Bouyei language


The Bouyei language is a language spoken by the Bouyei ethnic group of Southern Guizhou Province, China. Classified as a member of the Northern Tai group in the Tai language branch of the Tai–Kadai language family, the language has over 2.5 million native speakers and is also used by the Giay people in some parts of Vietnam. There are native speakers living in France or the United States as well, which emigrated from China or Vietnam. About 98% of the native speakers are in China.
Bouyei's characteristics are similar to the other members of its language branch. It is generally monosyllabic and word order and particles are the main forms of grammar. Bouyei's syllable initials match up closely to the other Northern Tai languages, with relatively fast simplification and merging. Bouyei sentences can be shown to contain many different levels of phrasing.
The contemporary Bouyei script was developed after the abandonment of the Bouyei-Zhuang Script Alliance Policy in 1981 and was designed from 1981 to 1985. It is focused and phonologically representative and takes the Wangmo County dialect as its foundation.

Subdivisions and distribution

China

According to a 1950s survey performed by the Chinese government, the Bouyei language as spoken in Guizhou can be divided into three general dialect groups. Note that is an abbreviation for Guizhou.
  1. The Southern Qian group - the largest of the three - from the Qianxinan Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, which is mostly intelligible with the Guibian and Guibei Zhuang dialects. This vernacular is spoken in the counties of Wangmo, Ceheng, Luodian, Dushan, Libo, Duyun, Pingtang, Zhenfeng, Anlong, Xingren, and Xinyi.
  2. The Central Qian group - next most spoken of the three - which is spread throughout Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture and the suburbs of Guiyang, and is partially intelligible with the Southern Qian dialects. This vernacular is spoken in the counties of Longli, Guiding, Qingzhen, Pingba, Kaiyang, Guiyang, and Anshun.
  3. The Western Qian dialects - the least spoken of the three - which is spoken in the counties of Zhenning, Guanling, Ziyun, Qinglong, Pu'an, Liuzhi, Panxian, Shuicheng, Bijie, and Weining. The western dialects show more unique features than the other two groups. Some western dialects have aspirated stops, which is an uncommon feature in northern Tai languages.
Wu, Snyder, & Liang is the most comprehensive Bouyei survey to date, and covers the following data points.
;Qiannan Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture
;Qianxinan Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture
;Anshun City
;Liuzhi Special District
The Yei Zhuang varieties of Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan are closely related to the Bouyei varieties of Guizhou. Many other languages outside China with the names "Yei", "Yay", "Yoy", are also closely related.

Vietnam

Bouyei is also spoken in northern Vietnam, where it is known as Giáy. Edmondson and Gregerson has determined their language to be most similar to the Bouyei dialects of southwest Guizhou. The Giáy are an officially recognized group in Vietnam who now number nearly 50,000. Some household registries of the Giáy of Vietnam indicate that their ancestors had left Guizhou 160 years ago during the Qing Dynasty, and traveled overland to southern Yunnan and then Vietnam. This coincides with the Miao Rebellion of Guizhou. The Giáy are found in the following locations of Vietnam.
The Giáy of Mường Khương District who call themselves Tudì can only speak a form of Chinese, and no Giáy. Their autonym comes from their ancestral place of origin, which is Duyun of Guizhou province, China. According to their household records, they had arrived in Maguan County and in Honghe Prefecture about 200 years ago. Similarly, some Giáy of Vietnam report that they have relatives still living in Hekou, Yunnan province, China.
The Pu Nả people of Tam Đường District, Lai Châu Province, Vietnam call themselves the Vần Nả, and number about 5,000 individuals. They are also called Quý Châu, Sa Quý Châu, Củi Chu, Pu Y, or Pâu Thìn. The Pu Nả live in the following villages of Tam Đường District.
The Yay language described by William J. Gedney is in fact the Giáy dialect of Mường Hum, Bát Xát District, Lào Cai. There are also other related Northern Tai languages spoken in Vietnam as well, such Bố Y, Nhang, and Quy Châu. The Bố Y had originally came from around Wangmo County in southwestern Guizhou. Some subgroups of Bố Y call themselves the Pu Na or Pu Thin, meaning 'people of the paddy field'.

Phonology

Consonants

The Bouyei script recognizes 32 consonants, with names formed by the consonant in an initial position followed by a long "a" vowel.
Labialsb p mb m f v
Apicalsd t nd n sl l
Velarsg k ng h hr
Palatalsj q ny x y
Affricatesz c s r
Palatalizedby my qy
Labializedgv ngv qv

Pink: p, t, k, q, z, and c are used only to write Chinese loanwords.
Beige: sl and hr are used for sounds that occur only in certain dialects.
V is pronounced as a before a "u". Absent consonant also produces.

Vowels and diphthongs

Bouyei has 77 vowels and diphthongs.
"Level" syllablesa o ee i u e
"Level" syllablesaai ai oi ei
"Level" syllablesaau au eeu iu
"Level" syllablesae ie ue ea
"Level" syllablesaam am oom om eem iam im uam um eam
"Level" syllablesaan an oon on een ian in uan un ean en
"Level" syllablesaang ang oong ong eeng iang ing uang ung eang eng
"Entering" syllablesaab ab oob ob eeb iab ib uab ub eab
"Entering" syllablesaad ad ood od eed iad id uad ud ead ed
"Entering" syllablesag og eeg ig ug eg

The endings er, ao, ou, ia, io, iao, ua, uai, and ui are used in writing Chinese loanwords.

Tones

Bouyei has six tones, corresponding to the eight sheng of Middle Chinese: all six in open syllables or with a final or, reduced to two "entering" tones with a final stop.
Marking letters are placed at the end of syllables to indicate tone. Loanword marking letters y, f, j, and q match with Mandarin tones 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively.

Language shift

Bouyei shows de-voicing of Proto-Tai–Kadai's voiced consonants, and loss of aspiration.
Proto-Tai–Kadai, ,
Bouyei

Proto-Tai–Kadai's tones experienced a splitting into modern Bouyei, shown in the following table.

Scripts

Ancient Bouyei script

Ancient Bouyei writing was created by borrowing elements from Chinese characters or by mimicking their forms, and is similar to Sawndip.

Old Modern Bouyei

In November 1956, a scientific conference was held in Guiyang to discuss the creation and implementation of a Latin-based alphabet for Bouyei. The result was a script similar some Zhuang romanizations that used the Longli County dialect as its base. The script was approved by the Chinese government and was put into use in 1957, though its use ceased in 1960.

Current Bouyei script

In 1981 a conference on Bouyei history revised the script developed in 1956 in an attempt to make it more practical and phonologically representative of Wangmo County speech. It also was approved by the Chinese government, and was adopted on an experimental basis in 1982. Feedback was largely positive, and the script was officially brought into use in March 1985 and continues to be used to the present.
Old and current Bouyei Romanization comparisons




Tone Marking Letters