Standard Zhuang - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The standard Zhuang language (autonym

Exonym and endonym

In ethnolinguistics, an endonym or autonym is a local name for a geographical feature, and an exonym or xenonym is a foreign language name for it...

: ; ) is the variety of Zhuang spoken in Wuming County

Wuming County

Wuming County is a county under the administration of Nanning city, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China.The Wuming dialect is the prestige dialect of the Zhuang language....

in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Guangxi

Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...

of the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

, where it is an official language

Official language

An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...

Classification

The Zhuang languages form several dialect clusters, which complicate classification. Zhang (1999) considers Wuming Zhuang to be part of Yongbei (邕北) Zhuang, one of the Northern Tai languages

Northern Tai languages

The Northern Tai or Northern Zhuang languages are an established branch of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia. They include the northern Zhuang languages of China, such as Bouyei.-Languages:Ethnologue includes the following languages....

. However, Pittayaporn (2009) found that it lies outside Northern Tai, together with several varieties of the putative Yongnan (邕南) Zhuang. (Yongnan is not a coherent language, as several purported Yongnan varieties lie elsewhere in the Tai family, but Yongnan dialect proper is close to Wuming.)

Phonology

The Zhuang languages are tonal. Wuming Zhuang has six tones in open syllable

Syllable

A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...

s:
Chinese character

Chinese character

Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

-based system of writing, similar to the Vietnamese writing system of Chữ nôm: some sawndip logograms were borrowed directly from Han characters, while others were original characters made up from the components of Chinese characters. Sawndip has been used for over one thousand years for various Zhuang languages, including Bouyei

Bouyei language

The Bouyei language , is a language spoken by the Bouyei ethnic group of southern Guizhou Province in mainland China...

. It is used for writing songs about every aspect of life, including in more recent times encouraging people to follow official family planning policy.

In 1957, in the People's Republic of China, a Latin alphabet

Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...

with some special letters was introduced to write the new standardised Zhuang language. The system included a mixture of Cyrillic letters

Cyrillic alphabet

The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...

and IPA symbols

International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...

; the Cyrillic letters, however, were used because their shapes approximated those of the numerals used to write tone, and so have no connection to the sounds of actual Cyrillic. A spelling reform in 1982 replaced both the Cyrillic and the IPA with letters of the Latin alphabet to facilitate printing and computer use.

Zhuang has also been written using various other writing systems however none of these have been used as widely as Sawndip or the official alphabetical scripts.

The tables below compare spelling before and after the 1982 reform.

er="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-collapse: collapse;"
|+ Consonant

Consonant

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...

B b

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" |

Mb mb

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | M m

M m

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | F f

F f

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | V v

V v

|-
| style="background-color: >efefef;" | D d

D d

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" |

Nd nd

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | N n

N n

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | S s

S s

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | L l

L l

|-
| style="background-color: >efefef;" | G g

G g

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | Gv gv

Gv gv

| style="background-color: #ef>fef;" | Ŋ ŋ

Ng ng

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | H h

H h

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | R r

R r

|-
| style="background-color: >efefef;" | C c

C c

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | Y y

Y y

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | Ny ny

Ny ny

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | Ŋv ŋv

Ngv ngv

|-
| style="background-color:>#efefef;" | By by

By by

| style="background-color: #>fefef;" | Gy gy

Gy gy

| style="background-color: #>fefef;" | My my

My my

|}
{| class="toccolours" bo>der="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-top: 1em;"
|+ Vowel

Vowel

In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...

A a

| style="background-color: #ef>fef;" | E e

E e

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | Ə ə

AE ae

|-
| style="background-color: >efefef;" | I i

I i

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | O o

O o

| style="background-color: #ef>fef;" |

W w

|-
| style="background-color: >efefef;" | U u

U u

| style="background-color: #efe>ef;" | Ɵ ɵ

OE oe

Example

First article of the Declaration of Human Rights.

Latin script
1957	1982	English
Bouч bouч ma dəŋƨ laзƃɯn couƅ miƨ cɯyouƨ, cinƅyenƨ cəuƽ genƨli bouчbouч biŋƨdəŋз. Gyɵŋƽ vunƨ miƨ liзsiŋ cəuƽ lieŋƨsim, ɯŋdaŋ daiƅ gyɵŋƽ de lumз beiчnueŋч ityieŋƅ.	Boux boux ma daengz lajmbwn couh miz cwyouz, cinhyenz caeuq genzli bouxboux bingzdaengj. Gyoengq vunz miz lijsing caeuq liengzsim, wngdang daih gyoengq de lumj beixnuengx ityiengh.	All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Sawndip

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