| Hani | |
|---|---|
| Haqniqdoq | |
| Native to | Laos,Myanmar,South China,Vietnam |
| Ethnicity | Hani |
Native speakers | 770,000 (2007–2019)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | hni |
| Glottolog | hani1248 |
TheHani language (Hani:Haqniqdoq orxa31ɲi31;simplified Chinese:哈尼语;traditional Chinese:哈尼語;pinyin:Hāníyǔ;Vietnamese:Tiếng Hà Nhì) is a language of theLoloish (Yi) branch of theTibeto-Burman linguistic group spoken inChina,Laos,Myanmar, andVietnam by theHani people.
In China, Hani is spoken mostly in areas to the east of theMekong River in south-centralYunnan province, mostly inPu'er andHonghe prefectures, as well as in parts of other surrounding prefectures. Hani is also spoken inLai Châu andLào Cai provinces of northwestern Vietnam and inPhongsaly Province of 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 Te and 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.
Hani has three maintones and two types of shortvowels.
| 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 | |||||
Vowel length in Hani is also distinctive.[2]
| 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 | ||
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 County dialect, is written using aLatin-based script developed by the Chinese government during the 1950s. As with the Latin-based scripts of theZhuang,Hmong andIu Mien languages, it uses finalconsonant letters to representtone.
Consonants in Hani orthography are pronounced the same as inpinyin, with two additionaldigraphs forvoiced fricatives in Hani. TheIPA equivalents for letters in Hani orthography are provided below.[3]
| Hani | IPA |
|---|---|
| hh | ɣ |
| ss | z |
The vowels in Hani orthography are as follows.[3] 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].[3]Numerical Chao tones are provided below.
| Hani | IPA |
|---|---|
| l | [55] (high level) |
| (none) | [33] (mid level) |
| q | [31] (low falling) |
| f | [24] (rising) |
The letterv at the end of a syllable indicates buzzing vowels (represented with a minus sign below ◌̠ in IPA), and it can be followed by a tone letter.
| 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. |
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| Indigenous languages |
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Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WesternHimalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand,Nepal,Sikkim) |
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| EasternHimalayas (Tibet,Bhutan,Arunachal) | |||||
| Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border |
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| East andSoutheast Asia |
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| Dubious (possible isolates,Arunachal) |
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| Proposed groupings | |||||
| Proto-languages | |||||
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches. | |||||
