Tangwang language
| Tangwang | |
|---|---|
| Native to | China |
| Region | Gansu |
|
Native speakers
|
unknown (20,000 cited 1995)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | tang1373[2] |
The Tangwang language (Chinese: 唐汪话 Tángwàng huà) is a variety of Mandarin Chinese heavily influenced by the Mongolic Santa language (Dongxiang) . It is spoken in a dozen or so villages in Dongxiang Autonomous County, Gansu Province, China. The linguist Mei W. Lee-Smith calls this creole language the "Tangwang language" (Chinese: 唐汪话), based on the names of the two largest villages (Tangjia and Wangjia, parts of Tangwang town) where it is spoken.[3]
Speakers
According to Lee-Smith (1996), the Tangwang language is spoken by about 20,000 people living in the north-eastern part of the Dongxiang Autonomous County (Tangwang town). These people self-identify as Dongxiang or Hui people. The Tangwang speakers don't speak Dongxiang language.[3]
Description
The Tangwang language uses mostly Mandarin words and morphemes with Dongxiang grammar. Besides Dongxiang loanwords, Tangwang also has a substantial number of Arabic and Persian loanwords.[3]
Like standard Mandarin, Tangwang is a tonal language. However, grammatical particles, which are typically borrowed from Mandarin but used in the way Dongxiang morphemes would be used in Dongxiang, don't carry tones.[3]
For example, while the Mandarin plural suffix -men (们) has only very restricted usage (it can be used with personal pronouns and some nouns related to people), Tangwang uses it, in the form -m, universally, the way Dongxiang would use its plural suffix -la. Mandarin pronoun ni (你) can be used in Tangwang as a possessive suffix (meaning "your"). Unlike Mandarin, but like Dongxiang, Tangwang has grammatical cases as well (but only four of them, instead of eight in Dongxiang).[3]
References
Further reading
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