CHUANG LANGUAGE

Pinyin Zhuang, language spoken by the Chuang ethnic minority in southern China, mostly in the Chuang Autonomous Region of Kwangsi. The dialects spoken in northern Kwangsi belong to the Northern branch of the Tai language family and are known officially in China as the Northern dialect of the Chuang language. Their closest linguistic affinities are with other Northern Tai languages, including Puyi (Buyi) in Kweichow province, just to the north. The Chuang dialects of southern Kwangsi belong to the Central branch of Tai and are officially designated the Southern dialect of the Chuang language. Their closest linguistic relatives are the Central Tai languages of northeastern Vietnam known as Nung and Tho (the latter now called Tay in Vietnam). All Chuang dialects are typical of the Tai languages in using tone (pitch differences) to distinguish words. Words are largely monosyllabic and include many borrowings from Chinese, both ancient and modern. A standard Chuang language has been formulated and a romanized script developed to write it. The standard is based mostly on the dialect of Wuming, a Northern speech. Only about three quarters (some 2,000,000) of the members of the official nationality speak a Chuang dialect.