Zhuang languages

The Zhuang language (autonym: Cuengh or Cueŋь; Chinese: 壮语; pinyin: Zhuàngyǔ) is used by the Zhuang people in the People's Republic of China. Most of them live in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Zhuang, which belongs to the Tai language group, is an official language in that region.

Standardized Zhuang is based on the dialect of Wuming County (武鸣县). Buyei, considered a separate language in China, is actually just a slightly different standard form of Zhuang, used across the province border in Guizhou. There is a dialect continuum between Zhuang and Buyei.

Zhuang is a tonal language. It has six tones in open syllables:

Number	Contour	Description
1	24	rising
2	31	low falling
3	55	high level
4	42	falling
5	35	high rising
6	33	mid level

It has two (high and low) in closed syllables.

Writing systems

Zhuang had been written with logographs called sawndip that were borrowed from Han characters adopted to this language, and original characters made out by using the similar manner of construction, for more than a thousand years, similar to Vietnamese Chữ nôm. In 1957, in the People's Republic of China, a Latin alphabet with some special letters was introduced to write the new standardised Zhuang language. A spelling reform in 1986 replaced these special letters with regular letters of the Latin alphabet to facilitate printing and the use of computers.

The tables below compare spelling before and after the 1986 reform.

Consonants 1957 1986 1957 1986 1957 1986 1957 1986 1957 1986 B b B b Ƃ ƃ Mb mb M m M m F f F f V V D d D d Ƌ ƌ Nd nd N n N n S s S s L l L l G g G g Gv gv Gv gv Ŋ ŋ Ng ng H h H h R r R r C c C c Y y Y y Nv ny Ny ny Ŋv ŋv Ngv ngv By by By by Gy gy Gy gy My my My my Vowels 1957 1986 1957 1986 1957 1986 A a A a E e E e Ə ə AE ae I i I i O o O o Ɯ ɯ W w

Tones Tone 1957 1986 1 Not indicated 2 Ƨ ƨ Z z 3 З з J j 4 Ч ч X x 5 Ƽ ƽ Q q 6 Ƅ ƅ H h

File:Zhuang.PNG

A 1980 Chinese 10 Yuan bill bears the 1957 Zhuang text: Cuŋƅgoƨ Yinƨminƨ Yinƨhaŋƨ cib mənƨ.

Bibliography

• Wéi Qìngwěn 韦庆稳, Tán Guóshēng 覃国生: Zhuàngyǔ jiǎnzhì 壮语简志 (Beijing, Mínzú chūbǎnshè 民族出版社 1980).
• Tán Xiǎoháng 覃晓航: Xiàndài Zhuàngyǔ 现代壮语 (Beijing, Mínzú chūbǎnshè 民族出版社 1995).
• Tán Guóshēng 覃国生: Zhuàngyǔ fāngyán gàilùn 壮语方言概论 (Nanning, Guǎngxī mínzú chūbǎnshè 广西民族出版社 1996).
• Liáng Tíngwàng 梁庭望 (ed.): Gǔ Zhuàngzì wénxiàn xuǎnzhù 古壮字文献选注 (Tiānjīn gǔjí chūbǎnshè 天津古籍出版社 1992).
• Zhāng Yuánshēng 张元生: Zhuàngzú rénmín de wénhuà yíchǎn – fāngkuài Zhuàngzì 壮族人民的文化遗产——方块壮字. In: Zhōngguó mínzú gǔ wénzì yánjiū 中国民族古文字研究 (Beijing, Zhōngguó shèhuì kēxué chūbǎnshè 中国社会科学出版社 1984).
• Lín Fāng 林方: Tán lìyòng gǔ Zhuàngzì yánjiū Guǎngxī Yuèyǔ fāngyán 谈利用古壮字研究广西粤语方言. In: Mínzú yǔwén 民族语文 2004.3:16–26.
• Gǔ Zhuàngzì zìdiǎn 古壮字字典 (Nanning, Guǎngxī mínzú chūbǎnshè 广西民族出版社 1989). Dictionary of old Zhuang characters; contains 4,900 characters and more than 10,000 variants.
• Zhuàng-Hàn cíhuì 壮汉词汇 (Nanning, Guǎngxī mínzú chūbǎnshè广西民族出版社 1984).

External links

• Unicode Latin Extended-B code chart specifies the Unicode characters to be used for the Zhuang special letters
• Omniglot - Zhuang language & alphabet

See also

• Zhuang people
• Languages of China