Youjiang Zhuang, named after the
Youjiang River
The You River (), also known as the ''Youjiang River'', is a river of Guangxi, China. It rises in eastern Yunnan and joins the Zuo River ("Left River") near Nanning to form the Yong River. These rivers form part of the Pearl River system, which f ...
in
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
,
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 ...
, is a
Northern Tai or
Zhuang Language
The Zhuang languages (; autonym: , pre-1982: , Sawndip: 話僮, from ''vah'', 'language' and ''Cuengh'', 'Zhuang'; ) are any of more than a dozen Tai languages spoken by the Zhuang people of Southern China in the province of Guangxi and adjac ...
spoken in
Tiandong County,
Tianyang District, and parts of the
Youjiang District
Youjiang District (; Zhuang: ) is the municipal district of Baise, Guangxi, China, named after the Youjiang River which runs through the middle of the district.
Administration
From June 21, 2005, for administration Youjiang District is divided in ...
in
Baise,
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
.
History and classification
Native speakers refer to the language as , which means "local language".
André-Georges Haudricourt in 1956 included the language of Tianzhou, the county seat of Tianyang, under Dioi, his name for Northern Zhuang.
Based on data from the 1950s Guangxi Zhuang language survey, Tiandong, Tianyang and a suburb of Baise City were grouped together. This grouping was sometimes called ''Tianyangese'' (). In the 1999 ''A Study of Zhuang Dialects'' this group was referred to as the Youjiang language (), and in 2007 Youjiang Zhuang was added as a separate language to ''Ethnologue''.
Phonology
Youjiang Zhuang has 10 tones, and can be considered as having 20 initials and 83 finals, though some speakers pronounce the initials and as and respectively.
Writing System
Youjiang Zhuang has two main writing systems,
characters and romanization.
References
Tai languages
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