Waxiang Chinese
| Waxiang | |
|---|---|
| Waxianghua, Xianghua, Wogang | |
| Native to | China |
| Region | western Hunan |
| Ethnicity | Waxiang people |
Native speakers | (300,000 cited 1995)[1] |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | wxa |
| Glottolog | waxi1236 |
| Linguasphere | 79-AAA-pd |
 Dialect map of Hunan. Waxiang is dark blue on the map. | |
Waxiang (simplified Chinese: çŠäčĄèŻ; traditional Chinese: çŠé話; pinyin: WÇxiÄnghuĂ ; ÉioĆË„tsa˧) is a divergent variety of Chinese,[3][4] spoken by the Waxiang people, an unrecognized ethnic minority group in the northwestern part of Hunan province, China. Waxiang is a distinct language, and is very different from the surrounding Southwestern Mandarin, Xiang Chinese, and the Eastern Miao (Xong) languages.
Classification
[edit]Waxiang is widely considered a Chinese variety.
Nevertheless, as noted by Laurent Sagart (2011)[5] and others,[6][7][8] Waxiang appears to share some words with the Caijia language of western Guizhou. Sagart (2011) considers Caijia to be a sister of Waxiang. Currently, Waxiang is classified as a divergent Chinese variety rather than a non-Sinitic language.[3][4] Similarities among Old Chinese, Waxiang, Caijia, and Bai have also been pointed out by Wu & Shen (2010).[9]
Although most Waxiang speakers are classified as ethnic Miao by People's Republic of China, Qu & Tang (2017) show that Waxiang and Miao (Qo Xiong) have had little mutual influence on each other.[10]
Distribution
[edit]Waxianghua is found in Luxi, Guzhang and Yongshun counties in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Zhangjiajie prefecture-level city (in Dayong 性ćșž ), and Chenxi, Xupu and Yuanling counties in Huaihua prefecture-level city. Neighboring languages include Southwestern Mandarin, Xiang Chinese, Tujia, Qo Xiong, and Hm Nai.
- hua means 'speech' in Mandarin Chinese,
- xiang means 'rural' in Mandarin Chinese
- wa means 'speech' in Southern Chinese dialects.
The word Wa çŠ is only a phonetic transcription.
Wu & Shen (2010) report Waxianghua to be spoken in the following villages.
- Yuanling County: Qingshuiping æž æ°ŽćȘ , Maxipu éș»æșȘéș , Taichang ć€Șćžž , Wusu äčćźż , Liangshuijing ćæ°Žäș
- Luxi County: Basheping ć «ä»ćȘ , Shangbao äžć Ą , Liangjiatan æąćź¶è° , Baisha çœæČé
- Guzhang County: Linchang æćș of Gaowangjie é«æç , Gaofeng é«ćł° (in Taojin æ·éæ , Beishuiping ćæ°ŽćȘ , etc.), Yantouzhai ćȩ怎毚 , Shanzao ć±±æŁ , Yezhu éç«č , Hepeng æČłèŹ , Caotan èæœ
- Chenxi County: Tianwan ç°æčŸ , Banqiao æżæĄ„ , Chuanxiyi èčæșȘé©ż , Tanjiafang è°ćź¶ć
- Xupu County: Rangjiaxi èź©ćź¶æșȘ , Daweixi 性æžæșȘ , Muxi æšæșȘ
- Yongshun County: Limin éææ , Zhenxi éæșȘ , Xiaoxi ć°æșȘ of Wangcun Township çæé
Liubaohua ć äżèŻ , a dialect closely related to Waxianghua, is spoken in several villages in southeastern Guzhang County (including in Shaojitian Village çČçźç°æ, Shanzao Township ć±±æŁäčĄ ) and parts of Luxi County.[11] Liubaohua is spoken in the following locations (Zou 2013).
- Guzhang County
- Shanzao Township ć±±æŁäčĄÂ : Huoma ç«éș»æ , Gaozhai é«ćŻšæ , Shaojitian çČçźç°æ, Modao 磚ćæ
- Yantouzhai Township ćȩ怎毚äčĄ: Yinping é¶ćȘæ , Zimuping æąæšćȘæ, Wangouxi çąæČæșȘæ, etc.
- Luxi County: Basheping Township ć «ä»ćȘäčĄ
- Yuanling County: Maxipu Town éș»æșȘéșé and Shaojiwan Town çČçźæčŸé
The Nanshan dialect of Waxianghua (Chinese: ćć±±äčĄèŻ) is spoken in parts of Chengbu County, Hunan and Longsheng County, Guangxi by about 1,100 Waxiang people who had originally migrated from Yuanling County. Their villages include:[12]
- Chengbu County, Hunan
- Xuntou Village 淥怎æ and Mugua Village æšçæ, both of which are in Wutuan Town äșćąé
- Juezhiping Village èšæćȘæ, Nanshan Town ćć±±é[13]
- Longsheng County, Guangxi
- Ganjia Village ççČæ, Weishan Township äŒæ±äčĄ
Phonology
[edit]| Â | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m ć°Ÿ | n 性 | ÉČ é¶ | Ć çĄŹ | ||
| Plosives | voiced | b ć© | d 代 | dÍĄz è | dÍĄÊ ćą | ÉĄ æž |
| voiceless | p ćž | t ć° | tÍĄs çșž | tÍĄÉ çČŸ | k ć§ | |
| aspirated | pÊ° ç Ž | tÊ° ć | tÍĄsÊ° ć | tÍĄÉÊ° èœż | kÊ° ćŁ | |
| Fricatives | voiced | z æČč | Ê éŁ | ÉŁ çșą | ||
| voiceless | s ç | É ć | x ç° | |||
| Approximants | v æ | l æ | Ă çź | |||
Conservative features
[edit]Waxiang preserves a number of features of Old Chinese not found in most modern varieties of Chinese, such as the initial *l- (which became a voiced dental stop in Middle Chinese):[15]
- Guzhang li6, ć° OC (BaxterâSagart) *lË€ejs > MC dijH > Mandarin dĂŹ 'earth, ground'
- Guzhang lu6, 性 OC *lˀats > MC dajH > Mandarin dà 'big'
- Guzhang li2, éČ OC *lrÉj > MC drij > Mandarin chĂ 'slow'
- Guzhang luÊ8, èź OC *C.lË€ok > MC duwk > Mandarin dĂș 'read'
Waxiang also has some cases of /z/ for Old Chinese *r- (which became l- in Middle Chinese):[16]
- Guzhang za2, æŁ OC *C.rÉj > MC lij > Mandarin lĂ 'pear tree, pear'
- Guzhang zÉ2, äŸ OC *mÉ.rË€Ék > *rË€É > MC loj > Mandarin lĂĄi 'come'
In a number of words, Waxiang and Proto-Min have affricate initials where Middle Chinese has sy-:[17]
- Guzhang tsu3, pMin *tĆĄyiB, æ°Ž OC *s.turÊ > MC sywijX > Mandarin shuÇ 'water'
- Guzhang tÉiÉu1, pMin *tĆĄyA, æž OC *s-ta > MC syo > Mandarin shĆ« 'writing'
In some words, Waxiang and Proto-Min have voiced affricates where Middle Chinese has y-:[18]
- Guzhang dzoĆ3, pMin *-dĆŸioĆB, çą OC *CÉ.ÉąaĆÊ > MC yangX > Mandarin yÇng 'itch'
Waxiang and Caijia
[edit]Sagart (2011) argues that Waxiang and Caijia together constitute the earliest branching of Chinese. However, Sagart later retracted this proposal, saying that he is no longer sure whether Waxiang and Caijia actually form a subgroup together.[5]
Like Waxiang, Caijia preserves Old Chinese *l-, has a voiced fricative reflex of *r-, and retains the Old Chinese word ć 'love', which has been replaced by æ in all other Chinese varieties. Waxiang and Caijia also share two words not found in other Chinese varieties:[5]
- 'two': Caijia taâ”â”, Waxiang tsoâ”Âł, from Old Chinese ć *tsË€És 'twice'
- 'milk': Caijia miâ”â”, Waxiang miâ”â”, which Sagart suggests is a non-Sinitic word
References
[edit]- â Waxiang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- â Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2023-07-10). "Glottolog 4.8 - Waxianghua". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7398962. Archived from the original on 2023-08-24. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- 1 2 Baxter, William; Sagart, Laurent (2014). Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction. Oxford University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-19-994537-5.
- 1 2 Kurpaska, Maria (2010). Chinese Language(s): A Look Through the Prism of "The Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects". Walter de Gruyter. p. 73. ISBN 978-3-11-021914-2.
- 1 2 3 Sagart, Laurent. 2011. Classifying Chinese dialects/Sinitic languages on shared innovations. Talk given at Centre de recherches linguistiques sur lâAsie orientale, Norgent sur Marne.
- â de Sousa, HilĂĄrio. 2015. The Far Southern Sinitic Languages as part of Mainland Southeast Asia. In Enfield, N.J. & Comrie, Bernard (eds.), Languages of Mainland Southeast Asia: The state of the art (Pacific Linguistics 649), 356â439. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. doi:10.1515/9781501501685-009.
- â æčè„żçŠäčĄèŻâćé„âăææžăèŻ»éłæ„ćè
- â æČ é”äčĄèŻïŒèčæșȘïŒäžçœèŻèĄćź¶èŻäžȘć«èŻ»éłćŻčæŻ
- â Wu Yunji, Shen Ruiqing [äŒäș槏ăæČçæž ]. 2010. An Investigative Report of Waxianghua of Guzhang County, Xiangxi Prefecture [æčè„żć€äžçŠäčĄèŻè°æ„æ„ć]. Shanghai Educational Press [äžæ”·æèČćșç瀟].
- â Qu Jianhui çżć»șæ §; Tang Jiaxin ć柶æ°. 2017. Xiangxi Xianghua yu Xiangxi Miaoyu æčè„żäčĄèŻäžæčè„żèèŻ. Minzu Yuwen, vol. 2.
- â Zou, Xiaoling éčæçČ. 2012. Classification of "Siklehua" in Guzhang County in Western Hunan æčè„żć€äžćżâć äżèŻâççł»ć±. Journal of Jishou University (Social Science Edition) ćéŠć€§ćŠćŠæ„(瀟äŒç§ćŠç) 33(1).
- â Zheng, Yanxia [éç±é]; Peng, Jianguo [ćœć»șćœ]. 2016. Hunan Chengbu Xuntou Xianghua yanjiu [æčććæ„淥怎äčĄèŻç 究]. Hunan Normal University Press [æčććžè性ćŠćșç瀟].
- â Zheng, Yanxia éç±é. 2010. Xiang-Gui bianjie Nanshan Xianghua yanjiu æčæĄèŸčçćć±±äčĄèŻç 究. Doctoral dissertation. Changsha: Hunan Normal University æčććžè性ćŠ.
- â äŒäș槏ăæČçæž ćèăæčè„żć€äžçŠäčĄèŻè°æ„æ„ćă
- â Baxter & Sagart (2014), p. 109.
- â Baxter & Sagart (2014), p. 110.
- â Baxter & Sagart (2014), p. 93.
- â Baxter & Sagart (2014), p. 189.
Further reading
[edit]
- Hilary Chappell (2012), "Typology of an isolated Sinitic language: Waxiang, a language of northwestern Hunan, China" Archived 2015-02-01 at the Wayback Machine (presentation slides), keynote at 45th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics.
- Chappell, Hilary; Peyraube, Alain; Wu, Yunji (2011). "A comitative source for object markers in Sinitic languages: è· kai55 in Waxiang and ć ± kang7 in Southern Min". Journal of East Asian Linguistics. 20 (4): 291â338. doi:10.1007/s10831-011-9078-z. PMCÂ 3837201. PMIDÂ 24273384.
- Yang, Wei [æšè]. 1999. Yuanling Xianghua yanjiu [æČ é”äčĄèŻç 究]. Changsha: Hunan Educational Press [æčćæèČćșç瀟].
- Yang, Wei [æšè]. 2010. Xiangxi Xianghua yuyin yanjiu [æčè„żäčĄèŻèŻéłç 究]. Guangzhou: Guangdong Press [ćčżäžçćșçéćą].
- Zheng, Yanxia [éç±é]; Peng, Jianguo [ćœć»șćœ]. 2016. Hunan Chengbu Xuntou Xianghua yanjiu [æčććæ„淥怎äčĄèŻç 究]. Hunan Normal University Press [æčććžè性ćŠćșç瀟].
- Chen, Hui [éæ]. 2016. Hunan Luxi Liangjiatan Xianghua yanjiu [æčćæłžæșȘæąćź¶æœäčĄèŻç 究]. Hunan Normal University Press [æčććžè性ćŠćșç瀟].
- Chen, Hui [éæ]. 2019. Hunan Luxi Xianghua [æčćæłžæșȘäčĄèŻ]. Beijing: The Commercial Press [ććĄć°äčŠéŠ]. ISBN 9787100179850.
- Deng, Jie [éć©]. 2020. Xiangxi Xianghua jiechu yu yanbian yanjiu [æčè„żäčĄèŻçæ„觊äžæŒćç 究]. Beijing: The Commercial Press.
- Li, Jiaolei [æ槣é·]. 2021. Xiangxi Xianghua yuyin cengci ji yanbian yanjiu [æčè„żäčĄèŻèŻéłć±æŹĄćæŒćç 究] / Phonological Strata and Evolution of Xianghua Dialects of Western Xiang. Beijing: The Commercial Press.