The Influence Of The Chinese Language On The Uyghur Language In The Process Of Language Contact Between Chinese And Uyghur

In this article, in light of the research goal of investigating language contact between the Chinese and Uyghur languages, I plan to look into the influence of Chinese on Uyghur. The thesis of this article is that during their process of ethnic formation and development, the Uyghur people created a unique oasis culture, forming and preserving connections with numerous surrounding peoples, and creating an ethnic psychology relatively open to outside influences, accepting the strengths of other peoples, and in the end forming a Uyghur culture with many sources. Because during this process Uyghurs encountered and formed broad connections with other peoples, the Uyghurs' language has also seen contact with numerous other languages to varying degrees, and thus been subject to their influence. Among the numerous languages with which the Uyghur language has had contact, that with the Chinese language has been the longest and most sustained, and the Chinese language has exerted a deep influence on the Uyghur language in all periods of history.Even though language contact is most basically reflected in language itself, the reasons for language contact are found in extra-linguistic factors, including inter-ethnic relations, cultural traditions, ethnic psychology, population spread, consciousness formation, attitude toward other languages, and numerous other factors. In order to thoroughly describe the contact situation between the Chinese and Uyghur languages, in this article written materials from all periods, statistical analyses which have been carried out on modern spoken Uyghur, and the relations between Uyghur and Chinese peoples during all historical periods have been examined. The relations between the two peoples during their historical development has been analyzed, and the basic social and cultural background and facts related to contact between the two languages has been explained. Description and analysis have been carried out on the three levels of phonetics, lexicon, and grammar.From the phonetic aspect, by a comparative analysis of the two languages' phonetic systems, I have come to the conclusion that due to the need to write and pronounce Chinese loanwords, numerous Chinese phonemes, syllabic system, and phonetic principles have entered the Uyghur phonetic system. The phonemes present in both languages are adopted directly; in cases where each language has similar phonemes, a Chinese phoneme is replaced with the closest Uyghur one; dissimilar phonemes are borrowed from Chinese and become part of the Uyghur phonetic system. Under the influence of the Chinese phonetic system, the Uyghur language's syllablic system, sound combination rules, and vowel harmony system have seen clear changes.Lexically, the basic characteristics, structural types, and phonetic assimilation rules of Chinese loanwords have been explicated, and according to general analysis of Chinese loanwords' scope of meaning, their differing regional usage, the time they began to enter Uyghur, and their differing spread among different social strata, a discussion has been carried out on the ways in which Chinese loan words enter Uyghur; it is the view of this article that Chinese loanwords enter Uyghur in an order of "first spoken language and then written language," "first intellectuals and then the people," and "first city and then country."This article also considers that the influence of Chinese on Uyghur during the contact between the two languages is not limited to the more superficial levels, including lexicon and phonetics, but has already expanded to deeper levels, including pragmatics and grammar. With the further expansion of bilingual education and the constantly increasing levels of Chinese competency among Uyghurs, the influence of the Chinese language will broaden still further, and it will play an even more important role in the development of the Uyghur language.