Salar language

Salar
Salarcha
撒拉语
Native toChina
RegionQinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang
EthnicitySalar
Native speakers
70,000 (2002)[1]
Dialects
  • Ili Salar
  • Gaizi (Jiezi)
  • Mengda
Pinyin-based Latin and Chinese characters
Official status
Official language in
 China
Language codes
ISO 639-3slr
Glottologsala1264
ELPSalar
Salar is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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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 Ili, Xinjiang. It is a primary branch and an eastern outlier of the Oghuz branch of Turkic, the other Oghuz languages being spoken mostly in West and Central Asia. The Salar number about 105,000 people, about 70,000[6] (2002) speak the Salar language; under 20,000[6] are monolinguals.

According to Salar tradition and Chinese chronicles, the Salars are the descendants of the Salur tribe, belonging to the Oghuz Turk tribe of the Western Turkic Khaganate. During the Tang dynasty, the Salur tribe dwelt within China's borders and since then has lived within the Qinghai-Gansu border region.[7][8] Contemporary Salar has some influence from Chinese and Amdo Tibetan.

  1. ^ Salar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Contributors Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie (revised ed.). Elsevier. 2010. p. 1109. ISBN 978-0080877754. Retrieved 24 April 2014.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ^ Olson, James Stuart (1998). An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 297. ISBN 978-0313288531. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  4. ^ Roos, Marti (1998). "Preaspiration in Western Yugur monosyllables". In Johanson, Lars (ed.). The Mainz Meeting: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Turkish Linguistics, August 3–6, 1994. Turcologica Series. Contributor Éva Ágnes Csató. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 28. ISBN 978-3447038645. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  5. ^ Martí, Fèlix; et al. (2005). Words and worlds: world languages review (illustrated ed.). Multilingual Matters. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-85359-827-2. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
  6. ^ a b Ethnologue.com :report for language code:slr
  7. ^ Erdal, Marcel; Nevskaya, Irina, eds. (2006). Exploring the Eastern Frontiers of Turkic. Vol. 60 of Turcologica Series. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. xi. ISBN 978-3447053105. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  8. ^ "China's Minority Peoples - The Salars". Cultural-china.com. Cultural China. 2007–2014. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2013.