Tujia

Tujia (Bizisa)

Tujia is an independent member of the Tibeto-Burman branch of
Sino-Tibetan languages. It is spoken by about 70,000 people in the
Chinese province of Hunan, specifically in the northern part of Xiangxi
Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in north-western Hunan.

The native name for the Tujia language is Bizisa, while
the Tujia people, who number around 8 million, call themselves Bizika.
Tujia (土家) is the Chinese name for the language and people.
The Tujia live in an area that straddles the provinces of Hunan, Hubei and
Guizhou and Chongqing Municipality in central China.

Tujia is used to a limited extent in schools, but has no presence in
the media. There is no standard written form of Tujia.

Tujia pronunciation

Tujia pronunciation

Tujia is a tonal language with four tones: 1 = high level, 2 = high rising,
3 = low falling, and 4 = high falling.

Source: http://www.brassett.org.uk/tujia/elng/epron.html

Sample text in Tujia

bi2zi1ka3 luo4 yo wei,
da4 bo3 ca2 luo wei, ku2bi1
bao1bao1 ga3 ong3-bo3-la1
yo wei, se3ke1 pe2ti1 jie3-xi2
xie2 luo wei. la2 long1 ri1-lie3
qie4 duo3 xie2 luo wei, ang2 da4
ai1ka2se1pa2 ri1
ya, se1pa2 ri1 yo wei.

Translation

The Tujia are good to one another, sitting on Kubi Outcrop, we have our
own fields and land. A year’s work gives us all we need, we work in the fields
together, work in the fields.
Traditional song,
Source: http://www.brassett.org.uk/tujia/earch/etxt62.html

Links

Information about the Tujia language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tujia_language

Tujia language and culture
http://www.brassett.org.uk/tujia/ehome.html

  • Categoria dell'articolo:Lingue
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