Na language

Na (or Narua, Mosuo) is a language of the Naish subbranch of the Naic group of the Sino-Tibetan languages.

For Bangni dialect of Arunachal Pradesh in India, see Na dialect.
Not to be confused with Dorerin Naoero.
Na
Narua
Native toChina
RegionSichuan
EthnicityMosuo
Native speakers
47,000 (2010)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3nru
Glottologyong1270

Varieties

Yongning Na, which is spoken in Yongning Township, Ninglang County, Lijiang, Yunnan, China, has been documented by Jacques and Michaud (2011).[2]

Lataddi Narua is notable for having only two tonal levels.[3]

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Retroflex Alveolo-
palatal		 Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n (ɳ) ɲ (ŋ)
Stop voiceless p t (ʈ) k q (ʔ)
aspirated pʰ tʰ (ʈʰ) kʰ qʰ
voiced b d (ɖ) ɡ ɢ
Affricate voiceless t͡s t͡ʂ t͡ɕ
aspirated t͡sʰ t͡ʂʰ t͡ɕʰ
voiced d͡z d͡ʐ d͡ʑ
Fricative voiceless f s ʂ ɕ (x) h
voiced (v) z ʐ ʑ ɣ (ʁ)
Lateral fricative ɬ
glide l (ɭ)
Approximant w j
  • /t, tʰ, d, n, l/ can be heard as [ʈ, ʈʰ, ɖ, ɳ, ɭ] when preceding vowel sounds /ɯ, u, v̩, ɤ, æ/.
  • /p, pʰ, b, m, w/ can be heard as [ʙ̥, ʙ̥ʰ, ʙ, ɱ, v] when preceding vowel sounds /ɯ, u, v̩/.
  • /ɣ/ can also be heard as uvular [ʁ] in word-initial position.
  • /w, h/ is also heard as voiceless [w̥, x] in free variation.
  • /n/ is heard as velar [ŋ] when before velar stops.
  • [ʔ] is heard in initial position before vowels.[4]

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i ɯ u
Mid ɛ ə ɤ ɔ
Open æ, æ̃ ɑ
Syllabic v̩
  • /ɯ/ can be heard as [ɨ] in syllable-initial position and as retroflex [ɻ̩] when after retroflex consonants.[5]

References
  1. Na at Ethnologue (24th ed., 2021) closed access
  2. Jacques, Guillaume, and Alexis Michaud. 2011. "Approaching the historical phonology of three highly eroded Sino-Tibetan languages." Diachronica 28:468-498.
  3. Dobbs, Roselle, and La Mingqing. 2016 "The two-level tonal system of Lataddi Narua." Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, Vol. 39:1 (2016), 67–104. doi:10.1075/ltba.39.1.04dob
  4. Lidz, Liberty A. (2010). A Descriptive Grammar of Yongning Na (Mosuo). University of Texas at Austin.
  5. Zhenhong, Yang (2009). An overview of the Mosuo language. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 32. pp. 1–43.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)


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