Qiangic ( Chʻiang, Kyang, Tsiang, Chinese: 羌語支, " Qiang language group"; also Rmaic,
Qiangic speakers are variously classified as part of the Qiang people, Tibetan people, Pumi people, Nakhi people, and Mongols ethnic groups by the People's Republic of China.
The extinct Tangut language of the Western Xia is considered to be Qiangic by some linguists, including Matisoff (2004).[Matisoff, James. 2004.
]
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> "Brightening" and the place of Xixia (Tangut) in the Qiangic subgroup of Tibeto-Burman The undeciphered Nam language of China may possibly be related to Qiangic.
Lamo language, Larong language and Drag-yab, or the Chamdo languages, a group of three closely related Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Chamdo, Eastern Tibet, may or may not be Qiangic.[Suzuki, Hiroyuki and Tashi Nyima. 2018. Historical relationship among three non-Tibetic languages in Chamdo, TAR. Proceedings of the 51st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (2018). Kyoto: Kyoto University.][Zhao, Haoliang. 2018. A brief introduction to Zlarong, a newly recognized language in Mdzo sgang, TAR. Proceedings of the 51st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (2018). Kyoto: Kyoto University.][Jacques, Guillaumes. 2016. Les journées d'études sur les langues du Sichuan.]
Classification
Sun (1983)
Sun Hongkai (1983)
[Sun, Hongkai. (1983). The nationality languages in the six valleys and their language branches. Yunnan Minzuxuebao, 3, 99–273. (Written in Chinese).] proposes two branches, northern and southern:
Sun groups other, poorly described Qiangic languages as:
Matisoff (2004)
Matisoff (2004)
states that Jiarongic is an additional branch:
Matisoff (2004) describes Proto-Tibeto-Burman *-a > -i as a typical sound change in many Qiangic languages, and refers to this vowel heightening as "brightening." Yu (2012)[Yu, Dominic. 2012. Proto-Ersuic. Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, Department of Linguistics.] also notes that "brightening" is a defining innovation in Proto-Ersuic, the reconstructed ancestor of the Ersuic languages.
Thurgood and La Polla (2003)
Thurgood and La Polla (2003) state that the inclusion of Qiang,
Pumi language, and
Muya language is well supported, but that they do not follow Sun's argument for the inclusion of Tangut. Matisoff (2004), however, claims Tangut demonstrates a clear relationship.
[James Matisoff, 2004. "Brightening" and the place of Xixia (Tangut) in the Qiangic subgroup of Tibeto-Burman ()] The unclassified language
Baima language may also be Qiangic or may retain a Qiangic substratum after speakers shifted to Tibetan.
[Katia Chirkova, 2008, "On the position of Báimǎ within Tibetan", in Lubotsky et al (eds), Evidence and Counter-Evidence, vol. 2.]
Some other lesser-known, unclassified Qiangic peoples and languages include the following:
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Bolozi 玻璃哦子/博罗子: 2,000 people; in Xiao Heshui Village 小河水村, west of Songpan County; also as far south as Wenchuan Township 汶川乡.
[Sun Hongkai. 2013. Tibeto-Burman languages of eight watersheds 八江流域的藏缅语. Beijing: China Social Sciences Academy Press.] identifies Bolozi 博罗子 as a Northern Qiang variety, belonging to the Cimulin 茨木林 dialect.
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Ming 命: 10,000 people; mixed Chinese in Mao County and Wenchuan County, Sichuan
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Xiangcheng 乡城: 10,000 people in and around Xiangcheng Township 乡城, Garzê Prefecture
Sun (2001)
Sun Hongkai (2001)
[Sūn Hóngkāi 孙宏开. 2001. 論藏緬語族中的羌語支語言 Lùn Zàng-Miǎn yǔzú zhōng de
Qiāngyǔzhī yǔyán On. Language and
linguistics 2:157–181.] groups the Qiangic languages are follows.
Jacques & Michaud (2011)
Guillaume Jacques &
Alexis Michaud (2011)
[Jacques, Guillaume, and Alexis Michaud. 2011. " Approaching the historical phonology of three highly eroded Sino-Tibetan languages." Diachronica 28:468–498.] argue for a Na–Qiangic branch which itself forms a Burmo-Qiangic branch together with Lolo–Burmese. Na–Qiangic comprises three primary branches, which are Ersuish (or Ersuic),
Naic languages (or Naxish), and core Qiangic. Similarly, David Bradley (2008)
[Bradley, David. 2008. The Position of Namuyi in Tibeto-Burman.] also proposed an Eastern Tibeto-Burman branch that includes Burmic ( Lolo-Burmese) and Qiangic. The position of Guiqiong is not addressed.
Chirkova (2012)
However, Chirkova (2012) casts doubt on the validity of Qiangic as a coherent branch, instead considering Qiangic to be a diffusion area. She considers the following four languages to be part of four separate Tibeto-Burman branches:
Both Shixing language and Namuzi language are both classified as Naic languages (Naxi) by Jacques & Michaud (2011), but Naic would not be a valid genetic unit in Chirkova's classification scheme since Shixing and Namuzi are considered by Chirkova to not be part of a single branch.
Yu (2012)
Yu (2012:218)
notes that
Ersuic languages and
Naish languages languages share some forms that are not found in Lolo-Burmese or "core" Qiangic (Qiang,
Pumi language, and
Muya language). As a result, "Southern Qiangic" (Ersuic,
Namuyi language, and
Shixing language) may be closer to Naish than it is to "core" Qiangic. Together, Southern Qiangic and Naish could form a wider "Naic" group that has links to both Lolo-Burmese to the south and other Qiangic languages to the north.
Obsolete names
Shafer (1955) and other accounts of the Dzorgaic/Ch'iang branch
[ Such as Barley (1997) ()] preserve the names
Dzorgai, Kortsè, Thochu, Outer/Outside Man-tze, Pingfang from the turn of the century. The first three were Northern Qiang, and Outside Mantse was Southern Qiang.
[UC Berkeley, 1992, Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, vol. 15, pp. 76–77.]
When Jiarongic is included as a branch of Qiangic, but distinct from the non-Jiarongic languages, the label "Dzorgaic" may be used for Qiang language proper.
Hsi-fan (Xifan) is an ethnic name, meaning essentially 'Tibetan'; the people speak Qiangic or Jiarongic languages such as Qiang, Ergong/Horpa, Ersu, Guiqiong, Shixing, Zhaba, Namuyi, Muya/Minyak, and Jiarong, but not Naxi/Moso, Pumi, or Tangut. The term has not been much used since language surveys of the 1980s resulted in sufficient data for classification.
Distribution
Qiangic languages are spoken mainly in western
Sichuan and northwestern
Yunnan provinces of China. Sun Hongkai (2013) lists the following
drainage basin (riverine systems) and the respective Qiangic languages spoken there.
See also
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Qiang language#Writing_systems
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Qiang people
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Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture#Languages
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Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture#Languages
Bibliography
External links
