The Maonan language (Chinese: 毛南语; pinyin: Máonán yǔ) is a Kam–Sui language spoken mainly in China by the Maonan people, specifically in northern Guangxi and southern Guizhou.[1]^: 33[3] Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County, Hechi, northern Guangxi, holds a concentrated number of speakers.[1]

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Maonan
Native to	China
Region	Northern Guangxi, Southern Guizhou[1]: 33
Ethnicity	107,000 (2000)[2]
Native speakers	30,000 (2005)[2]
Language family	Kra–Dai Kam–Sui Maonan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mmd
Glottolog	maon1241
ELP	Maonan
Maonan is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Demographics

Approximately half of all Maonan people are capable of speaking Maonan. In addition to this, many Maonan also speak Chinese or a Zhuang language. About 1/3 of all people who self-identify as Maonan are concentrated in the southern Guizhou province. They speak a mutually unintelligible dialect commonly called Yanghuang, which is more common known as the Then language in Western literature. The Maonan do not have a writing system.

Other than Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County in Guangxi, Maonan is also spoken in the following locations.[3]

• Nandan County, Guangxi
• Du'an Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi
• Yizhou, Guangxi
• Libo County, Guizhou
• Pingtang County, Guizhou

Phonology

Maonan is a tonal language with 8 tones (Lu 2008:90–91),[1] featuring an SVO clause construction (Lu 2008:169).[1] (See Proto-Tai language#Tones for an explanation of the tone numbers.) For example:

Syntax

Maonan displays a head-first modification structure, i.e. the modifier occurring after the modifier (Lu 2008:170).[1] For example:

Occasionally, a head-final modification structure is also possible with the involvement of a possessive particle (P.P.) ti⁵. For example:

(cf. the more common bo⁴ jaːn¹ ndaːu¹) (Lu 2008:173-174).[1]

Writing system

The Maonan writing system was established in 2010. It is based on 26 Latin letters to facilitate standard keyboard input.[4] The letters z, j, x, s, h are attached to the end of each syllable as tonal markers, representing tones 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 respectively. The first tone is not written. Syllables ending in -b, -d, -g, -p, -t, -k do not distinguish tone either. The writing system is being used among a limited number of Maonan intellectuals.[5] For example:

See also

• Maonan people

References

External links

• Maonan.info by Lu Tianqiao

На других языках

[fr] Maonan (langue)