RESEARCH FRONTIERS IN SINO—ISLAMIC LINGUISTICS

This paper defines the field of Sino-Islamic linguistics— the study of the Arabic and Persian norms of the Chinese-speaking Muslims. Eight topics in Sino-Islamic linguistics are discussed here: (1) diffusion of Arabic and Persian to China; (2) differential impact of Arabic and Persian on Chinese and Uigur; (3) Chinese-Eastern Turkic linguistic contacts; (4) norms of Chinese Arabic and Persian; (5) dialectology of Chinese Arabic and Persian; (6) functional variations of Chinese Arabic and Persian; (7) transcription of Arabic and Persian in Chinese characters; (8) benefits for Chinese linguistics.