{"id":2454,"date":"2009-06-01T01:02:10","date_gmt":"2009-05-31T17:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/?p=2454"},"modified":"2009-05-31T21:53:46","modified_gmt":"2009-05-31T13:53:46","slug":"dungan-and-gyami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/2009\/dungan-and-gyami\/","title":{"rendered":"Dungan and Gyami"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most recent release from the archives of Sino-Platonic Papers<\/em> is a particular favorite of mine, Two Non-Tetragraphic Northern Sinitic Languages<\/a> (2.6 MB PDF), by Victor H. Mair. In case that title sounds a little technical, in layman’s terms the title might be A Couple of Languages Closely Related to Mandarin that Are Not<\/strong> Written with Chinese Characters (Which Many People Mistakenly Believe Are Essential for Such Languages), with One of Them Having Been Successfully Written with an Alphabet for Many Decades<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This issue comprises two studies:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Implications of the Soviet Dungan Script for Chinese Language Reform<\/a>, which has long been featured here on Pinyin.info, and <\/li>\n
  2. Who Were the Gy\u00e1mi?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This issue also contains “A Short Supplementary Note on the Name ‘Tibet.'” The subject of the essay probably sounds perfectly innocuous. But it set off a few rounds of polite but pointed dueling among scholars — in the pages of a journal, that is, not with pistols at forty paces or anything of that sort. The exchanges make for interesting reading. See, for example, SPP 35 (“Reviews IV<\/a>,” pp. 32-37) and SPP 70 (“Reviews VI<\/a>,” pp. 21, 79-84).<\/p>\n

    This was first published in May 1990 as issue no. 18 of Sino-Platonic Papers<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

    further reading: <\/p>\n