The Äynu language is a Northeastern Turkic cryptolect spoken by 6,600 people. It has a mostly Turkic grammer, similar to that of Western Yugur and Old Uyghur, and a mostly Iranic vocabulary. Whether if the Äynu language is a mixed language or not is still subject to debate. The Äynu people are a nomadic people numbering from 30,000-50,000 who reside in the southwestern Taklamakan desert and follow Alevi Islam. They only speak their native language at home in order to keep their communications secret and only speak it outside their homes when they don't want to be understood by non-Äynu people. Depite its name, the Äynu language is in no way related to the Ainu language of Hokkaido.