A Chinese-Arabic-Xiaoerjing dictionary from the early days of the People's Republic of China.

Xiao'erjing or Xiao'erjin (Simplified Chinese: 小儿经/小儿锦; Traditional Chinese: 小兒經/小兒錦; Pinyin: Xiǎo'érjīng/Xiǎo'érjǐn, Xiao'erjing: شِيَوْ عَر دٍ) or, in its shortened form, Xiaojing (Simplified Chinese: 小经/消经; Traditional Chinese: 小經/消經; Pinyin: Xiǎojīng/Xiāojīng) is the practice of writing Sinitic languages such as Mandarin (especially the Lanyin, Zhongyuan and Northeastern dialects) or the Dungan language in the Arabic script. It is used on occasion by many ethnic minorities who adhere to the Islamic faith in China (mostly the Hui, but also the Dongxiang, and the Salar), and formerly by their Dungan descendants in Central Asia. Soviet writing reforms forced the Dungan to replace Xiao'erjing with a Roman orthography and later a Cyrillic one, which they continue to use up until today. Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Traditional Chinese (Traditional Chinese: 正體字/繁體字, Simplified Chinese: 正体字/繁体字) refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Traditional Chinese (Traditional Chinese: 正體字/繁體字, Simplified Chinese: 正体字/繁体字) refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... ... Mandarin (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally speech of officials), or Beifanghua (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally Northern Dialect(s)), is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and south-western China. ... Zhongyuan Mandarin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ) ( Official Language of the Central Plain), spoken in the central part of Shaanxi, Henan, and southern part of Shandong, is a dialect of Chinese. ... Northeastern Mandarin or Northeast Chinese Dialect is a variety of Mandarin Chinese, known collectively as Dongbeihua (Traditional Chinese: 東北話; Simplified Chinese: 东北话; pinyin: DōngbÄ›ihuà; literally Northeast Speech/Language). Northeastern dialect is very similar to the Beijing dialect, upon which Standard Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua) is based. ... The Dungan language (Dungan: Хуэйзў йүян Huejzw jyian, Russian: tr. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing the Arabic language, which is the language of the Quran, the holy book of Islam. ... Ethnolinguistic map of China For a list of ethnic groups in China, see List of ethnic groups in China. ... Islam has a rich heritage in China. ... The Hui people (Chinese: ; Pinyin: , Xiaoerjing: حُوِ Ø°ÙŽÙˆ )are a Chinese ethnic group, typically distinguished by their practice of the Islamic religion. ... The Dongxiang people (autonym: Sarta or Santa (撒尔塔); Simplified Chinese: 东乡族 Traditional Chinese︰東鄉族; Pinyin: Dōngxiāngzú) are one of 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the Peoples Republic of China. ... The Salar people (Chinese: 撒拉族, Pinyin: Sālāzú) are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the Peoples Republic of China. ... Dungan (Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Russian: ) is a term used in territories of the former Soviet Union to refer to a Muslim people of Chinese origin. ... Soviet redirects here. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... The Cyrillic alphabet (pronounced also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is an alphabet used for several East and South Slavic languages—Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian, and Ukrainian—and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe. ...

Xiao'erjing is written from right to left, as with other writing systems based on the Arabic alphabet. The Xiao'erjing writing system is similar to the present writing system of the Uyghur language in that all the vowels are explicitly marked at all times. This is in contrast to the practice of omitting the short vowels in the majority of the languages for which the Arabic script has been adopted (like Arabic, Persian, and Urdu). This is possibly due to the overarching importance of the vowel in a Chinese syllable. Uyghur (‎/Uyghurche//, or ‎/Uyghur tili//)[1] is a Turkic language spoken by the Uyghur people in Xinjiang (also called East Turkestan or Uyghurstan), formerly also “Sinkiang” and “Chinese Turkestan,” a Central Asian region administered by China. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... Persian (Local names: فارسی Fârsi or پارسی Pârsi)* is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... (, historically spelled Ordu), is an Middle Eastern-Aryan language. ...

Nomenclature

Xiao'erjing does not have a standard name to which it can be referred. In Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, eastern Shaanxi and also Beijing, Tianjin, and the Northeastern provinces, the script is referred to as "Xiǎo'érjīng", which when shortened becomes "Xiǎojīng" or "Xiāojīng" (the latter "Xiāo" has the meaning of "to review" in the aforementioned regions). In Ningxia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, western Shaanxi and the Northwestern provinces, the script is referred to as "Xiǎo'érjǐn". The Dongxiang people refer to it as the "Dongxiang script" or the "Huihui script"; The Salar refer to it as the "Salar script"; The Dungan of Central Asia used a variation of Xiao'erjing called the "Hui script", before abandoning the Arabic script for Latin and Cyrillic. Shanxi (Chinese: 山西; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Shan-hsi; Postal System Pinyin: Shansi) is a province in the northern part of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Hebei (Chinese: 河北; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Ho-pei; Postal System Pinyin: Hopeh) is a northern province of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Henan (Chinese: 河南; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Ho-nan), is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. ...   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Shan-tung) is a coastal province of eastern Peoples Republic of China. ...   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ShÇŽnxÄ«; Wade-Giles: Shan-hsi; Postal map spelling: Shensi) is a north-central province of the Peoples Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River as well as the Qinling Mountains across the... Beijing (Chinese: 北京; pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ;  ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: TiānjÄ«n; Postal map spelling: Tientsin) is one of the four municipalities of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Approximate extent Northeast China (Simplified Chinese: 东北; Traditional Chinese: 東北; pinyin: Dōngběi; literally east-north), historically known as Manchuria, is the name of a region (ca. ... Ningxia (Simplified Chinese: 宁夏; Traditional Chinese: 寧夏; Pinyin: Níngxià; Wade-Giles: Ning-hsia; Postal Pinyin: Ningsia), full name Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Simplified Chinese: 宁夏回族自治区; Traditional Chinese: 寧夏回族自治區; Pinyin: Níngxià Huízú ZìzhìqÅ«), is a Hui autonomous region of the Peoples Republic of China, located on the northwest Loess... Gansu (Simplified Chinese: 甘肃; Traditional Chinese: 甘肅; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kan-su, Kansu, or Kan-suh) is a province located in the northwest of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Inner Mongolia (Mongolian: ᠥᠪᠦᠷ ᠮᠣᠨᠺᠤᠯᠤᠨ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠺᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠣᠷᠤᠨ r Mongghul-un bertegen Jasaqu Orun; Chinese: 内蒙古自治区; Hanyu Pinyin: N... Qinghai (Chinese: 青海; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Ching-hai; Postal System Pinyin: Tsinghai; Tibetan: མཚོ་སྔོན་ mtsho-sngon; Mongolian: Köke Naγur; Manchu: Huhu Noor) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, named after the enormous Qinghai Lake. ...   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ShÇŽnxÄ«; Wade-Giles: Shan-hsi; Postal map spelling: Shensi) is a north-central province of the Peoples Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River as well as the Qinling Mountains across the... Northwestern China Northwestern China (西北, XÄ«bÄ›i) includes the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Ningxia and the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world, the standard script of the English language and most of the languages of western and central Europe, and of those areas settled by Europeans. ... The Cyrillic alphabet (or azbuka, from the old name of the first letters) is an alphabet used to write six natural Slavic languages (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian) and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe. ...

Origins

Since the arrival of Islam during the Tang Dynasty (beginning in the mid-7th century), many Arabic or Persian speaking people migrated into China. Centuries later, these peoples assimilated with the native Han Chinese, forming the Hui ethnicity of today. Many Chinese Muslims students attended madrasas to study Classical Arabic and the Qur'an. Because these students had a very basic understanding of Chinese characters but would have a better command of the spoken tongue once assimilated, they starting using the Arabic alphabet for Chinese. This was often done by writing notes in Chinese to aid in the memorisation of surahs. This method was also used to write Chinese translations of Arabic vocabulary learnt in the madrasas. Thus, a system of writing the Chinese language with Arabic script gradually developed and standardised to some extent. Currently, the oldest known artefact showing signs of Xiao'erjing is a stone stele in the courtyard of Xigang Mosque in Xi'an University in the province of Shaanxi. The stele shows inscribed Qur'anic verses in Arabic as well as a short note of the names of the inscribers in Xiao'erjing. The stele was done in the year AH 740 in the Islamic calendar (between July 9, 1339 and June 26, 1340). Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ... China under the Tang Dynasty (yellow) and its sphere of influence Capital Changan (618–904) Luoyang (904-907) Language(s) Middle Chinese Religion Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism Government Monarchy Emperor  - 618-626 Emperor Gaozu  - 684, 705-710 Emperor Zhongzong  - 684, 710-712 Emperor Ruizong  - 904-907 Emperor Ai History  - Li... The 7th century is the period from 601 - 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... Persian (Local names: فارسی Fârsi or پارسی Pârsi)* is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... Languages Chinese languages Religions Predominantly Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism, traditional Chinese religions, and atheism. ... Madrassa in the Gambia The word madrassa in the Arabic language (and other languages of the Islamic nations such as Persian, Turkish, Indonesian etc. ... 漢字 / 汉字 Chinese character in Hanzi, Kanji, Hanja, Hán Tá»±. Red in Simplified Chinese. ... See also: Sura (disambiguation). ... The Islamic calendar or Muslim calendar (Arabic: التقويم الهجري; at-taqwÄ«m al-hijrÄ«; Persian: گاه‌شماری هجري قمری ‎ Gāhshomāri-ye hejri-ye qamari; also called the Hijri calendar) is the calendar used to date events in many predominantly Muslim countries, and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to... July 9 is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 175 days remaining. ... Events Emperor Go-Murakami ascends to the throne of Japan Kashmir is conquered by the muslims Births July 23 - King Louis I of Naples (d. ... is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events Europe has about 74 million inhabitants. ...

Usage

Xiao'erjing can be divided into two sets, the "Mosque system", and the "Daily system". The "Mosque system" is the system used by pupils and imams in mosques and madrasahs. It contains much Arabic and Persian religious lexicon, and no usage of Chinese characters. This system is relatively standardised, and could be considered a true writing system. The "Daily system" is the system used by the less educated for letters and correspondences on a personal level. Often simple Chinese characters are mixed in with the Arabic alphabet, mostly discussing non-religious matters, and therewith relatively little Arabic and Persian loans. This practice can differ drastically from person to person. The system would be devised by the writer himself, with one's own understanding of the Arabic and Persian alphabets, mapped accordingly to one's own dialectal pronunciation. Often, only the letter's sender and the letter's receiver can understand completely what is written, while being very difficult for others to read. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Masjid al-Haram in Mecca as it exists today A mosque is a place of worship for followers of the Islamic faith. ... Ulugh Beg Madrasa, Samarkand, ca. ... Writing systems of the world today. ...

Modern usage

In recent years, the usage of Xiao'erjing is nearing extinction due to the growing economy of the People's Republic of China and the improvement of the education of Chinese characters in rural areas of China. Chinese characters along with Hanyu Pinyin have since replaced Xiao'erjing. Since the mid 1980s, there have been much scholarly work done within and outside China concerning Xiao'erjing. On-location research has been conducted and the users of Xiao'erjing have been interviewed. Written and printed materials of Xiao'erjing were also collected by researchers, the ones at Nanjing University being the most comprehensive. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Nanjing University (Chinese: 南京大學/南京大学; Pinyin: Nánjīng Dàxué; colloquially 南大, Pinyin: Nándà) is located in Nanjing (Nanking), an ancient capital of China. ...

Alphabet

Xiao'erjing has 36 letters, 4 of which are used to represent vowel sounds. The 36 letters consists of 28 letters borrowed from Arabic, 4 letters borrowed from Persian along with 2 modified letters, and 4 extra letters unique to Xiao'erjing. Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

Initials and consonants

In phonetics and phonology, a syllable onset is the part of a syllable that precedes the syllable nucleus. ... In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to cause audible turbulence. ... Standard Mandarin – also known as Standard Chinese or Standard spoken Chinese – is the official Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Singapore. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... Persian (Local names: فارسی Fârsi or پارسی Pârsi)* is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... This is a sub-article of Islamic economical jurisprudence. ... Entering tone (Simplified Chinese: 入声; Traditional Chinese: 入聲; pinyin: rùshēng) is one of four tones in the phonology in Middle Chinese. ... Map of Arab League states in dark green with non-Arab areas in light green and Mauritania, Somalia and Djibouti in striped green due to their Arab League membership but non-Arab population. ... In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to cause audible turbulence. ... Yawm al-Qīyāmah (Arabic: literally: Day of the Resurrection) is the Last Judgement in Islam. ...

Finals and vowels

In the study of phonology in linguistics, the rime or rhyme of a syllable consists of a nucleus and an optional coda. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

Chinese

Vowels in Arabic and Persian loans follow their respective orthographies, namely, only the long vowels are represented and the short vowels are omitted. Although the sukuun () can be omitted when representing Arabic and Persian loans, it cannot be omitted when representing Chinese. The exception being that of oft-used monosyllabic words which can have the sukuun omitted from writing. For example, when emphasised, "的" and "和" are written as "دِ" and " ﺣَ"; when unemphasised, they can be written with the sukuuns as "دْ" and " ﺣْ", or without the sukuuns as "د" and " ﺣ". Similarly, the sukuun can also represent the Chinese -[ŋ] final. This is sometimes replaced by the fatHatan (), the kasratan (), or the dammatan (). In polysyllabic words, the final 'alif ( ﺎ) that represents the long vowel -ā can be omitted and replaced by a fatHah () representing the short vowel -ă. Xiao'erjing is similar to Hanyu Pinyin in the respect that words are written as one, while a space is inserted between words. When representing Chinese words, the shaddah sign represents a doubling of the entire syllable on which it rests. It has the same function as the Chinese character "々". Arabic punctuation marks can be used with Xiao'erjing as can Chinese punctuation marks, they can also be mixed (Chinese pauses and periods with Arabic commas and quotation marks). Standard Mandarin – also known as Standard Chinese or Standard spoken Chinese – is the official Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Singapore. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ...

Example

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Xiao'erjing, simplified and traditional Chinese characters, Hanyu Pinyin and English: Bold text Eleanor Roosevelt with the Spanish version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ...

• Xiao'erjing:
• Chinese characters (simplified):“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 (traditional):「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: "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."

Simplified Chinese character (Simplified Chinese: or ; Traditional Chinese: or ; pinyin: or ) is one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of printed contemporary Chinese written language, simplified from traditional Chinese by the Peoples Republic of China in an attempt to promote literacy. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

See also

• Aljamiado — the practise of writing Romance languages using Hebrew or Arabic script
• Islam in China
• Sini (script)

Aljamiado text by mancebo de Arévalo. ... Islam has a rich heritage in China. ... Sini is a Chinese Islamic calligraphic form for the Arabic script. ...

References

• Xiaojing Qur'an Dongxiang County, Lingxia autonomous prefecture, Gansu, PRC
• Huijiao Bizun 154 pp, photocopied edition.
• Muhammad Musah Abdulihakh. Islamic faith Q&A 2nd ed. Beiguan Street Mosque, Xining, Qinghai, PRC, appendix contains a Xiao'erjing-Hanyu Pinyin-Arabic alphabet comparison chart.
• 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.

External links

• Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Xiao-Er-Jin Corpus Collection and Digitization Project