One calls xiao' erjing (小儿经), xiao' erjin (小儿锦, xiao' erjing شِيَوْعَردٍ) or xiaojing (小经 or 消经  ) the transcription of the Chinese Languages such as the Mandarin (and in particular its dialects lanyin, zhongyuan and of the north-eastern) or the Language doungane by means of the Arab writing. It is a practice in force near various Ethnic minorities of China which adhered to the Islam (i.e. primarily the Hui, but also the Dongxiang and the Salar), and in the past their descendants installed in Central Asia, the Dounganes. The reforms of the writing operated by the Soviet Union obliged Dounganes to use the Latin alphabet initially, then the Cyrillic alphabet to write the Langue doungane.

The xiao' erjing is written from right to left, like any writing using the Arabic alphabet. It uses the same principle as the current written form of the Langue ouïghour, in which the vowels are expressed explicitly. It is thus about a writing which uses an alphabet, and not a Abjad as in Arab, Persian or Ourdou. It is probably due to the importance of the vowels in the Chinese language, language of which the great number of homophons constitutes already a difficulty with the oral examination; to more simplify the writing compared to the oral examination would undoubtedly make the writing incomprehensible.

Nomenclature

The xiao' erjing does not have a standard name. In the provinces of the Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, in the east of the Shaanxi like to Beijing, Tianjin, and in Mandchourie, this writing is called xiǎo' érjīng , name sometimes shortened in xiǎojīng or iāojīng ( xiāo meaning " revoir" in these areas). With the Ningxia, with the Gansu, in Inner Mongolia, with the Qinghai, the Western Shaanxi and in the provinces of the North-West, this writing is generally called xiǎo' érjǐn . The Dongxiang S generally call it writing dongxiang or writing huihui; the Salar call it as for them writing salar . the Doungane S of Central Asia used a variation of the xiao' erjing today called writing , before having to give up it for the Latin alphabet then the Cyrillic alphabet.

Origins

Since the arrival of the Islam during the Dynasty Tang (starting from half of the VIIe century), of many speakers of Arab Language or Persian Langue emigrated in China. With the wire of the centuries, those were assimiliés with the Chinese Han S, keeping their Islamic religion however, and from now on being identified with the ethnos group Hui. Number of them attended Médersa S (Koranic schools) to study the Classical Arabic and the Coran. From the fact that these students had only one weak knowledge of the written Chinese Langue and the Chinese characters, but Chinese like native tongue and a good knowledge of the Arabic alphabet, they started to use this one to write their Chinese speech. The first use of this practice was the writing of the Sourate S of Coran to allow their memorizing. That also made it possible to directly use Arab or Persian vocabulary used in the Koranic schools. Consequently, a written form of Chinese in Arab writing appeared, being structured and standardizing themselves gradually. The oldest trace of this writing xiao' erjing is a Stèle of the court of the Mosquée of Xigang preserved at the Université of Xi' year in the province of the Shaanxi. The stele comprises worms of Arabic Coran, as well as the names of the students registered in xiao' erjing. The stele was carried out in year 740 of the Islamic Calendrier (between the July 9th 1339 and the June 26th 1340).

Use

The xiao' erjing returns in fact to two written forms: the “writing of the mosques”, and the “writing of the every day”. The writing of the mosques is the system used by the pupils and the Imam S in the Mosquée S and the Madrasah S. It contains more terms of Persian or Arab origin. It is relatively standardized and can be regarded as a truth Written form. The writing of the every day is used by the people of a less education, for the letters and correspondences between individuals. It is generally about a simple language, where the Arab writing is sometimes associated with simple sinogrammes, and with the topics not raising of the monk, and consequently comprising few terms of Arab or Persian origin. Little formalized, this writing can strongly vary according to the people, according to a particular local pronunciation, and can thus not be included/understood by all.

Modern use

The xiao' erjing has been for a few years in process of extinction, because of the multiplication of the economic exchanges and cultural within the Popular republic of China, and of a better access to teaching in the moved back areas. The Chinese characters and the Hanyu pinyin tend from now on to replace the xiao' erjing. Since the medium of the Years 1980, various research was undertaken in China and outwards concerning the xiao' erjing. Many work of collection of documents, writings and interviews of people practitioner this writing were carried out, in particular by teams of the Université of Nankin.

Alphabet

The xiao' erjing uses 36 letters, of which four to represent Voyelle S. 28 of these letters come from Arabic, 4 of Persian and 2 modified Persian; 4 are specific to the xiao' erjing.

Initial S and Consonant S

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and Vowel S

Chinese

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The vowels in the words resulting from Arabic and Persian keep their original form, and consequently only the long vowels are indicated, the short ones being omitted.

Although the sukuun () can be omitted in the words of Arab or Persian origin, it cannot be omitted for Chinese. The only exception is the case of current monosyllabic words whose sukuun is generally not indicated to the writing. For example, when they “are emphasés”, 的 and 和 are written دِ and حَ; when they are not emphasés, they are written with the sukuuns دْ and حْ, or without the sukuuns د and ح. In the same way, the sukuun can also represent in Chinese it - final. It is sometimes replaced by the fatty hatan (), the kasratan (), or the dammatan (). In the polysyllables, 'the alif final one ( ا) representing the long vowel - ā can be omitted and replaced by a fatty hah () representing the short vowel - ă. The xiao' erjing uses, like the Hanyu pinyin, of spaces to separate the words (in Chinese, it there forever of space between the sinogrammes).

Lorqu' it is used in the Chinese words, the sign shaddah indicates a doubling of the syllable which precedes it. It with the same function as the Chinese character 々. The Arab marks of punctuation can be used for the xiao' erjing like the marks of Chinese punctuation; both can be also mixed (Chinese pause and periods with the Arab points and accents).

Example

Article first of the Universal declaration of the human rights in xiao' erjing, simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese, hanyu pinyin and French:

• Xiao'erjing :
• Chinese simplified: “人人生而自由, 在尊严和权利上一律平等. 他们赋有理性和良心, 并应以兄弟关系的精神互相对待.”
• Chinese traditional: “人人生而自由, 在尊嚴和權利上一律平等. 他們賦有理性和良心, 並應以兄弟關係的精神互相對待.”
• Hanyu Pinyin : " Rénrén shēng er zìyóu, zài zūnyán He quánlì shàng yílǜ píngděng. Tāmen fù yǒu lǐxìng He liángxīn, bìng yīng yǐ xiōngdiguānxì of jīngshén hùxiāng duìdài."
• French: " All the human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and must act the ones towards the others in a spirit of fraternité".

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