Xibe script
| Xibe | |
|---|---|
| ᠰᡳᠪᡝ ᡤᡳᠰᡠᠨ sibe gisun | |
| Pronunciation | [ɕivə kisun] |
| Native to | China |
| Region | Xinjiang |
| Ethnicity | 189,000 Xibe people (2000) |
|
Native speakers
|
30,000 (2000) |
|
Tungusic
|
|
| Xibe script (derived from Mongolian script) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | xibe1242 |
The Xibe language (ᠰᡳᠪᡝ ᡤᡳᠰᡠᠨ sibe gisun, also Sibo, Sibe, Xibo language) is a Tungusic language spoken by members of the Xibe minority of China.
Xibe is the language most widely spoken among the Xibo of Xinjiang, in Northwest China.
Xibe is conventionally viewed as a separate language within the southern group of Tungusic languages alongside the more well-known Manchu language, having undergone more than 200 years of development separated from the Tungusic-speaking heartland since Xibe troops were dispatched to the Xinjiang frontiers in 1764. Some researchers such as Jerry Norman hold that Xibe is a dialect of Manchu, whereas Xibologists such as An Jun argue that Xibe should be considered the "successor" to Manchu. Ethnohistorically, the Xibe people are not considered Manchu people, because they were excluded from chieftain Nurhaci's 17th-century tribal confederation to which the name "Manchu" was later applied.
Xibe is mutually intelligible with Manchu, although unlike Manchu, Xibe has reported to have eight vowel distinctions as opposed to the six found in Manchu, as well as differences in morphology, and a more complex system of vowel harmony.
Xibe has seven case morphemes, three of which are used quite differently from modern Manchu. The categorization of morphemes as case markers in spoken Xibe is partially controversial due to the status of numerous suffixes in the language. Despite the general controversy about the categorization of case markers versus postpositions in Tungusic languages, four case markers in Xibe are shared with literary Manchu (Nominative, Genitive, Dative-Locative and Accusative). Xibe's three innovated cases - the ablative, lative, and instrumental-sociative share their meanings with similar case forms in neighboring Uyghur, Kazakh, and Oiryat Mongolian.
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