Shixing language

Shixing, also rendered Shuhi, is a poorly-attested Qiangic language of Sichuan and the Tibet Autonomous Region. Two thirds of its speakers are monolingual.

Shixing
Shuhi
Native toChina
Native speakers
1,800 (2000)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3sxg
Glottologshix1238
ELPShixing[2]

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.[3]

Katia Chirkova reports two varieties.[4]

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

Phonology

Consonants

Xumi features a very unusual phonemic contrast between voiceless /ʎ̥/ and voiced /ʎ/ alveolo-palatal lateral approximants.[5][6]

Consonant phonemes[7][8]
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar Velar Uvular Glottal
Palato-
alveolar
Retroflex Alveolo-
palatal
Nasal voiceless ɲ̊ ŋ̊
voiced m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive aspirated
plain p t k q
voiced b d ɡ ɢ
Affricate aspirated tsʰ tʃʰ ʈʂʰ tɕʰ
plain ts ʈʂ
voiced dz ɖʐ
Fricative voiceless s ʃ ʂ ɕ x χ h
voiced z ʒ ʐ ʑ ɣ ʁ ɦ
Lateral voiceless ʎ̥
voiced l ʎ
Approximant ɹ j w

In the table above, gold phonemes only appear in the Upper Xumi dialect while blue phonemes only appear in the Lower Xumi dialect. All others appear in both Upper and Lower Xumi.

Vowels

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

Oral

  • Upper Xumi has the following oral vowels: /i, ʉ, u, e, o, ɛ, ɜ, ɔ, ɐ/.[9]
  • Lower Xumi has the following oral vowels: /i, ʉ, u, e, o, ɛ, ɐ, ɑ/.[10] /o, ɐ, ɑ/ generally correspond to Upper Xumi /u, ɜ, ɔ/, respectively.[11]
    • /ʉ/ is phonetically close-mid [ɵ].[12]

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 mědă [LPmɘ̃dɐ] 'on the roof / upstairs'.[9]
  • Lower Xumi has the following nasal vowels: /ĩ, õ, ɛ̃, ɐ̃, ɑ̃/, as well as the marginal /ə̃/, which occurs only in the word mědă ģo [LPmə̃dɐ Rʁo] 'on the roof / upstairs'.[10] /ẽ, õ, ɐ̃, ɑ̃/ generally correspond to Upper Xumi /ĩ, ũ, ɛ̃, ɔ̃/, respectively.[11]

References

Bibliography

  • Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya (2013), "Xumi, Part 1: Lower Xumi, the Variety of the Lower and Middle Reaches of the Shuiluo River" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (3): 363–379, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000157
  • Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya; Kocjančič Antolík, Tanja (2013), "Xumi, Part 2: Upper Xumi, the Variety of the Upper Reaches of the Shuiluo River" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (3): 381–396, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000169
  • Sun Hongkai [孙宏开]. 2014. A study of Shixing [Shixingyu yanjiu 史兴语研究]. Beijing: Minzu University Press.
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