Horpa or Stau (Chinese: 道孚语 ''Daofu'', 爾龔語 ''Ergong'') is one of several closely related
Rgyalrongic languages
The Gyalrongic languages (also known as Rgyalrongic or Jiarongic) constitute a branch of the Qiangic languages of Sino-Tibetan, although some propose that it may be part of a larger Rung languages group, and do not consider it to be particularly ...
of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Horpa is better understood as a cluster of closely related yet unintelligible dialect groups/languages closely related to Horpa Shangzhai or Stodsde skad. The term ''Stodsde skad'' is a
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
name meaning "language of the upper village".
Names
''Ethnologue'' lists alternate names and dialect names for Horpa as Stau, Daofuhua, Bawang, Bopa, Danba, Dawu, Geshitsa, Geshiza, Geshizahua, Hor, Huo’er, Hórsók, Nyagrong-Minyag, Pawang, Rgu, Western Gyarong, Western Jiarong, Xinlong-Muya, and rTa’u.
Classification
Horpa is a type of
Rgyalrongic language, a branch of the
Qiangic languages
Qiangic (''Ch'iang, Kyang, Tsiang'', Chinese: 羌語支, "''Qiang'' language group"; formerly known as Dzorgaic) is a group of related languages within the Sino-Tibetan language family. They are spoken mainly in Southwest China, including Sichuan ...
of
the Sino-Tibetan family. Rgyalrong (proper), Lavrung, and Horpa-Shangzhai are in the Rgyalrongic subgroup. These have been organized into a family tree by Sun (2000).
Horpa and Shangzhai are sub-types of Horpa-Shangzhai, a Rgyalrongic language.
Geographic distribution
Horpa is spoken primarily in western
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
province, China, including in Dasang District,
Danba County
Rongzhag (), also Danba () is a county of the eastern Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan, Sichuan Province, China. The county seat is the town of Zhanggu ().
Climate
References
External links
Populated place ...
of
Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, often shortened to Ganzi Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture in the western arm of Sichuan province, China, bordering Yunnan to the south, the Tibet Autonomous Region to the west, and Gansu to the nor ...
,
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
. There are about 50,000 Horpa speakers in the northwestern Sichuan. It is also spoken in nearby
Dawu County, where it is called 'Stau', pronounced
tawuskeErgong is a non-tonal language (Sun 2013).
Varieties
Varieties of Horpa include Shangzhai Horpa and Gexi Horpa (Sun 2013).
Jackson Sun (2018)
lists the following five varieties of Horpa.
*Central Horpa (Stau-Dgebshes) is widely spoken in Rta’u County (
Daofu County 道孚县) and Rongbrag County (
Danba County
Rongzhag (), also Danba () is a county of the eastern Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan, Sichuan Province, China. The county seat is the town of Zhanggu ().
Climate
References
External links
Populated place ...
丹巴县), Dkarmdzes Prefecture, as well as a few villages in western Chuchen County (
Jinchuan County
Jinchuan County (; ) is a county in the northwest of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. The seat of county is Jinchuan Town (Rabden).
The county spans an area of 5,524 s ...
金川县), Rngaba Prefecture. It consists of 3 dialects.
**Rta’u (Daofu 道孚) (non-tonal)
**Dgebshesrtsa (Geshezha 革什扎) (non-tonal)
**Upper Stongdgu (Shang Donggu 上东谷) (has constrative phonation)
*Northern Horpa (Stodsde) is spoken in southern Dzamthang County (
Rangtang County
Zamthang County or Ndzamthang County (), or Rangtang County () is a county in the northwest of Sichuan Province, China, bordering on the Banma County of Qinghai Province to the north. It is one of 13 counties under the administration of and lies th ...
壤塘县), Rngaba Prefecture. It is the most conservative Horpa variety, and preserves many archaic morphological features. There are 3 mutually intelligible dialects. For this lect, ''Ethnologue'' lists the name sTodsde (Shangzhai 上寨, Western Jiarong). According to ''Ethnologue'', sTodsde is spoken in Shangzhai district, southern
Rangtang County
Zamthang County or Ndzamthang County (), or Rangtang County () is a county in the northwest of Sichuan Province, China, bordering on the Banma County of Qinghai Province to the north. It is one of 13 counties under the administration of and lies th ...
, where it is spoken in the townships of Puxi, Shili, and Zongke townships, and around the Duke and Zhongke rivers' confluence. There are 4,100 speakers as of 2004. Dialects are Dayili (Northern), Zongke (宗科乡; Western), and Puxi (蒲西乡; Eastern). Phonologically, the Northern and Western dialects are similar to each other, while the Eastern dialect is divergent. Additionally, Gates (2010) considers Erkai to be a "Western rGyalrongic" (Horpa-Shangzhai) language. Jackson Sun classifies Erkai as a variety of sTodsde (Shangzhai).
**Phosul (Puxi 蒲西)
**Yunasche (Dayili 大依里)
**Sili-Rtsangkhog (Shili-Zongke 石里-宗科)
*Western Horpa is a tonal language scattered throughout several small areas of central and southern Nyagrong County (
Xinlong County
Xinlong County (; ) is a county in the west of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
Xinlong County is part of historical region of Nyarong.
Jazi (Nyarong Jazi Gon; Jazi Gon Sangngak ...
新龙县), Dkarmdzes Prefecture. Although speakers refer to themselves as Minyag (mə̀ɲá, mə̀ ɲó, etc.), Western Horpa is not the same language as the Minyag or
Muya language
Munya or Muya ( zh, s=木雅; also ''Manyak'' , ''Menia'' 么呢阿) is one of the Qiangic languages spoken in China. There are two dialects, Northern and Southern, which are not mutually intelligible. Most research on Munya has been conducted by ...
. There are 3 dialects that are significantly different from each other. The Nyagrong Minyag (Western Horpa) language has also been documented by Van Way (2018).
**rGyarwagshis (Jialaxi 甲拉西)
**Yangslagshis (Youlaxi 尤拉西)
**Bangsmad (Bomei 博美)
*Northwestern Horpa, an endangered Horpa variety, is spoken in southern Brag’go County (
Luhuo County
Luhuo County (; ) is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, often shortened to Ganzi Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture in the ...
炉霍县) and adjacent areas of Rta’u County (
Daofu County 道孚县). There is heavy Tibetan influence and minor internal diversity. It is non-tonal.
*Eastern Horpa is a divergent Horpa variety spoken in Dpa’bo (Bawang 巴旺) and Nyindkar (Niega 聂嘎) townships, eastern Rongbrag County (
Danba County
Rongzhag (), also Danba () is a county of the eastern Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan, Sichuan Province, China. The county seat is the town of Zhanggu ().
Climate
References
External links
Populated place ...
丹巴县).
Phonology
Consonants
* /q/ is heard as
when following a nasal consonant.
* A glottal stop
is also heard, but only when occurring before word-initial onset-less vowel syllables.
* /v/ can be heard as voiceless
when preceding or following voiceless consonants.
* /x/ can also be heard as glottal
in free variation among speakers.
* The uvular nasal
is only heard when appearing together with uvular consonants /q/, /qʰ/ and
Rhotic consonant
/r/ has four allophones as either retroflex voiceless
or voiced
fricatives, as a trill
or as a result of vowel rhotacization
˞ It is heard as
when preceding or following voiceless consonants or also as a word-final coda. It is heard as
when in free variation in initial position or when preceding or following voiced consonants. The occurrence of it as a trill
is heard word-medially when after a vowel and before a consonant, but is for the most part less predictable in that it overlaps in distribution with
and especially
When words with /r/ are heard in isolation, the sound is heard as
but then it becomes a trill
when in word context or within compounds.
also alternates with
when it is in context word-final position. The rhotacization of vowels
˞occurs on the preceding vowel before /r/ in word-final position, however it can also be heard word-medially when before a lateral approximant /l/. The rhotacization is attested on the vowels /ɛ/, /ə/, /u/ and /ɑ/.
Vowels
* /i/ is also heard as
when in word-final position by a coda consonant.
Vocabulary
The following comparative table of Horpa diagnostic vocabulary items is from Sun (2018:4).
The Central Horpa (Rta’u) data is from Niwan Village, Dgebshes Township, Rta’u County (
Daofu County), Sichuan. The
Rgyalrongic languages
The Gyalrongic languages (also known as Rgyalrongic or Jiarongic) constitute a branch of the Qiangic languages of Sino-Tibetan, although some propose that it may be part of a larger Rung languages group, and do not consider it to be particularly ...
Khroskyabs and
Rgyalrong
Gyalrong or rGyalrong (), also rendered Jiarong (), or sometimes Gyarung, is a subbranch of the Gyalrongic languages spoken by the Gyalrong people in Western Sichuan, China. Lai et al. (2020) refer to this group of languages as East Gyalrongic. ...
are also provided for comparison, since Horpa is one of the
Rgyalrongic languages
The Gyalrongic languages (also known as Rgyalrongic or Jiarongic) constitute a branch of the Qiangic languages of Sino-Tibetan, although some propose that it may be part of a larger Rung languages group, and do not consider it to be particularly ...
.
Cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
s are highlighted in bold.
Jacques et al. (2017)
list the following words as lexical innovations shared by Stau and Khroskyabs (Lavrung), but not by the Core
rGyalrong languages
Gyalrong or rGyalrong (), also rendered Jiarong (), or sometimes Gyarung, is a subbranch of the Gyalrongic languages spoken by the Gyalrong people in Western Sichuan, China. Lai et al. (2020) refer to this group of languages as East Gyalrongic.
...
.
Grammar
Shangzhai Horpa (Puxi Shangzhai) is a dialect of the Horpa language noted by a single consistently non-syllabic causative prefix "s-", which exerts pressure on the already elaborate onset system and triggers multiple phonological adjustments (Sun 2007). Gexi Horpa language not only has split
verbal agreement system like rGyalrong but also has a hybrid system involving a more intricate interplay of functional and syntactic factors (Sun 2013).
The verbs in the rGylarongic family are marked for person and agreement, and Horpa language also has subtype of hierarchical agreement.
Stau is often used as an alternative name for Horpa, but in fact Stau is just one of several Horpa languages (Jacques et al. 2014). The Stau language is primarily spoken in Daofu County of Ganzi Prefecture, but is also spoken in the southeastern corner of Luhuo County and in the village of Dangling of western Danba County. Currently Jesse P. Gates is writing a comprehensive grammar of the Stau language (Gates to appear). Other articles on aspects of Stau grammar include Gates (2017), Gates & Kim (2018), Gates et al. (2019), and Gates et al. (2022).
Stau (Horpa) language follows some traits of the
Tibetan language Tibetan language may refer to:
* Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
* Lhasa Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dialect
* Any of the other Tibetic languages
See also
*Old Tibetan, the language ...
(Bradley 2012). As a Qiangic language, Horpa has unique verb inflection and morphology such as the strategy of inverting the aspiration feature in the formation of the past and progressive stem(s) (Sun 2000).
Examples
Verb agreement
The Horpa verb agrees with its subject. For example, ''zbəcʰa-i''
bəcʰe means ‘you beat’, and ''zbəcʰa-u''
bəcʰo means, 'I beat’.
References
External links
*
Horpa at the Endangered Languages Project.
*
* http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/horp1239
{{Languages of China
Qiangic languages
Languages of China