Buyang () is a Kra language spoken in

Guangnan Guangnan County (; Zhuang: ) is located in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, China. The seat of Guangnan, known today as Liancheng (), was the heart of the Gouding Kingdom () that lasted approximately 400 years, fr ...

and Funing counties,

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

Province,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

by the

Buyang people The Buyang people are an officially unrecognized Kra ethnic group living in Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan and Napo County, Guangxi in China. They are closely related to the Laha, Qabiao, Gelao, and Lachi. The Buyang language is spoken, althoug ...

. It is important to the reconstruction of the hypothetical

macrofamily In historical linguistics, a macrofamily, also called a superfamily or phylum, is a proposed genetic relationship grouping together language families (also isolates) in a larger scale classification. Campbell, Lyle and Mixco, Mauricio J. (2007), ...

Austro-Tai The Austro-Tai languages, sometimes also Austro-Thai languages, are a proposed language family that comprises the Austronesian languages and the Kra–Dai languages. Related proposals include Austric ( Wilhelm Schmidt in 1906) and Sino-Austron ...

as it retains the disyllabic roots characteristic of Austronesian languages. Examples are "to die", "eye", "head", and "eight". (See

for proposed connections.) The Buyang language was only discovered in 1990 by Chinese linguist Liang Min. In 1999, a doctoral dissertation and book was published for Buyang. The book has also recently been translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

. Many speakers of Buyang are also fluent in Zhuang.

Subdivisions

The Buyang (布央)

dialect cluster A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...

is spoken by a total of around 2,000 people living mostly in the Gula (谷拉) River valley of southeastern

Province, China. It is spoken in at least eight villages in Gula Township 谷拉乡, Funing County 富宁县, Wenshan Zhuang–Miao Autonomous Prefecture,

, China. Buyang is divided into the following groups: *Langjia 郎架 is spoken in Langjia 郎架, Funing County 富宁县,

along the

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ...

border. It is split by

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensi ...

into Langnian Buyang (ISO 639-3
yln
and E'ma Buyang (ISO 639-3
yzg
. The name Langjia comes from Zhuang , which means "dried bamboo shoot." *Ecun 峨村 is spoken in Ecun 峨村, Funing County 富宁县,

along the

border. *Yalang 雅郎, also called Yalhong, is spoken in Rongtun 荣屯 (near Longhe Township 龙合乡),

Napo County Napo County (; za, Nazboh Yen) is a county in the west of Guangxi, China, bordering Yunnan province to the north and northwest as well as Vietnam's Cao Bằng and Hà Giang provinces to the south and west, respectively. It is under the administr ...

那坡,

. It is listed in

as Yerong 耶容 (ISO 639-3
yrn
. * Paha 巴哈 is considered a separate language by Weera Ostapirat (2000). It is spoken in Yangliancun 央连村 (' in Zhuang), Diyu Township 底于乡 and Anshecun 安舍村, Bada Township 八达乡, which are both in

Guangnan County Guangnan County (; Zhuang: ) is located in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, China. The seat of Guangnan, known today as Liancheng (), was the heart of the Gouding Kingdom () that lasted approximately 400 years, fr ...

广南,

. It is listed in

as Baha Buyang (ISO 639-3
yha
. Weera Ostapirat (2000) splits the Buyang language into two branches: *North (Buyang Proper): Ecun and Langjia *South: Yalang (Yalhong) Ostapirat also classifies Buyang and Qabiao together as Eastern Kra, while Paha is classified as Central Kra. Together, the two branches form one of the two primary Kra branches, namely Central-East Kra. The En language has also been recently included in Eastern Kra (also called Yang–Biao, from '' uang– uiao''). Li (2010) divides the Buyang language as follows: Eastern * The Funing County dialects of Ecun 峨村, Dugan 度干, Zhelong 者龙, Nada 那达, Longna 龙纳, Maguan 马贯, Langjia 郎架, and Nianlang 念郎. The Ecuns are known collectively as ''Buyang Bazhai'' 布央八寨, or "the eight Buyang villages." Together, they make up the largest group of Buyang speakers, numbering about 1,000 speakers collectively. Li further splits the Funing County Buyang dialects into 3 groups (listed from north to south): ** Maguan 马贯 ** Ecun 峨村, Dugan 度干, Zhelong 者龙, Nada 那达, Longna 龙纳 ** Langjia 郎架, Nianlang 念郎 * Central Pohe Township 坡荷乡,

, western Guangxi. More than 300 speakers reside in Rongtun 荣屯村 and Gonghe 共合村 villages, while over 100 live in Shanhe 善合, Yong'an 永安, and Guoba 果巴 villages; also in Renhecun 仁合村. 400 speakers total. Western ( Paha) * In

, Yanglian has around 500 Paha speakers, and Anshe only has about 100 speakers left. 600 speakers total. Languages closely related to Buyang include Qabiao, En, and also Paha if considered a separate language.

Phonology

The following are the sounds of the Funing dialects:

Consonants

* Seven consonants /m, n, ŋ, p, t, k, ʔ/ can occur as finals.

Vowels

* Vowels /i, u, ɯ/ can occur as finals.

Diachronic evolution of consonants

Pre-Buyang, the stage in the evolution of the language that can be reconstructed from internal evidence, appears to have had a slightly different phonemic inventory than the modern dialects: a voiced stop *ɢ paired with *q, as well as voiced *ɦ alongside *h, and a pair of sibilants *s, *z. In addition, it doesn't appear to have had a series of aspirated consonants, a condition still found in the Ecun dialect."Ancient Buyang didn't have any aspirated consonants. Later, ... aspirated consonants were created in some dialects, but in Ecun dialect, no aspirated consonants appeared at all." (Li & Zhou, p. 132, § 8) Thus reconstructed pre-Buyang is more similar in its phonemic inventory to reconstructed

Proto-Austronesian Proto-Austronesian (commonly abbreviated as PAN or PAn) is a proto-language. It is the reconstructed ancestor of the Austronesian languages, one of the world's major language families. Proto-Austronesian is assumed to have begun to diversify ...

than is any modern dialect of Buyang.

Notes

References

* * * Liang Min. (1990). The Buyang Language, ''Kadai'' 2:13–21.

External links

Buyang-language Swadesh vocabulary list of basic words
(from Wiktionary'
Swadesh-list appendix

ABVD: Buyang (Langjia) word list

ABVD: Buyang (Ecun) word list

ABVD: Paha word list
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buyang Language Kra languages Guangxi Languages of Yunnan