Latin (Part Three)

For the relationship between alphabet and phonology, see Latin (Part One).

Daur Language

Daur written with Latin in 1920 orthography

In 1920, Guo Daofu (郭道甫) create this writing system. The spelling of long vowels was not specified at first, but it was later decided to spell them by repeating the vowels. The affixes of the noun case were not separately with the stem, while the collateral affixes were written separately with the stem. In the 1920s and 1930s, the script was implemented in the Daur areas of Hailar, Qiqihar and Butha, which had a certain effect and impact. The Daur phonology recorded by this writing system is therefore unclear. Because this writing system is used in some dialect areas of Daur language.

The alphabet is shown below:

Remark:

1. The relationship between letters and phoneme is entirely inferred. According to Meng (2018) ¹, 25 Latin letters are used, except for ⟨v⟩. The document specifically mentions the use of ⟨j⟩, ⟨q⟩, ⟨s⟩, ⟨c⟩ and ⟨x⟩, and the rest of the text is based on the assumption that “the rest of the letters are pronounced in the same or similar way to the Latin alphabet”. A sample was provided as ⟨bendeji kicex hartarga mini / belbetei ilga duruntei / bejix hotondo iqigudu sini / belge samda bariya⟩, but it was not included in our speculation.
2. In another version provided by Ding and Guo (2023) ², ⟨b⟩ and ⟨d⟩ are also not used, and ⟨p⟩ and ⟨t⟩ are used instead. This document provides a sample of the same, in which such letter substitutions are also made.
3. ⟨f⟩ and ⟨z⟩ are used for loan words. According to Daur phonology, the Putonghua phoneme /ts/ is merged into Daur phoneme /s/.

Daur written with Latin in 1928 orthography

In 1928, De Gulai (德古来) create this writing system. He wrote textbooks based on this writing system and brought them home after printing them in Japan. The Daur phonology recorded by this writing system is unclear.

The alphabet is shown below:

Remark:

1. The relationship between letters and phoneme is entirely inferred. According to Meng (2018) ¹, 27 Latin letters are used, except for ⟨v⟩, so two another letters are introduced. This document identifies the two new letters as ⟨G⟩ and ⟨J⟩, which we highly doubt. In another version provided by Ding and Guo (2023) ², ⟨b⟩ and ⟨d⟩ are also not used, and ⟨p⟩ and ⟨t⟩ are used instead. This is all the reference to our speculation.
2. Sample texts are provided in both of these documents. We now know that the sample text is found in the Rapport préliminaire d’un voyage d’exploration fait en Mongolie chinoise, 1928-1931 by Lajos Ligeti. The sample text (where the red words denotes the words I’m not sure about) is ⟨… nowaz, udisi ore həiz uwəi tomakəz cuni bolcəz aji uqəkqiȷ məttəz uwəi be. ɢad taricəz cuccu modo nəməi nowaz muklekəz. bolji ujurin gajird toccəz bac bəi, orȷocəz narc modo bac mətər huȷuz ilȷa yi tolȷacəz nowaz ujirdəbəi, larce wanȷacəz modo qiȷ gubu qim qiȷaz bolji ilȷa wallərcəz nowaz ujirləz. noȷ bac baiclaji qaci ucun harelaji aollabəi. uqikər bac kuitunnacqiȷ aiȷu uwəi qacar aralqij nadȷuini qərləi faidənd garcəz oloroi baturuini nowaz — GWARBDAR HIQƎL TAOLI⟩. So the sample texts in the two documents are problematic.
3. Notice that the text uses ⟨ə⟩ instead of ⟨[e]⟩ and ⟨ȷ⟩ instead of ⟨J⟩, so we have corrected the alphabet. But that is all; this text has not been used as a reference for us to speculate on the function of the alphabet.
4. We’re a little concerned about ⟨ɢ⟩, because on the one hand it only appears once in the passage, but on the other hand the passage seems to suggest that the letters after the period are also kept lowercase.

Daur written with Latin in 1981 orthography

In 1980, the Inner Mongolian Daur Society was established. The Society commissioned Badarongga (巴达荣嘎), Meng Zhidong (孟志东) and Enhebatu (恩和巴图) to set up a technical appraisal group to review and revise the writing system submitted by Enhebatu, which was discussed and adopted at the Society’s first annual meeting and Council in December 1981. The writing system records the Daur phonology based on the Nawen subdialect (纳文土语), Butha dialect (布特哈方言) in Molidawa Daur autonomous banner (莫利达瓦达斡尔族自治旗), Hulunbuir city (呼伦贝尔市).

According to Eerhenbayaer and Enhebatu (1988) ³, the alphabet is shown below:

Remark:

1. ⟨f⟩, ⟨c⟩, ⟨z⟩, ⟨v⟩ and ⟨ü⟩ are used for loan words.

Derung Language

Rawang written with Latin in 1963 orthography

In 1951, a Burmese named Rawang Bezi Dø Tychicus, created this writing system and published a dictionary Rvwang lega Angkè: nvmlat xa yul lvm dvpvt (“Rawang picture dictionary”), which he named Rawang after his clan, the Rawang, and Robert H. Morse, an American missionary, further developed it into orthography in 1962 and 1963, and it became a tool for missionary work among the Derung. A small number of believers in the southern part of the Derung River have mastered the writing system. The writing system records the Rawang phonology based on the Matwang dialect in Kachin state, Myanmar. And note that the Rawang (日旺语), Derung (独龙语) and Anong (阿侬语) belong to the Nungish languages (怒语支).

According to LaPolla and Sangdong (2015) ⁴, the alphabet is shown below:

Remark:

1. ⟨◌̄⟩ is usually omitted.
2. When a toned letter precedes a long vowel indicator ⟨꞉⟩, the tone mark goes first, and then the long vowel indicator, such as ⟨rà꞉nge⟩.

Derung written with Latin in 1983 orthography

From 1979, a Chinese Derung named Mulimen John, with the assistance of Mr. Long Chengyun (龙乘云) of the Yunnan Provincial Ethnic Languages Steering Committee, adapted this writing system, based on the Rawang orthography, that was suitable for use by the Derung masses in China, and was discussed and adopted at the December 1983 meeting of the Yunnan Provincial Ethnic Languages Steering Committee. Since 1984, this writing system has been implemented on an experimental basis among the cadres of the Derung organs and the masses. The writing system records the Derung phonology based on the Dulongjiang dialect (独龙江方言) in Kongmu village (孔目村), Dulongjiang town (独龙江乡), Gongshan county (贡山县).

According to He (1999) ⁵, the alphabet is shown below:

Remark:

1. The long vowel that distinguishes the meaning of the word occurs only in /ɑ/ and is reflected in the opposition between a and e; the long vowel that denotes grammatical meaning occurs on all vowels and is not indicated in this writing system.
2. Words beginning with e are also written with ⟨a⟩.
3. The tones ¹ /˥˧/, ² /˥/ and ³ /˧˩/ are not indicated in this writing system.

She Language

Note that the She language (畲语) shx is different from the Shehua dialect (畲话). The She language is the ethnic language of the She people, which has been profoundly influenced by the Hakka dialect for a long time in the process of sticking to their mother tongue; the Shehua dialect is a special Chinese dialect spoken by some of the She people who have given up their mother tongue and switched to Hakka, but the Hakka they speak has been interfered with by the substratum of their mother tongue as well as by the influence of the strong dialects of the different regions later on, and thus it is no longer the original target language of the Hakka dialect, but rather a special Chinese dialect spoken by some of the She people which has similar linguistic features to the Hakka dialect.

We note that Lan Dezheng (蓝德正) has created a writing system for the Shehua dialect, based on Pinyin. That writing system records the Shehua phonology based on the Zhenan subdialect (浙南次方言) in Jingning She autonomous county (景宁畲族自治县). But its phonological analysis of the Shehua dialect is completely wrong, and noting that the locals used the IPA exclusively rather than this writing system in the preparation of the Readers for Leaders, we declined to look into this system.

She written with Latin in 2015 orthography

This writing system is proposed by Zhangbei Yaowei She Primary School (嶂背耀伟畲族小学) and Jinan University (暨南大学). The writing system records the She phonology based on the Luofu dialect (罗浮方言) in Boluo county (博罗县).

According to its writing group (2015) ⁶, the alphabet is shown below:

Remark:

1. i > ⟨yi⟩ / [zero initial] _ [-, u, uṅ, t].
   i > ⟨y⟩ / [zero initial] _ [otherwise].
2. u > ⟨w⟩ / [zero initial] _ [a, e, aṅ].
   u > ⟨wu⟩ / [zero initial] _ [otherwise].

Qiang Language

Note that a writing system for recording the Qiang language was produced in 1958. This writing system records the Qiang phonology based on Northern dialect (北部方言) in previous Mawo town (麻窝乡, now 西尔镇). It is said to use 26 Latin letters, 3 Cyrillic letters, and 2 IPA letters. But we can’t find any material on it.

Qiang written with Latin in 1993 orthography

In 1988, the Sichuan Government instructed Sichuan EAC to take the lead in the creation of the writing system according to the wishes of the Qiang people. In July 1989, Sichuan EAC took the lead in setting up the Leading Group, and completed the draft in April 1991. In October 1991, the Sichuan Government approved and agreed to report to the National EAC, and in March 1993, the National EAC commissioned the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to hold the review meeting, which approved and agreed to the writing system. The writing system records the Qiang phonology based on the Northern dialect in previous Qugu town (曲谷乡, now 赤不苏镇).

According to Huang and Zhou (2006) ⁷, the alphabet is shown below:

Remark:

1. y > ⟨u⟩ / [palatal] _.
2. /ɭ/ is previous recoded as ⟨rl⟩. Later, in order to simplify the writing system, ⟨rl⟩ was deleted, taking into account the fact that other dialects, except Qugu, do not have /ɭ/ and do not have the /ɭ/ and /l/ contrast.

Uygur Language

Uygur written with Latin in 1959 orthography

In 1988, the Sichuan Government instructed Sichuan EAC to take the lead in the creation of the writing system according to the wishes of the Qiang people. In July 1989, Sichuan EAC took the lead in setting up the Leading Group, and completed the draft in April 1991. In October 1991, the Sichuan Government approved and agreed to report to the National EAC, and in March 1993, the National EAC commissioned the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to hold the review meeting, which approved and agreed to the writing system. The writing system records the Qiang phonology based on the Northern dialect in previous Qugu town (曲谷乡, now 赤不苏镇).

According to Huang and Zhou (2006) ⁷, the alphabet is shown below:

Remark:

1. y > ⟨u⟩ / [palatal] _.
2. /ɭ/ is previous recoded as ⟨rl⟩. Later, in order to simplify the writing system, ⟨rl⟩ was deleted, taking into account the fact that other dialects, except Qugu, do not have /ɭ/ and do not have the /ɭ/ and /l/ contrast.

Reference