Hani language

For the more inclusive grouping of all languages spoken by the Hani nationality of China, seeHani languages.

Hani
Haqniqdoq
Native to	Laos,Myanmar,South China,Vietnam
Ethnicity	Hani
Native speakers	770,000 (2007–2019)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman) Lolo–Burmese Loloish Southern Hanoid Hani
Language codes
ISO 639-3	hni
Glottolog	hani1248

TheHani language(Hani:Haqniqdoqorxa31ɲi31;simplified Chinese:Honey ngữ;traditional Chinese:Honey ngữ;pinyin:Hāníyǔ;Vietnamese:Tiếng Hà Nhì) is a language of theLoloish(Yi) branch of theTibeto-Burman linguistic groupspoken inChina,Laos,Myanmar,andVietnamby theHani people.

Distribution

In China, Hani is spoken mostly in areas to the east of theMekongRiver in south-centralYunnanprovince, mostly inPu'erandHongheprefectures, as well as in parts of other surrounding prefectures. Hani is also spoken inLai ChâuandLào Caiprovinces of northwestern Vietnam and inPhongsaly Provinceof Laos along the border with Yunnan.

Edmondson (2002) reports that the Hani of Vietnam are distributed in two provinces of northwestern Vietnam where two distinct dialects are found, one east ofMuong Teand the other to the west. The Hani of Vietnam claim to be able to communicate in the Hani language with ethnic Hani from different areas of Vietnam despite significant geographical barriers. Edmondson (2002) reports that the different Hani speech varieties in Vietnam differ mostly in lexicon.

Phonology

Hani has three maintonesand two types of shortvowels.

Consonants

Consonants of the Luchun dialect

		Labial		Alveolar		(Alveolo-) palatal	Velar
		plain	pal.	plain	sibilant
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	pʲ	t	ts	tɕ	k
	aspirated	pʰ	pʰʲ	tʰ	tsʰ	tɕʰ	kʰ
	voiced	b	bʲ	d	dz	dʑ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f			s	ɕ	x
	voiced				z		ɣ
Nasal		m	mʲ	n		ȵ	ŋ
Approximant				l		j

Vowels

Vowel length in Hani is also distinctive.

Vowels of the Luchun dialect

	Front		Central	Back
High	i			ɯ	u
Mid	e	ø		ɤ	o
				ɔ
Low			a
Syllabic	ɹ̩

		Front	Back
Diphthong	Close		ue
	Mid	ie	iɤ	iɔ
	Open	ia	ua

Orthography

Sign for the Lihaozhai Township High School, inJianshui County,Yunnan, written in Hani ( Alpha betic), Yi (syllabic) and Chinese. The Chinese, if transcribed inHanyu Pinyin,would beJianshuixian Lihaozhai zhongxue.

Oral tradition tells of an ancient written script for Hani but says it was lost when the Hani migrated fromSichuan.In China, Standard Hani, which is based on theLüchun Countydialect, is written using aLatin-based scriptdeveloped by the Chinese government during the 1950s. As with the Latin-based scripts of theZhuang,HmongandIu Mien languages,it uses finalconsonantletters to representtone.

Consonants in Hani orthography are pronounced the same as inpinyin,with two additionaldigraphsforvoiced fricativesin Hani. TheIPAequivalents for letters in Hani orthography are provided below.

Hani	IPA
hh	ɣ
ss	z

The vowels in Hani orthography are as follows.After vowels, -v is used to mark tense vowels.

Hani	IPA
a	a
ao	ɔ
e	ɤ
ee	ɯ
ei	e
i	i
o	o
u	u
yu	ø
ii	ɨ

There are four tones, which are marked by letters at the ends of words, or not at all for the mid-level [33].Numerical Chao tonesare provided below.

Hani	IPA
l	[55] (high level)
(none)	[33] (mid level)
q	[31] (low falling)
f	[24] (rising)

Sample text

Hani	English
Aqsol liq yoqdeivq yoqpyuq bo, meeqyaovq ssolnei colpyuq qiq kov dei. Davqtavcolssaq neenyuq bel neema meeq ya siq, laongaoq meilnaol nadul meil e gaq ssol hhyul hha bavqduv nia.	All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

See also

• Hani languages

References

• Edmondson, Jerold A. (2002). "The Central and Southern Loloish Languages of Vietnam". In Chew, Patrick (ed.).Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: Special Session on Tibeto-Burman and Southeast Asian Linguistics.Berkeley Linguistics Society. pp. 1–13.doi:10.3765/bls.v28i2.1042.
• Li, Yongsui Lý vĩnh toại; Wang, Ersong vương ngươi tùng (1986).Hāníyǔ jiǎnzhìHoney ngữ giản chí[A Sketch of the Hani Language] (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
• Tạ Văn Thông, Lê Đông (2001).Tiếng Hà Nhì(in Vietnamese). Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản văn hóa dân tộc.
• Yang, Shihua dương thế hoa; Bai, Bibo bạch bích ba (2003).Yùxī Hānízú wénhuà yánjiūNgọc khê dân tộc Hani văn hóa nghiên cứu[A Study of the Culture of the Hani People of Yuxi City] (in Chinese). Kunming shi: Yunnan minzu chubanshe.ISBN7-5367-2652-X.
• Zhang, Peizhi trương bội chi (1998).Hāníyǔ Hā-Yǎ fāngyán tǔyǔ cíhuì duìzhàoHoney ngữ ha nhã phương ngôn thổ ngữ từ ngữ đối chiếu[Comparative Vocabulary Lists of the Ha-Ya Dialects of the Hani Language] (in Chinese). Kunming: Yunnan minzu chubanshe.

External links

• Hani language recordingsatGlobalRecordings.net
• Hani–Japanese wordlistwith comparison with related languages(in Japanese)