Mak language

The Mak language (Chinese: 莫语; autonym: ’ai3 ma:k8) 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), 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. The Mak are officially classified as Bouyei by the Chinese government.

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

The Fangcun 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. 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.