Maojia dialect


Maojia is a mixed language in Southern China. Maojiahua is an unclassified Sinitic language that has undergone influence from Hmongic languages.

Demographics

Maojiahua is spoken by about 200,000 people of Au-Ka Miao ethnicity in Chengbu, Suining, Wugang and Suining in southwest part of Hunan Province, as well as in Ziyuan and Longsheng in north part of Guangxi Province.
According to Chen Qiguang, "Maojia", also known as "Qingyi Miao 青衣苗", is spoken mostly in Chengbu County, Hunan, and also in Suining, Wugang, Longsheng, and Ziyuan counties. There is a total of about 120,000 speakers. The representative dialect given in Chen is that of Xintang Village 信塘村, Yangshi Township 羊石乡, Chengbu Miao Autonomous County, Hunan Province. Li covers various dialects of Qingyi Miao in detail.

Vocabulary

Below are selected words of likely non-Chinese origin from the Qingyi Miao dialect of Wutuan Town 五团镇, Chengbu County 城步县, Hunan.
English glossChinese glossQingyi Miao
eat
oil
meat
pig
small
child孩子
nose鼻子
spider蜘蛛
stinkbug臭虫
star星星
dust灰尘
this
that
one
thick
secret
earthworm蚯蚓
sponge gourd 丝瓜
infant婴幼儿
outsider外地人
son儿子,
spit
vagina女阴
do
excrement
kneel
bent in, curved
thin