Hu language
Palaungic language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hu (Hu pronunciation: [xúˀ], Chinese: 户语; pinyin: Hùyǔ), also Angku or Kon Keu, is a Palaungic language of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, China. Its speakers are an unclassified ethnic minority; the Chinese government counts the Angku as members of the Bulang nationality, but the Angkuic languages is not intelligible with Bulang.[2]
Distribution
According to Li (2006:340), there are fewer than 1,000 speakers living on the slopes of the "Kongge" Mountain ("控格山") in Na Huipa village (纳回帕村), Mengyang township (勐养镇), Jinghong (景洪市, a county-level city).[3]
Hu speakers call themselves the xuʔ55, and the local Dai peoples call them the "black people" (黑人), as well as xɔn55 kɤt35, meaning 'surviving souls'.[4] They are also known locally as the Kunge people (昆格人) or Kongge people (控格人).[1]
Phonology
The Hu data presented in the studies was collected from the Xiao Mĕngyăng area in Jǐnghóng County, Yunnan, China.
Word structure
Hu phonological word strongly tends to be monosyllabic. Disyllabic words are all iambic. There is one trisyllabic form in the data: ʔapalàw "fish".[5] Thus, the maximal structure in Hu is (C₁(a(C₂))).ˈCᵢ(Cₘ)V(Cf)ᵀ.
Suprasegmentals (tones)
Hu has two tones: high and low.[6] The tonal system reflects historical vowel length contrasts (low < long; high < short) that are no longer phonemic today, with residual length distinctions still perceptible.[7]
Subsequent secondary changes and mergers have introduced distributional asymmetries: syllables with final glottal stops consistently bear high tone; the high vowels /i, u/ take high tone in closed syllables, but low tone only in open syllables and before /-ʁ/.[5]
Consonants
Initials
Codas
Complex onsets
Hu complex onsets found in the files are /pʁ pʰʁ pʰl kʁ kl ŋkh ŋʁ sʁ/.[5]
Vowels
Lexicon
Pronouns
| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | ʔɔ́ʔ | ʔàj | ʔéʔ |
| 2nd person | méʔ | pʰáw | pʰéʔ |
| 3rd person | ʔə́n | káw | kéʔ |
Numerals
Comparison of Hu numerals with proto-Palaungic reconstructions by Sidwell (2015). Numbers larger than five have been replaced by Tai loans.
| Gloss | Hu | proto-Palaungic |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ʔàmo | *moːh |
| 2 | kaʔà | *ləʔaːr |
| 3 | kaʔɔ̀j | *ləʔɔːj |
| 4 | ʔapʰòn | *poːn |
| 5 | paθán | *pəsan |
| 6 | (Tai loan) | *tɔːl |
| 7 | – | *təpuːl |
| 8 | – | *taːʔ |
| 9 | – | *tiːm |
| 10 | – | *kɤːl |
| 100 | – | *prjah |
| 1000 | – | *sreːŋ |
Body parts
| Gloss | Hu | proto-Palaungic |
|---|---|---|
| hair | θúk | *suk |
| bone | kaʔàŋ | *cəʔaːŋ |
| foot | cèŋ | *ɟɤːŋ |
| nose | katə́ʔ | *kəɗɤːʔ |
| belly | katúl | *kəɗɤl |
| ear | nasòk | *ʰjoːk |
| eye | saŋàj | *ˀŋaːj |
| tongue | ntʰàk | *-taːk |
| arm | tʰíʔ | *tiːʔ |
| breast | tʰút | *tuːs |
Animals
| Gloss | Hu | proto-Palaungic |
|---|---|---|
| buffalo | tʰʁàk | *traːk |
| ant/termite | maʁúɲ | *ŋruːɲ |
| horse | maʁáŋ | *mraŋ |
| bear | ʔaxèt | *kreːs |
| sambar deer | pʰòt | *poːs |
| pig | lèk | *-leːk |
| bird | ʔasím | *ciːm |
| louse | nsíʔ | *ciːʔ |
| dog | sɔ́ʔ | *cɔːʔ |
| fowl | ʔìʁ | *ʔiɛr |