| Äynu | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in | China | |
| Region | Xinjiang | |
| Total speakers | 6,570 (2000)[1] | |
| Language family | Altaic | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | tut | |
| ISO 639-3 | aib | |
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| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Äynu (or Aini, Ejnu,[2] Abdal[1]) is a Turkic language spoken in western China known in various spelling as Aini, Aynu, Ainu, Eyni or by the Uyghur Abdal (ئابدال), in Russian sources Эйну́, Айну, Абдал, by the Chinese as Ainu. Some linguists call it a mixed language, having a mostly Turkic grammar, essentially Uyghur, but a mainly Iranian vocabulary[3]. Other linguists argue that it does not meet the technical requirements of a mixed language.[4]. It is spoken by the Äynu, a nomadic people. The Äynu people call their language Äynú (ئەينۇ) [ɛjˈnu]. Due to the variant Aini it has to be distinguished from the Ainu language of Japan and Russia, to which it is not related.[4]
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Geographic distribution
Äynu is spoken in Western China in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on the edge of the Taklimakan Desert in the Tarim Basin.
Use as a secret language
The only speakers of Äynu are adult men. Uyghur is spoken with outsiders and with women, who do not speak Äynu. Uyghur is spoken at home when it is not necessary to disguise one's speech.[5]
Sounds
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | k | ɡ | q | |||||
| Affricate | t͡ʃ | d͡ʒ | ||||||||||
| Fricative | v | s | z | ʃ | χ | ʁ | ɦ | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||||||
| Flap/Tap | r | |||||||||||
| Lateral | l | |||||||||||
| Approximant | j | |||||||||||
Vowels
Numerals
Äynu numerals are borrowed from Persian:
1 yäk, 2 du, 3 si, 4 čar, 5 pänǰ, 6 šäš, 7 häp(t), 8 häš(t), 9 noh, 10 dah, 20 bist, 100 säd, 1000 hazar
Notes
- ^ a b Äynu language at Ethnologue
- ^ Lee-Smith, Mei W. (1996), "The Ejnu language", in Wurm, Stephen A., Atlas of languages of intercultural communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas, Volume 2, Part 1. (Volume 13 of Trends in Linguistics, Documentation Series)., Walter de Gruyter, p. 851, ISBN 3110134179, http://books.google.ca/books?id=glU0vte5gSkC
- ^ Bakker, Peter (2003), "Mixed Languages as Autonomous Systems", in Matras, Yaron; Bakker, Peter, The Mixed Language Debate: Theoretical and Empirical Advances, Trends in Linguistics, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 107–150, ISBN 3110177765
- ^ a b Johansson 2001
- ^ Johansson, pg. 22.
References
- Hayasi, Tooru (1999). A Šäyxil vocabulary : a preliminary report of linguistic research in Šäyxil Village, southwestern Xinjiang. Kyoto: Faculty of Letters, Kyoto University.
- Hayasi, Tooru (2000). Lexical copying in Turkic: The case of Eynu. In: Asli Göksel - Celia Kerslake (eds.): Studies on Turkish and Turkic languages. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Turkish Linguistics, Oxford, 1998. Turcologica 46. pp. 433-439. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
- Lars Johansson. 2001. Discoveries on the Turkic Linguistic Map. Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul Publications 5. Stockholm: Svenska Forskningsinstitutet i Istanbul. Page available online
- Tietze, Andreas & Ladstätter, Otto (1994). Die Abdal (Äynu) in Xinjiang. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-historische Klasse. Sitzungsberichte 604. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
External links
- Äynu language at Ethnologue
- Äynu language at Linguist List
- Discoveries on the Turkic Linguistic Map
- Numerals in Äynu
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