Standard Zhuang
Vahcuengh
Pronunciation	[βa˧ɕuːŋ˧]
Native to	China
Ethnicity	Zhuang
Language family	Kra–Dai Tai Northern Tai (Northern Zhuang) Standard Zhuang
Writing system	Latin script (official),Sawndip
Official status
Recognised minority language in	China (Guangxi andWenshan Prefecture inYunnan)
Regulated by	Ethnic Minority Language Work Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region[1][2]
Language codes
ISO 639-1	za (all Zhuang)
ISO 639-2	zha
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None
This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA.

Standard Zhuang (autonym:Vahcuengh,Zhuang pronunciation:[βa˧ɕuːŋ˧]; pre-1982 autonym:Vaƅcueŋƅ;Sawndip:話壯;simplified Chinese:壮语;traditional Chinese:壯語;pinyin:Zhuàngyǔ) is theofficialstandardized form of theZhuang languages, which are a branch of theNorthern Tai languages. Its pronunciation is based on that of theYongbei Zhuang dialect of Shuangqiao Town inWuming District,Guangxi with some influence from Fuliang, also in Wuming District,^[3] while its vocabulary is based mainly on northern dialects. The official standard covers both spoken and written Zhuang. It is the national standard of the Zhuang languages, though inYunnan a local standard is used.^[4][5]

The following displays the phonological features of the Wuming and northern dialects of Zhuang:^[6][7]

Among other northern dialects of Zhuang,/w/ may be heard as a[β] or[v] sound. Absent consonant produces/ʔ/.

An unusual and rare feature is that Zhuang lacks/s/, which is the most common fricative across the world's languages. Other notable exceptions of languages without /s/ can be found amongAustralian languages, of which some lack fricatives altogether, yet Zhuang is different in that it has five fricatives.

[ə] only occurs in diphthong or triphthong sounds.

[ɤ] can occur in recent Chinese loanwords.^[8]

Among other northern Zhuang dialects,/e,o/ have shortened allophones of[ɛ,ɔ].^[9]

Standard Zhuang has six tones, reduced to two (numbered 3 and 6) inchecked syllables:

The sentenceSon mwngz hwnj max gvaq dah (Son mɯŋƨ hɯnз maч gvaƽ daƅ) "Teach thee to climb on a horse to cross a river" is often used to help people remember the six tones.

Tones for open syllables (not terminated by a closing consonant) are written at end of syllables.

Checked syllables can only have two tones, high and mid checked, high being shown by the final consonant being devoiced (p/t/k), and mid by it being voiced (b/d/g).

Zhuang uses SVO word order.

Zhuang words can be made up of one, two, or three syllables - one and two-syllable words (e.g.dahraix,'really') cannot be broken down into morphemes, but trisyllabic words can be. Compound words also exist - for example,mingzcoh,'name'. Prefixes and suffixes are also frequently used, such as "daih-" (borrowed fromChinese:第;pinyin:dì). Reduplication is also used.^[8]

The Old Zhuang script,Sawndip, is aChinese character–based writing system, similar to Vietnamesechữ nôm. SomeSawndip logograms were borrowed directly from Chinese, while others were created from the components of Chinese characters.Sawndip has been used for over one thousand years for various Zhuang dialects. Unlike Chinese,Sawndip has never been standardized, authors may differ in their choices of characters or spelling, and it is not currently part of the official writing system.

In 1957, the People's Republic of China introduced an alphabetical script for the newly standardized Zhuang language. The alphabet was based on theLatin script, expanded with modifiedCyrillic andIPA letters. A reform in 1982 replaced both the Cyrillic and IPA letters with Latin letters to facilitate printing and computer use.^[10] These alphabetical scripts are part of Standard Zhuang.

Letters in italics only represent tones. Letters in bold are only found in syllable codas.

Standard Zhuang is an artificial mixture of severalZhuang languages. The lexicon is based almost entirely on variousNorthern Zhuang dialects. The phonology is essentially that ofShuangqiao, with the addition ofny, ei, ou from Fuliang, both located inWuming County. Zhang (1999), along with other Chinese scholars, classifies Shuangqiao dialect asNorthern Tai (Northern Zhuang).^[11] Shuangqiao was chosen for the standard pronunciation in the 1950s because it was considered to be Northern Zhuang but with characteristics of Southern Zhuang.

Standard Zhuang is used most frequently in domains where written Zhuang was previously seldom used, such as newspapers, translations of communist literature,^[12] and prose. It is one of the official languages of China that appears on bank notes; all Chinese laws must be published in it, and it is used for bilingual signs. Whilst used for adult literacy programs, it is currently only taught in a very small percent of primary and secondary schools in Zhuang-speaking areas. In less formal domains the traditional writing systemSawndip is more often used^[13] and for folk songs Sawndip remains the predominant genre with most standard Zhuang versions being based on Sawndip versions.

In 2012, the first Zhuang Proficiency Test (Vahcuengh Sawcuengh Suijbingz Gaujsi, abbreviated VSSG) took place, in which 328 people took and 58% passed.^[14] It was promoted as the first standardised minority language test in mainland China, with the objective of supporting bilingual Zhuang-Chinese education.^[15] From 2012 to 2020, the average number of registered testees for the VSSG was 376 per year, with candidates from outsideGuangxi being accepted after 2019.^[15] Currently available at three levels, Basic, Intermediate and Advanced, the examination tests the written skills of reading comprehension, translation both into and fromStandard Chinese, and writing.^[15]

While Standard Zhuang is largely pronounced as Shuangqiao Wuming dialect, there is a degree of purposeful dialect mixture in vocabulary:

This articleshould specify the language of its non-English content using{{lang}} or{{langx}},{{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and{{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriateISO 639 code. Wikipedia'smultilingual support templates may also be used.See why.(May 2022)

A significant amount of Zhuang words are loaned fromChinese - around 30 to 40 percent in normal conversation, and almost every word regarding science, politics, or technology.^[8] Loans have come fromCantonese as well as other Chinese varieties. CompareYue Chinese:快,romanized: faai3,lit. 'fast' to Zhuang:vaiq,lit. 'fast' - much of Zhuang's basic wordstock has come from loans. However, it is difficult to determine if specific loanwords come fromMiddle Chinese or from Chinese varieties later on in history.

First article of the 1948 United Nations'Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Sawndip

Zhuang edition ofWikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Sawcuengh People.com Official Standard Zhuang version of thePeople's Daily website

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