Bouyei language
Encyclopedia
The Bouyei language is a language spoken by the Bouyei ethnic group of southern Guizhou Province in mainland China
. Classified as a member of the Northern Tai group in the Tai languages
branch of the Tai–Kadai language family
, the language has over 2.5 million native speakers and is also used by the Giay people
in some parts of Vietnam
. There are native speakers living in France
or the United States
as well, which immigrated from China or Vietnam. About 98% of the native speakers are in China.
Bouyei's characteristics are similar to the other members of its language branch. It is generally monosyllabic, and word order
and particles
are the main forms of grammar
. Bouyei's syllable initials match up closely to the other Northern Tai languages, with relatively fast simplification and merging. Bouyei sentences can be shown to contain many different levels of phrasing.
The contemporary Bouyei script was developed after the abandonment of the Bouyei-Zhuang Script Alliance Policy in 1981, and was designed from 1981 to 1985. It is focused and phonologically representative, and takes the Wangmo County
dialect as its foundation.
Pink: p, t, k, q, z, and c are used only to write Chinese
loanwords.
Beige: sl and hr are used for sounds that occur only in certain dialects.
V is pronounced as a "w" before a "u".
The endings er [ɚ], ao [au], ou [əu], ia [ia], io [io], iao [iau], ua [ua], uai [uai], and ui [uəi] are used in writing Chinese loanwords.
, corresponding to the eight tones of Middle Chinese
: six "level" tones with open or "n"/"ng" endings, and two "entering" tones with consonant finals
.
Marking letters are placed at the end of syllables to indicate tone.
.
Proto-Tai–Kadai's tones experienced a splitting into modern Bouyei, shown in the following table.
to discuss the creation and implementation of a Latin-based script
for Bouyei. The result was a script similar some Zhuang romanizations that used the Longli County dialect as its base. The script was approved by the Chinese government and was put into use in 1957, though its use ceased in 1960.
Old and current Bouyei Romanization comparisons
Tone Marking Letters
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Classified as a member of the Northern Tai group in the Tai languages
Tai languages
The Tai or Zhuang–Tai languages are a branch of the Tai–Kadai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including standard Thai or Siamese, the national language of Thailand; Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos; Burma's Shan language;...
branch of the Tai–Kadai language family
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
, the language has over 2.5 million native speakers and is also used by the Giay people
Giay people
The Giáy are an ethnic group in Vietnam who speak the Buyei language. Most live in the Lào Cai, Hà Giang, Lai Châu, and Cao Bằng provinces of northern Vietnam. In 1999 the population was 49,098....
in some parts of Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. There are native speakers living in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
or the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as well, which immigrated from China or Vietnam. About 98% of the native speakers are in China.
Bouyei's characteristics are similar to the other members of its language branch. It is generally monosyllabic, and word order
Word order
In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...
and particles
Grammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
are the main forms of grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
. Bouyei's syllable initials match up closely to the other Northern Tai languages, with relatively fast simplification and merging. Bouyei sentences can be shown to contain many different levels of phrasing.
The contemporary Bouyei script was developed after the abandonment of the Bouyei-Zhuang Script Alliance Policy in 1981, and was designed from 1981 to 1985. It is focused and phonologically representative, and takes the Wangmo County
Wangmo County
Wangmo County is a county of Guizhou, China. It is under the administration of the Qianxinan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture.Wangmo, recorded of rainfall in one hour, on 9 June 2011, the most rainfall in the county in 200 years....
dialect as its foundation.
Subdivisions
The Bouyei language as spoken in Guizhou can be divided into three general dialect groups:- The Southern Qian group - the largest of the three - from the Qianxinan Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, which is partially intelligible with the Guibian and Guibei Zhuang dialects.
- The Central Qian group - next most spoken of the three - which is spread throughout the Qianxinan Autonomous Prefecture and the suburbs of GuiyangGuiyangGuiyang is the capital of Guizhou province of Southwest China. It is located in the centre of the province, situated on the east of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, and on the north bank of the Nanming River, a branch of the Wu River. The city has an elevation of about 1,100 meters...
, and is partially intelligible with the Southern Qian dialects (it is very similar to the Zhuang dialects of northern GuangxiGuangxiGuangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
) - The Western Qian dialects - the least spoken of the three - which is spoken in the areas of Zhenning, Guanling, QinglongQinglong County, GuizhouQinglong County is a county of Guizhou, China. It is under the administration of the Qianxinan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture....
, Pu'an, Liuzhi, Pan CountyPan CountyPan County is a county of Guizhou, China. It is under the administration of Liupanshui city....
, Shuicheng, BijieBijieBijie is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Guizhou province, People's Republic of China.The Daotianhe Reservoir, located to the north of the town was commissioned in 1965 with a rated annual capacity of 6.5 million cubic meters....
, and Weining, and shows more unique features than the other two groups.
Consonants
The Bouyei script recognizes 32 consonants, with names formed by the consonant in an initial position followed by a long "a" vowel.| Labials Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals... |
b [p] | p [pʰ] | mb [ɓ] | m [m] | f [f] | v [v] |
| Apicals Apical consonant An apical consonant is a phone produced by obstructing the air passage with the apex of the tongue . This contrasts with laminal consonants, which are produced by creating an obstruction with the blade of the tongue .This is not a very common distinction, and typically applied only to fricatives... |
d [t] | t [tʰ] | nd [ɗ] | n [n] | sl [ɬ] | l [l] |
| Radicals Radical consonant Radical consonants are those consonants articulated with the root of the tongue in the throat. This includes the pharyngeal, epiglottal, and epiglotto-pharyngeal places of articulation, though technically epiglottal consonants take place in the larynx.... |
g [k] | k [kʰ] | ng [ŋ] | h [x] | hr [ɣ] | |
| Palatals | j [tɕ] | q [tɕʰ] | ny [ɲ] | x [ɕ] | y [j] | |
| Affricates Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... |
z [ts] | c [tsʰ] | s [s] | r [z] | ||
| Palatalized Palatalization In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate.... |
by [pʲ] | my [mʲ] | qy [ˀj] | |||
| Labialized Labialisation Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.The most common... |
gv [kʷ] | ngv [ŋʷ] | qv [ˀv] |
Pink: p, t, k, q, z, and c are used only to write Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
loanwords.
Beige: sl and hr are used for sounds that occur only in certain dialects.
V is pronounced as a "w" before a "u".
Vowels and diphthongs
Bouyei has 77 vowels and diphthongs.| "Level" syllables | a [a] | o [o] | ee [e] | i [i] | u [u] | e [ɯ] | |||||
| aai [aːi] | ai [ai] | oi [oi] | ei [ɯi] | ||||||||
| aau [aːu] | au [au] | eeu [eu] | iu [iu] | ||||||||
| ae [aɯ] | ie [iə] | ue [uə] | ea [ɯə] | ||||||||
| aam [aːm] | am [am] | oom [om] | om [ɔm] | eem [em] | iam [iəm] | im [im] | uam [uəm] | um [um] | eam [ɯəm] | ||
| aan [aːn] | an [an] | oon [on] | on [ɔn] | een [en] | ian [iən] | in [in] | uan [uən] | un [un] | ean [ɯən] | en [ɯn] | |
| aang [aːŋ] | ang [aŋ] | oong [oŋ] | ong [ɔŋ] | eeng [eŋ] | iang [iəŋ] | ing [iŋ] | uang [uəŋ] | ung [uŋ] | eang [ɯəŋ] | eng [ɯŋ] | |
| "Entering" syllables | aab [aːp] | ab [ap] | oob [op] | ob [ɔp] | eeb [ep] | iab [iəp] | ib [ip] | uab [uəp] | ub [up] | eab [ɯəp] | |
| aad [aːt] | ad [at] | ood [ot] | od [ɔt] | eed [et] | iad [iət] | id [it] | uad [uət] | ud [ut] | ead [ɯət] | ed [ɯt] | |
| ag [ak] | og [ɔk] | eeg [ek] | ig [ik] | ug [uk] | eg [ɯk] |
The endings er [ɚ], ao [au], ou [əu], ia [ia], io [io], iao [iau], ua [ua], uai [uai], and ui [uəi] are used in writing Chinese loanwords.
Tones
Bouyei has eight tonesTone (linguistics)
Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...
, corresponding to the eight tones of Middle Chinese
Four tones
The four tones of Chinese phonology are four traditional tone-classes of words derived from the four phonemic tones of Middle Chinese. They are even level , rising , going departing , and entering checked .-Names:In Middle Chinese, each of the tone names carries the tone it identifies: 平 even ,...
: six "level" tones with open or "n"/"ng" endings, and two "entering" tones with consonant finals
Syllable coda
In phonology, a syllable coda comprises the consonant sounds of a syllable that follow the nucleus, which is usually a vowel. The combination of a nucleus and a coda is called a rime. Some syllables consist only of a nucleus with no coda...
.
| # | Name | Contour Tone contour A tone contour is a tone in a tonal language which shifts from one pitch to another over the course of the syllable or word. Tone contours are especially common in East and Southeast Asia, but occur elsewhere, such as the Kru languages of Liberia and the Ju languages of Namibia.-Themes:When the... |
Marking letter | Corresponding Southwest Mandarin Tone | Loanword Marking letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dark level | 24 | l | Departing | q |
| 2 | Light level | 11 | z | ||
| 3 | Dark rising | 53 | c | Rising | j |
| 4 | Light rising | 31 | x | Light level | f |
| 5 | Dark departing | 35 | s | ||
| 6 | Light departing | 33 | h | Dark level | y |
| 7 | Dark entering | 35 | t | ||
| 8 | Light entering | 33 | none | ||
Marking letters are placed at the end of syllables to indicate tone.
Language shift
Bouyei shows clearing of Proto-Tai–Kadai's "muddy" consonants (*b → /p/, *d → /t/, *ɡ → /k/), and loss of aspirationAspiration (phonetics)
In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...
.
| Proto-Tai–Kadai | *ˀn, *n̥ | *t | *ˀd | *dʱ、*d | *n |
| Bouyei | n | t | ɗ | t | n |
| Dark tone | Light tone |
Proto-Tai–Kadai's tones experienced a splitting into modern Bouyei, shown in the following table.
| Proto-Tai–Kadai | *ˀn, *n̥ | *t | *ˀd | *dʱ, *d | *n |
| PTK Level tone | Dark level | Light level | |||
| PTK Rising tone | Dark rising | Light rising | |||
| PTK Departing tone | Dark departing | Light departing | |||
| PTK Entering tone | Dark entering | Light entering | |||
Ancient Bouyei script
Ancient Bouyei writing was created by borrowing elements from Chinese characters or by mimicking their forms, and is similar to Sawndip.Old Modern Bouyei
In November 1956, a scientific conference was held in GuiyangGuiyang
Guiyang is the capital of Guizhou province of Southwest China. It is located in the centre of the province, situated on the east of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, and on the north bank of the Nanming River, a branch of the Wu River. The city has an elevation of about 1,100 meters...
to discuss the creation and implementation of a Latin-based script
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
for Bouyei. The result was a script similar some Zhuang romanizations that used the Longli County dialect as its base. The script was approved by the Chinese government and was put into use in 1957, though its use ceased in 1960.
Current Bouyei script
In 1981 a conference on Bouyei history revised the script developed in 1956 in an attempt to make it more practical and phonologically representative of Wangmo County speech. It also was approved by the Chinese government, and was adopted on an experimental basis in 1982. Feedback was largely positive, and the script was officially brought into use in March 1985 and continues to be used to the present.Old and current Bouyei Romanization comparisons
| Old | Current | IPA | Old | Current | IPA | Old | Current | IPA | Old | Current | IPA | Old | Current | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| b | b | /p/ | ƃ | mb | /ɓ/ | m | m | /m/ | f | f | /f/ | v | v, qv | /v, ˀv/ |
| c | z | /ts/ | s | s | /s/ | r | r | /z/ | ||||||
| d | d | /t/ | ƌ | nd | /ɗ/ | n | n | /n/ | l | l | /l/ | |||
| g | g | /k/ | gv | gv | /kʷ/ | ŋ | ng | /ŋ/ | ŋv | ngv | /ŋʷ/ | h | h | /x/ |
| gy | j | /tɕ/ | ny | ny | /nʲ/ | x | x | /ɕ/ | y | y, qy | /j, ˀj/ | |||
| by | by | /pʲ/ | my | my | /mʲ/ | |||||||||
| Old | Zhuang | Bouyei | IPA | Old | Zhuang | Bouyei | IPA | Old | Zhuang | Bouyei | IPA | Old | Zhuang | Bouyei | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | a | aa | /aː/ | ə | ae | a | /a/ | e | e | ee | /e/ | i | i | i | /i/ |
| o | o | oo | /oː/ | ө | oe | o | /o/ | u | u | u | /u/ | ɯ | w | e | /ɯ/ |
Tone Marking Letters
| # | | Old | Zhuang | Bouyei | Yangchang Dialect | Fuxing Dialect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | none | none | l, q | 35 | 24 |
| 2 | ƨ | z | z | 11 | 11 |
| 3 | з | j | c, j | 13 | 53 |
| 4 | ч | x | x, f | 31 | 11 |
| 5 | ƽ | q | s | 33 | 35 |
| 6 | ƅ | h | h, y | 53 | 33 |
| 7 | (p、t、k) | (p、t、k) | (b、d、g)t | 33 long), 35 (short) | 35 |
| 8 | (b、d、g) | (b、d、g) | (b、d、g) | 53 (long), 11 (short) | 33 |