Pyang Zhuang language

Pyang Zhuang, or Fuping Zhuang (Chinese: 扶平语), is an underdescribed Central Tai language spoken in southwestern Guangxi, China. It appears to be most closely related to Nong Zhuang.

The Pyang refer to themselves as pjaːŋB2 or tʰoːC1-A, but are referred to as ˀjujC1 by the surrounding Yang Zhuang people (Liao 2016:315).

Distribution

Pyang Zhuang is spoken in the following locations of Guangxi, China (Liao 2016:315-316).

Classification

Pyang Zhuang may be closely related to the Nong Zhuang language of Yunnan. Innovations shared between Pyang Zhuang and Nong Zhuang include the following (Liao 2016:316).

  • Proto-Tai *kr- > tɕʰ- (as opposed to *kr- > kʰj- in Yang Zhuang, and *kr- > h- in Southwestern Tai). Examples include tɕʰaːA1-A 'to seek' and tɕʰɔkDS1-A 'six'.
  • hɔkDS1-A 'to do' is only found in Pyang Zhuang and Nong Zhuang (as opposed to hatDS1-A 'to do' in Yang Zhuang, and hetDS1-A 'to do' in Zuojiang Zhuang and Isan).

References

  • Liao Hanbo. 2016. Tonal development of Tai languages. M.A. dissertation. Chiang Mai: Payap University.
Uses material from the Wikipedia article Pyang Zhuang language, released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.