Qiangic (''Chʻiang, Kyang, Tsiang'', Chinese: 羌語支, "''Qiang'' language group"; also Rmaic, formerly known as Dzorgaic) is a group of related languages within the

Sino-Tibetan language family Sino-Tibetan (also referred to as Trans-Himalayan) is a language family, family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European languages, Indo-European in number of native speakers. Around 1.4 billion people speak a Sino-Tibetan languag ...

. They are spoken mainly in

Southwest China Southwestern China () is a region in the People's Republic of China. It consists of five provincial administrative regions, namely Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Xizang. Geography Southwestern China is a rugged and mountainous region, ...

, including

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

and northern

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 ...

. Most Qiangic languages are distributed in the

prefectures A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...

of Ngawa, Garzê,

Ya'an Ya'an ( zh, s=雅安, p=Yǎ'ān, w=Ya-an) is a prefecture-level city in the western part of Sichuan province, China, located just below the Tibetan Plateau. The city is home to Sichuan Agricultural University, the only Project 211, 211 Project ...

and Liangshan in Sichuan with some in Northern

as well. Qiangic speakers are variously classified as part of the Qiang, Tibetan, Pumi, Nakhi, and

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

ethnic groups by the

People's Republic of 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 ...

. The extinct

Tangut language Tangut (Tangut: ; ) is an extinct language in the Sino-Tibetan language family. Tangut was one of the official languages of the Western Xia, Western Xia dynasty, founded by the Tangut people in northwestern China. The Western Xia was annihilate ...

of the

Western Xia The Western Xia or the Xi Xia ( zh, c=, w=Hsi1 Hsia4, p=Xī Xià), officially the Great Xia ( zh, c=大夏, w=Ta4 Hsia4, p=Dà Xià, labels=no), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as Stein (1972), pp. 70–71. to the Tanguts ...

is considered to be Qiangic by some linguists, including Matisoff (2004).Matisoff, James. 2004
"Brightening" and the place of Xixia (Tangut) in the Qiangic subgroup of Tibeto-Burman
/ref> The undeciphered

Nam language Nam is an unclassified extinct language preserved in Tibetan transcriptions in a number of Dunhuang manuscript fragments. The manuscript fragments are held at the British Library and the . Classification According to Ikeda Takumi, the research ...

of China may possibly be related to Qiangic. Lamo, Larong and Drag-yab, or the Chamdo languages, a group of three closely related Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in

Chamdo Chamdo, officially Qamdo () and also known in Chinese as Changdu (), is a prefecture-level city in the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Its seat is the town of Chengguan in Karuo District. Chamdo is Tibet's third largest c ...

, Eastern

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

, may or may not be Qiangic.Suzuki, Hiroyuki and Tashi Nyima. 2018
Historical relationship among three non-Tibetic languages in Chamdo, TAR
''Proceedings of the 51st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (2018)''. Kyoto: Kyoto University.

Classification

Sun (1983)

Sun Hongkai (1983) proposes two branches, northern and southern: *Qiangic **Northern ***

Northern Qiang Northern Qiang is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Qiangic branch, more specifically falling under the Tibeto-Burman family. It is spoken by approximately 60,000 people in East Tibet, and in north-central Sichuan Province, China. Unlike its ...

(Máwō) *** Pumi (Prinmi) *** Muya (Minyag) *** Tangut (extinct; attested 1036–1502) **Southern *** Southern Qiang (Táopíng) Sun groups other, poorly described Qiangic languages as: ** Ersu (Tosu), Shixing, Namuzi (Namuyi) ** Guiqiong (2–3 varieties with low intelligibility) ** Zhaba, Queyu

Matisoff (2004)

Matisoff (2004) states that Jiarongic is an additional branch: ** Jiarongic *** Gyarung *** Lavrung *** Horpa (Ergong) Matisoff (2004) describes Proto-Tibeto-Burman *-a > -i as a typical sound change in many Qiangic languages, and refers to this vowel heightening as "brightening." Yu (2012)Yu, Dominic. 2012.
Proto-Ersuic
'. Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, Department of Linguistics. also notes that "brightening" is a defining innovation in Proto-Ersuic, the reconstructed ancestor of the Ersuic languages.

Thurgood and La Polla (2003)

Thurgood and La Polla (2003) state that the inclusion of Qiang, Prinmi, and Muya is well supported, but that they do not follow Sun's argument for the inclusion of Tangut. Matisoff (2004), however, claims Tangut demonstrates a clear relationship. The unclassified language Baima may also be Qiangic or may retain a Qiangic substratum after speakers shifted to Tibetan. Some other lesser-known, unclassified Qiangic peoples and languages include the following: **Bolozi 玻璃哦子/博罗子: 2,000 people; in Xiao Heshui Village 小河水村, west of Songpan; also as far south as Wenchuan Township 汶川乡. Sun Hongkai (2013:80–82)Sun Hongkai. 2013. ''Tibeto-Burman languages of eight watersheds'' ��江流域的藏缅语 Beijing: China Social Sciences Academy Press. identifies Bolozi 博罗子 as a

variety, belonging to the Cimulin 茨木林 dialect. **Ming 命: 10,000 people; mixed Chinese in

Mao County Mao County or Maoxian ( zh, s=茂县; ; Qiangic languages, Qiang: Shgvunyi) is a counties of China, county in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Ngawa Prefecture, Sichuan, Sichuan Province, China. It has an area of 3,903 and a popul ...

and

Wenchuan County Wenchuan County is a County (People's Republic of China), county in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China. The county has an area of , and a population of 100,771 as of 2010. Wolong National Nature Reserve is a protected ...

, Sichuan **Xiangcheng 乡城: 10,000 people in and around Xiangcheng Township 乡城, Garzê Prefecture

Sun (2001)

Sun Hongkai (2001) groups the Qiangic languages are follows. *Qiangic **Northern ***'' Tangut'' 西夏 ***Qiang ****'' Qiang'' 羌 ( Northern and Southern) ****'' Prinmi'' 普米 ****'' Minyak'' 木雅 *** rGyalrongic ****''

rGyalrong Gyalrong or rGyalrong (), also rendered Jiarong ( zh, t=嘉絨語, s=嘉绒语, p=Jiāróngyǔ), or sometimes Gyarung, is a subbranch of the Gyalrongic languages spoken by the Gyalrong people in Western Sichuan, China. Lai et al. (2020) refer ...

'' 嘉绒 ****'' Ergong'' 尔龚 ****'' Lavrung'' 拉乌戎 **Southern ***'' Ersu'' 尔苏 ***'' Guiqiong'' 贵琼 ***'' Shixing'' 史兴 ***'' Namuyi'' 纳木依 ***'' Choyo'' 却隅 ***'' nDrapa'' 扎巴

Jacques & Michaud (2011)

Guillaume Jacques Guillaume Jacques (, born 1979) is a French linguist who specializes in the study of Sino-Tibetan languages: Old Chinese, Tangut, Tibetan, Gyalrongic and Kiranti languages. He also performs research on the Algonquian and Siouan language fam ...

Alexis Michaud Alexis Michaud is a French linguist specialising in the study of Southeast Asian languages, especially Naic languages and Vietnamese. He is also known for his work on the typology of tonal languages and as a foremost proponent of Panchronic p ...

(2011)Jacques, Guillaume, and Alexis Michaud. 2011.
Approaching the historical phonology of three highly eroded Sino-Tibetan languages
" ''Diachronica'' 28:468–498. argue for a Na–Qiangic branch which itself forms a Burmo-Qiangic branch together with

Lolo–Burmese The Lolo-Burmese languages (also Burmic languages) of Burma and Southern China form a coherent branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. Names Until ca. 1950, the endonym ''Lolo'' was written with derogatory characters in Chinese, and for this reason ...

. Na–Qiangic comprises three primary branches, which are Ersuish (or Ersuic),

Naic Naic (), officially the Municipality of Naic (), is a municipality in the province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 160,987 people. Etymology Naic, Cavite is one of the former barrios of Maragond ...

(or Naxish), and

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

Qiangic. Similarly, David Bradley (2008) also proposed an Eastern Tibeto-Burman branch that includes Burmic ( Lolo-Burmese) and Qiangic. The position of Guiqiong is not addressed. *Na–Qiangic ** Ersuish ***'' Ersu'' ***'' Lizu'' ***'' Tosu'' **

***'' Namuyi'' ***'' Shixing'' *** Naish ****'' Naxi'' ****'' Na'' (''Mosuo'') ****'' Laze'' **Qiangic ***'' Queyu'' ***'' Zhaba'' (?) ***'' Tangut'' *** Pumi ****''Northern Pumi'' ****''Southern Pumi'' *** Muya ****''Northern Muya'' ****''Southern Muya'' *** Qiang ****''

'' ****'' Southern Qiang'' *** rGyalrongic **** rGyalrongish *****'' Situ'' *****'' Japhug'' *****'' Tshobdun'' *****'' Zbu'' **** Lavrung *****''Thugsrjechenmo'' *****''Njorogs'' **** Horpa *****''Rtau'' *****''Stodsde''

Chirkova (2012)

However, Chirkova (2012) casts doubt on the validity of Qiangic as a coherent branch, instead considering Qiangic to be a diffusion area. She considers the following four languages to be part of four separate Tibeto-Burman branches: * Lizu ( Ersu group) * Shixing ("

") * Namuzi ("

") * Pumi Both Shixing and Namuzi are both classified as

(Naxi) by Jacques & Michaud (2011), but Naic would not be a valid genetic unit in Chirkova's classification scheme since Shixing and Namuzi are considered by Chirkova to not be part of a single branch.

Yu (2012)

Yu (2012:218) notes that Ersuic and Naish languages share some forms that are not found in Lolo-Burmese or "core" Qiangic (Qiang, Prinmi, and Minyak). As a result, "Southern Qiangic" (Ersuic, Namuyi, and Shixing) may be closer to Naish than it is to "core" Qiangic. Together, Southern Qiangic and Naish could form a wider "Naic" group that has links to both Lolo-Burmese to the south and other Qiangic languages to the north.

Obsolete names

Shafer (1955) and other accounts of the Dzorgaic/Ch'iang branch preserve the names ''Dzorgai, Kortsè, Thochu, Outer/Outside Man-tze, Pingfang'' from the turn of the century. The first three were Northern Qiang, and Outside Mantse was Southern Qiang.UC Berkeley, 1992, ''Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area'', vol. 15, pp. 76–77. When Jiarongic is included as a branch of Qiangic, but distinct from the non-Jiarongic languages, the label "Dzorgaic" may be used for Qiang proper. ''Hsi-fan'' (Xifan) is an ethnic name, meaning essentially 'Tibetan'; the people speak Qiangic or Jiarongic languages such as Qiang, Ergong/Horpa, Ersu, Guiqiong, Shixing, Zhaba, Namuyi, Muya/Minyak, and Jiarong, but not Naxi/Moso, Pumi, or Tangut. The term has not been much used since language surveys of the 1980s resulted in sufficient data for classification.

Distribution

Qiangic languages are spoken mainly in western

and northwestern

provinces of China. Sun Hongkai (2013) lists the following watersheds (riverine systems) and the respective Qiangic languages spoken there. *Upper

Jialing River The Jialing River, formerly known by numerous other names, is a major tributary of the Yangtze River in the Sichuan Basin. It is named after the Jialing Valley in Feng County, Shaanxi through which it flows. The Jialing River's most notable c ...

watershed 嘉陵江上游地区: Baima * Min River watershed 岷江流域: Qiang (including Boluozi 博罗子) *

Dadu River The Dadu River (, ), known in Tibetan as the Gyelmo Ngul Chu (), is a major river located primarily in Sichuan province, southwestern China. The Dadu flows from the eastern Tibetan Plateau into the Sichuan Basin where it joins with the Min Rive ...

watershed 大渡河流域: Guiqiong, Ersu *

Yalong River The Yalong River ( zh, 雅砻江, Pinyin, p ''Yǎlóngjiāng'', Wade–Giles, w ''Ya-lung Chiang'', Help:IPA/Mandarin, IPA ), or Nyag Chu (Standard Tibetan, Tibetan: , Tibetan pinyin, z ''Nyag Qu''), is a major tributary ...

watershed 雅砻江流域: Ergong, Zhaba, Muya, Namuyi *

Jinsha River The Jinsha River (, Classical Tibetan, Tibetan: Dri Chu, འབྲི་ཆུ, ) or Lu river, is the Chinese name for the upper stretches of the Yangtze River. It flows through the provinces of the PRC, provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yu ...

watershed 金沙江流域: Shixing, Pumi

References

Bibliography

*Bradley, David (1997). Tibeto-Burman languages and classification. In D. Bradley (Ed.), ''Papers in South East Asian linguistics: Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas'' (No. 14, pp. 1–71). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. * Miyake, Marc. 2015
What is the origin of uvularization in Qiang?
* Miyake, Marc. 2012
Nasal codas as clues for the stratification of Chinese loanwords in Ronghong Qiang
* Miyake, Marc. 2011
Danger a-head for the 2 X 2 hypothesis
* Miyake, Marc. 2011
''fm-''
*Sun, Hongkai (1983). The nationality languages in the six valleys and their language branches. ''Yunnan Minzuxuebao'', ''3'', 99–273. (Written in Chinese). *Sun Hongkai ( Academy of Social Sciences of China Institute of Nationality Studies) (1990).
Languages of the Ethnic Corridor in Western Sichuan
("
Archive
. ''

Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area ''Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on the Sino-Tibetan languages and other mainland Southeast Asian languages. It was established in 1974 and was closely associated with the Sin ...

'', 13(1), 1–31. English translation by Jackson T.-S. Sun (

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley ...

and

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, ; zh, t=中央研究院) is the national academy of the Taiwan, Republic of China. It is headquartered in Nangang District, Taipei, Nangang, Taipei. Founded in Nanjing, the academy supports research activities in mathemat ...

). *Sun Hongkai 孙宏开. 2016. ''Zangmian yuzu Qiang yuzhi yanjiu'' 藏缅语族羌语支研究. Beijing: China Social Sciences Academy Press 中国社会科学出版社.

External links

The Qiang Language and Culture Web Site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qiangic Languages