Dungan Language - Writing System

Writing System

The modern Dungan language is the only spoken Chinese that is written in the Cyrillic alphabet, as they lived under the Soviet rule. It is a Russian based alphabet plus four special letters: Җ, Ң, Ә, and Ў.

The modern Dungan alphabet, with IPA and Latin transcriptions
Cyrillic А/а Б/б В/в Г/г Д/д Е/е Ё/ё Ж/ж Җ/җ З/з И/и Й/й К/к Л/л
Name a бэ вэ гэ дэ e ё жэ җe зэ и ий кa эль
IPA a, ɑ p w k t iɛ iɔ ʐ tʂ, tɕ ts i, ei j kʰ l
Latin a b v g d (y)e yo zh, rzh zh z i (y)u, (y)i k l
Cyrillic М/м Н/н Ң/ң Ә/ә О/о П/п Р/р С/с Т/т У/у Ў/ў Ү/ү Ф/ф Х/х
Name эм эн ың ә o пэ эр эc тэ у ў ү эф xa
IPA m n ŋ ɤ ɔ pʰ ɚ, r s tʰ ɤu, u u y f x
Latin m n ng eh o p r s t u wu (y)u f kh
Cyrillic Ц/ц Ч/ч Ш/ш Щ/щ Ъ/ъ Ы/ы Ь/ь Э/э Ю/ю Я/я
Name цэ чэ шa щa нин xo ы ван xo э ю йa
IPA tsʰ tʂʰ, tɕʰ ʂ ɕ * ɪ, ɨə * ɛ iɤu ia, iɑ
Latin ts ch sh shch, hs `` `i ` e(i) yu ya
Note
  • The letters Ъ and Ь are only used to write Russian loanwords

Dungan is unique in that it is the only variety of the Chinese language which is not normally written using Chinese characters. Originally the Dungan, who were Muslim descendants of the Hui, wrote their language in an Arabic-based alphabet known as Xiao'erjing. The Soviet Union banned all Arabic scripts in the late 1920s, which led to a Latin orthography. The Latin orthography lasted until 1940, when the Soviet government promulgated the current Cyrillic-based system. Xiao'erjing is now virtually extinct in Dungan society, but it remains in limited use by some Hui communities in China.

The writing system is based on the standard 3-tone dialect. Tones marks or numbering do not appear in general-purpose writing, but are specified in dictionaries, even for loanwords.

Consonant chart:

Pinyin Palladiy Dungan Pinyin Palladiy Dungan Pinyin Palladiy Dungan Pinyin Palladiy Dungan
b б б p п п m м м f ф ф
d д д t т т n н н / л l л л
z цз з c ц ц s с с
j цз(ь) җ(ь) q ц(ь) ч(ь) x с(ь) щ(ь)
zh чж җ ch ч ч sh ш ш / с / ф r ж ж
g г г k к к h х х

Read more about this topic:  Dungan Language

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