Tangwang language

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The Tangwang language (Script error: No such module "Lang-zh".) is a variety of Mandarin Chinese heavily influenced by the Mongolic Santa language (Dongxiang). It is spoken in a dozen or so villages in Dongxiang Autonomous County, Gansu Province, China. The linguist Mei W. Lee-Smith calls this creole language the "Tangwang language" (Script error: No such module "Lang-zh".), based on the names of the two largest villages (Tangjia 唐家 and Wangjia 汪家, parts of Tangwang town) where it is spoken.[2]

Speakers

According to Lee-Smith (1996), the Tangwang language is spoken by about 20,000 people living in the north-eastern part of the Dongxiang Autonomous County (Tangwang town). These people self-identify as Dongxiang (Santa) or Hui people. The Tangwang speakers do not speak the Dongxiang language.[2]

Description

The Tangwang language uses mostly Mandarin words and morphemes with Dongxiang grammar. Besides Dongxiang loanwords, Tangwang also has a substantial number of Arabic and Persian loanwords.[2]

Like standard Mandarin, Tangwang is a tonal language. However, grammatical particles, which are typically borrowed from Mandarin but used in the way Dongxiang morphemes would be used in Dongxiang, do not carry tones.[2]

For example, while the Mandarin plural suffix Script error: No such module "lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".) has only very restricted usage (it can be used with personal pronouns and some nouns related to people), Tangwang uses it, in the form Script error: No such module "lang"., universally, the way Dongxiang would use its plural suffix Script error: No such module "lang".. The Mandarin pronoun Script error: No such module "lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".) can be used in Tangwang as a possessive suffix (meaning "your").

Unlike Mandarin, but like Dongxiang, Tangwang has grammatical cases as well (but only four of them, instead of eight in Dongxiang).[2]

The word order of Tangwang is the same as Dongxiang subject–object–verb form.

Tangwang combines the characteristics of Mandarin Chinese and Dongxiang Mongolian.[3] The hybrid language is a symbol of language blending. According to Lee-Smith, the blending is caused by the Silk Road.[2]

See also

References

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Further reading

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