Documentation of Western Yugur, a language on the verge of disappearing

Language	Western Yugur
Depositor	Zhencao Zhong
Affiliation	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Location	China
Collection ID	0784
Grant ID	IGS1029
Funding Body	ELDP
Collection Status	Collection online
Landing Page Handle	http://hdl.handle.net/2196/02d2625f-58e4-4e4a-8683-d71a3d886776

 

Summary of the collection

English: This collection contains the outcomes of the IGS1029 documentation project funded by ELDP. The project runs from 2024 to 2026. The materials archived in this collection are primarily natural discourse data in Western Yugur, including everyday conversations among different speakers. In addition, the collection also contains some elicited linguistic data, such as phonological surveys and grammatical questionnaires. Furthermore, Western Yugur songs and chants are included, along with audio-visual recordings related to ethnic culture and the natural environment. Some discourse materials have been transcribed in ELAN using the International Phonetic Alphabet and translated into Mandarin Chinese and English. A portion of the materials has been glossed in FLEx. The collection further contains project-related documents, such as consent forms and metadocumentation describing the project outcomes.

语料集简介

中文：本语料集收录的是ELDP所资助的IGS1029记录项目的成果。该项目的开展周期为2024年至2026年。收录在本语料集中的成果主要为西部裕固语的自然话语材料，主要包含不同发音人的日常对话；同时本语料集还收录了一部分通过引导式调查所得的语言材料，包括音系调查、语法问卷等。此外，本语料集还收录了西部裕固语歌谣，以及和民族文化、自然环境相关的音视频材料。部分话语材料通过国际音标在ELAN中进行转写，并翻译为汉语和英语。部分材料还通过FLEx进行了语法标注。语料集中还收录了与项目相关的一些文档，如知情同意书、说明项目成果的元数据档案等。

 

Group represented

English: The speakers of Western Yugur are members of the Yugur ethnic group, one of the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in the People’s Republic of China. The Yugur predominantly reside in Sunan Yugur Autonomous County in Gansu Province, specifically in the towns of Hongwansi, Minghua, and Dahe. The Yugur were formerly engaged in a nomadic lifestyle, though a large part of the population is now settled in towns and cities. The scholarly literature offers different views on the origin of the Yugur; one perspective suggests that they are direct descendants of the Old Uighur people (Miao 2019: 3; Zhong 2009: 2–8; Chen 2004: 3–12). In their daily lives, the Yugur people practise Buddhism.

本语料集的相关社群

中文：使用西部裕固语的人口为裕固族，是中华人民共和国官方识别的56个民族之一。裕固族主要聚居在中国甘肃省张掖市肃南裕固族自治县境内的红湾寺镇、明花乡和大河乡。裕固族早期以游牧为生，现有大量人口已定居到城市。目前学界对裕固族的起源有几种看法，其中一种观点认为他们是回鹘人的直系后裔（苗东霞，2019: 3，钟进文，2009: 2–8；陈宗振，2004: 3–12）。裕固族在日常生活中信奉佛教。

 

Language information

English: Western Yugur is a Turkic language spoken exclusively in China and is one of the mother tongues of the Yugur people. In their everyday lives, Yugurs use three languages: Eastern Yugur (a Mongolic language), Western Yugur, and Mandarin Chinese.
According to Zhong (2019: 4), about 2,000 people currently speak Western Yugur, with only 1,000 speakers being fluent. Western Yugur faces severe problems of intergenerational transmission, as younger people have already shifted to Mandarin. The language is therefore categorised as severely endangered. Western Yugur constitutes one of the “enclaves” of the Turkic languages (Johanson 2021: 93). It retains some archaic features of Old Turkic, such as the anticipating counting systems for the numbers 11–29, while at the same time showing many contact-induced changes at different linguistic levels, including diphthongs in the phonology and a large number of lexical copyings.

语言信息

中文：西部裕固语是一种仅分布在中国的突厥语族语言，是裕固族的母语之一。裕固族在日常生活中使用三种语言，东部裕固语（属蒙古语族语言）、西部裕固语和汉语官话。
根据Zhong（2019: 4），当前大约有2,000人使用西部裕固语，且仅有1,000人能流利使用西部裕固语。西部裕固语当前面临严重的代际传承困难，青少年等均已转用汉语。因此，西部裕固语是一种严重濒危的语言。
西部裕固语是突厥语族语言“飞地”之一（Johanson 2021: 93）。它不仅保留了古代突厥语的一些语言特征，如数字11–29的预期计数系统；同时又在不同的语言层面表现出接触而引发的变化，如音系中的复合元音、大量的外来语借词等。

 

Special characteristics

English: Because of its unique linguistic position, Western Yugur has been studied by linguists and anthropologists since the last century. However, limited by earlier technological conditions, most available material was published in text form, and many linguistic resources have not yet been published or made openly accessible. The “China Language Resource Protection Project” (中国语言资源保护工程), funded by the Ministry of Education of the PRC, has recorded some audio-visual materials of Western Yugur, thereby presenting the language in a more vivid way. However, because of the strict elicitation guidelines of that project, most of the data consist of monologic speech by single speakers and do not reflect the dynamics of real language interaction.
This collection instead focuses on recording natural spoken discourse, aiming to minimise external influence on speakers, and documents authentic conversations among different speakers. It thereby presents the language in its natural form and usage. The data are accompanied by a substantial amount of first-hand IPA transcriptions, translations into Mandarin Chinese and English, and morphosyntactic glossings*, which is one of the most distinctive features of this collection.
* This work is ongoing; some materials in the collection are currently inaccessible. They will be made publicly available once the annotation process has been completed.

语料集的特点

中文： 西部裕固语因其独特的语言地位，自上个世纪起，就有诸多语言学家或人类学家对其展开研究。受限于当时的技术条件，有关该语言的资料多以文本形式出版，仍有大量语言材料未能公开发表或向外界开放。由中华人民共和国教育部资助的“中国语言资源保护工程”收录了西部裕固语的一些音视频材料，一定程度上将这个语言生动地展现了出来。然而，囿于该工程确定的调查规范，该部分语言材料多为单一发音人的陈述材料，未能展现出该语言的真实言语交流过程。
本语料集立足于自然言语材料的收集，尽可能减少外界因素对发音人的影响，摄录了不同发音人之间的真实对话，展现了该语言的真实面貌和使用情况。语料集中的数据配有大量第一手的国际音标转写、汉语和英语翻译，及语法标注*。这是本语料集的最大特色之一。
* 这部分材料的工作尚在进行中，因此语料集中有部分材料暂时无法访问。待相关工作完成后，语料集材料会适时公开。

 

Collection contents

English: As of October 2025, this collection comprises approximately 13 hours of video, 27 hours of audio recordings (some extracted from video), and 58 photographs taken during fieldwork. Of these audio-visual materials, about three hours have been transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet and translated into Mandarin Chinese and English, and around two hours have also been glossed.

语料集内容

中文：截止于2025年10月，本语料集收录了约13小时的录像、27小时的录音（部分由视频提取导出）、58张在田野调查中拍摄的照片。音视频材料中，约有3小时已通过国际音标进行转写、并翻译为汉语和英语，其中约有两小时完成了语法标注。

 

Collection history

English: The materials in this collection have been gathered since July 2024, and archiving is expected to continue until October 2026, with subsequent updates made as necessary. Data collection involved equipment such as ZOOM cameras and RØDE Wireless microphones.
All materials were backed up on hard drives and imported into Lameta for metadata management and archiving. Some of the data have been transcribed, translated, and annotated using ELAN and FLEx, with corresponding metadata also managed in Lameta. Video files recorded as .mov with ZOOM cameras were converted into .mp4 format using ffmpeg before being deposited in the ELAR archive.
Since the start of the project, I have deposited data twice, in March 2025 and October 2025.
All materials in this collection are archived exclusively at ELAR.

语料集历史

中文： 本语料集所收录的材料从2024年7月开始收集，预计存档将持续至2026年10月，且后续将根据情况更新。数据的收集用到了ZOOM摄像机、RØDE Wireless话筒等必要设备。
所收集的材料先后通过硬盘备份，导入到Lameta进行元数据管理、归档。部分材料通过ELAN和FLEx进行了转写、翻译和标注，相应材料也在Lameta中进行了元数据管理。通过ZOOM摄像机获得的.mov视频文件最后通过ffmpeg转换为了.mp4格式文件，存档在了ELAR数据库中。
从项目启动开始，我分别于2025年3月和10月进行了两次存档。
本语料集中的数据仅存档于ELAR。

 

References

English: Chen, Zongzhen (陈宗振). 2004. Xībù yùgù yǔ yánjīu (西部裕固语研究) [Research into the Western Yugur language]. Beijing: China Minzu Photographic Art Press.

Johanson, Lars. 2021. Turkic (Cambridge Language Surveys). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Miao, Dongxia (苗东霞). 2019. Gānsù sùnán xībù yùgù yǔ (甘肃肃南西部裕固语) [Gansu Sunan Western Yugur language]. Beijing: Commercial Press.

Zhong, Jinwen (钟进文). 2009. Xībù yùgù yǔ miáoxiě yánjīu (西部裕固语描写研究) [Descriptive research of the Western Yugur language]. Beijing: Minzu Press.

Zhong, Yarjis Xueqing. 2019. Rescuing a language from extinction: Documentation and practical steps for the revitalisation of (Western) Yugur. Canberra: The Australian National University Doctoral dissertation.

 

Acknowledgement and citation

English: All the data included in this collection owes much to the selfless contributions of the Yugur community. Without their support, this project could not have been successfully accomplished. In particular, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr Jixin He and Ms Xuefang Yang, native speakers of Western Yugur, who have made especially significant contributions to this project.

To refer to any data from the collection, please cite as follows:

Zhong, Zhencao (钟镇操). 2024. Documentation of Western Yugur, a language on the verge of disappearing (记录正在消失的语言——西部裕固语). Endangered Languages Archive. Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/2196/67c82390-6cba-4399-9d3a-32c84ba16714. Accessed on [insert date here].

致谢及引用

中文：本语料集所收录的所有数据得益于广大裕固族同胞的无私奉献。没有他们的支持，本项目无法顺利完成。在此，要特别感谢西部裕固语母语者贺继新先生和杨雪芳女士。二位为本项目贡献了特别力量。

如需引用本数据集中的任何数据，请按以下格式注明出处：

Zhong, Zhencao (钟镇操). 2024. Documentation of Western Yugur, a language on the verge of disappearing (记录正在消失的语言——西部裕固语). Endangered Languages Archive. 链接: http://hdl.handle.net/2196/67c82390-6cba-4399-9d3a-32c84ba16714. 访问于 [在这里插入日期].