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.)

Buyang
Boux-yaeŋz^[1]
Native to	China
Region	Yunnan
Ethnicity	Buyang people
Native speakers	(1,500 cited 1997–2000)^[2]
Language family	Kra–Dai Kra Yang–Biao Buyang
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: yzg – E'ma Buyang yln – Langnian Buyang yrn – Yalang (Yerong)
Glottolog	buya1244
	Yerong^[3]
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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]

• Langjia 郎架 is spoken in Langjia 郎架, Funing County 富宁县, Yunnan along the Guangxi border. It is split by Ethnologue into Langnian Buyang (ISO 639-3: yln) and E'ma Buyang (ISO 639-3: yzg). The name Langjia comes from Zhuang [laːŋ35 tɕaːi31], which means "dried bamboo shoot."^[7]
• Ecun 峨村 is spoken in Ecun 峨村, Funing County 富宁县, Yunnan along the Guangxi border.
• Yerong 雅郎, also called Yalhong, is spoken in Rongtun 荣屯 (near Longhe Township 龙合乡), Napo County 那坡, Guangxi. It is listed in Ethnologue as Yerong 耶容 (ISO 639-3: yrn).
• Baha (Paha) 巴哈 is considered a separate language by Weera Ostapirat (2000). It is spoken in Yangliancun 央连村 (jaaŋ24 lɛŋ31 in Zhuang), Diyu Township 底于乡 and Anshecun 安舍村, Bada Township 八达乡, which are both in Guangnan County 广南, Yunnan. It is listed in Ethnologue as Baha Buyang (ISO 639-3: yha).

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

• North (Buyang Proper): Ecun and Langjia
• South: Yalang (Yalhong)

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

• The Funing County dialects of Ecun 峨村,^[8] Dugan 度干,^[9] Zhelong 者龙,^[10] Nada 那达,^[11] Longna 龙纳,^[12] Maguan 马贯,^[13] Langjia 郎架,^[14] and Nianlang 念郎.^[15] The Ecuns are known collectively as Buyang Bazhai 布央八寨, or "the eight Buyang villages." Together, they make up the largest group of Buyang speakers, numbering about 1,000 speakers collectively. Li further splits the Funing County Buyang dialects into 3 groups (listed from north to south):
  • Maguan 马贯
  • Ecun 峨村, Dugan 度干, Zhelong 者龙, Nada 那达, Longna 龙纳
  • Langjia 郎架, Nianlang 念郎
• Central Pohe Township 坡荷乡, Napo County, western Guangxi. More than 300 speakers reside in Rongtun 荣屯村 and Gonghe 共合村 villages, while over 100 live in Shanhe 善合, Yong'an 永安, and Guoba 果巴 villages; also in Renhecun 仁合村. 400 speakers total.

Western (Paha)

• In Guangnan County, Yanglian^[16] has around 500 Paha speakers, and Anshe only has about 100 speakers left. 600 speakers total.

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

		Labial		Dental/ Alveolar			(Alveolo-) palatal			Velar		Uvular	Glottal
		plain	pal.	plain	pal.	lab.	plain	lab.	pal.	plain	lab.
Nasal		m	mʲ	n			ɲ		ɲʲ	ŋ	ŋʷ
Plosive	voiceless	p	pʲ	t	tʲ	tʷ				k	kʷ	q	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	pʰʲ	tʰ						kʰ		qʰ
	glottalized	ˀb	ˀbʲ	ˀd	ˀdʲ	ˀdʷ
Affricate	voiceless			ts	tsʲ	tsʷ
	aspirated			tsʰ
Fricative	voiceless	f		θ	θʲ	θʷ	ɕ	ɕʷ		x			h
	voiced			ð	ðʲ		ʑ	ʑʷ
Lateral				l		lʷ
Approximant		w					j

• Seven consonants /m, n, ŋ, p, t, k, ʔ/ can occur as finals.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		ɯ	u
Close-mid	e	ə	o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Diphthongs

	Front	Back
Close	ai aːi	aɯ	au aːu, iu iːu
Mid	ie, ue	uə, eu

• Vowels /i, u, ɯ/ can occur as finals.^[17]

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. Diller, Anthony V. N.; Edmondson, Jerold A.; Luo, Yongxian, eds. (2008). The Tai-Kadai Languages. Routledge Language Family Series. Psychology Press.
6. Ostapirat, Weera (2000). (PDF). Proto-Kra. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 23(1). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-06.
7. 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. [Ecun, Ecun, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
9. [Dugan, Ecun, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
10. [Zhelong, Ecun, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
11. [Nada, Ecun, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
12. [Longna, Ecun, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
13. [Maguan, Maguan, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
14. [Langjia, Longse, Gula Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
15. [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. [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

• Li, Jinfang (1999). Bùyāng yǔ yánjiū 布央语研究 [Studies on the Buyang Language] (in Chinese). Beijing: Zhongyang minzu daxue chubanshe.
• Li, Jinfang; Luo, Yongxian (2006). "Notes on Paha Buyang" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 29 (1): 1–40.
• Liang Min. (1990). The Buyang Language, Kadai 2:13–21.

Further reading

• Li, J.; Zhou, G. (1998). (PDF). Mon-Khmer Studies. 28: 115–135. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-09.
• Mo, Haiwen 莫海文 (2016). Róngtún bùyāng yǔ cānkǎo yǔfǎ 荣屯布央语参考语法 [A Reference Grammar of Rongtun Buyang] (in Chinese). Beijing shi: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe. ISBN 978-7-5161-7534-7.
• Laurent, Sagart (2018). OC *-r in Early Chinese Loans to Bùyāng, and Related Issues. Old Chinese and Friends, Apr 2018, Jena, Germany.

External links

• Buyang-language Swadesh vocabulary list of basic words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)