She or Shehua (, ''Shēhuà'', meaning 'She speech') is an unclassified Sinitic language spoken by the

She people The She people (; She Chinese: ; Cantonese: , Fuzhou: ) are an ethnic group in China. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. According to th2021 China Statistical Yearbook the total popul ...

of Southeastern China. It is also called Shanha, San-hak () or Shanhahua (). She speakers are located mainly in

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

and

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

provinces of Southeastern China, with smaller numbers of speakers in a few locations of

Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...

(in Guixi and Yanshan County),

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

(in Chaozhou and Fengshun County) and

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

(in

Ningguo Ningguo () is a county-level city in the southeast of Anhui province, People's Republic of China, under the administration of Xuancheng City and bordering Zhejiang province to the south and east. It has a population of 380,000 and an area of . N ...

) provinces. ''She'' () is not to be confused with Shēyǔ (, also known as Ho Ne), which is a Hmong–Mien language spoken in East-Central

. She and Sheyu speakers have separate histories and identities, although both are officially classified by the Chinese government as

. The Dongjia of

Majiang County Majiang County () is a county of southeast-central Guizhou province, China. It is the westernmost county-level division The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since 1412, due to mainland China's large populat ...

Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...

are also officially classified as

, but speak a Western Hmongic language closely related to Chong'anjiang Miao ().

History

During the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, She speakers lived in the

border region. Afterwards, they moved to their present locations further to the northeast.

Classification

Some linguists consider She to be a variety of

Hakka Chinese Hakka ( zh, c=, p=Kèjiāhuà; '' Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: '', zh, c=, p=Kèjiāyǔ; '' Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: '') forms a language group of varieties of Chinese, spoken natively by the Hakka people in parts of Southern China, Taiwan, some diaspora areas ...

, while others consider it to be an unclassified variety of Chinese that has received some influence from Hakka and is part of Hakka. Hiroki Nakanishi (2010) considers She to be a

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

dialect that may have a Sheyu (Hmongic)

substratum Substrata, plural of substratum, may refer to: *Earth's substrata, the geologic layering of the Earth *''Hypokeimenon'', sometimes translated as ''substratum'', a concept in metaphysics *Substrata (album), a 1997 ambient music album by Biosphere * ...

. However, Zhao (2004) considers She to be an independent branch of Chinese, and that it should not be classified within Hakka. Depending on their locations, She dialects have been variously influenced by

, Gan, Wu, and Min.

Dialects

You (2002:31-35) divides She into 9 dialectal areas (''fangyan qu'' 方言区), and with respective locations and speaker demographics from You (2002) listed as well. The Eastern

and Southern

dialectal areas each have over 100,000 speakers, while the smallest dialectal areas are in

and

, with each having only a few thousand speakers. Altogether, there are more than 400,000 She speakers in China. * Mindong (, Eastern

), spoken in the counties of

Fu'an (; Foochow Romanized: Hók-ăng-chê; sometimes ''Fu An'') is a county-level city of Ningde prefecture level city, in northeast Fujian province, PRC, some North of the provincial capital Fuzhou. Fuzhou and Fu'an of Ningde prefecture along with Ca ...

福安, Fuding 福鼎, Xiapu 霞浦, Ningde 宁德, Shouning 寿宁, Zhouning 周宁, Zherong 柘荣, Pingnan 屏南, Luoyuan 罗源, Lianjiang 连江, Fuzhou 福州郊区, Minhou 闽侯, Minqing 闽清, and Yongqin 永泰. 184,000 speakers. In contact with

Eastern Min Eastern Min or Min Dong (, Foochow Romanized: ) is a branch of the Min group of the Chinese languages of China. The prestige form and most commonly cited representative form is the Fuzhou dialect, the speech of the capital of Fujian. Geogra ...

. * Minbei (, Northern

), spoken in the counties of Nanping 南平, Jian'ou 建瓯, Jianyang 建阳, Shaowu 邵武, Shunchang 顺昌, and Guangze 光泽. 21,000 speakers. In contact with Northern Min. * Minzhong (, Central

), spoken in the counties of Sanming 三明, Yong'an 永安, Shaxian 沙县, and Ninghua 宁化. Also spoken in Shuangguishan 双贵山,

Youxi County Youxi () is a county of central Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Sanming City. Transportation * Xiangtang–Putian Railway Climate Administrative divisions Towns: *Chengguan (), Youxikou (), Meix ...

, Fujian.Wu Chong-chieh 吳中杰. 2014. Northern and Southern Vernaculars of She (San-hak): On Shuangguishan, Youxi County, Fujian Province / 畲話的南北分片問題: 以閩中尤溪雙貴山為例的探討. In 客家研究第七卷第二期, 2014 年12 月39-62 頁. 12,000 speakers. In contact with Central Min. * Minnan (, Southern Fujian), spoken in the counties of Licheng District 鲤城区 (in Quanzhou), Anxi 安溪, Dehua 德化, Yongchun 永春, Hua'an 华安, Longyan 龙岩, and Zhangping 漳平. 12,000 speakers. In contact with

Southern Min Southern Min (), Minnan ( Mandarin pronunciation: ) or Banlam (), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Chinese languages that form a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Fujian (especially the Minnan region), most of Taiwa ...

. In

Zhangping Zhangping (; POJ: Chiang-pêng) is a county-level city in the southwest of Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Longyan. Transport Zhangping is a rail hub in southwestern Fu ...

City, Shanyangge She 山羊隔畲话 is spoken by over 800 people in the two villages of Shanyangge 山羊隔, Guilin Township 桂林乡, and Jianci 尖祠, Xi'nan Township 溪南乡.Lin Jinlu, etc. Longyan Prefecture Geographical Gazetteer Editorial Committee 龙岩地区地方志编纂委员会编; 总编林金禄. 1992. Longyan Prefecture Geographical Gazetteer 福建省龙岩地区志. Shanghai: Shanghai People's Press 上海人民出版社. Shanyangge She is distinct from Shejiake 畲家客, which is a

dialect spoken by over 100 people in Zhangping County in the two villages of Changta Village 长塔村, Xianghu Township 象湖乡 and Wei Village 尾村, Shuangyang Township 双洋乡. * Zhenan (, Southern

), spoken in the counties of Pingyang 平阳, Cangnan 苍南, Rui'an 瑞安, Wencheng 文成, Taishun 泰顺,

Lishui Lishui (; Lishuinese: ''li⁶ syu³'' ) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It borders Quzhou, Jinhua and Taizhou to the north, Wenzhou to the southeast, and the province of Fujian to ...

丽水, Jingning 景宁, Yunhe 云和, Longquan 龙泉, Songyang 松阳, Qingtian 青田, and Wuyi 武义. 120,000 speakers. In contact with

Wu Chinese , region = Shanghai, Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, parts of Anhui and Jiangxi provinces; overseas and migrant communities , ethnicity = Wu , speakers = million , date = 2021 , ref = e27 , fa ...

. * Zhezhong (, Central

), spoken in the counties of Longyou 龙游, Quxian 衢县, Lanxi 兰溪, Jinhua 金华, and Suichang 遂昌. 23,000 speakers. In contact with

. * Zhebei (, Northern

), spoken in the counties of Tonglu 桐庐, Jiande 建德, Lin'an 临安, Fuyang 富阳, and Anji 安吉. 13,000 speakers. In contact with

. * Yuedong (, Eastern

), spoken in the counties of Chaozhou 潮州 and Fengshun 丰顺. 2,200 speakers. In contact with the

Teochew dialect Teochew, also known as Swatow or Teo-Swa, is a Southern Min language spoken by the Teochew people in the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong and by their diaspora around the world. It is sometimes referred to as ''Chiuchow'', its Cantonese ...

. In Fengshun County, it is spoken in Fengping Village 凤坪村, Tanjiang Town 潭江镇. You, Lei & Lan (2005) document the She variety of Fenghuangshan 凤凰山 ("Phoenix Mountain") in eastern Guangdong. * Gandong (, Eastern

), spoken in the counties of Guixi 贵溪 and Yanshan 铅山. 4,000 speakers. In contact with

Gan Chinese Gan, Gann or Kan is a group of Sinitic languages spoken natively by many people in the Jiangxi province of China, as well as significant populations in surrounding regions such as Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Fujian. Gan is a member of the Siniti ...

. The She variety of Taiyuan 太源畲族乡, Yanshan County, Jiangxi has been documented in detail by Hu & Hu (2013), while the She variety of Zhangping Township 樟坪畲族乡, Guixi City,

has been documented in detail by Liu (2008). In

Province, there is also a She dialect spoken by about 2,400 people in Yunti She Ethnic Township (), Ningguo City that has been influenced by

Lower Yangtze Mandarin Lower Yangtze Mandarin () is one of the most divergent and least mutually-intelligible of the Mandarin language varieties, as it neighbours the Wu, Hui, and Gan groups of Sinitic languages. It is also known as Jiang–Huai Mandarin (), nam ...

.Wu Chong-chieh 吳中杰. 2004.
Languages of She Minority
/ Shezu yuyan yanjiu'' 畬族語言研究. Ph.D. dissertation. Hsinchu, Taiwan:

National Tsing Hua University National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) is a public research university in Hsinchu, Taiwan. It was first founded in Beijing. After the Chinese Civil War, president Mei Yiqi and other academics relocated with the retreating Nationalist government to ...

國立清華大學語言研究所. You (2002) provides a comparative vocabulary list for the following 13 datapoints. The Zhebei dialectal area 浙北方言区 has not been included by You (2002). #

福安,

Ningde Ningde,; Foochow Romanized: Nìng-dáik; also known as ''Mindong''; zh, s=闽东, p=Mǐndōng, links=no; Foochow Romanized: Mìng-dĕ̤ng; lit. East of Fujian previously Chinese postal romanization, romanized as Ningteh and Ning-Taik, is a prefe ...

(Mindong dialectal area 闽东方言区) # Fuding 福鼎,

(Mindong dialectal area 闽东方言区; includes Xiamen She Ethnic Township 硖门畲族乡) # Luoyuan 罗源,

Fuzhou Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...

(Mindong dialectal area 闽东方言区) # Sanming 三明,

(Minzhong dialectal area 闽中方言区) # Shunchang 顺昌,

Nanping Nanping; historically known as Yanping ( zh, s=延平, poj=Iân-pêng is a third-tier prefecture-level city in northwestern Fujian province of China, Province, China, People's Republic of China. It borders Ningde to the east, Sanming to the sou ...

南平,

(Minbei dialectal area 闽北方言区) # Hua'an 华安,

Zhangzhou Zhangzhou (, ) is a prefecture-level city in Fujian Province, China. The prefecture around the city proper comprises the southeast corner of the province, facing the Taiwan Strait and (with Quanzhou) surrounding the prefecture of Xiamen. Nam ...

华安, southern

(Minnan dialectal area 闽北方言区) # Guixi 贵溪, Yingtan 鹰潭,

(Gandong dialectal area 赣东方言区) # Cangnan 苍南,

Wenzhou Wenzhou; Chinese postal romanization, historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in China's Zhejiang province. Wenzhou is located at the extreme southeast of Zhejiang, bordering Lishui, Zhejiang, Lishui to the west, Taizhou, Zheji ...

温州,

(Zhe'nan dialectal area 浙南方言区) # Jingning 景宁,

丽水,

(Zhe'nan dialectal area 浙南方言区) #

丽水,

(Zhe'nan dialectal area 浙南方言区) # Longyou 龙游,

Quzhou Quzhou is a prefecture-level city in western Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the upper course of the Qiantang River, it borders Hangzhou to the north, Jinhua to the east, Lishui to the southeast, and the provinces of F ...

衢州,

(Zhezhong dialectal area 浙中方言区; includes Muchen She Ethnic Township 沐尘畲族乡) # Chaozhou 潮州,

(Yuedong dialectal area 粤东方言区) # Fengshun 丰顺,

Meizhou Meizhou ( zh, t=梅州, Hakka Chinese: Mòichû) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guangdong province, China. It has an area of , and a population of 3,873,239 as of the 2020 census. It comprises Meijiang District, Meixian District, Xing ...

梅州,

(Yuedong dialectal area 粤东方言区)

Distribution

The following maps show ethnic She townships and other administrative divisions (highlighted in magenta) in

, and

provinces. The

of these three provinces speak She, while the She of central

and

speak

Hmongic languages The Hmongic languages, also known as Miao languages ( zh, s=苗语, p=Miáoyǔ), include the various languages spoken by the Miao people (such as Hmong, Hmu, and Xong). Hmongic languages also include various languages spoken by non- Mienic-spe ...

. The most She speakers are located in

Prefecture,

, and

and

Prefectures,

. Smaller communities of She speakers are located in central Zhejiang, southern Fujian, the mountainous interior of western Fujian, southeastern Anhui, eastern Guangdong, and northeastern Jiangxi near its border with Fujian. It is not known whether She is spoken by She people living in central and southern Jiangxi.

Phonology

She is a very dialectally uniform language. Like many southern Chinese languages, it has syllables with stop codas, traditionally considered as part of a separate tone class. Much like its sister branch

, it has the same three nasal codas as well as three stop codas. However, the /k/ coda has evolved into a

glottal stop The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic ...

Consonants

In addition to the consonants listed below, She also has a null initial, often realized as a glottal stop. Some dialects of She in eastern

(including the Fú'ān and Fúdǐng varieties) have the initial voiceless lateral fricative ɬ- where other She dialects have an initial s-. Only a limited number of consonants can act as a coda, including the nasals and the plain labial, dental, and glottal stops.

Vowels

The syllabic coronal consonant /z̩/, frequently known in Chinese linguistics as the apical vowel, is also found in some dialects of She.

Tones

She has 4 phonemic contour tones, which can be organized into the following 6 tone categories (You 2002:80-83); the Dark Going tone has merged into the Dark Level tone in the development of She. Almost all She dialects have identical tone values in each tone category, which are provided below. The Tàiyuán dialect may have more divergent tone values. Hú recorded the dialect as having (212) for its Light Level tone, (25) on its Rising tone, and (4) for its Dark Entering tone.

Lexicon

Unique vocabulary

You (2002:183-216) notes that She has many unique vocabulary items that have no cognates in

, Gan, Wu, or any other

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

. Instead, many words have parallels in Hmong-Mien languages (You 2002:490-504), and in Tai and Kam-Sui languages (You 2002:458-489). Other words appear to have no parallels in any other language family or branch (You 2002:505-518).

Swadesh list

Below is a vocabulary table comparing

Swadesh list A Swadesh list () is a compilation of cultural universal, tentatively universal concepts for the purposes of lexicostatistics. That is, a Swadesh list is a list of forms and concepts which all languages, without exception, have terms for, such as ...

s of She ( Fengshun), Hakka ( Boluo), and She ( Boluo), from Gan (2011:188-191).Gan Chunyan 甘春妍. 2011. ''Boluo Sheyu yanjiu'' 博罗畲语研究. Tianjin: Nankai University Press 南开大学出版社.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

* * Hu Songbai 胡松柏; Hu Derong 胡德荣. 2013. ''Yanshan Taiyuan Shehua yanjiu'' 《铅山太源畲话研究》. Beijing: China Social Sciences Academy Press 中国社会科学出版社. * You Wenliang 游文良. 2002. ''Shezu yuyan'' 《畲族语言》. Fuzhou: Fujian People's Press 福建人民出版社. * {{Hmong-Mien languages Varieties of Chinese Fujian Zhejiang She people Languages of China