Salar language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Salar
Salarça
撒拉语
Native toChina
RegionQinghai, Gansu
Native speakers
70,000 (2002)[1]
Language family
Turkic
Dialects
  • Ili Salar
  • Qinghai Salar
Writing system
Pinyin-based Latin and Chinese characters
Official status
Official language in
 China
Language codes
ISO 639-3slr
Glottologsala1264
ELPSalar
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

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 Ili, Xinjiang. It is a primary branch and an eastern outlier of the Oghuz branch of Turkic, the other Oghuz languages (Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen) being spoken mostly in Western and Central Asia. The Salar number about 105,000 people, about 70,000[6] (2002) speak the Salar language; under 20,000[6] monolinguals.

According to Salar tradition and Chinese chronicles, the Salars are the descendants of the Salur tribe, belonging to the Oghuz Turk tribe of the Western Turkic Khaganate. During the Tang dynasty, the Salur tribe dwelt within China's borders and lived since then in the Qinghai-Gansu border region.[7][8] Contemporary Salar has some influence from Chinese and Amdo Tibetan.

Classification[]

Due to the ethnonym "Salur", which is also shared by some modern Turkmen tribes, linguists historically tried to establish a link between Turkmen varieties and Salar language. Most modern linguists today classify Salar as an independent primary branch of Oghuz languages.[9][10]

History[]

Origins and development[]

Ancestor of the modern Salar language is thought to be the first language that diverged from the , a hypothetical language that all modern Oghuz languages believed to be descended from. It is brought to the region by a small, nomadic and Muslim community, and received significant influence from other non-Oghuz Turkic languages such as Chagatai,[11] Kipchak and Karluk languages,[12] along with non-Turkic languages belonging to the Sino-Tibetan family.

After the Jahriyya revolt, some Salars were deported to Ili valley and established a new community in the region. This led to the divergence of a distinctive dialect called influenced by the neighboring Kazakh and Uyghur languages.

Current situation[]

According to 2002 estimates Salars number about 105,000 people, and about 70,000 of them speak the Salar language. Only under 20,000 Salars are monolingual.[6][needs update]

The Salar language is the official language in all Salar autonomous areas.[5] Such autonomous areas are the Xunhua Salar Autonomous County and the Jishishan Bonan, Dongxiang and Salar Autonomous County. In Qinghai Province, most Salar people speak both Qinghai Mandarin (Chinese) and Salar. Rural Salars can speak Salar more fluently while urban Salars often assimilate more into the Chinese-speaking Hui Muslim population.[13]

Phonology[]

Salar phonology has been influenced by Chinese and Tibetan. In addition, /k, q/ and /ɡ, ɢ/ have become separate phonemes due to loanwords, as it has in other Turkic languages.[14]

Consonants[14]
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 w l r j

Salar vowels are as in Turkish, with the back vowels /a, ɯ, o, u/ and the corresponding front vowels /e, i, ø, y/.[15] In Ili Salar, the i and y high front vowels, when placed after an initial glides are spirantized with j transforming into ʝ.[16] Qinghai and Ili Salar have mostly the same consonantal development.[17]

Vocabulary[]

In Qinghai Province, the Salar language has a notable influence from Chinese and Tibetan.[18] 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.[19][why?] The Salar language has taken loans and influence from neighboring varieties of Chinese.[20] Vice versa, the neighboring variants of the Chinese language have also adopted loan words from the Salar language.[21]

For the verb "to do" Salar uses "ät" (compare Turkish et).[22] The participle miš is used by Salar (compare Turkish -mış).[23][24]

Dialects[]

The Qing Empire deported some Salars who belonged to the Jahriyya Sufi order to the Ili valley which is in modern-day Xinjiang. Today, a community of about four thousand Salars speaking a distinct dialect of Salar still live in Ili. Salar migrants from Amdo (Qinghai) came to settle the region as religious exiles, migrants, and as soldiers enlisted in the Chinese army to fight rebels in Ili, often following the Hui.[25] The distinctive dialect of the Ili Salar differs from the other Salar dialects because the neighboring Kazakh and Uyghur languages in Ili influenced it.[26] The Ili Salar population numbers around 4,000 people.[27] There have been instances of misunderstanding between speakers of Ili Salar and Qinghai Salar due to the divergence of the dialects.[28] The differences between the two dialect result in a "clear isogloss".[29]

Writing system[]

Salars mostly use Chinese for written purposes while using Salar language for spoken purposes.[30][31][32]

Salar hasn't had an official script, but it has sometimes been written down using the Arabic script.[33] Some Salar call for a Latin script and some Salar who dislike the Pinyin-based Latin script desire to use Chinese characters instead.[34] This lack of an official script has led most Salar to use the Chinese writing system.[35] China offered the Salar an official writing system quite similar to the Uyghur Yengi Yezik, but it was rejected for similar reasons as Yengi Yezik was rejected in Xinjiang.

Young Salar have also started to use a Salar script based on the orthography for Turkic languages. It is quiet popular by Salars for writing Salar down on the internet. There are two main variants that are used, TB30 and TB31. Arabic script is also still popular among the Salar. The Arabic script has historical precedent among the Salar; centuries-old documents in the Salar language were written in the Arabic script when discovered.[36][better source needed]

Grigory Potanin used the Cyrillic alphabet to record a glossary of Salar,[37][38][39] Western Yugur language and Eastern Yugur language[40][41][42][43] in his 1893 Russian language book The Tangut-Tibetan Borderlands of China and Central Mongolia with assistance from Vasily Radlov.[44]

William Woodville Rockhill wrote a glossary of Salar in his 1894 book Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet in 1891 and 1892 using the Latin alphabet based on the Wade–Giles romanization system used for Chinese.[45][46][47]

TB30[]

Aa Bb Cc Çç Dd Ee Ff Gg
Ğğ Hh İi Iı Kk Ll Mm Nn Ññ
Oo Öö Pp Qq Rr Ss Şş Tt
Uu Üü Yy Vv Zz

Pinyin-based Latin alphabet[]

A romanization of the Mengda dialect of Salar based on Pinyin has been developed, created by a Salar, Ma Quanlin, who lives in Xunhua.[48] Like Pinyin, which is used to romanize Mandarin Chinese, this Salar romanization is divided into categories of consonants and vowels.[49] Letters that occur both in Pinyin and romanization of Mengda Salar share the same sound values.[50]

consonants[]

Pinyin IPA English approximation Explanation
b [p] spit unaspirated p, as in spit
p [pʰ] pay strongly aspirated p, as in pit
m [m] may as in English mummy
f [f] fair as in English fun
d [t] stop unaspirated t, as in stop
t [tʰ] take strongly aspirated t, as in top
n [n] nay as in English nit
l [l] lay as in English love
l /ð/ those as in English the
g [k] skill unaspirated k, as in skill
g̲ /ɣ/ no equivalent in English "thicker and deeper" version of g
k [kʰ] kay strongly aspirated k, as in kill
h [x] loch roughly like the Scots ch. English h as in hay or hot is an acceptable approximation.
j [tɕ] hatch No equivalent in English. Like q, but unaspirated. Not the s in Asia, despite the common English pronunciation of "Beijing".
q [tɕʰ] cheek No equivalent in English. Like cheek, with the lips spread wide with ee. Curl the tip of the tongue downwards to stick it at the back of the teeth and strongly aspirate.
x [ɕ] she No equivalent in English. Like she, with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee.
zh [tʂ] junk Rather like ch (a sound between choke, joke, true, and drew, tongue tip curled more upwards). Voiced in a toneless syllable.
ch [tʂʰ] church as in chin, but with the tongue curled upwards; very similar to nurture in American English, but strongly aspirated.
sh [ʂ] shirt as in shoe, but with the tongue curled upwards; very similar to marsh in American English
r [ʐ], [ɻ] ray Similar to the English z in azure and r in reduce, but with the tongue curled upwards, like a cross between English "r" and French "j". In Cyrillised Chinese the sound is rendered with the letter "ж".
z [ts] reads unaspirated c, similar to something between suds and cats; as in suds in a toneless syllable
c [tsʰ] hats like the English ts in cats, but strongly aspirated, very similar to the Czech and Polish c.
s [s] say as in sun
y [j], [ɥ] yea as in yes. Before a u, pronounce it with rounded lips.*
w [w] way as in water.*
v [v] vitamin as in very.

Vowels[]

Pinyin IPA Form with zero initial Explanation
a [ɑ] a as in "father"
o [ɔ] (n/a) Approximately as in "office" in British accent; the lips are much more rounded.
e [ɯ̯ʌ], [ə] e a diphthong consisting first of a back, unrounded semivowel (which can be formed by first pronouncing "w" and then spreading the lips without changing the position of the tongue) followed by a vowel similar to English "duh". Many unstressed syllables in Chinese use the schwa [ə] (idea), and this is also written as e.
i [i] yi like English bee.
u [u] wu like English "oo"
ai [aɪ̯] ai like English "eye", but a bit lighter
ei [eɪ̯] ei as in "hey"
ui [u̯eɪ̯] wei as u + ei;
ao [ɑʊ̯] ao approximately as in "cow"; the a is much more audible than the o
iu [i̯ɤʊ̯] you as i + ou
ie [i̯ɛ] ye as i + ê; but is very short; e (pronounced like ê) is pronounced longer and carries the main stress (similar to the initial sound ye in yet)
an [an] an as in "ban" in British English (a more open fronted a)
en [ən] en as in "taken"
in [in] yin as i + n
un [yn] yun as ü + n;
ang [ɑŋ] ang as in German Angst (starts with the vowel sound in father and ends in the velar nasal; like song in some dialects of American English)
eng [əŋ] eng like e in en above but with ng added to it at the back
ing [iŋ] ying as i + ng
ong [ʊŋ], [u̯əŋ] weng starts with the vowel sound in book and ends with the velar nasal sound in sing; as u + eng in zero initial.

Sample text[]

Here is given an excerpt of the "kiš yiγen ġadïn kiš" ("people-eating woman") story from Ma Wei, Ma Jianzhong & Kevin Stuart's work The Folklore of China's Islamic Salar Nationality.[51][52]

oholdï bir ninor vumiš
aŋa kiǰičix anor vara
bir gunor ninačux anasini parlïǰani ziden yanbar(r)
yarïm yoldï ulïr xari ġadïnkïšor učiramiš
xari ġadïnkiščix daš išdende zoğziba(r)
bu ninačix yana varǰani aŋnišmiš
e xari nina sen eyiŋ bir kiščuγïŋ munda natburi dimiš

Long ago there was a granny.
She had a little daughter.
One day, the granny came back from the market with her daughter.
Halfway they run into an old woman.
The old woman was sitting on a stone.
This granny came towards her and struck up a conversation:
"Hey old granny, what are you doing here, one person all by yourself ”,
she said.

Notes[]

  1. ^ Salar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Contributors Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie (revised ed.). Elsevier. 2010. p. 1109. ISBN 978-0080877754. Retrieved 24 April 2014.CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ^ Olson, James Stuart (1998). An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 297. ISBN 978-0313288531. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  4. ^ Roos, Marti (1998). "Preaspiration in Western Yugur monosyllables". In Johanson, Lars (ed.). The Mainz Meeting: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Turkish Linguistics, August 3–6, 1994. Turcologica Series. Contributor Éva Ágnes Csató. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 28. ISBN 978-3447038645. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  5. ^ a b Martí, Fèlix; et al. (2005). Words and worlds: world languages review (illustrated ed.). Multilingual Matters. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-85359-827-2. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
  6. ^ a b c Ethnologue.com :report for language code:slr
  7. ^ Erdal, Marcel; Nevskaya, Irina, eds. (2006). Exploring the Eastern Frontiers of Turkic. Volume 60 of Turcologica Series. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. xi. ISBN 978-3447053105. Retrieved 24 April 2014. |volume= has extra text (help)
  8. ^ "China's Minority Peoples - The Salars". Cultural-china.com. Cultural China. 2007–2014. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  9. ^ Erdal, Marcel (2015). "Ana Oğuzca Ve Selçuklu Oğuzcasi". 5. Uluslararası Türkiyat Araştırmaları Sempozyumu Bildirileri.
  10. ^ "Glottolog 4.4 - Salar". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  11. ^ Turkic Languages, Volumes 1–2. Harrassowitz Verlag. 1998. pp. 50, 55, 62. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  12. ^ Johanson, Lars; Csató, Éva, eds. (1998). The Turkic Languages. Volume 60 of Turcologica Series (illustrated, reprint ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 400. ISBN 978-0415082006. Retrieved 24 April 2014. |volume= has extra text (help)
  13. ^ Dwyer (2007:90)
  14. ^ a b Dwyer (2007:96)
  15. ^ Dwyer (2007:121)
  16. ^ Dwyer (2007:116)
  17. ^ Dwyer (2007:212)
  18. ^ Johanson, Lars; Utas, Bo, eds. (2000). Evidentials: Turkic, Iranian and Neighbouring Languages. Volume 24 of Empirical approaches to language typology. Walter de Gruyter. p. 58. ISBN 978-3110161588. ISSN 0933-761X. Retrieved 24 April 2014. |volume= has extra text (help)
  19. ^ 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 978-0-7146-4921-4. Retrieved 2010-06-28. |volume= has extra text (help)
  20. ^ Raymond Hickey (2010). Raymond Hickey (ed.). The Handbook of Language Contact (illustrated ed.). John Wiley and Sons. p. 664. ISBN 978-1-4051-7580-7. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  21. ^ Raymond Hickey (2010). Raymond Hickey (ed.). The Handbook of Language Contact (illustrated ed.). John Wiley and Sons. p. 664. ISBN 978-1-4051-7580-7. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  22. ^ Hickey, Raymond, ed. (2010). The Handbook of Language Contact (illustrated ed.). John Wiley & Sons. p. 665. ISBN 978-1405175807. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  23. ^ Göksel, Aslı; Kerslake, Celia, eds. (2000). Studies on Turkish and Turkic Languages: Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Turkish Linguistics, Lincoln College, Oxford, August 12–14, 1998. Volume 46 of Turcologica Series (illustrated ed.). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 201. ISBN 978-3447042932. Retrieved 24 April 2014. |volume= has extra text (help)
  24. ^ Hahn, Reinhard F. (1988). "Notes on the Origin and Development of the Salar Language". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 42 (2/3): 248, 259, 260. JSTOR 23657773.
  25. ^ Dwyer (2007:79)
  26. ^ Boeschoten, Hendrik; Rentzsch, Julian, eds. (2010). Turcology in Mainz. Volume 82 of Turcologica Series. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 279. ISBN 978-3447061131. Retrieved 1 April 2013. |volume= has extra text (help)
  27. ^ Dwyer (2007:77)
  28. ^ Dwyer (2007:82)
  29. ^ Dwyer (2007:86)
  30. ^ Guo, Rongxing (2012). Understanding the Chinese Economies. Academic Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0123978264. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  31. ^ "The Salar Nationality". cultural-china.com. Cultural China. 2007–2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2013.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  32. ^ "China's Minority Peoples – The Salars". cultural-china.com. Cultural China. 2007–2014. Archived from the original on 22 May 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2013.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  33. ^ Embree, Ainslie Thomas; Lewis, Robin Jeanne (1988). Embree, Ainslie Thomas (ed.). Encyclopedia of Asian history. 4 (2 ed.). Scribner. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-684-18901-7.
  34. ^ Safran (1998). Nationalism and Ethnoregional Identities in China (illustrated ed.). London: Frank Cass. p. 77. ISBN 0-7146-4921-X.
  35. ^ Evans, Thammy (2006). Great Wall of China: Beijing & Northern China (illustrated ed.). Bradt Travel Guides. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-84162-158-6.
  36. ^ Dwyer (2007:91)
  37. ^ Potanin, Grigory Nikolayevich (Григорий Николаевич Потанин) (1893). Tangutsko-Tibetskaya okraina Kitaya i Tsentralnaya Mongoliya: puteshestvie G.N. Potanina 1884–1886 Тангутско-Тибетская окраина Китая и Центральная Монголія: путешествіе Г.Н. Потанина 1884–1886. Typ. A. S. Suvoryna. pp. 1–.
  38. ^ Potanin, Grigory Nikolayevich (Григорий Николаевич Потанин) (1893). Tangutsko-Tibetskaya okraina Kitaya i Tsentralnaya Mongoliya: puteshestvie G.N. Potanina 1884–1886 Тангутско-Тибетская окраина Китая и Центральная Монголія: путешествіе Г.Н. Потанина 1884–1886. Typ. A. S. Suvoryna. pp. 426–.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  39. ^ Potanin, Grigory Nikolayevich (Григорий Николаевич Потанин) (1893). Tangutsko-Tibetskaya okraina Kitaya i Tsentralnaya Mongoliya: puteshestvie G.N. Potanina 1884–1886 Тангутско-Тибетская окраина Китая и Центральная Монголія: путешествіе Г.Н. Потанина 1884–1886. 2. Typ. A. S. Suvoryna. p. 426.
  40. ^ "Yugurology". The Western Yugur Steppe. Archived from the original on October 5, 2003.
  41. ^ Potanin, Grigory Nikolayevich (Григорий Николаевич Потанин) (1893). Tangutsko-Tibetskaya okraina Kitaya i Tsentralnaya Mongoliya: puteshestvie G.N. Potanina 1884–1886 Тангутско-Тибетская окраина Китая и Центральная Монголія: путешествіе Г.Н. Потанина 1884–1886. Typ. A. S. Suvoryna.
  42. ^ Potanin, Grigory Nikolayevich (Григорий Николаевич Потанин) (1893). Tangutsko-Tibetskaya okraina Kitaya i Tsentralnaya Mongoliya: puteshestvie G.N. Potanina 1884–1886 Тангутско-Тибетская окраина Китая и Центральная Монголія: путешествіе Г.Н. Потанина 1884–1886. 2. Typ. A. S. Suvoryna.
  43. ^ Potanin, Grigory Nikolayevich (Григорий Николаевич Потанин) (1893). Tangutsko-Tibetskaya okraina Kitaya i Tsentralnaya Mongoliya: puteshestvie G.N. Potanina 1884–1886 Тангутско-Тибетская окраина Китая и Центральная Монголія: путешествіе Г.Н. Потанина 1884–1886. Typ. A. S. Suvoryna.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  44. ^ Poppe, Nicholas (1953). "Remarks on the Salar Language" (PDF). Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 16 (3/4): 438–477. doi:10.2307/2718250. JSTOR 2718250. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-16.
  45. ^ Poppe, Nicholas (1953). "Remarks on the Salar Language" (PDF). Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 16 (3/4): 438–477. doi:10.2307/2718250. JSTOR 2718250. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-16.
  46. ^ William Woodville Rockhill (1894). Diary of a Journey Through Mongolia and Tibet in 1891 and 1892. Smithsonian Institution. pp. 373–376.
  47. ^ Rockhill, W. W. (1892). "[Letter from W. W. Rockhill]". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland: 598–602. JSTOR 25197112.
  48. ^ Ma, Quanlin; Ma, Wanxiang; Ma, Zhicheng (1993). Stuart, Kevin (ed.). Salar Language Materials (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers, No. 43. Philadelphia, PA: Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania. p. 3. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  49. ^ Ma, Quanlin; Ma, Wanxiang; Ma, Zhicheng (1993). Stuart, Kevin (ed.). Salar Language Materials (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers, No. 43. Philadelphia, PA: Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania. p. 3. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  50. ^ Ma, Quanlin; Ma, Wanxiang; Ma, Zhicheng (1993). Stuart, Kevin (ed.). Salar Language Materials (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers, No. 43. Philadelphia, PA: Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania. p. 3. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  51. ^ Ma, Wei; Ma, Jianzhong; Stuart, Kevin (2001). The Folklore of China's Islamic Salar Nationality. Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen Press. OCLC 606504539.
  52. ^ Robbeets, Martin; Cuyckens, Hubert, eds. (2013). Shared Grammaticalization: With Special Focus on the Transeurasian Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 248–249. ISBN 978-90-272-0599-5. OCLC 875771914.

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.[1][2]
  • Dwyer, Arienne M (2007). Salar: A Study in Inner Asian Language Contact Processes; Part 1: Phonology. Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 3-447-04091-2.

References[]

  1. ^ Johanson, Lars; Utas, Bo, eds. (2000). Evidentials: Turkic, Iranian and Neighbouring Languages. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 59. ISBN 3-11-016158-3.
  2. ^ Yakup, Abdurishid (2005). The Turfan Dialect of Uyghur (illustrated ed.). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 479. ISBN 3-447-05233-3.

External links[]

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