The U language, or P'uman (Chinese:濮满), is spoken by 40,000 people in the Yunnan Province of China and possibly Myanmar. It is classified as an Austroasiatic language in the Palaungic branch. In China, U speakers are classified as ethnic Bulang.

Locations

U is spoken in Shuangjiang County of Yunnan and other nearby counties.

  • Wang & Chen (1981) covers the dialect of Pengpan 碰拚, Dafengshan Township 大凤山乡, Shuangjiang County.
  • Zhou & Yan (1983) covers the dialect of Pangpin 胖品, Yongge Township 永革乡, Shuangjiang County.
  • Yan & Zhou (2012) cover U of Gantang 甘塘, Yongde County as well as U of Pangpin 胖品.
  • Svantesson (1991:67) documents the U dialect of Pã Xɛp (Bangxie, 邦协), Shahe Township 沙河乡, Shuangjiang County.

There are two main dialects of U in Shuangjiang County: one spoken in Gongnong (公弄, now part of Mengku Town, 勐库镇) and one spoken in Bangbing (邦丙) and Dawen Mangga (大文乡忙嘎); the Dawen dialect is reportedly mutually intelligible with that of Shidian County (Shuangjiang County Ethnic Gazetteer 1995:160).

Avala (autonym: a21 va21 la21) is spoken in Bangliu (邦六), Manghuai Township (芒怀乡), Yun County (云县), Yunnan, China.

Phonology

U has four tones, high, low, rising, falling, which developed from vowel length and the nature of final consonants.

Consonants
LabialDentalPalatalVelarUvularLaryngeal
Plosiveplainptckqʔ
aspiratedpʰtʰcʰkʰqʰ
Affricateplaints
aspiratedtsʰ
Fricativevoicelessfsχh
voicedvʕ
Nasalmnɲŋ
Laterall
Approximantwj
  • /ʕ/ only occurs in coda position. It may be heard as, first, similar to [ʕ] in Cairo Arabic. Eg. [suʕ˥] "hair". In the second case, it is pronounced as an [ɑ]-like offglide accompanied by a [h]-like sound. Eg. [suɑ̯h˥] "ibid".
Vowels
FrontCentralBack
Highiɨu
Mideəo
Lowɛaɔ

Further reading

  • Simao Xingshu Minzu Shiwu Weiyuanhui Bian 思茂行署民族事务委员会编 (1991). Bùlǎngzú yánjiū 布朗族研究 [A Study of the Bulang People] (in Chinese). Kunming: Yunnan renmin chubanshe. ISBN7-222-00803-9.
  • Svantesson, Jan-Olof (1988). (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 11 (1): 64–133. (PDF) from the original on 2014-02-23.
  • Tao, Chengmei 陶成美 (2016). "Bùlǎngyǔ Lāwǎhuà de zhǐchēng dàicí i55" 布朗语拉瓦话的指称代词i55. Minzu Fanyi 民族翻译. doi:.
  • Tao, Chengmei 陶成美 (2016). Bùlǎngyǔ duōxiàng dìngyǔ jí qí yǔxù yánjiū 布朗语多项定语及其语序研究 (M.A. thesis) (in Chinese). Zhongyang Minzu Daxue.
  • Tao, Yuming 陶玉明 (2012). Zhōngguó Bùlǎngzú 中国布朗族 [The Bulang People of China] (in Chinese). Yinchuan: Ningxia renmin chubanshe.
  • Wang, Xingzhong 王兴中; Zhao, Weihua 赵卫华 (2013). Líncāng dìlǐ yǔ shuāngyǔ shǐyòng 临沧地理与双语使用 [Geography and Multilingualism in Lincang] (in Chinese). Kunming: Yunnan renmin chubanshe. ISBN978-7-222-08581-7.
  • Yan, Qixiang 颜其香; Zhou, Zhizhi 周植志 (2012). Zhōngguó Mèng-Gāomián yǔzú yǔyán yǔ Nányǎ yǔxì 中国孟高棉语族语言与南亚语系 [Mon-Khmer Languages of China and the Austroasiatic Family] (in Chinese). Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe.

Gazetteers and other Chinese government sources with lexical data

  • Nanjian County Gazetteer Commission [南涧县志编纂委员会编] (ed). 1993. Nanjian County Gazetteer [南涧彝族自治县志]. Chengdu: Sichuan Reference Press [四川辞书出版社].
  • Na Ruzhen [納汝珍], et al. (eds). 1994. Zhenkang County Ethnic Gazetteer [镇康县民族志]. Kunming: Yunnan People's Press [云南民族出版社].
  • Simao Prefecture Ethnic Minority Affairs Bureau [思茅行暑民族事务委员会] (ed). 1990. A study of the Bulang people [布朗族研究]. m.s.
  • Xiao Dehua [萧德虎], et al. (eds). 1992. Zhenkang County Gazetteer [镇康县志]. 1992. Chengdu: Sichuan People's Press [四川民族出版社].
  • Yunnan Gazetteer Commission [云南省地方志编纂委员会] (ed). 1998. Yunnan Provincial Gazetteer, Vol. 59: Minority Languages Orthographies Gazetteer [云南省志. 卷五十九, 少数民族语言文字志]. Kunming: Yunnan People's Press [云南人民出版社].

External links

  • RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
  • http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-67B4-3@view U in RWAAI Digital Archive