“小经”文字产生的背景——关于“回族汉语”

The Background of the Appearance of the Xiaojing Scripts——The Hui Chinese Dialect

本文所研究的是我国回回人先民母语的转变与"小经"文字产生的相互关系问题.回回人的先民在从外来移民转变为中国一个少数民族的过程中,曾经历了一个"双语时期",即同时操汉语与波斯语的时期,其时代大致在元与明初.目前保存下来的早期回族汉语标本可上推至明初.回回人的"双语时期"约结束于明中期,这时多数回回人已经不懂波斯语,其母语也演变为"回族汉语"."小经"文字的产生当在此后.

This paper focuses on the relationship between the change of the mother tongue of ancient Hui Muslims and the appearance of the Xiaojing scripts. Scholars like Bai Shouyi and Chen Yuanlong believe that the basic language of Xiaojing is Chinese, meanwhile An Jiwu and other scholars connect the Xiaojing scripts with the Xinjiang dialect of Chinese used by local Hui Muslims and ' the language of madrrasa'. Based on the previous researches, the author suggests that the language of Xiaojing is the Hui Chinese dialect. The paper discusses a special period-bilingual period, in the process of the formation of Chinese Hui Muslims, the Mongol-Yuan and early Ming period when two languages, both Chinese and Persian, were used. The earliest sample of the Hui Chinese dialect belongs to the early Ming period. The bilingual period ended in the mid of the Ming period when most of the Hui Muslim could no more speak and write Persian fluently and their mother tongue became Hui Chinese dialect. The appearance of the Xiaojing scripts should be after this time.