Monguor language

The Monguor language (Chinese: 土族语; pinyin: Tǔzúyǔ; also written Mongour and Mongor) is a Mongolic language of its Shirongolic branch and is part of the Gansu–Qinghai sprachbund (also called the Amdo sprachbund). There are several dialects, mostly spoken by the Monguor people. A writing system was devised for Huzhu Monguor (Mongghul) in the late 20th century but has been little used.

A division into two languages, namely Mongghul in Huzhu Tu Autonomous County and Mangghuer in Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County, is considered necessary by some linguists. While Mongghul was under strong influence from Amdo Tibetan, the same holds for Mangghuer and Sinitic languages, and local varieties of Chinese such as the Gangou language were in turn influenced by Monguor.

Phonology

Vowels

Vowel sounds may also be nasalized when preceding a nasal consonant, in different environments.
Vowels /i, e, u/ may also undergo a devoicing process in certain phonetic environments.

Consonants

/χ/ can also be heard as allophones [h] or [x], occurring in free variation.
/ɻ/ can be heard as a voiced fricative [ʐ] within the onset of a stressed syllable, or of a word-initial syllable. It can also be heard as a flap sound [ɾ] intervocalically in the onset of an unstressed syllable. In a syllable-coda position, it is heard as a rhotic [ə˞] vowel sound.
/j/ can have a spirantized allophone of [ʝ] strongly in stressed syllables.

Writing system

Cyrillic alphabet

In 1958, a Cyrillic-based alphabet was developed for Monguor, but it's practical use did not begin for political reasons.

 The Cyrillic alphabet for Monguor had the following letters:

Latin alphabet

From the 1970s to the 1980s, the current Latin alphabet for Monguor based on Pinyin was developed. It consists of 31 letters.

 The following list shows the letters of the Monguor Latin alphabet along with their pronunciation in the IPA:

A a (/a/)
B b (/p/)
C c (/tsʰ/)
D d (/t/)
E e (/e/)
F f (/f/)
G g (/k/)
H h (/χ/)
I i (/i/)
J j (/tɕ/)
K k (/kʰ/)
L l (/l/)
M m (/m/)
N n (/n/)
O o (/o/)
P p (/pʰ/)
Q q (/tɕʰ/)
R r (/ɻ/)
S s (/s/)
T t (/tʰ/)
U u (/u/)
W w (/w/)
X x (/ɕ/)
Y y (/j/)
Z z (/ts/)
Zh zh (/tʂ/)
Ch ch (/tʂʰ/)
Sh sh (/ʂ/)
Ng ng (/ŋ/)
Gh gh (/q/)
Kh kh (/qʰ/)

 The letter V is not used. Long vowels are written with double vowel letters.

Numerals

Mongolian numerals such as the following are only in use in the Mongghul dialect, while Mangghuer speakers have switched to counting in Chinese. Note that while the Mongolian script has only arban for 'ten', Middle Mongolian *harpa/n including *h can be reconstructed from the scripts.

Notes

References

Dpal-ldan-bkra-shis, Keith Slater, et al. (1996): Language Materials of China’s Monguor Minority: Huzhu Mongghul and Minhe Mangghuer. Sino-Platonic papers no. 69.
Georg, Stefan (2003): Mongghul. In: Janhunen, Juha (ed.) (2003): The Mongolic languages. London: Routledge: 286-306.
Slater, Keith W. (2003): A grammar of Mangghuer: A Mongolic language of China's Qinghai-Gansu sprachbund. London/New York: RoutledgeCurzon.
Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Anna Tsendina, Anastasia Karlsson, Vivan Franzén (2005): The Phonology of Mongolian. New York: Oxford University Press.
Zhàonàsītú 照那斯图 (1981): Tǔzúyǔ jiǎnzhì 土族语简志 (Introduction to the Tu language). Běijīng 北京: Mínzú chūbǎnshè 民族出版社.
Mostaert, A.; de Shmedt, A. (1930). "Le Dialecte Monguor parlé par les Mongols du Kansu Occidental. Iére Partie: Phonétique. (Suite)". Anthropos. 25 (3/4): 657–669. JSTOR 40445863.
Mostaert, A.; de Smedt, A. (1929). "Le Dialecte Monguor parlé par les Mongols du Kansu Occidental. Iére Partie: Phonétique. (Suite)". Anthropos. 24 (5/6): 801–815. JSTOR 40445976.
Gaspardone, Emile (1933). "A. Mostaert et A. de Smedt : Le dialecte monguor parlé par les Mongols du Kansu occidental, 1ère à 3ème parties". Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient. 33 (1): 1014.

External links

[The Tu ethnic minority http://www.china.org.cn/e-groups/shaoshu/shao-2-tu.htm]
ELAR archive of Mongghul language documentation materials