Eastern Yugur is a Mongolic language spoken by the Yugurs, who also speak Western Yughur—a Turkic language. The terms may also indicate the speakers of these languages, which are both unwritten. Traditionally, both languages are indicated by the term Yellow Uygur, from the autonym of the Yugur. Eastern Yugur speakers are said to have passive bilingualism with Inner Mongolian, the standard spoken in China.
Eastern Yugur is a threatened language with an aging population of fluent speakers. Language contact with neighbouring languages, particularly Chinese, has noticeably affected the language competency of younger speakers. Some younger speakers have also begun to lose their ability to distinguish between different phonetic shades within the language, indicating declining language competency.
Grigory Potanin recorded a glossary of Salar, Western Yugur, and Eastern Yugur in his 1893 book written in Russian, The Tangut-Tibetan Borderlands of China and Central Mongolia.
Phonology +ConsonantsBilabialAlveolarPalatalVelarUvularGlottalplainlateralStopvoicelessaspiratedAffricatevoicelessaspiratedFricativevoicelessvoicedNasalvoicedvoicelessTrillApproximant The phonemes appear exclusively in Chinese loanwords.
+VowelsFrontCentralBackHigh Mid Low Vowel length is also distributed.
References
Further reading
Sīqīncháokètú [斯钦朝克图] (2024). Gānsù Sùnán Dōngbù Yùgùyǔ [甘肃肃南东部裕固语]. Beijing: Commercial Press [商务印书馆].