Tujia language

The Tujia language (Northern Tujia): Bifzixsar, /pi35 ʦi55 sa21/; Southern Tujia): Mongrzzirhof, /mõ21 ʣi21 ho35/; simplified Chinese): 土家语; traditional Chinese): 土家語; pinyin): Tǔjiāyǔ is spoken by the Tujia people in Hunan Province, China. It belongs to the larger Sino-Tibetan language family, but its exact place within this family is not fully known because it has been influenced by many nearby languages.

There are two main types of Tujia: Northern and Southern. These two types are very different, and people who speak one usually cannot understand the other. Both types use tones — changes in how high or low a sound is made — to give meaning to words. Northern Tujia uses 21 beginning sounds in words, while Southern Tujia uses 26, including five sounds that are only used when words come from Chinese.

Tujia has special ways to show if an action is done by someone or happens to someone. It also has different words for “I,” “you,” and so on, depending on whether we are talking about just one person or a group, and whether we are showing ownership or not. In 2005, about 70,000 people spoke Northern Tujia, and around 1,500 spoke Southern Tujia, even though the Tujia ethnic group has about 8 million members.

Names

The Tujia people have different names for their language. They call it things like /pi35 tsi55 sa21/. The word "Tujia" means 'native people'. It was a name given to them by the Han Chinese, who are another group of people in the area. The Tujia people call the Han Chinese "Kejia", which means 'guest people'. One writer, Yulou Zhou, calls the Tujia language "Bizic".

Main article: Hakka people

Classification

The Tujia language is part of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Some experts think it might belong to a special group within the Tibeto-Burman languages, but its exact place is not clear. This is because Tujia has borrowed many words from other nearby languages, especially from Chinese. While it has sometimes been grouped with other languages in the past, such as the Nuosu or Qiang languages, most linguists today consider its classification unclear.

Subdivisions

The Tujia language has two main types: Northern and Southern. These two types are quite different, with only about 40% of their words being the same. Most Tujia speakers live in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. The Northern type has the most speakers, while the Southern type is spoken in just three villages in Tanxi Township in Luxi County.

The Northern Tujia type includes areas such as Baojing County, Longshan County, Guzhang County, and Yongshun County. Some smaller groups within Northern Tujia are called Hushi, Xia, and Shasha. The Southern Tujia type is spoken in Tanxi Township in Luxi County.

Different researchers have studied various parts of these areas. For example, some focused on places like Dianfang Township in Longshan County, while others looked at villages such as Xinghuo Village in the same county.

Chen Kang organized Tujia into groups including a Longshan dialect spoken in several towns in Longshan County, Laifeng County, Yongshun County, and Guzhang County, and a Baojing dialect spoken in Baojing County and Longshan County. The Southern type is spoken in several villages in Tanxi Township in Luxi County, each with its own names in the Tujia language.

Yang Zaibiao noted that Tujia is spoken in over 500 villages. He described two Northern Tujia dialects from Dianfang and Xiaolongre, and one Southern Tujia dialect from Qieji. The areas where Northern Tujia is spoken include parts of Longshan County, Yongshun County, Baojing County, Guzhang County, and others. Southern Tujia is mainly in Luxi County, specifically in Tanxi Township, including the village of Qieji.

Phonology

Consonants

The Tujia language has different sounds in its Northern and Southern dialects. Some sounds, like voiced plosives and affricates, and the sound /f/, are only found in the Southern dialect. There are also variations between certain sounds, such as [n] and [l], which can be used interchangeably. Additionally, the sound /x/ can change depending on the vowel that follows it.

Vowels

The Tujia language also has many vowel sounds. Some combinations of vowels are only found in the Southern dialects, while others are only in the Northern dialects.

Orthography

One way to write the Tujia language uses letters from the Hanyu Pinyin system, with extra letters like x, r, v, and f to show different tones. This was tried in some schools but stopped in the mid-1990s when funding ran out.

Philip Brassett, Cecilia Brassett, and Lu Meiyan suggested another way to write Tujia using Pinyin.

Language preservation

Even though not many Tujia people still speak the Tujia language, people who love this language are working hard to keep it alive in Hunan and Hubei. News reports say that two books to teach the Tujia language have been made, and work is still happening on a dictionary. A Tujia language expert named Chu Yongming helps children learn the language at the Baifusi Ethnic Minorities School in Laifeng County, Hubei.