Xiao'erjing
Xiao'erjing ( Chinese 小兒 經 / 小儿 经 , Pinyin Xiǎo'érjīng , Xiao'erjing: شِيَوْ عَر دٍ) or Xiao'erjin ( 小兒 錦 / 小儿 锦 , Xiǎo'érjǐn ) or Xiaojing for short ( 小 經 / 小 经 or 消 經 / 消 经 , Xiāojīng ) is the practice of Sinitic languages like Chinese (especially the Lanyin dialect -, Zhongyuan dialect - and Northeastern dialect ) or the Dungan language in Arabic script . It is used by many ethnic minorities who belong to the Islamic faith in China (mostly Hui , but also by the Dongxiang and Salar ) and earlier by their Dungan ancestors in Central Asia . Soviet writing reform forced the Dungans to replace the Xiao'erjing with Latin orthography and later with a Cyrillic alphabet , which is still in use today.
Like other writing systems based on the Arabic alphabet , Xiao'erjing is written from right to left. The Xiao'erjing writing system is similar to the current writing system used for the Uighur language in that all vowels are explicitly marked at all times. This is in contrast to the practice of leaving out the short vowels in the majority of those languages for which the Arabic script has been adapted (such as in Arabic , Persian and Urdu ). This may happen because of the paramount importance of the vowel in a Chinese syllable.
nomenclature
Xiao'erjing has no standard name to refer to. In Shanxi , Hebei , Henan , Shandong , eastern Shaanxi and also in Beijing , Tianjin and the northeastern provinces , the script is referred to as "Xi'o'érjīng", which is then shortened to Xiǎojīng or "Xiāojīng" (which has "Xiāo" in it in the above areas the meaning of "repeat"). In Ningxia , Gansu , Inner Mongolia , Qinghai , western Shaanxi and the northwestern provinces , the script is referred to as "Xiǎo'érjǐn". The Dongxiang speak of it as the "Dongxiang script" or the "Huihui script"; the Salar they call "Salar script"; the Dungans in Central Asia used a variant of Xiao'erjing known as the "Hui script" before they gave up the Arabic script in favor of the Latin and Cyrillic script .
Origins
Since the arrival of Islam during the Tang Dynasty (beginning in the middle of the 7th century), many speakers of Arabic or Persian migrated to China. Centuries later, they assimilated with the native Han Chinese population and formed the Hui ethnic group . Many Chinese Muslim students attend madrasas (Koran schools) to study Classical Arabic and the Koran . Because these students had only basic knowledge of the written Chinese language and the Chinese characters , with Chinese as their mother tongue and a good knowledge of the Arabic alphabet, they began to use the Arabic alphabet instead of the Chinese characters for the notation of the language they spoke. Often, notes were written in Chinese as a reminder for the suras . This method was also used to write Chinese translations of Arabic vocabulary learned in the madrasas. Thus a system for writing the Chinese language in Arabic script gradually developed and standardized to a certain extent. The oldest known artifact with Xiao'erjing characters is a stone stele in the courtyard of the Daxue Xixiang Mosque in Xi'an in Shaanxi Province . The stele is inscribed with Arabic verses from the Koran and a short note on the names of those who described it in Xiao'erjing. The stele dates from the year AH 740 in the Islamic calendar (between July 9, 1339 and June 26, 1340 ).
use
Xiao'erjing can be divided into two groups: the "mosque system" and the "everyday use system". The "mosque system" is the system used by the disciples and imams in mosques and madrasas . It contains a large amount of Arabic and Persian religious vocabulary and does not use Chinese characters. This system is relatively standardized and can be viewed as a proper writing system. The "everyday use system" is the system used by the less educated for personal writing and correspondence purposes. Often, Chinese characters are simply mixed into the Arabic alphabet, mostly in non-religious matters, and it therefore contains relatively few Arabic and Persian loanwords. This practice can vary dramatically from person to person. The system is invented by the writer himself based on his own understanding of the Arabic and Persian alphabet [?] And designed according to his own dialect pronunciation. Often only the sender and addressee of the letter can fully understand what is being written, while it is very difficult for others to read.
Modern use
Recently, the use of Xiao'erjing has almost disappeared due to the economic boom in the People's Republic of China and the improvement in the teaching of Chinese characters in rural areas of China. Chinese characters together with Hanyu Pinyin have now replaced Xiao'erjing. Since the mid-1980s, Xiao'erjing has received a lot of research interest both in China and abroad. On-site research was carried out and the writers of the Xiao'erjing script were interviewed. Handwritten and printed Xiao'erjing materials were also collected by the researchers, with the collection from Nanjing University being the most extensive.
alphabet
Xiao'erjing has 36 letters, 4 of which are used to represent vowel sounds . The 36 letters consist of 28 letters adopted from Arabic, 4 letters adopted from Persian together with 2 modified letters and 4 extra letters that are only found in Xiao'erjing.
Syllable sounds and consonants
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Syllable finals and vowels
Chinese
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Vowels in Arabic and Persian borrowings follow their respective orthographies, namely only the long vowels are shown and the short vowels are omitted.
Although the sukun ( 
) can be omitted when representing Arabic and Persian borrowings, it cannot be omitted when representing Chinese. The exception is that frequently used monosyllabic words that may have the sukun are omitted from script. For example, if "的" and "和" emphasize "دِ" and "ﺣَ"Are written, they can be unstressed with the Sukuns"دْ "and "ﺣْ"Can be written or without sukuns"د" and "ﺣ".
Similarly, the Sukun can also represent the Chinese - [ŋ] -syllable final ( final ). It is sometimes replaced by the Fathatan ( 
), the Kasratan ( 
) or the Dammatan ( 
). In polysyllabic words, the alif representing the long vowel -ā (ﺎ) at the end of the word and replaced by a fatha ( 
) representing the short vowel -ă .
Xiao'erjing is similar to Hanyu Pinyin in that words are written as a unit with spaces between them (which is not the case with Chinese script ). When Chinese words are represented, the Schadda symbol represents a duplication of the syllable on which it lies. It has the same function as the Chinese repetitive character "々".
Arabic punctuation marks can be used in Xiao'erjing like Chinese punctuation marks, they can also be mixed (Chinese dots ( jùhào ; U + 3002 ) and bullet points ( dùnhào ) with Arabic commas and question marks).
example
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Xiao'erjing, Simplified and Traditional Chinese Characters, Hanyu Pinyin, English and German:
-
Xiao'erjing :
-
Chinese characters ( abbreviations ) :
“人 人生 而 自由 ， 在 尊严 和 权利 上 一律 平等。 他们 赋 有 有 理性 和 良心 ， 并 应 以 兄弟 关系 的 精神 互相 对待.” -
Chinese characters ( traditional characters) :
「人 人生 而 自由 ， 在 尊嚴 和 權利 上 一律 平等。 他們 賦 有 有 理性 和 良心 ， 並 應 以 兄弟 關係 的 精神 互相 對待。」 -
Hanyu Pinyin :
"Rénrén shēng ér zìyóu, zài zūnyán hé quánlì shàng yílǜ píngděng. Tāmen fù yǒu lǐxìng hé liángxīn, bìng yīng yǐ xiōngdiguānxì de jīngshén hùxiāng duìdài. " -
English :
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. "
“All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should meet one another in a spirit of brotherhood. "
See also
- Aljamiado (texts of other languages written in Arabic or Hebrew consonant script)
- Islam in China
- List of transcription systems for the Chinese languages
literature
- Xiaojing Qur'an, Dongxiang County, Lingxia Autonomous District, Gansu, PRC
- Huijiao Bizun 154 pp. (Photocopied edition).
- Muhammad Musah Abdulihakh: Islamic faith Q&A . 2nd ed. Beiguan Street Mosque, Xining, Qinghai, PRChina, the appendix contains a comparison table Xiao'erjing-Hanyu Pinyin-Arabic alphabet.
- Feng Zenglie: Beginning Dissertation on Xiao'erjing: Introducing a phonetic writing system of the Arabic script adopted for Chinese . In: The Arab World , Issue # 1, 1982.
- Chen Yuanlong. The Xiaojing writing system of the Dongxiang ethnicity . In: China's Dongxiang ethnicity . People's Publishing House of Gansu, 1999.
Web links
- Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Xiao-Er-Jin Corpus Collection and Digitization Project
- Sini (script) in the English language Wikipedia
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kona Yezik̡ on the English Wikipedia
- ^ Syllable onset in the English language Wikipedia
- ↑ Qiyamah in the English language Wikipedia
- ^ Syllable rime in the English language Wikipedia
- ↑ Iteration mark in the English language Wikipedia
- ↑ Art. 1 . In: Universal Declaration of Human Rights . December 10, 1948 ( unesco [accessed April 23, 2009]).