Bai (Tibetan Burman language)

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Bai (Bairt‧ngvr‧zix)

Spoken in

People's Republic of China
speaker 1,250,000
Linguistic
classification
  • Sino-Tibetan languages
    Tibeto-Burmese languages
    Bai

Bai (own name: Bairt‧ngvr‧zix ) is the mother tongue of around 1.25 million Bai , an ethnic group in the south of the People's Republic of China . Most researchers today consider Bai as a single language to the Tibetan-Burman branch of the Sino- Tibetan languages , but an assignment to the Sino- Tibetan language is still being discussed. A final classification within Sino-Tibetan has not yet been achieved, as 60 to 70 percent of its vocabulary has been borrowed from Chinese or inherited from a common ancestor language.

SIL International distinguishes three Bai dialects as separate languages ​​with the codes bca (central dialect, 800,000 speakers), bfc (northern dialect, 40,000 speakers) and bfs (southern dialect, 400,000 speakers).

Phonology and Spelling

Bai has a relatively simple syllable structure and is a tonal language.

In the 1950s, a font ( Bairt‧ngvrt‧zix‧horx ) based on the Latin alphabet was created for the Bai . In 1993, at a symposium on Bai language and spelling, a new orthography was proposed, which differs from the original spelling mainly in the way the tones are reproduced.

Initial sounds

IPA Bai IPA Bai IPA Bai IPA Bai IPA Bai
p b pʰ p m m f f v v
t d tʰ t n n l l
k G kʰ k ŋ ng x H ɣ hh
tɕ j tɕʰ q ɳ ni ɕ x j y
ts z tsʰ c s s z ss
tʂ zh tʂʰ ch ʂ sh ʐ r

The initials [tʂ-], [tʂʰ-], [ʂ-] and [ʐ-] only occur in foreign words from Chinese, [ɳ-] only in Bai dialects, not in the standard language.

Finals

IPA Bai IPA Bai IPA Bai IPA Bai IPA Bai IPA Bai IPA Bai
z̩ i
i i ĩ in ui uĩ uin
e egg ẽ a
ɛ ai ɛ̃ ain iɛ iai uɛ uai iɛ̃ iain uɛ̃ uain
ɑ a ɑ̃ on iɑ ia uɑ among others ɑu ao iɑ̃ ian uɑ̃ uan
O O O on ok ok uo uo ou ou iõ ion
u u
æ e ɯ̃ en iɯ ie iɯ̃ ien
v̩ v ṽ̩ vn iṽ̩ ivn
y ui

There are rules for the spelling of syllables analogous to the Pinyin spelling: For syllables without an initial sound, [i] and [u] yi and wu are written; for finals that begin with i- or [u-], i and u are replaced by y and w, respectively. The final [-z̩] occurs only after [ts-], [tsʰ-] and [s-] and is written -i. The pronunciation of ui is always clear: after [tɕ-], [tɕʰ-] and [ɕ-] ui [-y] is read, otherwise [-ui].

Sounds

The eight tones of the Bai are reproduced with letters that follow each syllable. According to the spelling of 1984, the low falling tone (21) remains unmarked, according to the 1993 medium-high tense tone (44ˀ).

in digits Bai
(1984)		 Bai
(1993)		 Example in Bai
(1984/1993)		 Example in IPA meaning
33 -x -x Max [mɑ33] full, full
55 -l -l times [mɑ55] she (2. P. Pl.)
31 (beh.) -t -t mat [mɑ31ʱ] carry on the back
35 -f -f maf [mɑ35] not yet
in digits Bai
(1984)		 Bai
(1993)		 Example in Bai
(1984/1993)		 Example in IPA meaning
44 (sp.) -rx - marx / ma [mɑ44ˀ] Rice straw
55 (sp.) -rl -b marl / mab [mɑ55ˀ] rant
42 -rt -p mart / map [mɑ42ˀ] hemp
21st - -d ma / mad [mɑ21] pluck out

The words marl and mart are loan words from Chinese ( mà骂 "scold" and má麻 "hemp"). In the Dali dialect, in addition to the tone 42ˀ, there is also a tone 32, which is reproduced with the consonant -z. Words with this tone are written with -p in the Jianchuan dialect, since the two tones are not differentiated there.

See also

literature

  • Grace Wiersma: Yunnan Bai. In: Graham Thurgood and Randy J. LaPolla (Eds.): Sino-Tibetan Languages.
    Routledge, London - New York 2003.
  • Zhào Yǎnsūn 赵 衍 荪, Xú Lín 徐琳: Bairt‧Hanrt‧ngvrt Cirt‧diaint / Bái-Hàn cídiǎn白 汉 词典
    ( Bai-Chinese dictionary ; Chéngdū 成都, Sìchuān mínzú chūbǎnshè 四川 民族 出版社 1996). ISBN 7-5409-1745-8 .

Web links