Bonan People - Language

Language

Islam in China
History History

Tang Dynasty • Song Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty • Ming Dynasty
Qing Dynasty • Dungan revolts (1862-1877, 1895-1896)

Panthay rebellion • 1911-Present
Major figures Chang Yuchun • Hu Dahai • Mu Ying • Yeheidie'erding

Hui Liangyu • Ma Bufang
Zheng He • Liu Zhi
Haji Noor • Yusuf Ma Dexin

Ma Hualong
Culture Cuisine • Martial arts

Chinese mosques • Sini

Islamic Association of China
Cities/Regions Hong Kong • Kashgar • Linxia
Ningxia • Taiwan • Xinjiang
Groups Hui • Uyhgurs

Kazakhs • Dongxiang
Kyrgyz • Salar
Bonan • Tajiks
Uzbeks • Tatars

Utsul • Tibetans

Both the Muslim Bonans in Gansu and their Buddhist cousins in Qinghai (officially classified as Monguor) have historically spoken the Bonan language, a Mongolic language. The Buddhist Bonan of Qinghai speak a slightly different dialect that the Muslim Bonan of Gansu. Whereas the Bonan language of Gansu has undergone Chinese influences, the Bonan language of Qinghai has been influenced by Tibetan.

They don't have a script for their language.

The Muslim Gansu Bonans are more numerous than their Buddhist Qinghai cousins (the estimates for the two groups were around 12,200 (in 1990), and around 3,500 (in 1980), respectively). However, it has been observed that in Gansu the use of Bonan language is declining (in favor of the local version – the "Hezhou dialect" – of Mandarin Chinese), while in Qinghai the language keeps being transmitted to younger generations.

Read more about this topic:  Bonan People

Famous quotes containing the word language:

    “The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture. Language is fossil poetry. As the limestone of the continent consists of infinite masses of the shells of animalcules, so language is made up of images or tropes, which now, in their secondary use, have long ceased to remind us of their poetic origin.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “For all symbols are fluxional; all language is vehicular and transitive, and is good, as ferries and horses are, for conveyance, not as farms and houses are, for homestead.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “It is silly to call fat people “gravitationally challenged”Ma self-righteous fetishism of language which is no more than a symptom of political frustration.”
    —Terry Eagleton (b. 1943)