ZHUNYANESE (DUNGAN) AS AN ISLAMIC AND SOVIET LANGUAGE

The Zhunyanese language spoken in the USSR is unique in several ways. (1) Zhunyanese has been accorded the status of a literary language and differs appreciably from Standard Mandarin because of its independence from the language planning norms promulgated in the People's Republic of China. (2) As the language of a traditionally Muslim population, Zhunyanese has historically been receptive to enrichment from Arabic and Persian loans. Hence, the language has developed strong links, mainly lexical, with other Islamic languages in the USSR and the Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region. (3) Zhunyanese provides a laboratory in which to explore the development of a communal (Muslim) dialect and as such invites comparison with other communal languages such as Yiddish. (4) For the student of language planning, Zhunyanese presents a laboratory for studying the process of Sovietization.