Qiangic (Ch'iang, Kyang, Tsiang), formerly known as Dzorgaic, is a group of related languages within the Sino-Tibetan language family. They are spoken mainly in Southwest China, including Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan. Most Qiangic languages are distributed in the prefectures of Ngawa, Garzê, Ya'an, and Liangshan in Sichuan with some in northern Yunnan as well.

Qiangic speakers are variously classified as part of the Qiang, Tibetan, Pumi, Nakhi and Mongol ethnic groups by the Chinese government.

The extinct Tangut language of the Western Xia is considered to be Qiangic by some linguists, including Matisoff (2004).[1] The internal structure of Qiang is closely related to the Tangut language and rGyalrongic language.[2][3] The undeciphered Nam language of China may possibly be related to Qiangic.

Lamo, Larong, and Drag-yab, a group of three closely related Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Chamdo, eastern Tibet, may or may not be Qiangic.[4][5][6]

Its language status is evaluated at 6b, or threatened.[7] Qiang is transitioning from in-use to out-of-use in the homes of the Qiang people because it holds little use in everyday life. Trade with other Chinese people is done in Mandarin, which is the same language that local schools are taught in.[8]: 3–4  In addition, young adults are leaving the region's villages for education or for an easier lifestyle. Many marry people from other parts of China who only speak Mandarin.[8]: 12 


[The only place where I integrated info from the actual Wiki is in the *lead*, the rest of the Wikepdia page doesn't relate with the grammar of Qiang.]

Phonology

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The phonemic inventory of Qiang consists of 37 consonants, and eight basic vowel qualities.[8]: 22, 25  The syllable structure of Qiang allows up to six sounds.[8]: 30 

Consonants

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The Qiang Consonants[8]: 22 
Labial Dental Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Voiceless Stop p t k q (ʔ)
Voiceless Aspirated Stop
Voiced Stop b d g
Voiceless Affricate ts
Voiceless Aspirated Affricate tsʰ tʂʰ tɕʰ
Voiced Affricate dz
Voiceless Fricative ɸ(f) s ʂ ɕ x χ h
Voiced Fricative (v) z ʐ(ɹ) (ʑ) (ɣ) ʁ ɦ
Nasal m n ɳ ŋ
Voiceless Lateral ɬ
Voiced Lateral l
Approximant (w) (j)

Vowels

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Qiang distinguishes between unstressed and long vowels (signified by two small dots, "ː") for all of its vowels except for /ə/ . In addition, there exist 15 diphthongs and one triphthong in the language of Qiang.[8]: 25–26 

The Qiang Vowel Inventory[8]: 25 
Front Mid Back
High i, iː y, yː u, uː
Mid e, eː ə o, oː
Low a, aː ɑ, ɑː

There may not be a significant phonetic difference in sound between /i/ and /e/, and /u/ and /o/, respectively. In fact, they are often used in place of one another without changing the meaning.

Diphthongs: ia, iɑ, ie, ye, eu, əu, ei, əi, oi, uɑ, ua, uə, ue, ui, ya

Triphthong: uəi

As the Qiang language becomes more endangered, the use of r-coloring is not being passed down to younger generations of the Qiang people. As a result, there is great variation in its use. R-coloring is not considered its own phoneme because it is a vowel feature and only used to produce vowel harmony (see below), most commonly signifying a first person plural marking.[8]: 28 

Example: miʴwu [person (<mi):all] 'all the people'[8]: 28 

Syllable Structure

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The Qiang Syllable Canon:[8]: 30 

(C)

[fric]

(initial-consonant)

-

(V)

[glide]

V

-

(V)

[glide]

(C)

[fric]

(final-consonant)

-

(C) (initial-consonant) (V) V (V) (C) (final-consonant)

[fric] - [glide] - [glide] [fric] -

Examples of Syllables permitted in Qiang[8]: 30 
Template Qiang Word Translation
V ɑ 'one'
VV ɑu 'one pile'
VC ɑs 'one day'
VCC əχʂ 'tight'
CV 'buy'
CVV kʰuə 'dog'
CVVV kuɑi-tʰɑ 'strange'
CVC pɑq 'intererst'
CVCC bəxʂ 'honey'
CVVC duɑp 'thigh'
CCV xtʂe 'louse'
CCVV ʂkue 'roast'
CCVVV ʂkuəi 'mt. goat'
CCVC ʂpəl 'kidney'
CCVCC ʂpəχs 'Chibusu'
CCVVC ʂquɑp 'quiet'
CCVVCC ɕpiexɬ 'scar'

Phonological Processes

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Initial Weakening

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When a compound or a directional prefix is added before an aspirated initial, the latter becomes the final of the preceding syllable in the new word. This typically causes it to lose its aspiration.[8]: 31–32 

Example: tə- DIR + ba 'big' > wa 'become big'[8]: 32 

[Stress section deleted because too complicated, permission from Prof. Kalin]

Typically, vowel harmony is used to match a preceding syllable's vowel with the succeeding vowel or its height. In some cases, however, the vowel of a succeeding syllable will harmonize in the opposite way, matching with the preceding vowel. This process occurs across syllables in compounds or in prefix + root combinations. Vowel harmony can also occur for r-coloring on the first syllable if the second syllable of a compound or prefix + root combination already has r-coloring. [8]: 35–36 

Example: wə 'bird' + ʂpu 'flock' > wuʂpu '(wild) pigeon'[8]: 35 

Example: Chinese zhàogù + Qiang pə 'to do' > tʂɑuku-pu 'take care of'[8]: 36 

Example: me 'not' + w 'reduce' > m-w 'unceasingly'[8]: 35 

The vowel /ə/ can be embedded within a collection of consonants that are restricted by the syllable canon. The epenthetic vowel is used to combine sounds that would typically be impermissible.[8]: 36 

Example: bəl-əs-je [do-NOM (< -s)-good to eat] 'advantageous'[8]: 36 

For some words, changing or adding consonants produces no phonological difference in meaning. The most common consonant interchange is between /ʂ/ and /χ/.[8]: 37 

Example: ʂqu ~ χqu 'mouth'[8]: 37 

Example: kɑp ~ kɑpətʂ 'orphan'[8]: 37 

Morphology

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Qiang uses affixes in the form of prefixes and suffixes to describe or modify the meaning of nouns and verbs.[8]: 39, 43, 120  Other morphological processes that are affixed include gender marking, marking of genitive case, compounding, and nominalization. Qiang also uses non-affixational processes such as reduplication.[8]: 39 

Noun Phrase

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In Qiang, any combination of the following order is allowed as long as it follows this flow. Some of the items found below, such as adjectives, may be used twice within the same noun phrase.[8]: 39 

Structure of the Qiang noun phrase

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GEN phrase + Rel. clause + Noun + ADJ + DEM/DEF + (NUM + CL)/PL[8]: 39 

Gender Marking

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Gender marking only occurs in animals. Typically, /mi/ is the suffix for females, while /zdu/ is the suffix for males.[8]: 48 

Example: wə-mi 'mare'[8]: 48 

Example: puɳu-zdu 'male cat'[8]: 48 

Pronouns

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Pronouns of Qiang can be represented from the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person, and can refer to one, two, or more than two people.[8]: 50 

The Qiang Personal Pronouns[8]: 50 
Singular Dual Plural
1 tɕi-zzi tɕi-le
2 ʔũ ʔi-zzi ʔi-le
3 theː / qupu thi-zzi them-le

The genitive marker /-tɕ(ə)/ is placed on the modifying noun. This modifying noun will precede the noun it modifies.[8]: 99–100 

Example:[8]: 100 

qɑ-tɕ

1sg-GEN

ləɣz

book

qɑ-tɕ ləɣz

1sg-GEN book

'my book'

Verbal Morphology

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Changing the meaning of verbs can be done by prefixes and suffixes, or by using reduplication.[8]: 120, 123 

Verbal Prefixes[8]: 120 
Marking in Qiang Purpose/Meaning
1 intensifying adverb
2 "various" direction/orientation, or 3rd person indirect directive
3 /mə-/, or /tɕə-/ simple negation, or prohibitive
4 /tɕi/ continuative aspect
Verbal Suffixes[8]: 120 
Marking in Qiang Purpose/Meaning
5 /-ʐ/ causative
6 /-ɑː/ prospective aspect
7 /kə/, or /lə/ '(to) go', or '(to) come' (auxiliary directional verbs)
8 /-jə/ reptition
9 /-ji/ change of state
10 /-l-/ 1st person indirect directive
11 /-k/ inferential evidential, mirative
12 /-u/ visual evidential
13 /-ʂɑ/, /-sɑn/, /-ʂəʴ/, /-sɑi/, [-wu/ ~ -u] non-actor person1(sg, 2sg, 1pl, 2pl, 3sg/pl )
14 /-ɑ/, /-n/, /-əʴ/, /-i/, /-tɕi/ actor person (1sg, 2sg, 1pl, 2pl, 3pl)
15 /-i/ hearsay evidential

Reduplication

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Repetition of the same root verb signifies a reciprocal action upon one actors, or an ongoing action.[8]: 52, 123 

Example: 'plaster (a wall)' > mə 'be plastering'[8]: 123 

Other Morphological Processes

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In Qiang, the modifying noun of the compound must precede the modified noun.[8]: 43 

Example:[8]: 48, 49 

khuɑ-ʁl

dog-child

khuɑ-ʁl

dog-child

'puppy'

Nominalization

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Nouns are created from adjectives or verbs using clitics /-s/, /-m/, or /-tɕ/, the indefinite markers /le/ or /te/, or the definite marker /ke/.[8]: 59, 223 

Example:[8]: 224 

tɑwə-tɑ-m

hat-wear-NOM

le-ze

DEF-CL

tɑwə-tɑ-m le-ze

hat-wear-NOM DEF-CL

'the person wearing a hat'

Syntax

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The language of Qiang has quite a predictable syntax without many variations. The typical basic word order is SOV.[8]: 221  As a language that is derived from Mandarin Chinese, Qiang borrows some Mandarin words while keeping its own sentence structure.[8]: 222 

Clause Structure

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Order

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(TEMP) (LOC) (ACTOR) (GOAL/RECIPIENT) (ADV) (UG) VC (PART)[8]: 221 

(TEMP = temporal phrase; UG = undergoer; VC = verb complex; PART = clause-final particle)

A sentence in Qiang may be as short as a verb complex, which may just be a predicate noun.[8]: 222 

Deriving from the order stated above, Qiang is a language with a Subject-Object-Verb sentence structure.

Example:[8]: 77 

S

χumtʂi

Xumtʂi

O

ʐətɕʰaq-e-ze

rabbit-one-CL

V

ɦɑ-tʂ

DIR-pierce(kill)

S O V

χumtʂi ʐətɕʰaq-e-ze ɦɑ-tʂ

Xumtʂi rabbit-one-CL DIR-pierce(kill)

‘Xumtʂi killed a rabbit.’

Code Mixing

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Many loan words or loan phrases from Mandarin are used but the word order of these phrases is rearranged to fit the grammatical structure of Qiang.[8]: 222 

Example:[8]: 222 

pəs-ŋuəɳi

today-TOP

ʐmətʂi-sətsim-leː

emperor-wife-DEF:CL

tɕiutɕin

(after.all

ʂə

be)

mi-leː

person-DEF:CL

ŋuə-ŋuɑ?

COP-Q

pəs-ŋuəɳi ʐmətʂi-sətsim-leː tɕiutɕin ʂə mi-leː ŋuə-ŋuɑ?

today-TOP emperor-wife-DEF:CL (after.all be) person-DEF:CL COP-Q

'Today, is the emeror's wife a human?'

In this sentence, the words "tɕiutɕin" and "ʂə" are borrowed from Mandarin.

References

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  1. ^ Matisoff, James. 2004. "Brightening" and the place of Xixia (Tangut) in the Qiangic subgroup of Tibeto-Burman
  2. ^ author, Matisoff, James A. The Tibeto-Burman Reproductive System: Toward an Etymological Thesaurus. OCLC 904939591. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Benedict, Paul K. (1972), "Taxonomy (Sino-Tibetan)", Sino-Tibetan, Cambridge University Press, pp. 3–4, doi:10.1017/cbo9780511753541.005, ISBN 9780511753541, retrieved 2019-03-17
  4. ^ Suzuki, Hiroyuki and Tashi Nyima. 2018. Historical relationship among three non-Tibetic languages in Chamdo, TAR. Proceedings of the 51st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (2018). Kyoto: Kyoto University.
  5. ^ Zhao, Haoliang. 2018. A brief introduction to Zlarong, a newly recognized language in Mdzo sgang, TAR. Proceedings of the 51st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (2018). Kyoto: Kyoto University.
  6. ^ Jacques, Guillaumes. 2016. Les journées d'études sur les langues du Sichuan.
  7. ^ "Qiang, Southern". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax LaPolla, Randy (2003). A Grammar of Qiang with annotated texts and glossary. Berlin: Mouton Grammar Library 31. ISBN 311017829X.