The U language or P'uman (), is spoken by 40,000 people in the Yunnan Province of
China and possibly
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. It is classified as an
Austroasiatic language in the
Palaungic branch. In China, U speakers are classified as ethnic
Bulang.
Locations
U is spoken in
Shuangjiang County
Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County () is a county in the southwest of Yunnan province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Lincang.
Administrative divisions
Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Bulang and D ...
of Yunnan and other nearby counties.
*Wang & Chen (1981) covers the dialect of Pengpan 碰拚, Dafengshan Township 大凤山乡,
Shuangjiang County
Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County () is a county in the southwest of Yunnan province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Lincang.
Administrative divisions
Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Bulang and D ...
.
*Zhou & Yan (1983) covers the dialect of Pangpin 胖品, Yongge Township 永革乡,
Shuangjiang County
Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County () is a county in the southwest of Yunnan province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Lincang.
Administrative divisions
Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Bulang and D ...
.
*Yan & Zhou (2012) cover U of Gantang 甘塘,
Yongde County
Yongde County () is a county in the west of Yunnan province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city
A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China ( ...
as well as U of Pangpin 胖品.
*Svantesson (1991:67) documents the U dialect of Paɑ̃ Xɛp (Bangxie, 邦协), Shahe Township 沙河乡,
Shuangjiang County
Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County () is a county in the southwest of Yunnan province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Lincang.
Administrative divisions
Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Bulang and D ...
.
There two main dialects of U in
Shuangjiang County
Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County () is a county in the southwest of Yunnan province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Lincang.
Administrative divisions
Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Bulang and D ...
: one spoken in Gongnong (公弄, now part of Mengku Town, 勐库镇) and one spoken in Bangbing (邦丙) and Dawen Mangga (大文乡忙嘎); the Dawen dialect is reportedly mutually intelligible with that of
Shidian County
Shidian County () is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Baoshan, in the west of Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and ...
(''Shuangjiang County Ethnic Gazetteer'' 1995:160).
Avala (
autonym: ''a21 va21 la21'') is spoken in Bangliu (邦六), Manghuai Township (芒怀乡), Yun County (云县), Yunnan, China.
Phonology
U has four tones, ''high'', ''low'', ''rising'', ''falling'', which developed from vowel length and the nature of final consonants.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Gazetteers and other Chinese government sources with lexical data
*Nanjian County Gazetteer Commission
��涧县志编纂委员会编(ed). 1993. ''Nanjian County Gazetteer''
��涧彝族自治县志 Chengdu: Sichuan Reference Press
��川辞书出版社
*Na Ruzhen
��汝珍 et al. (eds). 1994. ''Zhenkang County Ethnic Gazetteer''
��康县民族志 Kunming: Yunnan People's Press
��南民族出版社
*Simao Prefecture Ethnic Minority Affairs Bureau
��茅行暑民族事务委员会(ed). 1990. ''A study of the Bulang people''
��朗族研究 m.s.
*Xiao Dehua
��德虎 et al. (eds). 1992. ''Zhenkang County Gazetteer''
��康县志 1992. Chengdu: Sichuan People's Press
��川民族出版社
*Yunnan Gazetteer Commission
��南省地方志编纂委员会(ed). 1998. ''Yunnan Provincial Gazetteer, Vol. 59: Minority Languages Orthographies Gazetteer''
��南省志. 卷五十九, 少数民族语言文字志 Kunming: Yunnan People's Press
��南人民出版社
External links
RWAAI , ProjectsRWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
*
http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-67B4-3@view U in RWAAI Digital Archive
Palaungic languages
Languages of China
{{AustroAsiatic-lang-stub