Shixing language

This article is about a Qiangic language. For the Spanish footballer nicknamed "Xumi", see Jordi Xumetra.

Shixing, also rendered Shuhi, is a Qiangic language of Sichuan, China. Two-thirds of its speakers are monolingual.

Shixing
Shuhi
Native to	China
Native speakers	(1,800 cited 2000)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Loloish or Qiangic (?) Naic Shixing
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sxg
Glottolog	shix1238
ELP	Shixing

Shixing is also known by its Tibetan name Xumi (旭米 Xùmǐ); it is spoken by about 1800 people living by the Shuiluo River 水洛 in Shuiluo Township 水洛乡, Mili Tibetan Autonomous County.^[2]

Katia Chirkova reports two varieties.^[3]

• Upper Xumi (autonym: ʂuhĩ)
• Lower Xumi (autonym: ʃʉhẽ)

Phonology

Consonants

Xumi features a very unusual phonemic contrast between voiceless /ʎ̥/ and voiced /ʎ/ alveolo-palatal lateral approximants and voiceless and voiced glottal fricatives.^[4][5]

Consonant phonemes^[6][7]

		Labial	Alveolar		Postalveolar			Velar	Uvular	Glottal
			plain	sibilant	Palato- alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo- palatal
Nasal	voiceless	m̥	n̥				ɲ̊2	ŋ̊2
	voiced	m	n				ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	tsʰ	tʃʰ2	ʈʂʰ	tɕʰ	kʰ	qʰ
	plain	p	t	ts	tʃ2	ʈʂ	tɕ	k	q
	voiced	b	d	dz	dʒ2	ɖʐ	dʑ	ɡ	ɢ2
Fricative	voiceless			s	ʃ2	ʂ1	ɕ	x	χ1	h
	voiced			z	ʒ2	ʐ1	ʑ2	ɣ2	ʁ	ɦ
Lateral	voiceless		l̥				ʎ̥
	voiced		l				ʎ
Approximant			ɹ				j	w

1. Only in Upper Xumi
2. Only in Lower Xumi

Vowels

Oral monophthongs of Lower Xumi, from Chirkova & Chen (2013:369)

Oral

• The close and close-mid series are the same in both varieties: /i, ʉ, u, e, o/. The difference lies in the open-mid and open series; in Upper Xumi, these are /ɛ, ɐ, ɔ, a/, whereas in Lower Xumi, they are /ɛ, ɐ, ɑ/.^[8][9]
  • At least in Lower Xumi /ʉ/, is phonetically close-mid [ɵ].^[10]
  • /ɐ/ is closer in Upper Xumi [ɜ]; in addition, the open central vowel /a/ is phonetically near-open [ɐ]. For this reason, they may be transcribed with ⟨ɜ⟩ and ⟨ɐ⟩, respectively.^[11]
  • The Lower Xumi /o/ and /ɑ/ generally correspond to Upper Xumi /u/ and /ɔ/, respectively. /ɑ/ is near-open near-back [ɑ̽] and thus similar to the Upper Xumi /a/, but more back.^[10][11]

Nasal

• Upper Xumi has the following nasal vowels: /ĩ, ũ, ɛ̃, ɔ̃, ɐ̃/, as well as the marginal /ɘ̃/, which occurs only in the word [^LPmɘ̃da]^{[clarification needed]} 'on the roof / upstairs'.^[8]
• Lower Xumi has the following nasal vowels: /ĩ, õ, ɛ̃, ɐ̃, ɑ̃/, as well as the marginal /ə̃/, which occurs only in the word [^LPmə̃dɐ ᴿʁo]^{[clarification needed]} 'on the roof / upstairs'.^[9] /ẽ, õ, ɐ̃, ɑ̃/ generally correspond to Upper Xumi /ĩ, ũ, ɛ̃, ɔ̃/, respectively.^[11]