Editing Dungan language (section)

== History ==
The Dungan people of [[Kazakhstan]] and [[Kyrgyzstan]] (with smaller groups living in other post-Soviet states) are the descendants of several groups of the [[Hui people]] that migrated to the region in the 1870s and the 1880s after the defeat of the [[Dungan Revolt (1862–1877)|Dungan revolt]] in Northwestern China. The Hui of Northwestern China (often referred to as "Dungans" or "Tungani" by 19th-century western writers, as well as by some [[Turkic peoples]]) would normally speak the same Mandarin dialect as the Han people in the same area<ref name=g393>[[Dru C. Gladney]], ''Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People's Republic''. 1st ed.: Harvard University Press, 1991, {{ISBN|0-674-59495-9}}; 2nd ed., 1996. {{ISBN|0-674-59497-5}}. Pages 393-394 in the 1991 edition. The following pages in this book, 321–395, are occupied by "A Select Glossary of Hui Chinese Islamic Terms", into which Gladney included only words (many found in older publications) that he could verify as known or recognized by people in at least some Hui communities he visited.</ref> (or in the area from which the particular Hui community had been resettled). At the same time, due to their unique history, their speech would be rich in [[Islam]]ic or Islam-influenced terminology, based on loanwords from Arabic, Persian and Turkic languages, as well as translations of them into Chinese.<ref name=g393/> The Hui traders in the bazaars would be able to use Arabic or Persian numbers when talking between themselves, to keep their communications secret from Han bystanders.<ref>Gladney (1991), p. 68</ref> While not constituting a separate language, these words, phrases and turns of speech, known as ''Huihui hua'' ({{lang|dng|回回話}}, "Hui speech"), served as markers of group identity.<ref name=g393/> As early 20th century travellers in Northwestern China would note, "the [[Mohammedan]] Chinese have to some extent a vocabulary and always a style and manner of speech, all their own".<ref>[[Owen Lattimore]], ''The Desert Road to Turkestan''. London, Methuen & Co, ca. 1928–1929. Page 196.</ref>

As the Dungans in the Russian Empire — and even more so in the Soviet Union — were isolated from China, their language experienced significant influence from the [[Russian language|Russian]] and the Turkic languages of their neighbors.

In the Soviet Union, a written standard of the Dungan language was developed, based on a dialect of the [[Gansu|Gansu Province]], rather than the Beijing base of [[Standard Chinese]]. The language was used in the schools in Dungan villages. In the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] time there were several school textbooks published for studying the Dungan language, a three volume Russian–Dungan dictionary (14,000 words), the Dungan–Russian dictionary, [[linguistics]] monographs on the language and books in Dungan. The first Dungan-language newspaper was established in 1932; it continues publication today in weekly form.

When [[Dru C. Gladney]], who had spent some years working with the Hui people in China, met with Dungans in [[Almaty]] in 1988, he described the experience as speaking "in a hybrid Gansu dialect that combined Turkish and Russian lexical items".<ref>Gladney, pp 33, 102</ref>