Maojia dialect

Maojia (猫ねこ家か mau55 ka55) is a mixed language in Southern China. Maojiahua is an unclassified Sinitic language that has undergone influence from Hmongic languages.

Maojia
Native to	China
Region	Hunan, Guangxi
Ethnicity	Miao
Native speakers	(200,000 cited 1991)
Language family	mixed Chinese–Miao
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None

Demographics

Maojiahua is spoken by about 200,000 people of Au-Ka (Aoka 奥おく卡) Miao ethnicity in Chengbu, Suining, Wugang and Suining in southwest part of Hunan Province, as well as in Ziyuan and Longsheng in the northern part of Guangxi Province.

According to Chen Qiguang (2013:32), "Maojia" (mau55 ka55), also known as "Qingyi Miao 青あお衣ころも苗なえ", is spoken mostly in Chengbu County, Hunan, and also in Suining, Wugang, Longsheng, and Ziyuan counties. There is a total of about 120,000 speakers. The representative dialect given in Chen (2013) is that of Xintang Village 信しん塘村, Yangshi Township 羊ひつじ石せき乡, Chengbu Miao Autonomous County, Hunan Province. Li (2004) covers various dialects of Qingyi Miao in detail.

Vocabulary

Below are selected words of likely non-Chinese origin from the Qingyi Miao dialect of Wutuan Town 五ご团镇, Chengbu County 城じょう步あゆみ县, Hunan (Li 2004).

English gloss	Chinese gloss	Qingyi Miao
eat	吃ども	y²¹
oil	油あぶら	lu⁵²
meat	肉にく	nai⁴⁴
pig	猪いのしし	te⁵⁵
small	小しょう	nɑ⁵⁵
child	孩子	nɑŋ⁵⁵li³²
nose	鼻はな子こ	pi⁵²haŋ²¹³
spider	蜘蛛くも	kiou⁵⁵ɕi⁵⁵
bedbug	臭におい虫ちゅう	pie⁵⁵
star	星ほし星ぼし	se⁵⁵le³²
dust	灰はい尘	tʰoŋ⁵⁵din⁴⁴
this	这	ko²¹
that	那な	mi⁴⁴
one	一いち	ɑ⁴⁴
thick (of soup)	稠	no⁵²
hidden, secret	密ひそか	nin²¹³
earthworm	蚯蚓みみず	din²¹kai³²
sponge gourd (Luffa aegyptiaca)	丝瓜	se³²tai⁵⁵kuɑ⁵⁵
infant	婴幼儿	naŋ⁵⁵le³²
outsider	外地がいち人じん	lai⁵²tɕie²¹³ŋ⁴⁴
son	儿子	naŋ⁵⁵li³², naŋ⁵⁵tsai³²
spit	吐	ia⁵²
vagina	女おんな阴	tsɿ⁵⁵
do	做	niɑŋ⁵²
excrement	屎	kai²¹³
squat, kneel	蹲つくばい	nioŋ⁵⁵
concave	凹	mie²¹
thin (of person)	廋	tse⁵⁵

References

• Li, Lan 李り藍あい. 2004. Hunan Chengbu Qingyi Miaoren hua 湖南こなん城じょう步あゆみ青あお衣ころも苗なえ人じん话 (The language of the Qingyi Miao people). Beijing: China Social Sciences Academy Press 中国ちゅうごく社会しゃかい科学かがく出版しゅっぱん社しゃ.
• Ming studies, 34–35:55, University of Minnesota, 1995