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| Maonan | |
|---|---|
| Native to | China |
| Region | Northern Guangxi, Southern Guizhou |
| Ethnicity | 107,000 (2000) |
| Native speakers | 30,000 (2005) |
| Language family | Kra–Dai
|
| 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. Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County, Hechi, northern Guangxi, holds a concentrated number of speakers.
Demographics
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.
- Nandan County, Guangxi
- Du'an Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi
- Yizhou, Guangxi
- Libo County, Guizhou
- Pingtang County, Guizhou
Phonology
Maonan is a tonal language with 8 tones (Lu 2008:90–91), featuring an SVO clause construction (Lu 2008:169). (See Proto-Tai language#Tones for an explanation of the tone numbers.) For example:
ex:man
3SG
na
eat
kʰaːu
wine
man2 na4 kʰaːu3
3SG eat wine
"S/He drinks wine."
ex:man
3SG
paːi
go
hɯ
market
man2 paːi1 hɯ1
3SG go market
"S/He goes to the market."
Syntax
Maonan displays a head-first modification structure, i.e. the modifier occurring after the word being modified (Lu 2008:170). For example:
ex:kʰaːu
wine
ɦuljaːŋ
broomcorn
kʰaːu3 ɦu4ljaːŋ4
wine broomcorn
"broomcorn wine"
ex:mu
pig
laːu
big
mu5 laːu4
pig big
"big pig"
ex:nok
bird
vin
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.) ti. For example:
ex:jaːn
house/family
ndaːu
1PL
ti
POSS.PTCL
bo
buffalo
jaːn1 ndaːu1 ti5 bo4
house/family 1PL POSS.PTCL buffalo
"Our family's buffalo"
(cf. the more common bo jaːn ndaːu) (Lu 2008:173-174).
Writing system
The Maonan writing system was established in 2010. It is based on 26 Latin letters to facilitate standard keyboard input. 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. For example:
ex: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
Further reading
- 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
- ^ Lu, Tian Qiao (2008). A Grammar of Maonan. Boca Raton, Florida: Universal Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59942-971-7.
- ^ Maonan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Guangxi Minority Languages Orthography Committee. 2008. Vocabularies of Guangxi ethnic languages . Beijing: Nationalities Publishing House .
- Maonan website: http://maonan.org/wenzi/HagLeaMauhnanh.asp?boardid=24
- Maonan website: http://maonan.org/wenzi/shengdiao.asp
External links
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