Bunu language
| Bunu | |
|---|---|
| Pu Nu | |
| Buod Nuox | |
| Native to | China |
| Region | Guangxi and bordering regions |
| Ethnicity | Yao |
Native speakers | 359,474 (2001)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | buna1273 |
Bunu is a Hmongic language of southern China. Bunu speakers are classified ethnically as Yao by the People's Republic of China.
Varieties
Meng (2001) lists the following language varieties for Bunu.[1]
- Bunu (Chinese: 布努) (Pu Nu) - 359,474 speakers; representative dialect: Nongjing, Qibainong Township, Dahua County (大化七百弄乡弄京)
- Dongnu (Chinese: 东努) (Tung Nu, autonyms: no22, tuŋ11 no22) - 293,489 speakers in Funing County, Yunnan (in Longshao 龙绍, etc.) and northern Guangxi: Du'an (in Meizhu 梅珠, etc.), Dahua, Bama, Pingguo, Tiandong, Mashan, Debao, Long'an, Baise, Tianyang, Donglan, Hechi, Shanglin, Xincheng, Yishan, Laibin. In Funing County, they are known as Buzha (布咋) (their autonym) or the Mountain Yao (山瑶).
- Nunu (Chinese: 努努) (Nu Nu, autonyms: no22 no22, po33 no22) - 53,870 speakers in northwestern Guangxi: Lingyun (in Taohua 陶化, etc.), Fengshan, Donglan, Bama (in Xishan 西山, etc.), Tianlin, Leye
- Bunuo (Chinese: 布诺) (Pu No, autonym: pu33 no22) - 12,115 speakers in Du'an (in Sanzhiyang 三只羊; Longma (龙麻) of Xia'ao (下坳乡),[2] etc.), Guangxi
The Shaoyang Prefecture Gazetteer (1997:533) reports that the Miao of Xinning County, Hunan, speak a Bunu-branch language.
The Yunnan Province Gazetteer (1989) reports that a Bunu dialect known as pu55 ʐa11 (布咋) is spoken by about 7,000 people in Guichao (归朝乡) and Dongbo (洞波瑶族乡) (including in Dadongzhai 大洞寨, Saxiangdong Village 三湘洞村[3]) townships of Funing County, Yunnan.
Others
The following may be alternative names for speakers of Bunu languages.[4]
- Beidalao (北大老): 15,000 (1990) in Rong'an County and Rongshui County, Guangxi; probably Bunu, though divergent[5]
- Changpao (长袍): 5,000 (1999) in southern Guizhou; undetermined linguistic affiliation, but could possibly be Bunu.[6] Identified as Dongmeng by Bradley (2007).[7]
- Youmai (优迈): 2,000 (1999) in southwestern Guizhou; possibly a Bunu variety;[8] classified as Pingtang Miao by Li Yunbing (2000)[9]
Phonology
This section presents the phonology of the Dongnu variety of Qibainong (七百弄) Township, Dahua Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi as representative.[10]
Consonants
| Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Retroflex | (Alveolo-) palatal |
Velar | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | pal. | plain | sib. | lat. | plain | lab. | pal. | |||||
| Nasal | voiceless | m̥ | m̥ʲ | n̥ | ɲ̟̊ | ŋ̊ | ŋ̊ʷ | |||||
| voiced | m | mʲ | n | ɲ̟ | ŋ | ŋʷ | ||||||
| Stop | voiceless | p | pʲ | t | ʈ | k | kʷ | kʲ | ||||
| aspirated | pʰ | pʲʰ | tʰ | ʈʰ | kʰ | kʷʰ | kʲʰ | |||||
| prenasal | ᵐp | ᵐpʲ | ⁿt | ᶯʈ | ᵑk | ᵑkʷ | ᵑkʲ | |||||
| prenasal asp. | ᵐpʰ | ᵐpʲʰ | ⁿtʰ | ᶯʈʰ | ᵑkʰ | ᵑkʷʰ | ||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | tɬ | tɕ | |||||||||
| aspirated | tɬʰ | tɕʰ | ||||||||||
| prenasal | ⁿtθ | ⁿts | ⁿtɬ | ᶮtɕ | ||||||||
| prenasal asp. | ⁿtθʰ | ⁿtsʰ | ⁿtɬʰ | ᶮtɕʰ | ||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | θ | s | ɬ | ʂ | ɕ | h | ||||
| aspirated | θʰ | sʰ | ||||||||||
| voiced | v | ʐ | ʑ | ɣ | ɦ | |||||||
| Approximant | l | |||||||||||
Sounds /tɬ, tɬʰ, ⁿtɬ, ⁿtɬʰ/ may be pronounced as [pl, plʰ, ᵐpl, ᵐplʰ] in some areas.[11]
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɯ | u | |
| Close-mid | e | ə | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | ||
| Open | a | |||
| Vowel | Example word |
|---|---|
| i | pi43 'fruit' |
| ɯ | tɯ13 'speak' |
| u | ɬu41 'iron' |
| e | he33 'open (a door)' |
| ə | shə43 'on top' |
| o | no13 'person' |
| ɛ | hɛ33 'fast' |
| ɔ | tɔ41 'kill' |
| a | ka33 'chicken' |
Diphthongs and Other Rimes
Qibainong Dongnu has seven diphthongs: /ei/, /ai/, /au/, /ou/, /ɔi/, /iu/, and /eu/.[12] Of these, /ɔi/, /iu/, and /eu/ only appear in recent loans from Chinese and Zhuang.[13] Examples of words with diphthongs appear in the table below; yellow background is for those diphthongs that appear only in recent borrowings.
| Diphthong | Example word |
|---|---|
| /ei/ | tei35 'team' |
| /ai/ | mpai41 'pig' |
| /au/ | sau41 'satiated' |
| /ou/ | |
| /ɔi/ | sɔi221 'crime' |
| /iu/ | ʐiu221 'cotton tree' |
| /eu/ |
Several vowels in Qibainong Dongnu permit a nasal consonant following, either /n/ or /ŋ/; most vowels permit one or the other, but not both.[12] Qibainong also permits the rime /iaŋ/, despite not having a diphthong /ia/; /iaŋ/ is used only in recent loans.[14] The possible combinations of vowel with final nasal, organized by the position of the vowel, appear in the table below.
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iŋ | uŋ | ||
| Close-mid | en | ən, əŋ | ||
| Open-mid | ɔn, ɔŋ | |||
| Open | an, aŋ | |||
| Rime | Example |
|---|---|
| iŋ | iŋ33 'bitter' |
| uŋ | muŋ33 'sick' |
| en | pen13 'flower' |
| ən | |
| əŋ | nəŋ33 'snake' |
| ɔn | |
| ɔŋ | nɔŋ13 'eat' |
| an | man43 'village' |
| aŋ | aŋ33 'water' |
| iaŋ |
Tone
Qibainong Dongnu has eight tones, with four having an alternate realization, giving a total of 12 tone values.[15]
| Tone number | Tone class | Tone value | Example word |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A1 | 33 | tɔ33 'deep' |
| 1′ | A1′ | 55 | ven55 'winnowing basket' |
| 2 | A2 | 13 | tɔ13 'come' |
| 2′ | A2′ | 35 | ven35 'garden' |
| 3 | B1 | 43 | tɔ43 'hit' |
| 3′ | B1′ | 54 | pe54 'bowl' |
| 4 | B2 | 232 | tɔ232 'read' |
| 4′ | B2′ | 454 | pe454 'handle' |
| 5 | C1 | 41 | tɔ41 'kill' |
| 6 | C2 | 221 | tɔ221 'die' |
| 7 | D1 | 32 | tɔ32 'affix (a seal)' |
| 8 | D2 | 21 | tɔ21 'bite' |
Grammar
Word Classes
According to Meng (2001), Bunu has 12 parts of speech, namely, nouns, pronouns, numerals, classifiers, adjectives, verbs, intensifiers (状词), adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliaries, and interjections.[16]
Pronouns
Personal pronouns in Bunu exhibit a three-way distinction in both person and number, yielding nine contrasting terms.[17]
Bunu also has pronouns for 'oneself' and 'everyone', as well as a set of interrogative pronouns.[18]
References
- ^ a b Meng, Chaoji 蒙朝吉 (2001). Yáozú Bùnǔyǔ fāngyán yánjiū 瑤族布努语方言研究 [A Study of the Bunu Dialects of the Yao People] (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
- ^ Meng, Youyi 蒙有义 (2011). "Lóngmá Bùnǔyǔ yǔyīn xìtǒng" 龙麻布努语语音系统 [On Phonetic System of Bunu Language in Longma]. Sānxiá lùntán (Sānxiá wénxué. Lǐlùn bǎn) 三峡论坛（三峡文学.理论版） (in Chinese). 2011 (5): 61–65, 148. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
- ^ "Fùníng Xiàn Dòngbō Yáozú Xiāng Sānxiāngdòng Cūnwěihuì Shàngdàdòng" 富宁县洞波瑶族乡三湘洞村委会上大洞 [Shangdadong, Sanxiangdong Village Committee, Dongbo Yao Ethnic Township, Funing County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2017-09-26. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
- ^ "China". Asia Harvest. Archived from the original on 2013-08-01. Retrieved 2013-07-19.
- ^ "Beidalao" (PDF) – via Asia Harvest.
- ^ "Changpao" (PDF) – via Asia Harvest.
- ^ Bradley, David (2007). "East and Southeast Asia". In Moseley, Christopher (ed.). Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages. New York: Routledge.
- ^ "Youmai" (PDF) – via Asia Harvest.
- ^ Li, Yunbing 李云兵 (2000). Miáoyǔ fāngyán huàfēn yíliú wèntí yánjiū 苗语方言划分遗留问题研究 [Research on Remaining Questions in the Division of Miao Dialects] (in Chinese). Beijing: Zhongyang minzu daxue chubanshe.
- ^ Meng 2001, pp. 32–37.
- ^ Meng, Chaoji (2008). 瑤汉词典 : (布努语) [Yao Han ci dian : (Bunu yu)]. 民族出版社 [Minzu chubanshe], Beijing Shi.
- ^ a b Meng 2001, p. 35.
- ^ Meng 2001, pp. 36–37.
- ^ Meng 2001, pp. 35–37.
- ^ Meng 2001, p. 37.
- ^ Meng 2001, p. 107.
- ^ Meng 2001, p. 108.
- ^ Meng 2001, p. 108-109.