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Buyang language

Buyang (Chinese: 布央语) is a Kra language spoken in Guangnan and Funing counties, Yunnan Province, China by the Buyang people.[4] It is important to the reconstruction of the hypothetical macrofamily Austro-Tai as it retains the disyllabic roots characteristic of Austronesian languages. Examples are /matɛ́/ "to die", /matá/ "eye", /qaðù/ "head", and /maðû/ "eight". (See Austro-Tai for proposed connections.)

The Buyang language was initially documented in 1990 by Chinese linguist Liang Min. In 1999, a doctoral dissertation and book was published for Buyang. The book has also recently been translated into English.

Many speakers of Buyang are also fluent in Zhuang.[5]

Subdivisions

The Buyang (布央) dialect cluster is spoken by a total of around 2,000 people living mostly in the Gula (谷拉) River valley of southeastern Yunnan Province. It is spoken in at least eight villages[6] in Gula Township 谷拉乡, Funing County 富宁县, Wenshan Zhuang–Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan. Buyang is divided into the following groups:[5]

Weera Ostapirat (2000) splits the Buyang language into two branches:[6]

Ostapirat also classifies Buyang and Qabiao together as Eastern Kra, while Paha is classified as Central Kra. Together, the two branches form one of the two primary Kra branches, namely Central-East Kra. The En language has also been recently included in Eastern Kra (also called Yang–Biao, from [Bu]yang–[Pu]biao).

Li (2010) divides the Buyang language as follows:[7]

Eastern

Western (Paha)

Languages closely related to Buyang include Qabiao, En, and also Paha if considered a separate language.

Phonology

The following are the sounds of the Funing dialects:

Consonants

Vowels

Diachronic evolution of consonants

Pre-Buyang, the stage in the evolution of the language that can be reconstructed from internal evidence, appears to have had a slightly different phonemic inventory than the modern dialects: a voiced stop *ɢ paired with *q,[18] as well as voiced *ɦ alongside *h,[19] and a pair of sibilants *s, *z.[20] In addition, it doesn't appear to have had a series of aspirated consonants, a condition still found in the Ecun dialect.[21] Thus reconstructed pre-Buyang is more similar in its phonemic inventory to reconstructed Proto-Austronesian than is any modern dialect of Buyang.[further explanation needed]

Notes

  1. ^ Holm, David (2003). Killing a Buffalo for the Ancestors: A Zhuang Cosmological Text from Southwest China. DeKalb: Southeast Asia Publications, Northern Illinois University. p. 15.
  2. ^ E'ma Buyang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Langnian Buyang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Yalang (Yerong) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  3. ^ Endangered Languages Project data for Yerong.
  4. ^ Gordon, Raymond G. Jr., ed. (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (15th ed.). Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  5. ^ a b Diller, Anthony V. N.; Edmondson, Jerold A.; Luo, Yongxian, eds. (2008). The Tai-Kadai Languages. Routledge Language Family Series. Psychology Press.
  6. ^ a b Ostapirat, Weera (2000). "Introduction" (PDF). Proto-Kra. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 23(1). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-06.
  7. ^ a b Li, Jinfang; Luo, Yongxian (2010). The Buyang Language of South China: Grammatical Notes, Glossary, Texts and Translations. Pacific Linguistics. doi:10.15144/PL-607 (inactive 31 January 2024). hdl:1885/146755. ISBN 978-0-85883-612-9. OCLC 663873692.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link)
  8. ^ "Fùníng Xiàn Gǔlā Xiāng Écūn Écūn" 富宁县谷拉乡峨村峨村 [Ecun, Ecun, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  9. ^ "Fùníng Xiàn Gǔlā Xiāng Écūn Dùgàn" 富宁县谷拉乡峨村度干 [Dugan, Ecun, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  10. ^ "Fùníng Xiàn Gǔlā Xiāng Écūn Zhělóng" 富宁县谷拉乡峨村者龙 [Zhelong, Ecun, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  11. ^ "Fùníng Xiàn Gǔlā Xiāng Écūn Nàdá" 富宁县谷拉乡峨村那达 [Nada, Ecun, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  12. ^ "Fùníng Xiàn Gǔlā Xiāng Écūn Lóngnà" 富宁县谷拉乡峨村龙纳 [Longna, Ecun, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  13. ^ "Fùníng Xiàn Gǔlā Xiāng Mǎguàn Mǎguàn" 富宁县谷拉乡马贯马贯 [Maguan, Maguan, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  14. ^ "Fùníng Xiàn Gǔlā Xiāng Lóngsè Lángjià" 富宁县谷拉乡龙色郎架 [Langjia, Longse, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  15. ^ "Fùníng Xiàn Gǔlā Xiāng Gǔtáo Niàn Léng" 富宁县谷拉乡谷桃念楞 [Gutao Nian Leng, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  16. ^ "Guǎngnán Xiàn Dǐxū Xiāng Pǔlóng Cūnmín Wěiyuánhuì Yānglián Zìráncūn" 广南县底圩乡普龙村民委员会央联自然村 [Yanglian Natural Village, Pulong Village Committee, Dixu Township, Guangnan County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  17. ^ Jinfang, Li (2002). 富宁布央语调查研究 [Research on Funing Buyang dialects]. 中央民族大学学报：哲学社会科学版 [Journal of Minzu University of China: Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition], Issue 1: Journal of the Central University for Nationalities. pp. 115–122.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  18. ^ "the ancient Buyang language must have had a voiced stop *G contrasting to *q. The Duolo dialect of Gelao, a language related to Buyang, now still has ... G." (Li & Zhou, p. 116, § 2)
  19. ^ "Ancient Buyang had ... *ɦ." (Li & Zhou, p. 125, § 4)
  20. ^ "Ancient Buyang had a contrastive pair of voiceless and voiced ... *s, *z, which are very common in modern Ge–Yang" (Li & Zhou, p. 124, § 4)
  21. ^ "Ancient Buyang didn't have any aspirated consonants. Later, ... aspirated consonants were created in some dialects, but in Ecun dialect, no aspirated consonants appeared at all." (Li & Zhou, p. 132, § 8)

References

Further reading

External links