Shixing language

Shixing, also rendered Shuhi, is a poorly-attested Qiangic language of Sichuan and the Tibet Autonomous Region. Two thirds of its speakers are monolingual.

This article is about a Qiangic language. For a Spanish footballer nicknamed "Xumi", see Jordi Xumetra.
Shixing
Shuhi
Native toChina
Native speakers
1,800 (2000)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3sxg
Glottologshix1238
ELPShixing[2]

Shixing is also known by its Tibetan name Xumi (旭米 Xùmǐ); it is spoken by about 1800 people living by the Shuiluo River 水洛 in Shuiluo Township 水洛乡, Mili Tibetan Autonomous County.[3]

Katia Chirkova reports two varieties.[4]

  • Upper Xumi (autonym: šuhį ʂuhĩ)
  • Lower Xumi (autonym: šůhę ʃʉhẽ)

Phonology

Consonants

Xumi features a very unusual phonemic contrast between voiceless /ʎ̥/ and voiced /ʎ/ alveolo-palatal lateral approximants.[5][6]

Consonant phonemes[7][8]
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar Velar Uvular Glottal
Palato-
alveolar		 Retroflex Alveolo-
palatal
Nasal voiceless m̥ n̥ ɲ̊ ŋ̊
voiced m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive aspirated pʰ tʰ kʰ qʰ
plain p t k q
voiced b d ɡ ɢ
Affricate aspirated tsʰ tʃʰ ʈʂʰ tɕʰ
plain ts tʃ ʈʂ tɕ
voiced dz dʒ ɖʐ dʑ
Fricative voiceless s ʃ ʂ ɕ x χ h
voiced z ʒ ʐ ʑ ɣ ʁ ɦ
Lateral voiceless l̥ ʎ̥
voiced l ʎ
Approximant ɹ j w

In the table above, gold phonemes only appear in the Upper Xumi dialect while blue phonemes only appear in the Lower Xumi dialect. All others appear in both Upper and Lower Xumi.

Vowels
Oral monophthongs of Lower Xumi, from Chirkova & Chen (2013:369)

Oral
  • Upper Xumi has the following oral vowels: /i, ʉ, u, e, o, ɛ, ɜ, ɔ, ɐ/.[9]
  • Lower Xumi has the following oral vowels: /i, ʉ, u, e, o, ɛ, ɐ, ɑ/.[10] /o, ɐ, ɑ/ generally correspond to Upper Xumi /u, ɜ, ɔ/, respectively.[11]
    • /ʉ/ is phonetically close-mid [ɵ].[12]

Nasal
  • Upper Xumi has the following nasal vowels: /ĩ, ũ, ɛ̃, ɔ̃, ɐ̃/, as well as the marginal /ɘ̃/, which occurs only in the word mědă [LPmɘ̃dɐ] 'on the roof / upstairs'.[9]
  • Lower Xumi has the following nasal vowels: /ĩ, õ, ɛ̃, ɐ̃, ɑ̃/, as well as the marginal /ə̃/, which occurs only in the word mědă ģo [LPmə̃dɐ Rʁo] 'on the roof / upstairs'.[10] /ẽ, õ, ɐ̃, ɑ̃/ generally correspond to Upper Xumi /ĩ, ũ, ɛ̃, ɔ̃/, respectively.[11]

References
  1. Shixing at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Shixing.
  3. Chirkova & Chen (2013), p. 363.
  4. Chirkova & Chen (2013), p. 364.
  5. Chirkova & Chen (2013), pp. 365, 367–368.
  6. Chirkova, Chen & Kocjančič Antolík (2013), pp. 382–383.
  7. Chirkova, Chen & Kocjančič Antolík (2013), p. 382.
  8. Chirkova & Chen (2013), p. 365.
  9. Chirkova, Chen & Kocjančič Antolík (2013), pp. 388–389.
  10. Chirkova & Chen (2013), pp. 369–370.
  11. Chirkova, Chen & Kocjančič Antolík (2013), p. 389.
  12. Chirkova & Chen (2013), p. 369.

Bibliography
  • Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya (2013), "Xumi, Part 1: Lower Xumi, the Variety of the Lower and Middle Reaches of the Shuiluo River" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (3): 363–379, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000157
  • Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya; Kocjančič Antolík, Tanja (2013), "Xumi, Part 2: Upper Xumi, the Variety of the Upper Reaches of the Shuiluo River" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (3): 381–396, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000169
  • Sun Hongkai [孙宏开]. 2014. A study of Shixing [Shixingyu yanjiu 史兴语研究]. Beijing: Minzu University Press.
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