Tai Hongjin language

Tai Hongjin (Chinese: 红金傣语) is a Tai language of southern China. Dialects may not be mutually intelligible.

Tai Hongjin
Native toChina
Native speakers
85,000 (2000 census)[1]
Kra–Dai
Language codes
ISO 639-3tiz
Glottologtaih1246

Speakers of Tai Hongjin live in the Red River (红河 or 元江) and Jinsha River (金沙江) watershed regions of south-central Yunnan. Most are Buddhists, but few are Theravada.

Dialects

Tai Hongjin can be split into five dialects, which are often mutually unintelligible (Zhou 2001:14).

The total number of Tai Hongjin speakers combined is 136,000 (Zhou 2001:14). A related but separate Tai language called Dǎi Jīnpíng (金平傣语) is spoken in Jinping County 金平县, Honghe Prefecture 红河州, which Zhou (2001) reports as having 15,400 speakers.[2] This language has its own traditional script as well (see Zhou 2001:379).

Heipu

Heipu 黑蒲 (autonym: Kalang 卡郎 kʰa˧lun˨˩; also called Baiyi 摆彝 by the Han Chinese) is a variety of Tai Ya 傣雅 spoken by 118 people in the 2 villages[3] of Shitouzhai 石头寨[4] and Xiaomiao 小庙[5] in Panlong Township 盘龙乡, District 5 五区, Xinping County, Yunnan (You 2013:268).[6] Heipu 黑蒲 is a Han Chinese exonym referring to their practice of teeth blackening. In Xinping County, the Heipu also refer to themselves as the Tai Kha 傣卡 (You 2013:336).[6] It is mutually intelligible with Tai Ya as spoken in District 4 四区 of Xinping County. However, Heipu is unique in that it has only 4 tones, and has lost the final stops -p, -t, -k. Heipu is not to be confused with 2 other groups of the same name:

  • Heipu 黑蒲, an ethnic Zhuang group in Lijiang County, Yunnan with a population of 675 (You 2013:55).[6]
  • Heipu 黑蒲, an ethnic Bulang group in Mojiang County, Yunnan with the autonym Wa 娃 (You 2013:335-336).

References
  1. Tai Hongjin at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. The Dai Jinping data point studied in Zhou (2001) is that of Xinmeng village 新勐村, Mengla township 勐拉乡, Jinping County 金平县.
  3. 云南民族识别参考资料 (1955), p.69
  4. http://www.ynszxc.gov.cn/villagePage/vIndex.aspx?departmentid=250526
  5. http://www.ynszxc.gov.cn/villagePage/vIndex.aspx?departmentid=250527
  6. You Weiqiong [尤伟琼]. 2013. Classifying ethnic groups of Yunnan [云南民族识别研究]. Beijing: Ethnic Publishing House [民族出版社].

Further reading
  • Xing Gongwan [邢公畹]. 1989. Upper Hongjin Dai Ya Language [红河上游傣雅语]. Language Publishing House [语文出版社].
  • Zhou Yaowen [周耀文]. 2001. A Study of Dai Dialects [傣语方言研究]. Ethnic Publishing House [民族出版社].
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