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.
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]
Writing system
Salar does not have an established orthography, as Salars have traditionally preferred other written languages, such as Chinese.
Notes
- ^ a b Dwyer & 2007 (96)
- ^ Dwyer (2007:121)
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 Unpublished dissertation University of Washington.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.
References
- Dwyer, Arienne M (2007). Salar: A Study in Inner Asian Language Contact Processes; Part 1: Phonology. Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 3447040912.
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
