The Buyang language was initially documented in 1990 by Chinese linguist Liang Min. In 1999, a doctoral dissertation and book was published for Buyang. The book has also recently been translated intoEnglish.
Many speakers of Buyang are also fluent inZhuang.[4]
Langjia 郎架 is spoken in Langjia 郎架,Funing County 富宁县,Yunnan along theGuangxi border. It is split byEthnologue into Langnian Buyang (ISO 639-3:yln) and E'ma Buyang (ISO 639-3:yzg). The name Langjia comes fromZhuang[laːŋ35tɕaːi31], which means "dried bamboo shoot."[6]
Yerong 雅郎, also called Yalhong, is spoken in Rongtun 荣屯 (near Longhe Township 龙合乡),Napo County 那坡,Guangxi. It is listed inEthnologue as Yerong 耶容 (ISO 639-3:yrn).
Baha (Paha) 巴哈 is considered a separate language by Weera Ostapirat (2000). It is spoken in Yangliancun 央连村 (jaaŋ24lɛŋ31 in Zhuang), Diyu Township 底于乡 and Anshecun 安舍村, Bada Township 八达乡, which are both inGuangnan County 广南,Yunnan. It is listed inEthnologue as Baha Buyang (ISO 639-3:yha).
Weera Ostapirat (2000) splits the Buyang language into two branches:[5]
North (Buyang Proper): Ecun and Langjia
South: Yalang (Yalhong)
Ostapirat also classifies Buyang andQabiao together as Eastern Kra, whilePaha is classified as Central Kra. Together, the two branches form one of the two primaryKra branches, namely Central-East Kra. TheEn language has also been recently included in Eastern Kra (also called Yang–Biao, from[Bu]yang–[Pu]biao).
Li (2010) divides the Buyang language as follows:[6]
Eastern
TheFuning County dialects of Ecun 峨村,[7] Dugan 度干,[8] Zhelong 者龙,[9] Nada 那达,[10] Longna 龙纳,[11] Maguan 马贯,[12] Langjia 郎架,[13] and Nianlang 念郎.[14] The Ecuns are known collectively asBuyang Bazhai 布央八寨, or "the eight Buyang villages." Together, they make up the largest group of Buyang speakers, numbering about 1,000 speakers collectively. Li further splits the Funing County Buyang dialects into 3 groups (listed from north to south):
Maguan 马贯
Ecun 峨村, Dugan 度干, Zhelong 者龙, Nada 那达, Longna 龙纳
Langjia 郎架, Nianlang 念郎
Central Pohe Township 坡荷乡,Napo County, western Guangxi. More than 300 speakers reside in Rongtun 荣屯村 and Gonghe 共合村 villages, while over 100 live in Shanhe 善合, Yong'an 永安, and Guoba 果巴 villages; also in Renhecun 仁合村. 400 speakers total.
Pre-Buyang, the stage in the evolution of the language that can be reconstructed from internal evidence, appears to have had a slightly different phonemic inventory than the modern dialects: a voiced stop *ɢ paired with *q,[17] as well as voiced *ɦ alongside *h,[18] and a pair of sibilants *s, *z.[19] In addition, it doesn't appear to have had a series of aspirated consonants, a condition still found in the Ecun dialect.[20] Thus reconstructed pre-Buyang is more similar in its phonemic inventory to reconstructedProto-Austronesian than is any modern dialect of Buyang.[further explanation needed]
^Holm, David (2003).Killing a Buffalo for the Ancestors: A Zhuang Cosmological Text from Southwest China. DeKalb: Southeast Asia Publications, Northern Illinois University. p. 15.
^Gordon, Raymond G. Jr., ed. (2005).Ethnologue: Languages of the World (15th ed.). Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
^abDiller, Anthony V. N.; Edmondson, Jerold A.; Luo, Yongxian, eds. (2008).The Tai-Kadai Languages. Routledge Language Family Series. Psychology Press.
^abOstapirat, Weera (2000)."Introduction"(PDF).Proto-Kra. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 23(1). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2018-10-06.
^Jinfang, Li (2002).富宁布央语调查研究 [Research on Funing Buyang dialects]. 中央民族大学学报：哲学社会科学版 [Journal of Minzu University of China: Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition], Issue 1: Journal of the Central University for Nationalities. pp. 115–122.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^"the ancient Buyang language must have had a voiced stop *G contrasting to *q. The Duolo dialect of Gelao, a language related to Buyang, now still has ...G." (Li & Zhou, p. 116, § 2)
^"Ancient Buyang had ... *ɦ." (Li & Zhou, p. 125, § 4)
^"Ancient Buyang had a contrastive pair of voiceless and voiced ... *s, *z, which are very common in modern Ge–Yang" (Li & Zhou, p. 124, § 4)
^"Ancient Buyang didn't have any aspirated consonants. Later, ... aspirated consonants were created in some dialects, but in Ecun dialect, no aspirated consonants appeared at all." (Li & Zhou, p. 132, § 8)
