Bonan | |
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མ་ནི་སྐད་ཅི, Ma ni skad ci[1] | |
Native to | China |
Region | Gansu, Qinghai |
Native speakers | (6,000 cited 1999)[2] |
Tibetan script | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | peh |
Glottolog | bona1250 |
Bonan is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
The Bonan language (pronounced [p⁼aoˈnaŋ], Baonang; Chinese: 保安语, Bǎo'ānyǔ; Amdo Tibetan: Dorké), also known by its endonym Manikacha (Tibetan: མ་ནི་སྐད་ཅི; Wylie: Ma ni skad ci),[4] is the Mongolic language of the Bonan people of China. As of 1985, it was spoken by about 8,000 people, including about 75% of the total Bonan ethnic population and many ethnic Monguor, in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces. There are several dialects, which are influenced to varying degrees – but always heavily – by Chinese and Tibetan, while bilingualism in Wutun is less common. The most commonly studied is the Tongren dialect. Bonan is not typically written by speakers,[5] though there is a folk practice of writing Bonan with the Tibetan syllabary following Amdo pronunciation.[6]