Monguor language

Monguor
Dēd Mongol, Tu
moŋɡuer
Native to	China
Region	Qinghai, Gansu
Native speakers	(150,000 cited 2000 census)
Language family	Mongolic Southern Mongolic Shirongol Monguor
Dialects	Mongghul (Huzhu) Mangghuer (Minhe)
Writing system	Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mjg
Glottolog	tuuu1240
Glottopedia	Mangghuer

The Monguor language (Chinese: 土族语; pinyin: Tǔzúyǔ; also written Mongour and Mongor) is a Mongolic language of its Shirongolic branch and is part of the Gansu–Qinghai sprachbund (also called the Amdo sprachbund). There are several dialects, mostly spoken by the Monguor people. A writing system was devised for Huzhu Monguor (Mongghul) in the late 20th century but has been little used. A division into two languages, namely Mongghul in Huzhu Tu Autonomous County and Mangghuer in Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County, is considered necessary by some linguists. While Mongghul was under strong influence from Amdo Tibetan, the same holds for Mangghuer and Sinitic languages, and local varieties of Chinese such as the Gangou language were in turn influenced by Monguor.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

• Vowel sounds may also be nasalized when preceding a nasal consonant, in different environments.
• Vowels /i, e, u/ may also undergo a devoicing process in certain phonetic environments.

Phoneme/Sound	Allophones	Notes
/i/ [i]	[ɪ]	in stressed syllables
	[ɨ]	when following alveolar sibilants or affricates
	[ɨ˞]	when following a retroflex consonant
/e/ [e]	[ə]	in stressed syllables without onset clusters or coda consonants
	[ɛ]	in a syllable with a palatal onset or palatal coda
	[ə̝]	in a syllable with a nasal coda consonant
/a/ [ä]	[ɑ]	in a syllable closed by a velar nasal coda /ŋ/
	[ɐ]	before a syllable-final /j/
	[æ]	when a syllable is closed by an alveolar nasal /n/
	[ɛ]	when following a palatal onset consonant, and preceding an alveolar nasal /n/
/o/ [o]	[ɵ]	may be closer in different environments
/u/ [u]	[ʊ]	when in unstressed syllables
	[ʉ]	when following palatal consonants

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Alveolo- palatal	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Plosive	voiceless	p	t				k	q
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ				kʰ	qʰ
Affricate	voiceless		t͡s	t͡ɕ	t͡ʂ
	aspirated		t͡sʰ	t͡ɕʰ	t͡ʂʰ
Fricative		f	s	ɕ	ʂ			χ
Nasal		m	n				ŋ
Approximant	liquid		l		ɻ
	central					j	w

• /χ/ can also be heard as allophones [h] or [x], occurring in free variation.
• /ɻ/ can be heard as a voiced fricative [ʐ] within the onset of a stressed syllable, or of a word-initial syllable. It can also be heard as a flap sound [ɾ] intervocalically in the onset of an unstressed syllable. In a syllable-coda position, it is heard as a rhotic [ə˞] vowel sound.
• /j/ can have a spirantized allophone of [ʝ] strongly in stressed syllables.

Numerals

Mongolian numerals such as the following are only in use in the Mongghul dialect, while Mangghuer speakers have switched to counting in Chinese. Note that while the Mongolian script has only arban for 'ten', Middle Mongolian *harpa/n including *h can be reconstructed from the scripts.

Numeral	Classical Mongolian	Monguor
1	nigen	nige
2	qoyar	ghoori
3	ghurban	ghuran
4	dörben	deeran
5	tabun	tawun
6	jirghughan	jirighun
7	dologhan	duluun
8	naiman	niiman
9	yisün	shdzin
10	arban	haran

References

• Dpal-ldan-bkra-shis, Keith Slater, et al. (1996): Language Materials of China’s Monguor Minority: Huzhu Mongghul and Minhe Mangghuer. Sino-Platonic papers no. 69.
• Georg, Stefan (2003): Mongghul. In: Janhunen, Juha (ed.) (2003): The Mongolic languages. London: Routledge: 286-306.
• Slater, Keith W. (2003): A grammar of Mangghuer: A Mongolic language of China's Qinghai-Gansu sprachbund. London/New York: RoutledgeCurzon.
• Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Anna Tsendina, Anastasia Karlsson, Vivan Franzén (2005): The Phonology of Mongolian. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Zhàonàsītú 照那斯图 (1981): Tǔzúyǔ jiǎnzhì 土族语简志 (Introduction to the Tu language). Běijīng 北京: Mínzú chūbǎnshè 民族出版社.
• Mostaert, A.; de Shmedt, A. (1930). "Le Dialecte Monguor parlé par les Mongols du Kansu Occidental. Iére Partie: Phonétique. (Suite)". Anthropos. 25 (3/4): 657–669. JSTOR 40445863.
• Mostaert, A.; de Smedt, A. (1929). "Le Dialecte Monguor parlé par les Mongols du Kansu Occidental. Iére Partie: Phonétique. (Suite)". Anthropos. 24 (5/6): 801–815. JSTOR 40445976.
• Gaspardone, Emile (1933). "A. Mostaert et A. de Smedt : Le dialecte monguor parlé par les Mongols du Kansu occidental, 1ère à 3ème parties". Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient. 33 (1): 1014.

External links

• [The Tu ethnic minority http://www.china.org.cn/e-groups/shaoshu/shao-2-tu.htm]
• ELAR archive of Mongghul language documentation materials