Rescuing a Language from Extinction: Documentation and Practical Steps for the Revitalisation of (Western) Yugur

Abstract

The Yugur ethnic group, also known as the Yellow Uyghur, are one of the smallest ethnic minorities in north-western China. Yugur people speak three distinct languages: Western Yugur (also known as Saryg Yugur), a Turkic language with about 2,000 speakers; Eastern Yugur (also known as Shira Yugur), a Mongolic language with about 2,000 speakers; and the local Mandarin Chinese dialect. Both Western and Eastern Yugur are classified as critically endangered (Janhunen, 2010), and maintaining these languages faces challenges. One of the principal objectives of this research is to add to the currently small amount of documentation of Western Yugur. The original plan was to create a trilingual dictionary in Western Yugur, Mandarin Chinese and English, to be both a repository of lexical and cultural knowledge, and a pedagogical tool for revitalising the Yugur language. However, a number of steps were required in creating the dictionary. First was a study of the language situation of the Yugur people within the language ecology of Gansu province, and of their language revitalisation approaches. Second was an examination of the sounds of Western Yugur, the design of a practical orthography and the testing of this with community members. Third was an examination of the word classes and sentence structure of Western Yugur, resulting in a grammatical sketch. Fourthly, the methods of modern practical and theoretical lexicography were used to build a small-scale dictionary of Western Yugur. The thesis presents the result of all four activities, as well as an exegesis of the dictionary-making processes. The ultimate aim is to help the local Yugur communities document and revitalise their language, and hopefully use this to help other endangered languages around the world in a similar situation. The project is based on data collection from four different fieldwork trips between 2013 to 2017, and interview recordings through a social media app.

In detail, this thesis first introduces the language ecology and language situation of the Yugur people (Chapter 2), the past and existing efforts to maintain and revitalise the languages which include school-based language teaching, activities of community individuals and organisations, as well as challenges and suggestions to revitalise the languages (Chapter 3). Understanding the language ecology of the speaker communities is essential for language revitalisation. In developing an orthography, one of the first steps is to find or develop an accurate phonetic representation of the language. The next step is a major challenge which is developing a practical orthography that will be both accurate and acceptable to the speakers and learners of Yugur, whilst accommodating regional variation (Chapter 4). Knowledge about how words go together and the structure of language are vital. So, also included are an introduction of word-formation (Chapter 5) and morphosyntax (Chapter 6) and verbs (Chapter 7) of Western Yugur. This thesis concludes with discussion of the methods and processes in the creation of a trilingual dictionary, and some discussion on new ways of gathering and presenting the dictionary data (Chapter 8). A sample of the trilingual dictionary is included as an appendix.