Salar
[aka 撒拉語, саларский]Classification: Turkic
·threatened
- DATE OF INFO
- 2000
- DOMAINS OF USE
-
- SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS
-
- TRANSMISSION
-
- MORE ON VITALITY
-
The Salar who live in metropolitan areas don't speak Salar, and their children acquire Chinese languages (either Mandarin or local lingua franca) as their first/native language. Most Salar speakers living in villages are educated in Mandarin; hence they are bilingual in Salar and Chinese languages. They also code-switch a lot between Salar and Chinese.
- SPEAKER ATTITUDE
- positive (the Salar are Muslims)
- OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY
-
Chinese; Uyghur; Tibetan
- LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS
Only a few old monolinguals in the Salar-speaking villages; For middle-aged Salar speakers, those who live in Xinjiang also speak Uyghur and those who live in Gansu also speak Tibetan. Given the increasing importance of Mandarin and the high literacy rate, younger Salar speakers are predominantly bilingual in (local) Mandarin and Salar, and their Salar is heavily influenced by local Mandarin.
- Scripts (Writing system)
- Arabic scripts
- More on Orthography
Arabic scripts were once in use.
- PLACES
- China
- LOCATION DESCRIPTION
Gansu and Xinjiang provinces
- ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Xunhua Salar Autonomous County and Hualong Hui Autonomous County of Qinghai Province (青海省循化撒拉族自治縣、化隆縣), and Dongxiang Salar Jishishan Autonomous County of Linxia Hui Autonomous District of Gansu Province (甘肅省積石山保安族東鄉族撒拉族自治縣); the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang (新疆伊寧縣)