Maonan language
| Maonan | |
|---|---|
| Native to | China |
| Region | Northern Guangxi, Southern Guizhou [1] : 33 |
| Ethnicity | 107,000 (2000)[2] |
Native speakers | 30,000 (2005)[2] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mmd |
| Glottolog | maon1241 |
| ELP | Maonan |
| Maonan is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
The Maonan language (Chinese: 毛南语; pinyin: Máonán yǔ) is a Kam–Sui language spoken mainly in China by the Maonan people, specifically in northern Guangxi and southern Guizhou.[1] : 33 [3] Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County, Hechi, northern Guangxi, holds a concentrated number of speakers.[1]
Demographics
[edit ]Approximately half of all Maonan people are capable of speaking Maonan. In addition to this, many Maonan also speak Chinese or a Zhuang language. About 1/3 of all people who self-identify as Maonan are concentrated in the southern Guizhou province. They speak a mutually unintelligible dialect commonly called Yanghuang, which is more commonly known as the Then language in Western literature. The Maonan do not have a writing system.
Other than Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County in Guangxi, Maonan is also spoken in the following locations.[3]
- Nandan County, Guangxi
- Du'an Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi
- Yizhou, Guangxi
- Libo County, Guizhou
- Pingtang County, Guizhou
Phonology
[edit ]Maonan is a tonal language with 8 tones (Lu 2008:90–91),[1] featuring an SVO clause construction (Lu 2008:169).[1] (See Proto-Tai language#Tones for an explanation of the tone numbers.) For example:
man2
3SG
na4
eat
khaːu3
wine
man2 na4 khaːu3
3SG eat wine
"S/He drinks wine."
man2
3SG
paːi1
go
hɯ1
market
man2 paːi1 hɯ1
3SG go market
"S/He goes to the market."
Syntax
[edit ]Maonan displays a head-first modification structure, i.e. the modifier occurring after the word being modified (Lu 2008:170).[1] For example:
khaːu3
wine
ɦu4ljaːŋ4
broomcorn
khaːu3 ɦu4ljaːŋ4
wine broomcorn
"broomcorn wine"
mu5
pig
laːu4
big
mu5 laːu4
pig big
"big pig"
nok7
bird
vin1
fly
nok7 vin1
bird fly
"flying bird"
Occasionally, a head-final modification structure is also possible with the involvement of a possessive particle (P.P.) ti5. For example:
jaːn1
house/family
ndaːu1
1PL
ti5
POSS.PTCL
bo4
buffalo
jaːn1 ndaːu1 ti5 bo4
house/family 1PL POSS.PTCL buffalo
"Our family's buffalo"
(cf. the more common bo4 jaːn1 ndaːu1) (Lu 2008:173-174).[1]
Writing system
[edit ]The Maonan writing system was established in 2010. It is based on 26 Latin letters to facilitate standard keyboard input.[4] The letters z, j, x, s, h are attached to the end of each syllable as tonal markers, representing tones 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 respectively. The first tone is not written. Syllables ending in -b, -d, -g, -p, -t, -k do not distinguish tone either. The writing system is being used among a limited number of Maonan intellectuals.[5] For example:
Writing:
IPA:
Gloss:
Hez
ɦe2
1SG
suen
suːn1
teach
ngz
ŋ2
2SG
nhieij
ˀnjai3
buy
hux
ɦu4
rice
gangs
kaːŋ5
stitch
deih
dai6
bag
tuet
tuːt7'
take off
mad
maːt8'
sock
Writing: Hez suen ngz nhieij hux gangs deih tuet mad
IPA: ɦe2 suːn1 ŋ2 ˀnjai3 ɦu4 kaːŋ5 dai6 tuːt7' maːt8'
Gloss: 1SG teach 2SG buy rice stitch bag {take off} sock
Meaning: "I teach you (how) to buy rice, stitch bags and take off (your) socks."
See also
[edit ]Further reading
[edit ]- Zhang, Jingni 张景霓 (2017). Huanjiang Maonanzu yuyan shiyong xianzhuang ji qi yanbian 环江毛南族语言使用现状及其演变. Beijing: Science Press 科学出版社. OCLC 1050506673.
References
[edit ]- ^ a b c d e f g Lu, Tian Qiao (2008). A Grammar of Maonan. Boca Raton, Florida: Universal Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59942-971-7.
- ^ a b Maonan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ a b Guangxi Minority Languages Orthography Committee. 2008. Vocabularies of Guangxi ethnic languages [广西民族语言方音词汇]. Beijing: Nationalities Publishing House [民族出版社].
- ^ Maonan website: http://maonan.org/wenzi/HagLeaMauhnanh.asp?boardid=24
- ^ Maonan website: http://maonan.org/wenzi/shengdiao.asp