During its existence, the character set or alphabet of theDungan language has changed its graphic base several times and has been repeatedly reformed. Currently, the Dungan script functions in Cyrillic. Three stages are distinguished in the history of the Dungan script:

• pre-1927 - written completely in Chinese characters;
• 1927-1928 - attempts to create a writing system based on the Arabic script system Xiao'erjing, developed in China by theHui Muslims;
• 1928-1953 - writing based on the Latin alphabet;
• since 1953 - writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet.

It is used in the territory of the former USSR, in regions where the Dungan language is widespread (mainlyKazakhstan andKyrgyzstan).

In China, to write texts in their native Chinese language, theHui people, whom theDungan people directly descend from^[1] and who are occasionally also referred to as Dungans,^[2] used eitherChinese characters or a modified Arabic script calledXiao'erjing (literally, "children's script"). In China, the Hui people continue to use Chinese characters to write and speak their dialect of Chinese.^[3]

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the first Cyrillic records of Dungan dialects in the Russian Empire were made by V. I. Tsibuzgin, a teacher at the Russian-Dungan school in the village ofKarakunuz, and his assistant, Zhebur Matsivang. During the Soviet era (1928), an alphabet clearly based on the Xiao'erjing system was proposed in Tashkent by Dungan studentsYa. Shivaza, Yu. Yanshansin, and H. Makeev.^[4][5]

This alphabet included the following letters:^[4]

ى ه ۋ و ن م ل ڴ گ ک ق ف غ ﻉ ﻅ ﻁ ڞ ﺽ ﺹ ش س ژ ز ر ﺫ د خ ﺡ چ ﺝ ث ﺕ پ ب ا

Diacritics were used when writing the finals of syllables. This alphabet did not manage to gain popularity, since at that time the question ofLatinization of the Dungan script was raised.

In January 1928, at the 2nd Plenum of the All-Union Central Committee of theNew Turkic Alphabet inTashkent, the Dungan Latinized alphabet was adopted. Its authors were Ya. Zhang and a group of Dungan students studying at Tashkent universities. Soviet scientistsV. M. Alekseev,A. A. Dragunov andE. D. Polivanov assisted them in developing the alphabet.^[6]

The first Dungan alphabet had the following form:A a, B в, C c, Ç ç, D d, E e, F f, G g, Ƣ ƣ, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, Ꞑ ꞑ, O o, Ɵ ɵ, P p, R r, S s, Ş ş, Ꟍ ꟍ, T t, U u, V v, X x, Y y, Z z, Ƶ ƶ, Ь ь. In the finally approved version of the alphabet, the letterS̷ s̷ was cancelled and the letterӘ ә was introduced (however, in the first Dungan primer, capital letters were not used).^[7] The alphabet also used 4 digraphs:Dƶ dƶ, Ts ts, Tş tş, Uv uv. In March 1932, at a meeting on the Dungan alphabet, it was decided to reform it. Thus, the lettersH h,Ƣ ƣ,Ɵ ɵ, as well as all digraphs, were abolished. The lettersW w andⱫ ⱬ were introduced.^[8]

The following changes were made to the meanings of the letters: ts → c, tş → ç, dƶ → ⱬ, h → şj, c → çj, ç → ⱬj, ɵ → yә. The letter ƣ, which denoted the jagged, unrolled [r] in Dungan words, was replaced by the letter r, which had previously denoted [r] in Russian borrowings. One of the goals of the writing reform was the unification of the Dungan alphabet with the newly createdChinese Latinized alphabet. The letter j denoted the softness of the preceding consonant, but was not written before i and y. In June 1932, the conference inFrunze generally approved these changes, while retaining the letter Ƣ ƣ.^[8] Later, it was proposed to exclude from the alphabet the letter Ꞑ ꞑ, which was used in only a few words.^[9]

Dungan Latinized alphabet after the reform:^[9]

The question ofswitching the Dungan alphabet to Cyrillic was raised shortly before the Great Patriotic War, which prevented the implementation of this project. It was revisited in 1952, when the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences decided to create a commission to develop a Dungan Cyrillic alphabet. The commission was headed by A. A. Dragunov. Their projects were presented by Yu. Yanshansin, A. A. Dragunov,Yusup Tsunvazo [ru], G. P. Serdyuchenko and A. Kalimov. Opinions were expressed about the need for a separate letterҷ for the sound [tɕʰ], about using the letter у'instead ofў, about the uselessness of the letterң and about replacing the letterр (r) in native Dungan words withэ̡. As a result of discussions in 1953 (with some changes), the project of Yusup Yanshansin was approved.^[10] This alphabet is still in use today and has the following form:^[6]

Tones are not indicated in practical writing. In dictionaries and scientific publications, they are designated by Roman numerals I II III after the word or by superscripts of numbers ¹²³ after each syllable (for example: Җўжынҗя II-I-Iowner, master^[6] or ми¹хуар³chamomile^[11]).

Compiled by,^[7][12][13]

Notes to the table:

• ⁰ Due to different spelling rules, a one-to-one correspondence between letters of different alphabets cannot be established.
• ⁰⁰ The letters and letter combinations in brackets were not part of the official alphabet.
• ¹ After vowels, й, ъ, ь and at the beginning of a word
• ² Before е, ё, и, ү, ю, я
• ³ In the finals ўй, ый
• ⁴ After б, м, п and in finals он, ор
• ⁵ In borrowed words
• ^5а In native words
• ⁶ In the finals уа, уан, уә, уон, уэ
• ⁷ After ж, й, ч, щ
• ⁸ After ж, җ, з, с, ц, ч, ш
• ⁹ In the finals ый, ын

• Gladney, Dru C. (1996).Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People's Republic (2nd ed.). Harvard University Asia Center.ISBN 0-674-59497-5. (1st edition appeared in 1991)

• Dungan
• Mandarin Chinese
• Cyrillic alphabets
• Languages written in Cyrillic script
• Latin alphabets
• Alphabets

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