Ai-Cham (autonym:ʔai33cam11;Chinese:锦话) is aKam–Sui language spoken mainly in Diwo 地莪 and Boyao 播尧 Townships, Jialiang District,Libo County,Qiannan Prefecture,Guizhou,China. Alternative names for the language are Jiamuhua, Jinhua and Atsam.Fang-Kuei Li first distinguished the language in 1943. Nearby languages includeBouyei andMak. However, Yang (2000) considers Ai-Cham and Mak to be different dialects of an identical language.[2]
Ai-Cham has six tones. Regarded of speaker's nationality, they are being subsumed under "Bouyei" nationality (same with speakers of Mak language).
The mythical patriarch and hero of the Ai-Cham people is thedemigod Wu Sangui, who is celebrated during the Ai-Cham New Year.[3]
^杨通银 / Yang Tongyin. 莫语研究 / Mo yu yan jiu (A Study of Mak). Beijing: 中央民族大学出版社 / Zhong yang min zu da xue chu ban she, 2000.
^Lin, Shi and Cui Jianxin. 1988. "An investigation of the Ai-Cham language." In Jerold A. Edmondson and David B. Solnit (eds.), Comparative Kadai: Linguistic studies beyond Tai, 59-85. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics, 86. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington.
Edmondson, J. A., & Solnit, D. B. (1988).Comparative Kadai: linguistic studies beyond Tai. Summer Institute of Linguistics publications in linguistics, no. 86. [Arlington, Tex.]: Summer Institute of Linguistics.ISBN0-88312-066-6.
