C5w9M8n9_a8C&pg=PA42&dq=salar+arabic+script&hl=en&ei=rCklTfDjDYS8lQf81bC5AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=salar%20arabic%20script&f=false. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
- ^ Arienne M. Dwyer (2007). Salar: a study in Inner Asian language contact processes. Phonology, Page 1. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 91. ISBN 3447040912. http://books.google.com/books?id=ciShtCrJijIC&pg=PA91&dq=salar+arabic+script&hl=en&ei=2iclTcyiEISBlAebz7i5AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=salar%20arabic%20script&f=false. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
[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 3-447-04091-2.
[edit] External links
- Abstract of Article on Salar, includes some phrases (The Salar is written in Chinese Pinyin, not the Salar alphabet)
- REMARKS ON THE SALAR LANGUAGE
- Salar grammatical sketch
- Salar Language Materials
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