Wutun language

The Wutun language (Chinese: 五屯话; pinyin: Wǔtúnhuà) is a Mandarin–Amdo–Bonan creole language. It is spoken by about 4,000 people, most of whom are classified as Monguor (Tu) by the Chinese government. Wutun speakers reside in two villages (Upper Wutun 上五屯 and Lower Wutun 下五屯) of Tongren County, eastern Qinghai province, China. It is also known as the Ngandehua language.

Wutun
Native to	China
Region	Qinghai province, mainly in Tongren County
Ethnicity	Tibetans
Native speakers	4,000 (2016)
Language family	mixed Lower Yangtze Mandarin–Amdo–Bonan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wuh
Glottolog	wutu1241
ELP	Wutunhua

The two Wutun villages, as well as other villages in the area, were under the control of a Mongol banner for several centuries, and have long been regarded by governments as members of a Mongol ethnic group. However, they self-identify as Tibetans.

Phonology

The following table shows the consonants of Wutun.

Wutun Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Retroflex	Alveo-palatal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩				ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive	aspirated	pʰ ⟨p⟩	tʰ ⟨t⟩				kʰ ⟨k⟩
	voiceless	p ⟨b⟩	t ⟨d⟩				k ⟨g⟩
	voiced	b ⟨bb⟩	d ⟨dd⟩				g ⟨gg⟩
Affricate	aspirated		t͡sʰ ⟨c⟩	ʈ͡ʂʰ ⟨ch⟩	t͡ɕʰ ⟨q⟩	c͡çʰ ⟨qh⟩
	voiceless		t͡s ⟨z⟩	ʈ͡ʂ ⟨zh⟩	t͡ɕ ⟨j⟩	c͡ç ⟨jh⟩
	voiced		d͡z ⟨zz⟩	ɖ͡ʐ ⟨zzh⟩	d͡ʑ ⟨jj⟩	ɟ͡ʝ ⟨jjh⟩
Fricative	voiceless	f ⟨f⟩	sʰ ⟨s⟩	ʂʰ ⟨sh⟩	ɕ ⟨x⟩		x ~ h ⟨h⟩
	voiced		z ⟨ss⟩		ʑ ⟨xx⟩		ɣ ~ ʁ ⟨gh⟩
Liquid	voiceless		ɬ ⟨lh⟩
	voiced		l ⟨l⟩	ɻ ⟨r⟩
Glide		w ⟨w⟩				j ⟨y⟩	ɧ ⟨xh⟩

Wutun consists of six basic vowels, /a e i o u ə/ which are influenced to some extent by their consonantal environment. For instance, vowels are velarized [ˠ] before "k", as in "ek" [əˠ] 'two' or "maidok" [metoˠ] 'flower'.

Wutun Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ⟨i⟩		u ⟨u⟩
Long	iː ⟨ii⟩		uː ⟨uu⟩
Close-Mid	e ⟨ai⟩	ə ⟨e⟩	o ⟨o⟩
Open	a ~ ɑ ⟨a⟩

Vocabulary

The greatest portion of Wutun lexical items is Chinese (but with their tones lost); a smaller one, from Amdo Tibetan, the local lingua franca; and an even smaller element comes from the Bonan Mongolian language.

Grammar

The Wutun grammar derives from Amdo Tibetan. There is also a Bonan influence.

History

A number of theories have been proposed about the origin of the Wutun villagers, and their peculiar dialect. The Chinese linguist Chen Naixiong infers from the vowel distribution of the Chinese lexical items in Wutun speech that their ancestors may have spoken an old Nanjing dialect. Others think that they may have been a group of Hui people (Chinese-speaking Muslims) from Sichuan who, for reasons unknown, converted to Tibetan Buddhism and moved to eastern Qinghai. In any event, historical documents as old as 1585 attest to the existence of the Wutun community.

Today's Wutun villagers do not speak Chinese, but the knowledge of Tibetan is common both in Wutun and in Tongren County in general, as the Tibetan language is the lingua franca of this multiethnic region, which is populated by Tibetans and Hui people, as well as some Han Chinese and Mongols.

Erika Sandman said Wutun speakers most likely descend from Mongol and Tibetan women marrying newly settled Chinese soldiers in the 14th century.

See also

• Tangwang language
• Dao language (China)
• Selibu language

Further reading

• Slater, Keith (2009). Review of Wutun by J. Janhunen, M. Peltomaa, E. Sandman, and Xiawudongzhuo. Asian Highlands Perspectives, 1: 367–371.

External links

• ELAR archive of Wutunhua (五屯話) primary data