E language
| E | |
|---|---|
| Region | Guangxi, China |
Native speakers | 9,000 (2008)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | eee |
| Glottolog | eeee1240 |
.svg) Guangxi, of which E is spoken in a small area | |
E (simplified Chinese: 诶话; traditional Chinese: 誒話; pinyin: Ē Huà) or Wuse/Wusehua (simplified Chinese: 五色话; traditional Chinese: 五色話; pinyin: Wŭsè Huà; lit. 'Colored Language') is a Tai–Chinese mixed language spoken primarily in Rongshui Miao Autonomous County, Guangxi, China. It contains features of both Tai and Chinese varieties, generally adopting Chinese vocabulary into Tai grammar. E is a tonal language—distinguishing for seven tones—and contains a few rare phonemes: voiceless versions of the more common alveolar nasal, bilabial nasal, and alveolar lateral approximant.
Etymology
The E language's unusual pinyin-transliterated name, which is also an autonym, consists of a single letter e.[2] The character, which is written "诶" in Simplified Chinese and "誒" in Traditional Chinese, denotes an expression of affirmation.[3] The language's speakers also refer to their language as Kjang E.[2] Wusehua is a derogatory name for E.[4]
Geographical distribution
In 1992, E was spoken by about 30,000 people,[2] but by 2008 this number had dwindled to 9,000.[5] Most E speakers are classified as Zhuang by the Chinese government. E speakers live primarily in the Guangxi autonomous region of China, specifically in the Rongshui Miao county and border areas of Luocheng Mulao. Villages inhabited by E speakers include Xiatan, Simo, Xinglong, and the Yonglei district. Ethnologue classifies E as rank 6b (Threatened). E speakers' most commonly spoken other languages are Yue Chinese and the Guiliu variant of Southwestern Mandarin.[1]
Phonology
Like most Southeast Asian languages, including Tai and Chinese varieties, E is tonal.[6] The language is described as having seven tones, with the seventh varying allophonically with the length of the vowel it is attached to. With numbers ranging from 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest tone and 5 the highest, the contours of the various tones in E are as follows.[5]
| Number | Contour | Tone letter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 42 | ˦˨ | |
| 2. | 231 | ˨˧˩ | |
| 3. | 44 | ˦ | |
| 4. | 35 | ˧˥ | |
| 5. | 24 | ˨˦ | |
| 6. | 55 | ˥ | |
| 7. | Short | 24 | ˨˦ |
| Long | 22 | ˨ | |
E's consonant and vowel inventories are mostly similar to those of its parent languages. However, it contains a few unusual consonants: the voiceless alveolar nasals /n̥/ and /ŋ̥/, the voiceless bilabial nasal /m̥/, and the voiceless alveolar lateral approximant /l̥/. All are voiceless versions of consonants that in most languages are always voiced. E allows syllabic consonants and diphthongs.[5]
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Grammar and lexicon
E is usually classified as a mixed language deriving ultimately from the Tai-Kadai and Sino-Tibetan families, which both inhabit southern China and Southeast Asia.[4] Some non-Chinese scholars, however, consider it a Tai-Kadai language with Chinese influence.[7] Whatever its classification, the grammar resembles that of the Tai branch of Tai-Kadai. Specifically, scholars consider E's grammatical features a blend of Northern Zhuang, Mulam, and Kam.[1][6] The Caolan language of Vietnam displays many similarities with E.[6]
The vocabulary, however, is mostly Chinese, based on Guiliu and the Tuguai variant of Pinghua.[1][6] Out of the 2,000 most commonly used E words, only about 200 are of Tai-Kadai origin.[8] E also inherits elements of these Chinese dialects' phonology and compound word formation.[1] E morphology is primarily analytic, with concepts such as negation expressed with auxiliary words (pat6, m2) and no pronomial agreement.[5]
In its pronouns, E distinguishes for person between first, second, and third; in number between singular and plural; and, in the case of the second-person plural, between inclusive and exclusive we. E does not, however, distinguish for grammatical gender.[5]
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Notes
- ^ a b c d e E at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ a b c Edmondson 1992, p. 138
- ^ "Unihan data for U+8A92". Unicode.org. Retrieved November 23, 2014.
- ^ a b International Encyclopedia of Linguistics: AAVE–Esperanto. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. p. 207. ISBN 978-0-195-16783-2.
- ^ a b c d e Hsiu, Andrew C. "Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database – Language: Wusehua (Rongshui)". University of Auckland. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
- ^ a b c d Edmondson 1992, pp. 135–144
- ^ Moseley, Christopher (2012). Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. UNESCO Publishing. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-956-60524-5.
- ^ Meizhin, Luo (2007). 中国的语言 (in Mandarin Chinese). Commercial Press. pp. 2596–2620.
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References
- Edmondson, Jerold A. (1992). The language game: papers in memory of Donald C. Laycock. Canberra: Australian National University.