Waxiang | |
---|---|
Waxianghua, Wogang | |
瓦鄉話/瓦乡话 Wǎxiānghuà | |
Native to | China |
Region | western Hunan |
Native speakers | (300,000 cited 1995)[1] |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | wxa |
Glottolog | waxi1236 |
Dialect map of Hunan. Waxiang is dark blue on the map. |
Waxiang (simplified Chinese: 瓦乡话; traditional Chinese: 瓦鄉話; pinyin: Wǎxiānghuà; ɕioŋ˥tsa˧) is a divergent variety of Chinese,[2][3] spoken by the Waxiang people, an unrecognized ethnic minority group in the northwestern part of Hunan province, China. Waxiang is a distinct language, very different from its surrounding Southwestern Mandarin, Xiang Chinese and the Hmongic Qo Xiong languages.
Further information: Greater Bai languages |
As noted by Laurent Sagart (2011)[4] and others,[5][6][7] Waxiang appears to share some words with the Caijia language of western Guizhou. Sagart (2011) considers Caijia to be a sister of Waxiang. Currently, Waxiang is classified as a divergent Chinese variety rather than a non-Sinitic language.[2][3] Similarities among Old Chinese, Waxiang, Caijia, and Bai have also been pointed out by Wu & Shen (2010).[8]
Qu & Tang (2017) show that Waxiang and Miao (Qo Xiong) have had little mutual influence on each other.[9]
Waxianghua is found in Luxi, Guzhang and Yongshun counties in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Zhangjiajie prefecture-level city (in Dayong 大庸), and Chenxi, Xupu and Yuanling counties in Huaihua prefecture-level city. Neighboring languages include Southwestern Mandarin, Xiang Chinese, Tujia, Qo Xiong, and Hm Nai.
The word Wa 瓦 is only a phonetic transcription.
Wu & Shen (2010) report Waxianghua to be spoken in the following villages.
Liubaohua 六保话, a dialect closely related to Waxianghua, is spoken in several villages in southeastern Guazhang County (including in Shaojitian Village 筲箕田村, Shanzao Township 山枣乡) and parts of Luxi County.[10] Liubaohua is spoken in the following locations (Zou 2013).
Waxiang preserves a number of features of Old Chinese not found in most modern varieties of Chinese, such as the initial *l- (which became a voiced dental stop in Middle Chinese):[11]
Waxiang also has some cases of /z/ for Old Chinese *r- (which became l- in Middle Chinese):[12]
In a number of words, Waxiang and Proto-Min have affricate initials where Middle Chinese has sy-:[13]
In some words, Waxiang and Proto-Min have voiced affricates where Middle Chinese has y-:[14]
Sagart argues that Waxiang and Caijia together constitute the earliest branching of Chinese. Like Waxiang, Caijia preserves Old Chinese *l-, has a voiced fricative reflex of *r-, and retains the Old Chinese word 字 'love', which has been replaced by 愛 in all other Chinese varieties. Waxiang and Caijia also share two words not found in other Chinese varieties:[4]