The Xiandao language (Xiandao: ''Chintau'' ; ) is an endangered

Burmish The Burmish languages are a subgroup of the Sino-Tibetan languages consisting of Burmese (including Standard Burmese, Arakanese, and other Burmese dialects such as the Tavoyan dialects) as well as non-literary languages spoken across Myanmar an ...

language spoken by the Xiandao people who live at the border area between

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

and

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It is closely related to the

Achang language The Achang language (Achang: '; , ) is a Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Achang people, Achang (also known as Maingtha and Ngochang) in Yunnan, China, and northern Myanmar. Distribution Achang is spoken in the follo ...

and is considered by many scholars to be an Achang

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

, due to similarities in

syntax In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituenc ...

and

vocabulary A vocabulary (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word ''vocabulary'' originated from the Latin , meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of languag ...

. This is one way in which Xiandao can be described. The second is as an independent language due to the social and cultural differences between the Xiandao and

Achang people The Achang ( zh, c=, p=Āchāngzú), also known as the Ngac'ang (their own name) is an ethnic group. They are one of Tibeto-Burman languages speaking people. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic o ...

Classification

Xiandao is a minority language spoken in

Yingjiang County Yingjiang County ( zh, t=盈江縣, s=盈江县, p=Yíngjiāng Xiàn; ; Jingpho: ; ) is a county in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan province, China, bordering Tengchong to the east, Lianghe County to the southeast, Longchuan County to the south and ...

Yunnan Province Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

near the border of

. Despite technically being in China, the language emerged from Burmish languages and has few Sinitic qualities. It is a part of the Burmish Tibeto-Burmese language family. The Xiandao people were included in China's unclassified national minority category until 1980 when they became classified as a part of the Achang nationality. Generally, Xiandao is considered to be a dialect of

Achang The Achang ( zh, c=, p=Āchāngzú), also known as the Ngac'ang (their own name) is an ethnic group. They are one of Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman languages speaking people. They form one of the List of Chinese ethnic groups, 56 ethnic g ...

. However, the Xiandao community considers themselves separate from the Achang people.

History

This group was previously located in the mountains of the China-Myanmar border. In 1958, the Chinese government assisted six families in moving down from the harsh mountainous region to the nearby village of Meng'er. The government helped move the remaining ten families to Mangmian village in 1998. The Xiandao community is considered to be one of the poorest and most primitive groups in Yingjiang County. The members of this group traditionally relied on making bamboo cushions and wage labor for livelihood. The Xiandao community in Mangmian has been primarily

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

since 1993. A church was built in 1995 and service is conducted in Jingpo. There is no Chinese historical record of the Xiandao people. According to local legend, the Xiandao were a group that were left behind when the rest of their group migrated to a new place. They realized that they were too far behind to catch up, and settled in Yingjiang. In the beginning, they had a large population that was decimated by

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

epidemics. Due to linguistic similarities, it is believed that the Xiandao were originally a part of the Achang ethnic group living in Husa and Lasa. After long separation, they have developed a culture of their own, with differences in marriage tradition, religious practice, and customs. Because of their cultural differences, the Xiandao people believe that they are different from the Achang despite their official status.

Distribution

The language is spoken in two villages in Jiemao Township, Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province: * Mangmian * Meng'er

Status

The Xiandao language is currently endangered. All Xiandao speakers know

Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ( zh, s=现代标准汉语, t=現代標準漢語, p=Xiàndài biāozhǔn hànyǔ, l=modern standard Han speech) is a modern standard form of Mandarin Chinese that was first codified during the republican era (1912–1949). ...

, and many also speak Jingpo. Most community members are bilingual or trilingual. Children attend a local semi-boarding school where they learn in Standard Chinese along with children of Dai, Jingpo, and

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

descent. The language appears to be more well-kept in Mangmian than Meng'er.

Phonology

The Xiandao language consists of 40

initials In a written or published work, an initial is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is ultimately derived from the Latin ''initiālis'', which means ''of the beginning ...

, 65

rimes Rimes is a surname. It is an English surname of unexplained origin, as well as a Huguenot surname which possibly originated as a habitational surname from the city of Reims. Variant spellings include Rhymes. Statistics compiled by Patrick Hanks o ...

, and 4 tones. It has three more initials than

. Due to the current lack of documentation of Xiandao, phonological information may be incomplete.

Consonants

There are 15

consonants In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...

, a

voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative The voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ("c", plus the curl also found in its voiced counter ...

(sometimes used in oral languages), and a

glottal stop The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic ...

present in Xiandao. The

plosives In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lip ...

, , and all have aspirated

allophones In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is one of multiple possible spoken soundsor '' phones''used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, the voiceless plosi ...

and along with and �can all be combined with a

retroflex A retroflex () or cacuminal () consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consona ...

Devoicing In phonology, voicing (or sonorization) is a sound change where a voiceless consonant becomes voiced due to the influence of its phonological environment; shift in the opposite direction is referred to as devoicing or surdization. Most commonl ...

of consonants is also common. This non-exhaustive list does not include all possible sound variations of Xiandao consonants.

Vowels

The Xiandao language has approximately 8 vowels, 4 possible

diphthongs A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...

and one

triphthong In phonetics, a triphthong ( , ) (from Greek , ) is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement of the articulator from one vowel quality to another that passes over a third. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, are ...

: , , , and .

Tones

Xiandao has four tones: high level , high rising , low falling , and high falling . In non-IPA transcriptions, they are written as , , and , respectively. This system is shared with the Achang language.

Orthography

The Xiandao language does not have its own writing system, but rather relies on rich oral traditions such as storytelling, song, and word of mouth to communicate and keep traditions and practices alive. When the Xiandao need to read, they can read in Chinese or Jingpo.

Lexicon

Because of a lack of documentation and shared information of the Xiandao language, there are not many records of Xiandao words. A few commonly-used words are listed below. The Xiandao language has the ability to create compound words. As seen above, the word for “wolf” () is a combination of “mountain” () and “dog” ().

Loanwords

The Xiandao language borrows many words from its neighboring languages such as Achang, Dai, Jingpo, and Chinese. This is the case because the Xiandao language lacks words for abstracts like hope, fame, sorrow, as well as descriptions like careful, proud, and brave. Additionally, words for non-traditional tools like shovel, glue and drill are not present and must be borrowed.

References

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