Received 15.02.2026, Revised 03.06.2026, Accepted 27.06.2026

Dungаn heritage learners’ Chinese acquisition in multilingual Central Asia

Yun Lai*

lai_yun@nwnu.edu.cn



Dungan learners in Central Asia constitute a distinctive group in Chinese acquisition because they combine historical links with Chinese dialects, Cyrillic-based literacy, and long-term multilingual contact. As descendants of Hui migrants from north-western China, many possess partial oral familiarity with Sinitic forms but lack a continuous tradition of Chinese-character literacy. This review aimed to synthesise existing research on Dungan learners’ Chinese acquisition and to clarify its significance for heritage language acquisition and Chinese language education in Central Asia. The study applied a thematic review method to bibliographic records concerning Dungan language, Chinese acquisition, Central Asian Chinese education, and heritage language learning. The review showed that Dungan learners’ Chinese acquisition is characterised by an asymmetry between relative oral familiarity and persistent literacy difficulty. Specifically, tone perception and production, Chinese character writing, word order and the ba-construction, and register control emerged as the most persistent problem areas. Phonetic and lexical learning benefited partially from continuity between Dungan and north-western Chinese varieties, whereas Chinese character learning, written production, and register awareness were constrained by script discontinuity and by contact with Russian and Turkic languages. In the sociocultural domain, Chinese learning was found to be embedded in identity negotiation between Central Asia and China, and learners’ double positioning shaped motivation, classroom participation, and cross-cultural adaptation. Existing studies remain limited by concentrated research sites, small samples, and insufficient longitudinal, corpus-based, and experimental research. These findings implied that Chinese teaching for Dungan learners should be differentiated, script-sensitive, multilingual, and culturally responsive, combining contrastive pronunciation training, component-based character instruction, corpus-informed grammar teaching, and identity-supportive classroom practice. The practical value of this review lies in supporting heritage-oriented Chinese education in multilingual Central Asia

script discontinuity; Cyrillic literacy; language contact; Chinese characters; learner identity; Putonghua teaching; cross-cultural adaptation
56-72
Lai, Y. (2026). Dungаn heritage learners’ Chinese acquisition in multilingual Central Asia. Bulletin of the Bishkek State University, 24(2), 56-72. https://doi.org/10.35254/ss/2.2026.56

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