Munya or Muya ( zh, s=木雅; also ''Manyak'' , ''Menia'' 么呢阿) is one of the
Qiangic languages
Qiangic (''Ch'iang, Kyang, Tsiang'', Chinese: 羌語支, "''Qiang'' language group"; formerly known as Dzorgaic) is a group of related languages within the Sino-Tibetan language family. They are spoken mainly in Southwest China, including Sich ...
spoken in China. There are two dialects, Northern and Southern, which are not
mutually intelligible
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as a ...
. Most research on Munya has been conducted by
Ikeda Takumi. There are about 2,000
monolinguals.
Names
The language has been spelled in various ways, including ''Manyak, Menya, Minyag, Minyak''. Other names for the language are ''Boba'' and ''Miyao''.
Dialects
''Ethnologue'' (21st edition) lists two Muya dialects, namely Eastern (Nyagrong) and Western (Darmdo). Muya is spoken in
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Shimian County,
Ya'an
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Jiulong County
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Kangding
Sun (1991) documents Muya (木雅) of
Liuba Township (六坝乡),
Shade District (沙德区),
Kangding County (康定县),
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of t ...
.
Popular culture
In 2008, Bamu, a singer with the Jiuzhaigou Art Troupe in the
Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of t ...
, recorded an album of Muya songs (木雅七韵).
References
Bibliography
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Minyak language elementary textbook a project of the Kham Aid Foundation, 2009.
Qiangic languages
Languages of China
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