Dongxiang language
| Santa | |
|---|---|
| Santa | |
| Native to | China |
| Region | Gansu province, mainly in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, and Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region |
|
Native speakers
|
200,000 (2007) |
|
Mongolic
|
|
| Arabic, Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | dong1285 |
The Santa language, also known as Dongxiang (东乡语 Dōngxiāng yǔ), is a Mongolic language spoken by the Dongxiang people in northwest China.
Dongxiang is a Mongolic language. Dongxiang has neither vowel harmony nor distinctions of vowel length. Except for a limited number of cases there is no vowel harmony, and the harmonic rules governing the suffix pronunciation are by far not as strict as those of Mongolian. There are no dialects in strict sense, but three local varieties (tuyu) can be found: Suonanba (ca. 50% of all Dongxiang speakers), Wangjiaji (ca. 30% of all Dongxiang speakers) and Sijiaji (ca. 20% of all Dongxiang speakers).
In common with other Mongolic languages, Dongxiang is basically a subject–object–verb language. In Linxia, however, under the influence of the Mandarin Chinese dialects spoken by the neighbouring Hui people, sentences of the subject–verb–object type have also been observed.
Vowel
There are seven short vowels in Dongxiang, such as, [a], [a], [i], [m], [o], [u], [w] and nine diphthongs [ail, [ ail, [ui] [au], [ au], [ia], [ia 1, [iu] [ua].
1.1 Short Vowel The examples [a] anda 'friend' [a] anda 'here' [i] ima~ 'goat' ['JJl quwu 'frost' [o] boro 'gray' [u] buru 'mistake' [s] i 'twenty"
1.2 The Description of Simple Vowel [a] Low back unrounded vowel. [a] Mid central unrounded vowel. [i] High front unrounded vowel. [w] High back unrounded vowel. [0] Mid central rounded vowel. [u] High back rounded vowel.
1.3 Diphthongs [ail qaiei 'scissorsr [ail failia- 'blow' [ui] kuit~ia n 'cold' [au] sau- 'sit' [au] daura 'under' [ia] nim- 'paste' [ia] gia 'house' [iu] niu- 'to hide' [ua] ua 'two'
Consonants
Dongxiang has the following 28 consonants, [b], [p], [dl, [t], [g], [k], [GI, [q], [dzI, [&I, [@I 3 [@I, [GI, [fl, [sI, [$I 3 [GI, [XI [hI. [wI [TI, UI, [my [nI, [gI, [I], [rl
2.1 The contrast of consonants [b] bau- 'comedown' [PI PaU 'gun' [dl dm- 'to follow' [t] tam- 'dismiss' [g] gian 'sickness' [k] kian 'who' [q] quru- 'fry' [GI Guru 'finger' [&I &a- 'sue' [@I @a 'tea' [a] &ig 'scripture' [GI Gig 'that way' [fl failia 'blow' [w] w~a 'wash' ~ira 'yellow' [GI pira 'under' [x] xulq 'red' [E] no~i [m] mau 'bad' [g] jarjdzi 'shape' [r] narq 'sun' [z] ~auji- 'rub' [s] sira- 'cut off [hI haroy] 'ten' bl ja 'what' [n] nau- 'to hit a target' [I] laWy] 'leaf' [dz] badza 'town'
...
Wikipedia