Guiqiong language

Guiqiong
Duampu
Native to China
Native speakers
 6,000 (2000)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 gqi
Glottolog guiq1238[2]

Guiqiong (autonym: guʨhiɐŋ; Guichong, simplified Chinese: 贵琼; traditional Chinese: 貴瓊; pinyin: Guìqióng) is a poorly attested Qiangic language of Sichuan and Tibet.[3] There are differences in the phonology of the dialects, but communication is possible. Two or three varieties have low mutual intelligibility with the rest.[1]

It may be the same language as Sötati-pö in early editions of Ethnologue.[4]

Sun (1991) documents Guiqiong of Maiben Township 麦本乡, Yutong District 鱼通区, Kangding County 康定县, Sichuan (Sun 1991:227).

The Qiangic languages are split into two language clusters. Guiqiong is categorized into a specific Qiangic cluster based on its vocabulary. This Qiangic language cluster also includes Zhaba, Queya, Ersu, Shixing, and Namuzi.[5]

Outside their villages, speakers communicate utilizing the Chinese language. Guiqiong is heavily influenced by the Chinese language, as it contains many loanwords.[6]

The Guiqiong language utilizes four tones and has no written script.[7] Although Guiqiong lacks a written script, it has been able to successfully transcend from generation to generally orally.[8]

The language has no presence in media today.[9]

General Information

Population of Speakers

The population of speakers of this language for a long time have only been estimates. It has been difficult to provide an accurate count of how many exist because since the People's Republic of China was founded, the government has considered the Guiqiong people to be a part of the Tibetan minority. Because of this, the national census cannot provide an official count of the Guiqiong people.[3]

Location

The general location of Guiqiong speakers is confined to a very small rectangular area. This area stretches 20 kilometers from its northern boundary to the southern boundary, and just reaches about 1 kilometer from its eastern to its western boundary. The area is situated to the west of the well-known Sichuan Province in China.[3]

Most groups who speak languages that are part of the Qiangic subgroup of Tibeto-Burman are classified as members of the Tibetan national minority and live in western Sichuan province.[10][11] Speakers of Guiqiong live in small communities that are intertwined among larger Chinese communities. They are distributed along the terraces of the Dadu River Yuton District, Kangding County of the Ganzi Autonomous Prefecture of the Tibetan Nationality, Sichuan.[6]

Name of the Language

As noted in the introduction of this page, Guiqiong is known by many different names. The interesting story here is that the names that have been given to the language can be divided into two groups. One group consists of the names that the Guiqiong people use to refer to themselves and their language. The second group consists of the names that others use to refer to the Guiqiong people and their language.

The Guiqiong people refer to themselves as /gutchiɐŋ/. It is now believed that the names that the Chinese words for referring to these people such as 貴瓊 (guiqiong), are just transliterations of /gutchiɐŋ/.[3]

Phonology

• Older speakers retain the distinction between the alveolo-palatal and retroflex series; younger speakers do not.

• Older speakers retain the distinction between the velar and uvular series; younger speakers have both series in free variation.

• The zero-initial is realized as [÷]. • In clusters,[12]

• The language has a very complex initial consonant system.[13]

• The following table is the phonological consonant inventory of Guiqiong.[12]

Consonants
Simple Initials
p t ts tʂ tʃ tɕ k q
ph th tsh tʂh tʃh tɕh kh qh
b d dz dʐ dɜ dʑ g
f s ʂ ʃ ɕ x
v z ʐ ɜ ʑ ɣ
m n ɳ ɲ
w l j
ɬ
Initial Clusters
np nt nts ntʂ ntʃ ntɕ nk
nph nth ntsh ntʂh ntʃh ntɕh nkh
nb nd ndz ndʐ ndɜ ndʑ ng

Vowels

Guiqiong distinguishes eight different vowel qualities.[14]

Name Height Backness Roundness
Front closed unrounded close front unrounded
Front closed rounded close front rounded
Back closed rounded close back rounded
Front open-mid unrounded open-mid front unrounded
Back close-mid rounded close-mid back rounded
Schwa (mid-central vowel) mid central unrounded
Back open-mid rounded open-mid back rounded
Central near open vowel near-open central vowel

Nasalization and diphthongs are also used to distinguish words.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 Guiqiong at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Guiqiong". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Li, Jiang (2015). A Grammar of Guìqióng: A Language of Sichuan.
  4. ↑ Klose (2001) Sprachen der Welt
  5. ↑ Thurgood, G., & LaPolla, R. J. (Eds.). (2006). The Sino-Tibetan Languages (p. 17). London, United Kingdom: Taylor and Francis elibrary.
  6. 1 2 Hongkai, S. (1990). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area (Vols. 13 - 1, pp. 11). (J. T, Trans.).
  7. ↑ Guiqiong Profile. (n.d.). In Sichuan's Ethnic Corridor. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  8. ↑ Marti, F., Ortega, P., Idiazabal, I., Barrena, A., Juaristi, P., Junyent, C., & Uranga, B. (2005). Words and Worlds: World Languages Review (p. 139). Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
  9. ↑ Marti, F., Ortega, P., Idiazabal, I., Barrena, A., Juaristi, P., Junyent, C., & Uranga, B. (2005). Words and Worlds: World Languages Review (p. 179). Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
  10. ↑ Turin, M., & Zeisler, B. (Eds.). (2011). Himalayan Languages and Linguistics: Studies in Phonology, Semantics, Morphology and Syntax (p. 304). Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV.
  11. ↑ Moseley, C. (Ed.). (2010). Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (3rd ed., p. 70). Paris, France: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  12. 1 2 Namkung, J. (Ed.). (1996). Phonological Inventories of Tibeto-Burman Languages (p. 114). Berkeley, CA: Center for Southeast Asia Studies.
  13. ↑ Bradley, D. Anthropological Linguistics, 57(4), 456-459.
  14. 1 2 Jiang, L. (2015). A Grammar of Guiqiong: A Language of Sichuan (p. 23). Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV.

Further reading

  • Sun Hongkai et al. 1991. Zangmianyu yuyin he cihui 藏缅语音和词汇 [Tibeto-Burman phonology and lexicon]. Chinese Social Sciences Press.
  • Ju Namkung. 1996. Phonological Inventories of Tibeto-Burman Languages. (STEDT Monograph Series, 3.) In Ju Namkung (ed.) Berkeley: Center for Southeast Asia Studies. xxvii+507pp.
  • Lì, Jiāng. 2014. A Grammar of Guìqióng: A language of Sichuan. (Languages of the Greater Himalayan Region, 5/15.) Leiden: Brill. xiii+452pp.
  • Lì, Jiāng. 2014. A Grammar of Guìqióng. University of Bern. 341pp. (Doctoral dissertation).
  • Sun, Hongkai. 1985. Liujiang liuyu de minzu yuyan ji qi xishu fen lei. Minzu Xuebao 3. 98-274.
  • Sun, Hongkai. 1990. Languages of the Ethnic Corridor in Western Sichuan. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 13. 1-31.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.