As noted byLaurent Sagart (2011)[5] and others,[6][7][8] Waxiang appears to share some words with theCaijia language of westernGuizhou. Sagart (2011) considers Caijia to be a sister of Waxiang. Currently, Waxiang is classified as a divergent Chinese variety rather than a non-Sinitic language.[3][4] Similarities amongOld Chinese, Waxiang, Caijia, andBai have also been pointed out by Wu & Shen (2010).[9]
Qu & Tang (2017) show that Waxiang and Miao (Qo Xiong) have had little mutual influence on each other.[10]
Yongshun County: Limin里明村 , Zhenxi镇溪 , Xiaoxi小溪 of Wangcun Township王村镇
Liubaohua六保话 , a dialect closely related to Waxianghua, is spoken in several villages in southeastern Guzhang County (including in Shaojitian Village筲箕田村, Shanzao Township山枣乡 ) and parts of Luxi County.[11] Liubaohua is spoken in the following locations (Zou 2013).
The Nanshan dialect of Waxianghua (Chinese:南山乡话) is spoken in parts ofChengbu County, Hunan andLongsheng County, Guangxi by about 1,100 Waxiang people who had originally migrated from Yuanling County. Their villages include:[12]
Sagart (2011) argues that Waxiang andCaijia together constitute the earliest branching of Chinese. However, Sagart later retracted this proposal, saying that he is no longer sure whether Waxiang and Caijia actually form a subgroup together.[5]
Like Waxiang, Caijia preserves Old Chinese *l-, has a voiced fricative reflex of *r-, and retains the Old Chinese word字 'love', which has been replaced by愛 in all other Chinese varieties. Waxiang and Caijia also share two words not found in other Chinese varieties:[5]
'two': Caijiata⁵⁵, Waxiangtso⁵³, from Old Chinese再*tsˤəs 'twice'
'milk': Caijiami⁵⁵, Waxiangmi⁵⁵, which Sagart suggests is a non-Sinitic word
^abKurpaska, Maria (2010).Chinese Language(s): A Look Through the Prism of "The Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects".Walter de Gruyter. p. 73.ISBN978-3-11-021914-2.
^abcSagart, Laurent. 2011. Classifying Chinese dialects/Sinitic languages on shared innovations. Talk given at Centre de recherches linguistiques sur l’Asie orientale, Norgent sur Marne.
Deng, Jie [邓婕]. 2020.Xiangxi Xianghua jiechu yu yanbian yanjiu [湘西乡话的接触与演变研究]. Beijing: The Commercial Press.
Li, Jiaolei [李姣雷]. 2021.Xiangxi Xianghua yuyin cengci ji yanbian yanjiu [湘西乡话语音层次及演变研究] /Phonological Strata and Evolution of Xianghua Dialects of Western Xiang. Beijing:The Commercial Press.
