Achang | |
---|---|
Ngachang အာချန် / ငါချန် | |
Pronunciation | [ŋa˨˩tʂhaŋ˨˩] |
Native to | China, Myanmar |
Ethnicity | Achang |
Native speakers | (60,000 cited 1990–2007) [1] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
acn |
Glottolog |
acha1252 |
ELP | Xiandao |
The Achang language (Achang: Ngachang; Chinese: 阿昌, Burmese: အာချန်) is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Achang (also known as Maingtha and Ngochang) in Yunnan, China, and northern Myanmar. [1]
Achang is spoken in the following locations:
The three main dialects of Achang in China are: [2]
The Xiandao dialect (100 speakers; autonym: Chintaw /kʰan³¹tau³¹/) is spoken in the following two locations in Yingjiang County, Dehong Prefecture (Xiandaoyu Yanjiu).
Labial | Alveolar | Post-Alv. | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | sibilant | |||||||
Stop | aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | tsʰ | tʃʰ | cʰ | kʰ | ʔ |
voiced | b | d | dz | dʒ | ɟ | ɡ | ||
Fricative | s | ʃ | ç | h | ||||
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||
Approximant | w | l | j |
Voiced sounds /b, d, dz, dʒ, ɟ, ɡ/ can also be heard as voiceless [p, t, ts, tʃ, c, k] in free variation among speakers.
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | ɯ | u |
Mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
Open | aˑ a | ||
Syllabic | ŋ̩ |
/i, ɛ, aˑ/ can also have tense vowel counterparts as [ɪ, æ, ʔaˑ]. [5]
Achang word order is subject–object–verb. There is no dominant order for nouns and their adjective modifiers. [6]