Shixing language

Shixing, also rendered Shuhi, is a Qiangic language of Sichuan, China. 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

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.[2]

Katia Chirkova reports two varieties.[3]

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

Phonology

Consonants

Xumi features a very unusual phonemic contrast between voiceless /ʎ̥/ and voiced /ʎ/ alveolo-palatal lateral approximants and voiceless and voiced glottal fricatives.[4][5]

Consonant phonemes[6][7]
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar Velar Uvular Glottal
plain sibilant Palato-
alveolar		 Retroflex Alveolo-
palatal
Nasal voiceless m̥ n̥ ɲ̊2 ŋ̊2
voiced m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive/

Affricate

 aspirated pʰ tʰ tsʰ tʃʰ2 ʈʂʰ tɕʰ kʰ qʰ
plain p t ts tʃ2 ʈʂ tɕ k q
voiced b d dz dʒ2 ɖʐ dʑ ɡ ɢ2
Fricative voiceless s ʃ2 ʂ1 ɕ x χ1 h
voiced z ʒ2 ʐ1 ʑ2 ɣ2 ʁ ɦ
Lateral voiceless l̥ ʎ̥
voiced l ʎ
Approximant ɹ j w
  1. Only in Upper Xumi
  2. Only in Lower Xumi

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

Oral
  • The close and close-mid series are the same in both varieties: /i, ʉ, u, e, o/. The difference lies in the open-mid and open series; in Upper Xumi, these are /ɛ, ɐ, ɔ, a/, whereas in Lower Xumi, they are /ɛ, ɐ, ɑ/.[8][9]
    • At least in Lower Xumi /ʉ/, is phonetically close-mid [ɵ].[10]
    • /ɐ/ is closer in Upper Xumi [ɜ]; in addition, the open central vowel /a/ is phonetically near-open [ɐ]. For this reason, they may be transcribed with ⟨ɜ⟩ and ⟨ɐ⟩, respectively.[11]
    • The Lower Xumi /o/ and /ɑ/ generally correspond to Upper Xumi /u/ and /ɔ/, respectively. /ɑ/ is near-open near-back [ɑ̽] and thus similar to the Upper Xumi /a/, but more back.[10][11]

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 [LPmɘ̃da] 'on the roof / upstairs'.[8]
  • Lower Xumi has the following nasal vowels: /ĩ, õ, ɛ̃, ɐ̃, ɑ̃/, as well as the marginal /ə̃/, which occurs only in the word [LPmə̃dɐ ᴿʁo] 'on the roof / upstairs'.[9] /ẽ, õ, ɐ̃, ɑ̃/ generally correspond to Upper Xumi /ĩ, ũ, ɛ̃, ɔ̃/, respectively.[11]

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

Bibliography
  • Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya (2013), "Xumi, Part 1: Lower Xumi, the Variety of the Lower and Middle Reaches of the Shuiluo River", 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", 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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