Yei Zhuang language
| Yei Zhuang | |
|---|---|
| Buyue[1] | |
| Guibian Zhuang | |
| Pronunciation | [pu˨jai˩˧] |
| Native to | China |
| Region | Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan; western Guangxi |
Native speakers | 1,000,000 (2007) |
Kra–Dai
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | zgn |
Yei Zhuang is a Northern Tai spoken in Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan, China. Its speakers are also known as the Sha people (沙族).
Distribution
In Yunnan, Yei Zhuang dialects are spoken in Funing and Guangnan counties (also in Guangxi to the east and north), as well as Qiubei (probably also in Qujing Municipality to the north). The largest concentrations of Yei Zhuang speakers are found in Qiubei (80% of total Zhuang population) and Funing (50% of total Zhuang population) counties (Johnson 2011a:43).
Po-ai, a Tai language of Funing County described by Fang-kuei Li in the mid-1900's, is determined by Johnson (2011b) to be a Yei Zhuang dialect.
Names
Below are various names (both autonyms and exonyms) for speakers of Yei Zhuang (Johnson 2011a:43).
- pu Nong (濮侬)
- pu35 ʔjai34, pu33 juei34, pu22 jai13; bu ji (Qiubei)
- bu Yai (布雅衣)
- bu Yei (布依, 布瑞, 布越)
- Shazu (沙族) or Sharen (沙人)
- Baisha (白沙)
- Nongqianbeng (侬迁绷)
- Zhongjia (仲家)
Many of these are names of Bouyei as well.
References
- ^ The Chinese name. An approximation, as Yei and Yai are not possible in Mandarin.
- Johnson, Eric C. 2011a. "The Southern Zhuang Languages of Yunnan Province’s Wenshan Prefecture from a Sociolinguistic Perspective." [Working paper]. S.l.: s.n. 49 pages.
- Johnson, Eric C. 2011b. "A Lexical and Phonological Comparison of the Central Taic Languages of Wenshan Prefecture, China: Getting More Out of Language Survey Wordlists Than Just Lexical Similarity Percentages." SIL Electronic Working Papers 2011-005: 170.