Xiao'erjing

Xiao'erjing or Xiao'erjin (Chinese小儿 经/小儿 锦/小儿 经/小儿 锦, Pinyin Xiǎo'érjīng / Xiǎo'érjǐn, Xiao'erjing: شيو عر د ) or, in its shortened form, Xiaojing (Chinese 小 经/消 经/小 经/消 经, Pinyin Xiǎojīng / Xiaojing ) is the practice of Sinitic languages ​​such as Chinese (especially the Lanyin dialect, Zhongyuan dialect and Northeastern dialects ) or the Dungan language in the Arabic script to. Write It is used by many ethnic minorities in China belong to the Islamic faith (mostly Hui, but also of the Dongxiang and Salar ), and formerly by their Dungan ancestors in Central Asia. Soviet writing reform forced the Dungan, the Xiao'erjing by the Latin orthography and later replaced by a Cyrillic alphabet, which is still used today.

Like other writing systems that are based on the Arabic alphabet, Xiao'erjing is written from right to left. The Xiao'erjing - writing system is the current writing system used for the Uighur language similar in that all vowels are explicitly marked at any time. This is contrary to the practice, the short vowels in the majority of those languages ​​for which the Arabic script was adapted to omit (for example, in Arabic, Persian and Urdu ). This may happen in a Chinese syllable due to the paramount importance of the vowel.

• 4.1 Silbenanlaute ( initials ) and consonants
• 4.2 Silbenendlaute ( finals ) and vowels 4.2.1 Chinese

Nomenclature

Xiao'erjing has no default name can be referenced. In Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, eastern Shaanxi and also in Beijing, Tianjin and the northeastern provinces of Scripture as " Xiǎo'érjīng " is referred to Xiǎojīng what then shortened or " Xiaojing " (that "Xiao " has in it in the above areas, " repeat " the meaning of ). In Ningxia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Shaanxi and western in the northwestern provinces of the font is called " Xiǎo'érjǐn ". The Dongxiang speak of it as the " Dongxiang font " or " font Huihui "; the Salar refer to them as " Salar - font "; the Dungan in Central Asia used a as " Hui- font " designated variant of Xiao'erjing before they abandoned the Arabic script in favor of the Latin and Cyrillic script.

Origins

Since the arrival of Islam during the Tang Dynasty ( beginning in the mid-7th century ), many speakers of Arabic or Persian migrated to China. Centuries later assimilated with the local 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 from the Chinese written language and Chinese characters had only basic knowledge, they began with the Chinese as their native language and a good knowledge of the Arabic alphabet to use the Arabic alphabet instead of Chinese characters for the notation of them spoken language. Frequently comments have been posted on Chinese as a mnemonic for the suras. This method was also used to write Chinese translations of a learned in the madrasas Arabic vocabulary. So gradually developed and standardized to some degree a system for writing the Chinese language in Arabic script. The currently oldest known artifact with Xiao'erjing - Script is a stone stele in the courtyard of Daxue Xixiang Mosque in Xi'an in Shaanxi Province. The stele is described with Arabic verses from the Koran as well as a short note to the names of those who have described in Xiao'erjing. The stele dates from the year 740 AH in the Islamic calendar (between July 9, 1339 and 26 Juni1340 ).

Use

Xiao'erjing can be divided into two groups: the " mosque " system and the " everyday use " system. The " mosque " system is the system that is used by the students and imams in mosques and madrasas. It contains a lot of Arabic and Persian religious vocabulary and does not use Chinese characters. This system is relatively standard and can be considered as a true writing system. The " everyday use " system is the system used by the less educated to personal Zweckenzum writing and for correspondence. Often simple Chinese characters are mixed into the Arabic alphabet, mostly in non-religious matters, and that it contains relatively few Arabic and Persian loanwords. This practice may differ dramatically from person to person. The system is devised based himself on his own understanding of the Arabic and Persian alphabet by the writer [? ] And designed according to its own dialect pronunciation. Frequently only the sender and the addressee of the letter can understand what is written completely, while for others it is very difficult to read.

Modern use

In recent times the use of the Xiao'erjing because of the economic boom in the People's Republic of China and the improvement of teaching of Chinese characters in China's rural areas is almost gone. Chinese characters with Hanyu Pinyin Xiao'erjing have since been replaced. Since the mid- 1980s, the Xiao'erjing has undergone much research interest both in China and abroad. On-site research has been done and the writers of the Xiao'erjing font were interviewed. Handwritten and printed Xiao'erjing materials were also collected by the researchers, the collection of Nanjing University is the most comprehensive.

Alphabet

Xiao'erjing has 36 letters 4 of which are used for the representation of vowel sounds. The 36 characters consist of 28 taken from the Arabic letters, 4 adopted from the Persian letters along with two modified letters and 4 extra letters that exist only in Xiao'erjing.

Silbenanlaute ( initials ) and consonants

Silbenendlaute ( finals ) and vowels

Chinese

Vowels in Arabic and Persian borrowings follow their respective orthographies, that it is only the long vowels are represented and the short vowels are omitted.

Although the Sukun () can be omitted if Arabic and Persian borrowings are represented, it can not be omitted if Chinese is presented. The exception is that they are omitted for frequently used monosyllabic words that can have the Sukun in Scripture. Be written If, for example, "的" and "和" stressed " د " and " ح ", they can be written with the unstressed Sukuns " د " and " ح " or without Sukuns " د "and" ح ".

Similarly, the Sukun can also Chinese - represent [ ŋ ] Silbenauslaut (final). It is sometimes replaced by the Fathatan (), which Kasratan () or Dammatan (). In polysyllabic words, the long vowel ā Performing Alif ( ا ) may be omitted at the end of the word and be replaced by a short vowel ă representing Fatha ().

Xiao'erjing is the Hanyu Pinyin in ways similar to that words are written as one unit with white space between them (which is not the case with the Chinese script ). If Chinese words are represented, represents the Shadda character represents a doubling of those syllable on which it is located. It has the same function as the Chinese character repetition " 々 ".

Arab punctuation marks can be used in Xiao'erjing as Chinese punctuation marks, they can also be mixed (Chinese points ( Juhao, U 3002 ) and enumeration commas ( 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 (vereinfacht):“人人生而自由，在尊严和权利上一律平等。他们赋有理性和良心，并应以兄弟关系的精神互相对待。”
• Chinese Characters (traditionell):「人人生而自由，在尊嚴和權利上一律平等。他們賦有理性和良心，並應以兄弟關係的精神互相對待。」
• Hanyu Pinyin: " Renren Sheng ér Ziyou, zài zūnyán hé Quanli shàng yílǜ píngděng tamen fù yǒu lǐxìng hé Liangxin, Bing Ying yǐ xiōngdiguānxì de JingShen Huxiang duìdài. . "
• English: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights They are endowed with reason and conscience and shoulderstand act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. ".

" 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. "