The Bala language () is a possibly extinct Tungusic language that was spoken in and around the Zhangguangcai Range of Heilongjiang Province, Northeastern China. No standard orthography exists for the language, although manuscripts have occasionally recorded Bala words using Chinese characters.

Classification

Bala clearly belongs to the Jurchenic language subgroup of Southern Tungusic languages, but its exact position within Jurchenic remains to be determined. Bala is more closely related to Jurchen than it is to Manchu and retains many archaic features. It reportedly became extinct in 1982, but it is unknown whether there could be rememberers of the language still alive today. In addition to influences from

Northeastern Mandarin Northeastern Mandarin ( or / ''Dōngběiguānhuà'' "Northeast Mandarin") is the subgroup of Mandarin varieties spoken in Northeast China with the exception of the Liaodong Peninsula and few enclaves along Amur and Ussuri rivers. The classifica ...

and

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...

, Bala may also have been influenced by Southern Nanai languages such as Kilen.

Distribution

Originally spoken by mountain dwellers who claimed to have fled to the Zhangguangcai Mountains to flee from the late 16th-century Manchu campaigns of

Nurhaci Nurhaci (14 May 1559 – 30 September 1626), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Qing, was the founding khan of the Jurchen people, Jurchen-led Later Jin (1616–1636), Later Jin dynasty. As the leader of the House of Aisin-Gi ...

, Bala speakers later scattered into the plains to the west and south of the mountain range, with some speakers also moving to various villages in northern Jilin Province. Bala villages in Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces include Acheng 阿城, Bayan 巴彦, Binxian 宾县, Fangzheng 方正, Hulan 呼兰, Mulan 木兰, Shangzhi 尚志, Shuangcheng 双城, Tonghe 通河, Wuchang 五常, and Yanshou 延寿, Emu 额穆, Guandi 官地, Yushu 榆树, and Jiaohe 蛟河.

Documentation

The Bala language has been documented by Mu Yejun 穆晔骏 (also known as Mu'ercha Yejun 穆尔察晔骏, or Mu'ercha Anbulonga 穆尔察安布隆阿; 1926‒1989). Additional linguistic data has also been collected by Li Keman 李可漫 and her father Li Guojun 李果钧.Li, Guojun 李果钧. 1991. Jidong manzu ‘balaren’ xisu 吉东满族‘巴拉人’习俗. In Sun Bang 孙邦 (ed.) Jilin manzu 吉林满族, 294–297. Changchun: Jilin renmin chubanshe.

References

{{Tungusic languages Agglutinative languages Tungusic languages Extinct languages of Asia Languages of Heilongjiang