Bunu is a Hmongic language of southern China. Bunu speakers are classified ethnically as Yao by the People's Republic of China.
Varieties Meng (2001) lists the following language varieties for Bunu.
Bunu () (Pu Nu) - 359,474 speakers; representative dialect: Nongjing, Qibainong Township, Dahua County (大化七百弄乡弄京) Dongnu () (Tung Nu, autonyms: ) - 293,489 speakers in Funing County, Yunnan (in Longshao 龙绍, etc.) and northern Guangxi: Du'an (in Meizhu 梅珠, etc.), Dahua, Bama, Pingguo, Tiandong, Mashan, Debao, Long'an, Baise, Tianyang, Donglan, Hechi, Shanglin, Xincheng, Yishan, Laibin. In Funing County, they are known as Buzha (布咋) (their autonym) or the Mountain Yao (山瑶). Nunu () (Nu Nu, autonyms: ) - 53,870 speakers in northwestern Guangxi: Lingyun (in Taohua 陶化, etc.), Fengshan, Donglan, Bama (in Xishan 西山, etc.), Tianlin, Leye Bunuo () (Pu No, autonym: ) - 12,115 speakers in Du'an (in Sanzhiyang 三只羊; Longma (龙麻) of Xia'ao (下坳乡), etc.), Guangxi
The Shaoyang Prefecture Gazetteer (1997:533) reports that the Miao of Xinning County, Hunan, speak a Bunu-branch language.
The Yunnan Province Gazetteer (1989) reports that a Bunu dialect known as (布咋) is spoken by about 7,000 people in Guichao (归朝乡) and Dongbo (洞波瑶族乡) (including in Dadongzhai 大洞寨, Saxiangdong Village 三湘洞村) townships of Funing County, Yunnan.
Others The following may be alternative names for speakers of Bunu languages. Beidalao (北大老): 15,000 (1990) in Rong'an County and Rongshui County, Guangxi; probably Bunu, though divergent Changpao (长袍): 5,000 (1999) in southern Guizhou; undetermined linguistic affiliation, but could possibly be Bunu. Identified as Dongmeng by Bradley (2007). Youmai (优迈): 2,000 (1999) in southwestern Guizhou; possibly a Bunu variety; classified as Pingtang Miao by Li Yunbing (2000)
Phonology This section presents the phonology of the Dongnu variety of Qibainong (七百弄) Township, Dahua Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi as representative.
Consonants LabialDental/AlveolarRetroflex(Alveolo-)palatalVelarGlottalplainpal.plainsib.lat.plainlab.pal.NasalvoicelessvoicedStopvoicelessaspiratedprenasalprenasal asp.Affricatevoicelessaspiratedprenasalprenasal asp.FricativevoicelessaspiratedvoicedApproximant Sounds /tɬ, tɬʰ, ⁿtɬ, ⁿtɬʰ/ may be pronounced as [pl, plʰ, ᵐpl, ᵐplʰ] in some areas.
Vowels FrontCentralBackCloseClose-midOpen-midOpen
+Examples of vowels Vowel Example word pi43 'fruit' tɯ13 'speak' ɬu41 'iron' he33 'open (a door)' shə43 'on top' no13 'person' hɛ33 'fast' tɔ41 'kill' ka33 'chicken'
Diphthongs and Other Rimes Qibainong Dongnu has seven diphthongs: /ei/, /ai/, /au/, /ou/, /ɔi/, /iu/, and /eu/. Of these, /ɔi/, /iu/, and /eu/ only appear in recent loans from Chinese and Zhuang. Examples of words with diphthongs appear in the table below; yellow background is for those diphthongs that appear only in recent borrowings.
+Examples of diphthongs Diphthong Example word /ei/ tei35 'team' /ai/ mpai41 'pig' /au/ sau41 'satiated' /ou/ /ɔi/ sɔi221 'crime' /iu/ ʐiu221 'cotton tree' /eu/
Several vowels in Qibainong Dongnu permit a nasal consonant following, either /n/ or /ŋ/; most vowels permit one or the other, but not both. Qibainong also permits the rime /iaŋ/, despite not having a diphthong /ia/; /iaŋ/ is used only in recent loans. The possible combinations of vowel with final nasal, organized by the position of the vowel, appear in the table below.
+Vowel + nasal sequencesFrontCentralBackCloseClose-mid, Open-mid, Open,
+Examples of rimes with nasals Rime Example iŋ33 'bitter' muŋ33 'sick' pen13 'flower' nəŋ33 'snake' nɔŋ13 'eat' man43 'village' aŋ33 'water'
Tone Qibainong Dongnu has eight tones, with four having an alternate realization, giving a total of 12 tone values.
+Tones Tone number Tone class Tone value Example word 1 A1 33 tɔ33 'deep' 1′ A1′ 55 ven55 'winnowing basket' 2 A2 13 tɔ13 'come' 2′ A2′ 35 ven35 'garden' 3 B1 43 tɔ43 'hit' 3′ B1′ 54 pe54 'bowl' 4 B2 232 tɔ232 'read' 4′ B2′ 454 pe454 'handle' 5 C1 41 tɔ41 'kill' 6 C2 221 tɔ221 'die' 7 D1 32 tɔ32 'affix (a seal)' 8 D2 21 tɔ21 'bite'
Alphabet Bunu is written in a Latin script similar to other minority languages of China, such as Hmong-Mien languages, like Hmong or Tai-Kadai languages, like Kam or Sui. It uses Digraphs or combinations of letters instead of diacritics to represent additional sounds. The Bunu alphabet is:Meng 1996, pp. 10-14.
Letter a b by c ch d dl e ee f g gw gy h hl hm hmy hn hng hngw hny hs i j k kw ky l m mb mby mc mch md mdl mg IPA a p pʲ sʰ ʈʰ t tɬ ə e/ɛ f k kʷ kʲ h/ɦ ɬ m̥ m̥ʲ n̥ ŋ̊ ŋ̊ʷ ɲ̥ θʰ i tɕ kʰ kʷʰ kʲ l m mp mpʲ ntsʰ ɳʈʰ nt ntɬ ŋk Letter mgw mgy mhs mj mk mkw mp mpy mq ms mt mtl mz mzh n ng ngw ny o p py q r s sh t tl u uo v w x y z zh IPA ŋkʷ ŋkʲ ntθʰ ntɕ ŋkʰ ŋkʷʰ mpʰ mpʰʲ ntɕʰ ntθ ntʰ ntɬʰ nts ɳʈ n ŋ ŋʷ ɲ ɔ pʰ pʰʲ tɕʰ ʐ θ ʂ tʰ tɬʰ u o ɣ v/ɯ ɕ ʑ s ʈ
Tones Tones are marked with a consonant letter written at the end of a syllable.
Tone 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Value 33 13 43 232 41 221 32 21 Orthography b x d l t s k f
Grammar Word Classes According to Meng (2001), Bunu has 12 parts of speech, namely, nouns, pronouns, numerals, classifiers, adjectives, verbs, intensifiers (状词), adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliaries, and interjections.
Pronouns Personal pronouns in Bunu exhibit a three-way distinction in both person and number, yielding nine contrasting terms:
+ Personal pronouns in Qibainong Dongnu Singular Dual Plural First Person tɕuŋ43 a33 pe33 Second Person kau13 me33 me13 Third Person ni232 mo33 mo13
Bunu also has pronouns for 'oneself' and 'everyone', as well as a set of interrogative expressions:
+ Interrogative expressions in Qibainong Dongnu Pronoun Meaning po33si54 'what' ɦau221tau221 'how' po43tau221 'who, which' ɦa232tau221 'where' pan33tau221 'when'
Demonstratives
According to Meng (2001), demonstratives fall within the word class of pronouns. Five demonstratives are attested in Qibainong: 'this (visible)', 'that (medial, visible)', 'that (distal, visible)', 'that (unknown)', and 'that (known, not visible)'.
Numerals
Cardinal numerals include the following:
+ Cardinal numerals in Qibainong Dongnu Numeral Meaning Note len13 'zero' tɕau221 'one' used only in combination with classifiers i55 'one' general use au33 'two' pe33 'three' tɬa33 'four' pjo33 'five' ʈu41 'six' sɔŋ221 'seven' ʑo21 'eight' tɕu13 'nine' tɕu21 'ten' pai41 'hundred' sen33 'thousand' van221 'ten thousand'
References