Äynu (also known as Abdal) is a Turkic

cryptolect A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argo ...

spoken in Western

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It is spoken by the Äynu, a nomadic people, who use it to keep their communications secret from outsiders. The grammar of Äynu is mostly Turkic, essentially

Uyghur Uyghur may refer to: * Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia (West China) ** Uyghur language, a Turkic language spoken primarily by the Uyghurs *** Old Uyghur language, a different Turkic language spoken in the Uyghur K ...

, while its vocabulary is mainly derived from Persian and other

Iranian languages The Iranian languages, also called the Iranic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian langu ...

. Some linguists call it a

mixed language A mixed language, also referred to as a hybrid language or fusion language, is a type of contact language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language. ...

, but other linguists argue that it does not meet the technical requirements of a mixed language.

Name

The language is known by many different spellings, including Abdal, Aini, Ainu, Ayni, Aynu, Eyni and Eynu. The ''Abdal'' (ئابدال) spelling is commonly used in

sources. Russian sources use ''Eynu'', ''Aynu'', ''Abdal'' (, , ) and Chinese uses the spelling ''Ainu'' ( zh, 艾努, label=no). The Äynu people call their language ''Äynú'' (ئەينۇ, ).

Geographic distribution

Äynu is spoken in Western China among Alevi Muslims in

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

on the edge of the Taklimakan Desert in the

Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Xinjiang, Northwestern China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, Ch ...

. Similarly mixed varieties of Turkic and Persian are spoken in other locations including Turkey and Uzbekistan. The speakers of these varieties are also referred to as "Abdal".

Use as a secret language

The only speakers of Äynu are adult men, who are found to speak it outside of their area of settlement in order to communicate without being understood by others. Uyghur is spoken with outsiders who do not speak Äynu and at home when it is not necessary to disguise one's speech.

Vocabulary

Most of basic vocabulary in Äynu comes from the

, which might be speculated that the language have been originally an Iranian language and have been turned into a Turkic language after a long period. There are three vocabulary formation methods in the Äynu language: simple words, derived words, and compound words. The affixes of derived words have both Uyghur and Persian origin. Old people mostly use Persian affixes, while the young people use Uyghur derived vocabulary and affixes.

Phonology

// is a

palatal consonant Palatals are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). Consonants with the tip of the tongue curled back against the palate are called retroflex. Characteris ...

. Phonemes on the left of a cell are

voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...

, while those on the right are

voiced Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced. The term, however, is used to refe ...

Orthography

Due to Äynu's secretive nature, along with a lack of official status in areas which it is spoken in, it does not have any widely used writing system. However, the

Uyghur Arabic alphabet The Uyghur Arabic alphabet () is a version of the Arabic alphabet used for writing the Uyghur language, primarily by Uyghurs living in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It is one of several Uyghur alphabets and has been the official alphabet ...

is typically used in the occasion where it needs to be written.

Numerals

Äynu numerals are completely Persian. However, ordinal adjectives are made by adding Uyghur -(I)ncI suffix.

Numbers

Ordinal adjectives

Notes

References

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aynu Language Agglutinative languages Languages of Xinjiang Language contact Cant languages Turkic languages Mixed languages