Buyang language

Buyang
Boux-yaeŋz[1]
Native toChina
RegionYunnan
EthnicityBuyang people
Native speakers
(1,500 cited 1997–2000)[2]
Kra–Dai
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
yzg – E'ma Buyang
yln – Langnian Buyang
enc – En
yrn – Yalang (Yerong)
Glottologbuya1244
 Yerong[3]
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Buyang (Chinese: 布央语) is a Kra language spoken in Guangnan and Funing counties, Yunnan Province, China by the Buyang people.[4] It is important to the reconstruction of the hypothetical macrofamily Austro-Tai as it retains the disyllabic roots characteristic of Austronesian languages. Examples are /matɛ́/ "to die", /matá/ "eye", /qaðù/ "head", and /maðû/ "eight". (See Austro-Tai for proposed connections.)

The Buyang language was initially documented in 1990 by Chinese linguist Liang Min. In 1999, a doctoral dissertation and book was published for Buyang. The book has also recently been translated into English.

Many speakers of Buyang are also fluent in Zhuang.[5]

  1. ^ Holm, David (2003). Killing a Buffalo for the Ancestors: A Zhuang Cosmological Text from Southwest China. DeKalb: Southeast Asia Publications, Northern Illinois University. p. 15.
  2. ^ E'ma Buyang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Langnian Buyang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    En at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Yalang (Yerong) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  3. ^ Endangered Languages Project data for Yerong.
  4. ^ Gordon, Raymond G. Jr., ed. (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (15th ed.). Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference TK was invoked but never defined (see the help page).