Äynu language#Orthography

{{Infobox language

| name = Äynu

| nativename = {{lang|aib-Arab|ئەينۇ|rtl=yes}}, {{Transliteration|aib|Äynú}}

| image = Äynu.svg

| imagecaption = Äynu in Uyghur script.

| states = China

| region = Xinjiang

| ethnicity = Äynu

| speakers = 12,000

| date = 2017

| ref = e26

| familycolor = Altaic

| fam1 = Turkic

| fam2 = Common Turkic

| fam3 = Karluk{{Cite web |title=Ainu (China) |url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/ainu1251 |website=Glottolog |language=en}}

| fam4 =

| script = Arabic script

| iso3 = aib

| glotto = ainu1251

| glottorefname = Ainu (China)

| map = AiniMap.JPG

| mapcaption = Map showing locations of Äynu (red) within Xinjiang

| notice = IPA

| pronunciation = {{IPA|aib|[ɛjˈnu]}}

}}

Äynu (also known as Abdal) is a Turkic cryptolect spoken in Western China. 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, while its vocabulary is mainly derived from Persian and other Iranian languages.{{Cite journal |last=Liang, Siyu |date=2020 |title=Documenting Eynu: A Case Study of Language Contact |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol26/iss1/17 |journal=University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics |volume=26 |issue=1}} Some linguists call it a mixed language, but other linguists argue that it does not meet the technical requirements of a mixed language.{{harvp|Johansson|2001}}

Name

The language is known by many different spellings, including Abdal,{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} Aini, Ainu, Ayni, Aynu, Eyni and Eynu.{{Cite book |last=Lee-Smith |first=Mei W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=glU0vte5gSkC |title=Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas, Volume 2, Part 1 |date=1996 |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-013417-9 |editor-last=Wurm |editor-first=Stephen A. |location=Berlin |page=851 |language=en |chapter=The Ejnu Language |editor-last2=Mühlhäusler |editor-first2=Peter |editor-last3=Tyron |editor-first3=Darrell T.}} The Abdal (ئابدال) spelling is commonly used in Uyghur sources. Russian sources use Eynu, Aynu, Abdal ({{langx|ru|Эйну|label=none}}, {{langx|ru|Айну|label=none}}, {{langx|ru|Абдал|label=none}}) and Chinese uses the spelling Ainu ({{lang-zh|艾努|label=no}}). The Äynu people call their language Äynú (ئەينۇ, {{IPA|aib|ɛjˈnu|}}).

Geographic distribution

Äynu is spoken in Western China among Alevi Muslims{{Cite book |last=Louie |first=Kam |title=The Cambridge Companion to Modern Chinese Culture |date=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-86322-3 |location=Cambridge |page=114 |language=en}}{{Cite book |title=Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0765613189 |editor-last=Starr |editor-first=S. Frederick |location=London |page=303 |language=en}}{{Cite thesis |last=Bader |first=Alyssa Christine |title=Mummy Dearest: Questions of Identity in Modern and Ancient Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region |date=2012 |publisher=Whitman College |url=https://arminda.whitman.edu/theses/240 |language=en |page=31}} in Xinjiang on the edge of the Taklimakan Desert in the Tarim Basin.

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".{{Cite book |last=Bakker |first=Peter |title=The Mixed Language Debate: Theoretical and Empirical Advances |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |year=2003 |isbn=978-3-11-017776-3 |editor-last=Matras |editor-first=Yaron |location=Berlin |pages=107–150 |language=en |chapter=Mixed Languages as Autonomous Systems |editor-last2=Bakker |editor-first2=Peter}}

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.{{harvp|Johansson|2001|page=22}}

Vocabulary

Most of basic vocabulary in Äynu comes from the Iranian languages, 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.{{Cite book |last=Zhao |first=Xiangru 赵相如 |title=Àinǔyǔ yánjiū |date=2011 |publisher=Minzu chubanshe |isbn=978-7-105-11364-4 |location=Beijing Shi |page=21 |language=zh |script-title=zh:艾努语研究 |trans-title=Ainu Studies}} 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.{{Cite journal |last=Zhao |first=Xiangru 赵相如 |last2=Aximu |author-mask2=Aximu 阿西木 |date=1982 |title=Xīnjiāng Àinǔrén de yǔyán |script-title=zh:新疆艾努人的语言 |trans-title=Asim: The Language of the Ainu People in Xinjiang |journal=Yǔyán yánjiū |language=zh |volume=1982 |issue=1 |pages=259–279 |script-journal=zh:语言研究}}

Phonology

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" \|+Consonant phonemes
\| ! colspan="2" \| Labial ! colspan="2" \| Alveolar ! colspan="2" \| Alveo- Palatal ! colspan="2" \| Velar ! colspan="2" \| Uvular ! colspan="2" \| Glottal
Nasal \| colspan="2" \|{{IPA link\|m}} \| colspan="2" \|{{IPA link\|n}} \| colspan="2" \| \| colspan="2" \|{{IPA link\|ŋ}} \| colspan="2" \| \| colspan="2" \|
\| Plosive/Affricate \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|p}}\|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|b}} \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|t}}\|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|d}} \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|t͡ʃ}}\|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|d͡ʒ}} \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|k}}\|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|ɡ}} \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|q}}\|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \|
\| Fricative \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|v}} \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|s}} \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|z}} \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|ʃ}} \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|χ}} \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|ʁ}} \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|ɦ}}
\| Flap/Tap \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| \|colspan="2" style="border-right-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|r}} \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \|
\| Approximant \| colspan="2" style="border-right-width: 0;" \| \| colspan="2" style="border-right-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|l}} \| colspan="2" style="border-right-width: 0;" \| {{IPA link\|j}} \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \| \| style="border-right-width: 0;" \| \|\| style="border-left-width: 0;" \|

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

|+Consonant phonemes

! colspan="2" | Labial

! colspan="2" | Alveolar

! colspan="2" | Alveo-
Palatal

! colspan="2" | Velar

! colspan="2" | Uvular

! colspan="2" | Glottal

Nasal

| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|m}}

| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|n}}

| colspan="2" |

| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|ŋ}}

| colspan="2" |

| Plosive/Affricate

| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA link|p}}|| style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA link|b}}

| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA link|t}}|| style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA link|d}}

| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}|| style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}

| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA link|k}}|| style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA link|ɡ}}

| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA link|q}}|| style="border-left-width: 0;" |