Longjia (autonym: suŋ55ni55mpau21) is a
Sino-Tibetan language of
Guizhou, China related to
Caijia and
Luren.[2] Longjia may already be extinct (Zhao 2011).
The
Longjia people now speak
Southwestern Mandarin, though they used to speak their own language, and have had a long presence in western
Guizhou. According to the Guizhou Ethnic Gazetteer (2002),[5] the Longjia language was spoken in
Dafang County,
Qianxi County (Zhongping District 中坪区; Xinfacun 新发村 of Pojiao District 坡脚区), and
Puding County (Jiangyizhai 讲义寨 of Baiyan Township 白岩乡). It is reportedly most similar to
Caijia,[5] and has many
Old Chinese loanwords.[6]
Guizhou (1984)[3] shows that Longjia is closely related to
Caijia and
Luren. However, the classification of Caijia within Sino-Tibetan is uncertain. Zhengzhang (2010)[7] suggests that
Caijia and
Bai are
sister languages, while
Sagart argues that Caijia is Sinitic and a close relative of
Waxiang.[8]
Dialects
The following dialects of Longjia have been described.
Pojiao District 坡脚区,
Dafang County, Guizhou[9][3] (Pojiao District now comprises Maochang 猫场镇, Dingxin 鼎新彝族苗族乡, and Lütang 绿塘乡 townships of southwestern
Dafang County.)
Huaxi Village 花溪大队, Zhongping District 中坪区,
Qianxi County[3] (now Huaxi Township 花溪彝族苗族乡)
The following comparative word list of three Longjia dialects is from Guizhou (1984:2-3).[3] Guizhou (1984) notes that the dialect of Jiangyizhai 讲义寨 (
Puding County) is divergent, while the dialects of Pojiao 坡脚 (
Dafang County) and Huaxi 花溪 (
Qianxi County) are more closely related to each other.
English gloss
Chinese gloss
Pojiao 坡脚
Huaxi 花溪
Jiangyizhai 讲义寨
cattle
牛
ŋau55
ŋau55
ŋau35
to eat
吃
ua31
ua31
ua31
dog
狗
kuɛ33
kuɛ33
kuɛ53
pig
猪
lɛ55
lɛ55
lɛ35
chicken
鸡
kɛ55
kɛ55
kɛ55
rice (crop)
稻谷
mɛ31
mɛ31
mai31
water
水
ɕi31
ɕe31
se31
big
大
la55
la55
lɛ31
two
二
ta31
ta31
to33
four
四
sɿ55
si55
so55
meat
肉
ȵi31
ȵi31
ȵi31; ntɕi31
Phonology
The Puding County Almanac (1999) reports that the Longjia language (autonym: Songnibao 松泥保) has 38 onsets and 22 rimes (8 simple, 14 complex). The Bijie County Almanac (1996:143) reports that there are many prenasalized onsets. In Dafang County, the autonym is Songlibao 松立保.[6]
The most extensive lexical data of Longjia can be found in Zhang & Li (1982).[11]
Nanjinghua
The Nanjing people (南京人) have usually been classified with the
Longjia people, and claim to be descendants of soldiers from the
Nanjing area who had intermarried with the local Longjia in Guizhou.[1] Their language is known as Nanjinghua (南京话; "Nanjing speech"), which is probably now functionally extinct.[12]
In Jianxinhe village 建新河村, Kunzhai Township 昆寨乡,
Nayong County, Guizhou Province, the phrase suo55 mu33 ‘eat rice’ was elicited from an elderly rememberer of Nanjinghua.[12] As suo55 is derived from
Proto-Tibeto-Burman *dzya ‘to eat’, this points to Nanjinghua having an
SVO word order like
Caijia, Longjia,
Bai, and
Sinitic languages.[12]
^
abcdefGuizhou provincial ethnic classification commission [贵州省民族识别工作队]. 1984. Report on ethnic classification issues of the Nanlong people (Nanjing-Longjia) [南龙人(南京-龙家)族别问题调查报告]. m.s.
^Zhèngzhāng Shàngfāng [郑张尚芳]. 2010. Càijiāhuà Báiyǔ guānxì jí cígēn bǐjiào [蔡家话白语关系及词根比较]. In Pān Wǔyún and Shěn Zhōngwěi [潘悟云、沈钟伟] (eds.). Yánjūzhī Lè, The Joy of Research [研究之乐-庆祝王士元先生七十五寿辰学术论文集], II, 389–400. Shanghai: Shanghai Educational Publishing House.
^Guizhou provincial ethnic classification commission, linguistic division [贵州省民族识别工作队语言组]. 1982. The language of the Caijia [Caijia de yuyan 蔡家的语言]. m.s.
^Caiguan Town Gazetteer [蔡官镇志] (2004). Guiyang: Guizhou People's Press [贵州人民出版社].
Guizhou provincial ethnic classification commission, linguistic division [贵州省民族识别工作队语言组]. 1982. The language of the Caijia [Caijia de yuyan 蔡家的语言]. m.s.
Guizhou provincial ethnic classification commission [贵州省民族识别工作队]. 1984. Report on ethnic classification issues of the Nanlong people (Nanjing-Longjia) [南龙人(南京-龙家)族别问题调查报告]. m.s.