Social:E language

From HandWiki
Short description: Sino-Tibetan mixed language from Tai and Chinese
For the computer programming language, see E (programming language). For the grammar theory, see E-language.
E
Wuse
Kjang E
RegionGuangxi, China
Native speakers
5,000 (2016)[1]
mixed Tai–Pinghua
Language codes
ISO 639-3eee
Glottologeeee1240[2]
Guangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg
Guangxi, of which E is spoken in a small area
Lang Status 80-VU.svg
Wuse is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

E (IPA: [ɛ55]) or Wuse/Wusehua (simplified Chinese: 五色话; traditional Chinese: 五色話; pinyin: Wǔsèhuà; literally: '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 between seven tones—and contains a few rare phonemes: voiceless versions of the more common nasal consonants and alveolar lateral approximant.

Etymology

The E language's unusual pinyin-transliterated name, which is also an autonym, consists of a single letter e.[3] The character, which is written "诶" in Simplified Chinese and "誒" in Traditional Chinese, usually denotes an expression of affirmation.[4] The language's speakers also refer to their language as Kjang E [kiaŋ55 ɛ55].[3] Wusehua is a derogatory name for E.[5]

Geographical distribution

Zhuang people in Guilin

In 1992, E was spoken by about 30,000 people,[6][3] but by 2008 this number had dwindled to 9,000.[7] Gao (2016) reported that there were 5,000 speakers of E.[1] Most E speakers are classified as Zhuang by the Chinese government. E speakers live in Rongshui Miao Autonomous County and border areas of Luocheng Mulao Autonomous County in Guangxi. In Rongshui County, the three main villages inhabited by E speakers are Xiatan 下覃村, Simo 四莫村, and Xinglong 兴隆村 in Yongle Township 永乐乡.[1] E speakers' most commonly spoken other languages are the Liujia dialect (六甲话) of Yue Chinese and the Guiliu variant of Southwestern Mandarin.[1]

Phonology

E's consonant and vowel inventories are mostly similar to those of its parent languages. However, it contains a few unusual consonants: the voiceless nasal consonants [n̥], [ŋ̥], [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.[7]

E consonants
Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Palatal Velar Glottal
plain sibilant plain labialized
Nasal voiced m n ŋ
voiceless m̥ n̥ ŋ̥
Plosive unaspirated p t t͡s k kʷ
aspirated pʰ tʰ t͡sʰ kʰ
Fricative f s ɕ h
Approximant voiced l j w
voiceless l̥
E vowels
Front Central Back
Close i y u
Mid e ə o
Open ɛ a

Like most Southeast Asian languages, including Tai and the varieties of Chinese, E is tonal.[8] 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.[7]

Tone contours
Number Contour Tone letter
1. 42 ˦˨
2. 231 ˨˧˩
3. 44 ˦
4. 35 ˧˥
5. 24 ˨˦
6. 55 ˥
7. short 24 ˨˦
long 22 ˨

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.[5] Some non-Chinese scholars, however, consider it a Tai-Kadai language with Chinese influence.[9] Whatever its classification, the grammar resembles that of the Tai branch of Tai-Kadai. E's grammatical features appear to be a mix of Northern Zhuang, Mulam, and Kam.[1][8] The Caolan language of Vietnam also displays many similarities with E.[8]

The vocabulary, however, is mostly Chinese, based on Guiliu and the Tuguai variant of Pinghua.[1][8] Out of the 2,000 most commonly used E words, only about 200 are of Tai-Kadai origin.[10] 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 pronominal agreement.[7]

In its pronouns, E distinguishes for person between first, second, and third; in number between singular and plural; and, in the case of the first-person plural, between inclusive and exclusive we. E does not, however, make distinctions for grammatical gender.[7]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Gao, Huan 高欢. 2016. Guangxi Ronghsui Aihua yanjiu 广西融水诶话研究. Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Academy Press 中国社会科学出版社.
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds (2017). "E". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/eeee1240. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Edmondson 1992, p. 138.
  4. ↑ Unihan Database 1991.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Encyclopedia of Linguistics 2003, p. 207.
  6. ↑ E language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Greenhill, Blust & Gray 2008.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Edmondson 1992, pp. 135–144.
  9. ↑ Moseley 2012, p. 72.
  10. ↑ Sun, Hu & Huang 2007, pp. 2596–2620.

References



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