Standard Zhuang
Standard Zhuang | |
---|---|
Vahcuengh | |
![]() | |
Pronunciation | [ |
Native to | China |
Kra–Dai
| |
Latin (official), Sawndip | |
Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
Regulated by | Ethnic Minority Language Work Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region[1][2] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | za (all Zhuang) |
ISO 639-2 | zha |
ISO 639-3 | None (mis ) |
Glottolog | None |
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Zhuang_books.jpg/220px-Zhuang_books.jpg)
Standard Zhuang (autonym: Vahcuengh, Zhuang pronunciation: [
Phonology
[edit]The following displays the phonological features of the Wuming and northern dialects of Zhuang:[6][7]
Consonants
[edit]Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
(Alveolo-) palatal |
Velar | Glottal | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | pal. | plain | pal. | lab. | |||||
Nasal | m | mʲ | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋʷ | |||
Plosive | voiceless | p | pʲ | t | k | kʲ | kʷ | ʔ | |
implosive | ɓ | ɗ | |||||||
Fricative | f | ɕ | ɣ | h | |||||
Approximant | plain | l | j | w | |||||
glottalised | ˀj | ˀw |
Among other northern dialects of Zhuang, /w/ may be heard as a [
An unusual and rare feature that Zhuang has is the lack of /s/, which is a common fricative among most languages that have them (one other notable exception is in the Australian languages), and yet Zhuang has five fricatives and no /s/.
Vowels
[edit]Front | Central | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
High | i | ɯ | u | |
Mid | e eː | (ə) | o oː | |
Low | a aː |
[ə] only occurs in diphthong or triphthong sounds.
[ɤ] can occur in recent Chinese loanwords.[8]
Among other northern Zhuang dialects, /e, o/ have shortened allophones of [ɛ, ɔ].[9]
Tones
[edit]Standard Zhuang has six tones, reduced to two (numbered 3 and 6) in checked syllables:
Tone | Contour | IPA | Letters 1957 |
Letters 1982 |
Description | Example | Gloss |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 24 | /ǎ/ /˨˦/ | (none) | rising | son | to teach | |
2 | 31 | /a᷆/ /˧˩/ | Ƨ ƨ | Z z | low falling | mwngz | thou |
3 | 55 | /a̋/ /˥/ | З з | J j | high level | hwnj | to climb up |
-p/t/k | high checked | bak | a mouth | ||||
4 | 42 | /â/ /˦˨/ | Ч ч | X x | falling | max | a horse |
5 | 35 | /a᷄/ /˧˥/ | Ƽ ƽ | Q q | high rising | gvaq | to cross |
6 | 33 | /ā/ /˧/ | Ƅ ƅ | H h | mid level | dah | a river |
-b/g/d | mid checked | bag | to hack |
The sentence Son mwngz hwnj max gvaq dah (Son mɯŋƨ hɯnз maч gvaƽ daƅ) "Teach thee to climb on a horse to cross a river" is often used to help people remember the six tones.
Tones for open syllables (not terminated by a closing consonant) are written at end of syllables.
Closed syllables can only have two tones, high and mid checked, high being shown by the final consonant being devoiced (p/t/k), and mid by it being voiced (b/d/g).
Grammar
[edit]Pronouns
[edit]Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|
1st person |
exclusive | gou (𭆸) | dou ( |
inclusive | raeuz (僂) | ||
2nd person | mwngz (佲) | sou (𠈅) | |
3rd person | de (𬿇) | gyoengqde (𬾀𬿇) |
Syntax
[edit]Zhuang uses an SVO word order.
Words
[edit]Zhuang words can be made up of one, two, or three syllables - one and two-syllable words (e.g. dahraix, 'really') cannot be broken down into morphemes, but trisyllabic words can be. Compound words also exist - for example, mingzcoh, 'name'. Prefixes and suffixes are also frequently used, such as "daih-" (borrowed from Chinese:
Writing
[edit]Sawndip
[edit]The Old Zhuang script, Sawndip, is a Chinese character–based writing system, similar to Vietnamese chữ nôm. Some Sawndip logograms were borrowed directly from Chinese, while others were created from the components of Chinese characters. Sawndip has been used for over one thousand years for various Zhuang dialects. Unlike Chinese, Sawndip has never been standardized and authors may differ in their choices of characters or spelling, and it is not currently part of the official writing system.
Modern Latin alphabet
[edit]In 1957, the People's Republic of China introduced an alphabetical script for the newly standardized Zhuang language. The alphabet was based on the Latin script, expanded with modified Cyrillic and IPA letters. A reform in 1982 replaced both the Cyrillic and IPA letters with Latin letters to facilitate printing and computer use.[10] These alphabetical scripts are part of Standard Zhuang.
1982 | 1957 | IPA |
---|---|---|
A a | /aː/ | |
AE ae | Ə ə | /a/ |
B b | /p/ | |
BY by | By by | /pʲ/ |
C c | /ɕ/ | |
D d | /t/ | |
E e | /e/ | |
F f | /f/ | |
G g | /k/ | |
GV gv | Gv gv | /kʷ/ |
GY gy | Gy gy | /kʲ/ |
H h | H h | /h/ |
Ƅ ƅ | /˧/ | |
I i | /i/ | |
J j | З з | /˥/ |
K k | -/k/ | |
L l | /l/ | |
M m | /m/ | |
MB mb | Ƃ ƃ | /ɓ/ |
MY my | My my | /mʲ/ |
N n | /n/ | |
ND nd | Ƌ | /ɗ/ |
NG ng | Ŋ | /ŋ/ |
NGV ngv | Ŋv | /ŋʷ/ |
NY ny | Ny ny | /ɲ/ |
O o | /oː/ | |
OE oe | Ɵ | /o/ |
P p | -/p/ | |
Q q | Ƽ ƽ | /˧˥/ |
R r | /ɣ/ | |
S s | / | |
T t | -/t/ | |
U u | /u/ | |
V v | /w/ | |
W w | Ɯ ɯ | /ɯ/ |
X x | Ч ч | /˦˨/ |
Y y | /j/ | |
Z z | Ƨ ƨ | /˧˩/ |
Letters in italics only represent tones. Letters in bold are only found in syllable codas.
Classification
[edit]Standard Zhuang is an artificial mixture of several Zhuang languages. The lexicon is based almost entirely on various Northern Zhuang dialects. The phonology is essentially that of Shuangqiao, with the addition of ny, ei, ou from Fuliang, both located in Wuming County. Zhang (1999), along with other Chinese scholars, classifies Shuangqiao dialect as Northern Tai (Northern Zhuang).[11] Shuangqiao was chosen for the standard pronunciation in the 1950s because it was considered to be Northern Zhuang but with characteristics of Southern Zhuang.
Domains of use
[edit]Standard Zhuang is used most frequently in domains where written Zhuang was previously seldom used, such as newspapers, translations of communist literature[12] and prose. It is one of the official languages of China that appears on bank notes; all Chinese laws must be published in it, and it is used for bilingual signs. Whilst used for adult literacy programs, it is currently only taught in a very small percent of primary and secondary schools in Zhuang-speaking areas. In less formal domains the traditional writing system Sawndip is more often used[13] and for folk songs Sawndip remains the predominant genre with most standard Zhuang versions being based on Sawndip versions.
Official examination
[edit]In 2012, the first Zhuang Proficiency Test (Vahcuengh Sawcuengh Suijbingz Gaujsi, abbreviated VSSG) took place, in which 328 people took and 58% passed.[14] It was promoted as the first standardised minority language test in mainland China, with the objective of supporting bilingual Zhuang-Chinese education.[15] From 2012 to 2020, the average number of registered testees for the VSSG was 376 per year, with candidates from outside Guangxi being accepted after 2019.[15] Currently available at three levels, Basic, Intermediate and Advanced, the examination tests the written skills of reading comprehension, translation both into and from Standard Chinese, and writing.[15]
Differences from Wuming Zhuang
[edit]While Standard Zhuang is largely pronounced as Shuangqiao Wuming dialect, there is a degree of purposeful dialect mixture in vocabulary:
Standard | IPA | Wuming | IPA | gloss |
---|---|---|---|---|
gyaeuj | kʲau˥ | raeuj | ɣau˥ | head |
da | ta˨˦ | ra | ɣa˨˦ | eye |
ga | ka˨˦ | ha | ha˨˦ | leg |
Vocabulary
[edit]Numerals
[edit]![]() | This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{lang}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used. (May 2022) |
Cardinal | Zhuang | Zhuang IPA | Bouyei | Middle Chinese | Proto Tai | Saek | Ahom | Tai Nüa | Tai Lü | Tai Dam | Shan | Lanna |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | lingz | [li᷆ŋ] | lingz | leng/lengH | ᦟᦲᧃᧉ (liin2) | |||||||
1 | it | [ʔi̋t] | idt | 'jit | 𑜒𑜢𑜄𑜫 (ʼit) | ဢဵတ်း (ʼáet) | ||||||
2 | ngeih | [ŋēi] | ngih | nyijH | ᨿᩦ᩵ | |||||||
3 | sam | [ |
sam | sɑm | *saːm | 𑜏𑜪 (saṃ) | ᥔᥣᥛᥴ (sáam) | ᦉᦱᧄ (ṡaam) | ꪎꪱꪣ | သၢမ် (sǎam) | ᩈᩣ᩠ᨾ | |
4 | seiq | [ |
sis | sijH | *siːᴮ | 𑜏𑜣 (sī) | ᥔᥤᥱ (sǐ) | ᦉᦲᧈ (ṡii1) | ꪎꪲ꪿ | သီႇ (sìi) | ᩈᩦ᩵ | |
5 | haj | [ha̋ː] | hac | nguX | *haːꟲ | 𑜑𑜡 (hā) | ᥞᥣᥲ (hàa) | ᦠᦱᧉ (ḣaa2) | ꪬ꫁ꪱ | ႁႃႈ (hāa) | ᩉ᩶ᩣ | |
6 | roek | [ɣők] | rogt | ljuwk | *krokᴰ | 𑜍𑜤𑜀𑜫 (ruk) | ᥞᥨᥐᥱ (hǒk) | ᦷᦠᧅ (ḣok) | ꪶꪬꪀ | ႁူၵ်း (húuk) | ᩉᩫ᩠ᨠ | |
7 | caet | [ɕa̋t] | xadt | tshit | *cetᴰ | 𑜋𑜢𑜄𑜫 (chit) | ᥓᥥᥖᥱ (tsět) | ᦵᦈᧆ (ṫsed) | ꪹꪊꪸꪒ | ၸဵတ်း (tsáet) | ||
8 | bet | [pe̋t] | beedt | peat | *peːtᴰ | 𑜆𑜢𑜄𑜫 (pit) | ᥙᥦᥖᥱ (pǎet) | ᦶᦔᧆᧈ (ṗaed1) | ꪵꪜꪒ | ပႅတ်ႇ (pèt) | ᨸᩯ᩠ᨯ | |
9 | gouj | [kőːu] | guz | kjuwX | *kɤwꟲ | กู̂. | 𑜀𑜧 (kaw) | ᥐᥝᥲ (kàw) | ᦂᧁᧉ (k̇aw2) | ꪹꪀ꫁ꪱ | ၵဝ်ႈ (kāo) | ᨠᩮᩢ᩶ᩣ |
10 | cib | [ɕīp] | xib | dzyip | ซิ̄บ | 𑜏𑜢𑜆𑜫 (sip) | ᥔᥤᥙᥴ (síp) | ᦉᦲᧇ (ṡiib) | ꪎꪲꪚ | သိပ်း (síp) | ᩈᩥ᩠ᨷ |
Loanwords
[edit]A significant amount of Zhuang words are loaned from Chinese - around 30 to 40 percent in normal conversation, and almost every word regarding science, politics, or technology.[8] Loans have come from Cantonese as well as other Chinese varieties. Compare Yue Chinese:
Example
[edit]First article of the 1948 United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Latin script | ||
---|---|---|
1957 | 1982 | English |
Bouч bouч ma dəŋƨ laзƃɯn couƅ miƨ cɯyouƨ, cunƅyenƨ cəuƽ genƨli bouчbouч biŋƨdəŋз. Gyɵŋƽ vunƨ miƨ liзsiŋ cəuƽ lieŋƨsim, ɯŋdaŋ daiƅ gyɵŋƽ de lumз beiчnueŋч ityieŋƅ. | Boux boux ma daengz lajmbwn couh miz cwyouz, cunhyenz caeuq genzli bouxboux bingzdaengj. Gyoengq vunz miz lijsing caeuq liengzsim, wngdang daih gyoengq de lumj beixnuengx ityiengh. | All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. |
International Phonetic Alphabet |
---|
Sawndip |
---|
![]() |
References
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/80/Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg/40px-Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg.png)
- ^ Zhuang: Gvangsih Bouxcuengh Swcigih Saujsu Minzcuz Yijyenz Vwnzsw Gunghcoz Veijyenzvei; Chinese: 广西
壮 族 自治 区 少数 民族 语言文字 工作 委 员会 - ^ "Guǎngxī Qū zhí yǒuguān dānwèi jīgòu míngchēng Yīngwén cānkǎo yì fǎ" 广西
区 直 有 关单位 机 构名称 英文 参考 译法 [English Reference Translation of the Names of Related Units Directly in Guangxi District]. gxfao.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on July 5, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2015. - ^ Zhang et al. 1999, p. 429f
- ^ "Zhuàngyǔ pīnyīn fāng'àn (yī)"
壮 语拼音 方案 (一 ) [Zhuang Pinyin Plan (1)]. wszhuangzu.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on April 5, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2012. - ^ "Zhuàngyǔ pīnyīn fāng'àn (èr)"
壮 语拼音 方案 (二 ) [Zhuang Pinyin Plan (2)]. wszhuangzu.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on April 5, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2012. - ^ Wei, Qingwen 韦庆稳; Qin, Guosheng 覃国
生 (1980). Zhuàngyǔ jiǎnzhì壮 语简志 [Concise Grammar of Zhuang]. Zhongguo shaoshu minzu yuyan jianzhi congshu (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe. - ^ Zhang et al. 1999, p. 51
- ^ a b c Burusphat, Somsonge; Xiaohang, Qin;
桑 颂;軍 晓航 (2012). "ZHUANG WORD STRUCTURE /壮 语词的 结构". Journal of Chinese Linguistics. 40 (1): 56–83. ISSN 0091-3723. JSTOR 23754198. - ^ Luo, Yongxian (2008). "Zhuang". In Diller, Anthony V. N.; Edmondson, Jerold A.; Luo, Yongxian (eds.). The Tai-Kadai Languages. London: Routledge. pp. 317–377.
- ^ Zhou, Minglang (2003). Multilingualism in China: The Politics of Writing Reforms for Minority Languages 1949–2002. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 251–258. ISBN 3-11-017896-6.
- ^ Zhang et al. 1999
- ^ Li, Xulian; Huang, Quanxi (2004). "The Introduction and Development of the Zhuang Writing System". In Zhou, Minglang; Sun, Hongkai (eds.). Language Policy in the People's Republic of China: Theory and Practice Since 1949. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 245.
- ^ Tang, Weiping
唐 未 平 . "Guǎngxī Zhuàngzú rén wénzì shǐyòng xiànzhuàng jí wénzì shèhuì shēngwàng diàochá yánjiū" 广西壮 族 人文字 使用 现状及文字 社会 声望 调查研究 [Research Into Survey of the Scripts Used by Zhuang in Guangxi] (in Chinese) – via www.doc88.com. - ^ "Guǎngxī shǒucì Zhuàng yǔwén shuǐpíng kǎoshì jígé lǜ 58%" 广西
首 次 壮 语文水平 考 试及格率 58% [The Passing Rate of Guangxi's First Zhuang Language Proficiency Test is 58%]. Zhōngguó xīnwén wǎng中国 新 闻网. December 20, 2012. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019. - ^ a b c Wu, Ying; Silver, Rita Elaine; Hu, Guangwei (July 9, 2022). "Minority language testing: the social impact of the Zhuang language proficiency test in China". Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development: 1–18. doi:10.1080/01434632.2022.2097249. hdl:10397/101745.
Sources cited
[edit]- Zhang, Junru 张均如; Liang, Min
梁 敏 ; Ouyang, Jueya欧 阳觉亚; Zheng, Yiqing 郑贻青 ; Li, Xulian李 旭 练; Xie, Jianyou 谢建猷 (1999). Zhuàngyǔ fāngyán yánjiū壮 语方言 研究 [A Study of Zhuang Dialects] (in Chinese). Chengdu: Sichuan minzu chubanshe. ISBN 7-5409-2293-1.
External links
[edit]- Sawcuengh People.com Official Standard Zhuang version of the People's Daily website