Min Zhuang is a recently described
Tai language spoken in the Langheng (郎恒) area of
Funing County, Yunnan,
China, and possibly also southwestern
Guangxi province. All speakers are reportedly bilingual in
Yei Zhuang (also known as Guibian Zhuang or Sha), which is classified as
Northern Tai
The Northern Tai languages are an established branch of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia. They include the northern Zhuang languages and Bouyei of China, Tai Mène of Laos and Yoy of Thailand.
Languages Ethnologue
'' Ethnologue'' distingu ...
(Johnson 2011a). The language was first described in 2011 by Eric C. Johnson of
SIL International
SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics) is an evangelical Christian non-profit organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to e ...
, though it had been earlier mentioned in Kullavanijaya and
L-Thongkum (1998).
Names
The Min Zhuang speakers of Guixun-Anhe call their language ' or '. Another Min Zhuang dialect is called ' or '.
Classification
Johnson (2011b) reported Min Zhuang to share many features with
Nong Zhuang, a
Central Tai language. However, it is unintelligible with the more widely spoken
Nong Zhuang,
Yei Zhuang, and
Dai Zhuang
Dai Zhuang or Thu Lao is a Tai language spoken in Yunnan, China and northern Vietnam. In China is it spoken in Yanshan, Wenshan, Maguan, Malipo, Guangnan counties of Wenshan Prefecture. It is also spoken in Honghe Prefecture. The largest concentr ...
languages.
Distribution
Min Zhuang is spoken by about 2,600 people in 11 villages. With the exception of Shangmabu (上麻布), all of the following villages are purely made up of Min Zhuang speakers.
*Guixun-Anhe (贵训-安哈)
*Sankeshu (三颗数)
*Xionggu (雄估)
*Shangmabu (上麻布) - mixed with Nong Zhuang speakers
*Tianfang (田房)
*Getao (戈桃)
*Gezao (戈造)
*Gecai (戈才)
*Bagan (叭干)
*Na'en (那恩)
*Longnong (龙弄)
Johnson (2011b) reports that Min Zhuang is also likely to be spoken in southwestern
Guangxi.
Notes
References
* Johnson, Eric C. 2011a.
The Southern Zhuang Languages of Yunnan Province's Wenshan Prefecture from a Sociolinguistic Perspective"
orking paper S.l.: s.n. 49 pages.
* Johnson, Eric C. 2011b.
A Lexical and Phonological Comparison of the Central Taic Languages of Wenshan Prefecture, China: Getting More Out of Language Survey Wordlists Than Just Lexical Similarity Percentages. SIL Electronic Working Papers 2011-005: 170.
* Kullavanijaya, Pranee and L-Thongkum, Theraphan. 1998. "Linguistic criteria for determining Tai ethnic groups: case studies on Central and south-western Tais." Proceedings
fthe International Conference on Tai Studies, July 29–31, 1998, Bangkok.
{{Tai-Kadai languages
Tai languages