Maonan language

The Maonan language (Chinese: 毛南语; pinyin: Máonán yǔ) is a Kam–Sui language spoken mainly in China by the Maonan people, specifically in northern Guangxi and southern Guizhou.^{[1]: 33 [3]} Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County, Hechi, northern Guangxi, holds a concentrated number of speakers.^[1]

Maonan
Native to	China
Region	Northern Guangxi, Southern Guizhou[1]: 33
Ethnicity	107,000 (2000)[2]
Native speakers	30,000 (2005)[2]
Language family	Kra–Dai Kam–Sui Maonan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mmd
Glottolog	maon1241
ELP	Maonan
Maonan is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Demographics

Approximately half of all Maonan people are capable of speaking Maonan. In addition to this, many Maonan also speak Chinese or a Zhuang language. About 1/3 of all people who self-identify as Maonan are concentrated in the southern Guizhou province. They speak a mutually unintelligible dialect commonly called Yanghuang, which is more commonly known as the Then language in Western literature. The Maonan do not have a writing system.

Other than Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County in Guangxi, Maonan is also spoken in the following locations.^[3]

• Nandan County, Guangxi
• Du'an Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi
• Yizhou, Guangxi
• Libo County, Guizhou
• Pingtang County, Guizhou

Phonology

Maonan is a tonal language with 8 tones (Lu 2008:90–91),^[1] featuring an SVO clause construction (Lu 2008:169).^[1] (See Proto-Tai language#Tones for an explanation of the tone numbers.) For example:

ex:

man²

3SG

na⁴

eat

kʰaːu³

wine

man2 na4 kʰaːu3

3SG eat wine

"S/He drinks wine."

ex:

man²

3SG

paːi¹

go

hɯ¹

market

man2 paːi1 hɯ1

3SG go market

"S/He goes to the market."

Syntax

Maonan displays a head-first modification structure, i.e. the modifier occurring after the word being modified (Lu 2008:170).^[1] For example:

ex:

kʰaːu³

wine

ɦu⁴ljaːŋ⁴

broomcorn

kʰaːu3 ɦu4ljaːŋ4

wine broomcorn

"broomcorn wine"

ex:

mu⁵

pig

laːu⁴

big

mu5 laːu4

pig big

"big pig"

ex:

nok⁷

bird

vin¹

fly

nok7 vin1

bird fly

"flying bird"

Occasionally, a head-final modification structure is also possible with the involvement of a possessive particle (P.P.) ti⁵. For example:

ex:

jaːn¹

house/family

ndaːu¹

1PL

ti⁵

POSS.PTCL

bo⁴

buffalo

jaːn1 ndaːu1 ti5 bo4

house/family 1PL POSS.PTCL buffalo

"Our family's buffalo"

(cf. the more common bo⁴ jaːn¹ ndaːu¹) (Lu 2008:173-174).^[1]

Writing system

The Maonan writing system was established in 2010. It is based on 26 Latin letters to facilitate standard keyboard input.^[4] The letters z, j, x, s, h are attached to the end of each syllable as tonal markers, representing tones 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 respectively. The first tone is not written. Syllables ending in -b, -d, -g, -p, -t, -k do not distinguish tone either. The writing system is being used among a limited number of Maonan intellectuals.^[5] For example:

ex:

Writing:

IPA:

Gloss:

Hez

ɦe²

1SG

suen

suːn¹

teach

ngz

ŋ²

2SG

nhieij

ˀnjai³

buy

hux

ɦu⁴

rice

gangs

kaːŋ⁵

stitch

deih

dai⁶

bag

tuet

tuːt⁷'

take off

mad

maːt⁸'

sock

Writing: Hez suen ngz nhieij hux gangs deih tuet mad

IPA: ɦe² suːn¹ ŋ² ˀnjai³ ɦu⁴ kaːŋ⁵ dai⁶ tuːt⁷' maːt⁸'

Gloss: 1SG teach 2SG buy rice stitch bag {take off} sock

Meaning: "I teach you (how) to buy rice, stitch bags and take off (your) socks."

See also

• Maonan people

Further reading

• Zhang, Jingni 张景霓 (2017). Huanjiang Maonanzu yuyan shiyong xianzhuang ji qi yanbian 环江毛南族语言使用现状及其演变. Beijing: Science Press 科学出版社. OCLC 1050506673.