Mak language

Not to be confused with Mak language (Adamawa).
Mak
ʼai3 ma꞉k8
Native toChina
RegionLibo County, southern Guizhou
Ethnicity10,000 (2000)[1]
Native speakers
5,000 (2007)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3mkg
Glottologmakc1235
ELPMak (China)

The Mak language (Chinese: 莫语; autonym: ʔai3 maːk8)[2] is a Kam–Sui language spoken in Libo County, Qiannan Prefecture, Guizhou, China. It is spoken mainly in the four townships of Yangfeng (羊/阳风乡, including Dali 大利村 and Xinchang 新场村 dialects[3]), Fangcun (方村), Jialiang (甲良), and Diwo (地莪) in Jialiang District (甲良), Libo County. Mak speakers can also be found in Dushan County. Mak is spoken alongside Ai-Cham and Bouyei.[4] The Mak, also called Mojia (莫家) in Chinese, are officially classified as Bouyei by the Chinese government.[5]

Yang (2000) considers Ai-Cham and Mak to be different dialects of the same language.

The Fangcun dialect was first studied by Fang-Kuei Li in 1942, and the Yangfeng dialect was studied in the 1980s by Dabai Ni of the Minzu University of China.[4] Ni also noted that the Mak people only sing Bouyei folk songs, and that about 5,000 Mak people have shifted to the Bouyei language.

  1. ^ a b Mak at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ See Proto-Tai language#Tones for an explanation of the tone numbers.
  3. ^ Ni, Dabai 倪大白 (2010). Dòng-Táiyǔ gàilùn 侗台语概论 [An Introduction to Kam-Tai Languages] (in Chinese). Beijing Shi: Minzu chubanshe. p. 249. ISBN 978-7-105-10582-3.
  4. ^ a b Ni, Dabai (1988). "Yangfeng Mak of Libo County". In Edmondson, Jerold A.; Solnit, David B. (eds.). Comparative Kadai: Linguistic Studies Beyond Tai. Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington. pp. 87–106.
  5. ^ Zhou, Guoyan 周国炎 (2013). Zhōngguó xīnán mínzú zájū dìqū yǔyán guānxì yǔduō yǔ héxié yánjiū: Yǐ Diān Qián Guì pílín mínzú zájū dìqū wèi yánjiū gè'àn 中国西南民族杂居地区语言关系与多语和谐研究：以滇黔桂毗邻民族杂居地区为研究个案 (in Chinese). Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe. ISBN 978-7-5161-1985-3.