| Wa | |
|---|---|
| Va,Vo,Awa | |
| Region | China,Laos,Myanmar,Thailand |
| Ethnicity | Wa |
Native speakers | (900,000 cited 2000–2008)[1] |
| Latin script Formerly:Chinese characters,Shan script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:prk – Paraukwbm – Vovwa – Awa |
| Glottolog | waaa1245 |
| ELP | Wa |
| Phalok[2] | |
 Wa is classified as Severely Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Wa (Va) is anAustroasiatic language spoken by theWa people ofMyanmar andChina. There are three distinct varieties, sometimes considered separate languages; their names inEthnologue areParauk, the majority and standard form;Vo (Zhenkang Wa, 40,000 speakers) andAwa (100,000 speakers), though all may be calledWa,Awa,Va,Vo. David Bradley (1994) estimates there are total of 820,000 Wa speakers.
It is Recognized as a State Language by the government ofWa State.
Gerard Diffloth refers to the Wa geographic region as the "Wa corridor", which lies between theSalween andMekong Rivers. According to Diffloth, variants include South Wa, "Bible Wa" and Kawa (Chinese Wa).
Christian Wa are more likely to support the use of Standard Wa, since their Bible is based on a standard version of Wa, which is in turn based on the variant spoken in Bang Wai, 150 miles north ofKengtung (Watkins 2002). Bang Wai is located in NorthernShan State,Burma, close to the Chinese border whereCangyuan County is located.
Certain dialects of Wa preserve a final -/s/. They include the variants spoken in Meung Yang andXimeng County (such as a variety spoken in Zhongke 中课, Masan 马散,Ximeng County that was documented by Zhou & Yan (1984)) (Watkins 2002:8).
David Bradley (1994) estimates that there is a total of about 500,000 Wa speakers inBurma.
A small number of Wa speakers also reside inTaunggyi,Mandalay andYangon.
The PRC writing system for Wa is based on the Wa variant in Aishuai,Cangyuan County,Yunnan.
David Bradley (1994) estimates that there are 322,000 Wa speakers in China. In China, theWa people live in (Watkins 2002):
A small number of Wa speakers also reside inKunming and throughout various parts ofYunnan.
The three dialects of Wa (and their respective subdialects) according to Zhou et al. (2004) are:[3]
Jackson Sun (2018a)[5] lists the Awa dialects and their alternate names as follows.
The Dai exonym for the Wa of Yongde, Zhenkang and Nanla 南腊 isla³¹. In Sipsongpanna, the Dai call them theva¹¹,va¹¹dip⁵⁵ ("Raw Va" 生佤),va¹¹ʔău⁵⁵ho⁵⁵ ("Head-carrying Wa" 拿头佤),va¹¹sə⁵⁵să⁵⁵na⁵³ ("Religious Wa" 信教佤). In Ximeng and Menglian counties, the Wa autonym isxa³¹va⁵³, while in Cangyuan and Gengma counties it isxa³¹va⁵³lɒi⁵³ (Zhou, et al. 2004:2).
Yan and Zhou (2012:138)[7] list the following names for Wa in various counties.
A language known asBujiao 补角 (autonym:Puga 仆嘎) inMengla County was mentioned in Yunnan (1960)[8] The Bujiao were classified as ethnic Bulang and had a population of 212 in 1960.
TheKela 克拉 (Dai exonym: Kala 卡拉; population: 393 people) live in District 3 三区 ofTengchong County 腾冲县, Yunnan (You 2013:359).[9] The Kela used to speak a variety of Wa, but now speak only Chinese. The Kela also refer to themselves as theWama 佤妈.[8]
Wa have also migrated to Thailand in the past several decades, mainly from Burma. There are about 10,000 Wa speakers in Thailand. Wa villages can be found in (Watkins 2002:6):
Standard Wa is a non-tonal language. However, tone has developed in some of the dialects. There is correspondence between tones in tonal dialects and tenseness in non-tonal dialects.[10]
In Wa, there are 44 phonemes;[11] 35 consonants[12] and 9 vowels. All of these vowels can be tense or lax. Tenseness is a phonemic feature in syllables with unaspirated initials.[10]
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | ||
| Close | i | ɯ | u |
| Close-mid | e | ɤ | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a | ||
There are 15 diphthongs:/iu,ɯi,ui,ia,ɤi,ua,ei,ou,oi~ɔi,ai,aɯ,au/ and 2 triphthongs:/iau,uai/. The general syllabic structure of Wa is C(C)(V)V(V)(C). Only a few words have zero-initials.[10]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | plain | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| aspirated | mʱ | nʱ | ɲʱ | ŋʱ | |||
| Stop | voiceless | plain | p | t | c | k | ʔ |
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | cʰ | kʰ | |||
| prenasalized | voiced | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | ||
| aspirated | ᵐbʱ | ⁿdʱ | ᶮɟʱ | ᵑɡʱ | |||
| Fricative | plain | v | s | ||||
| aspirated | vʱ | h | |||||
| Approximant | plain | l | j | ||||
| aspirated | lʱ | jʱ | |||||
| Trill | plain | r | |||||
| aspirated | rʱ | ||||||
The Wa language formerly had no script and some of the few Wa that were literate usedChinese characters,[citation needed] while others used theShan language and its script.Christian missionary work among the Wa began at the beginning of the 20th century first in the Burmese and later in the Chinese areas of the Wa territory. It was led by William Marcus Young, fromNebraska. The first transcription of the Wa language was devised by Young and Sara Yaw Shu Chin (Joshua) in 1931 with the purpose oftranslating the Bible. This first Wa alphabet was based on theLatin script and the very first publication was a compilation of Wahymns in 1933,[13] the WaNew Testament being completed in 1938. This transcription, known asBible orthography, is known as lǎowǎwén 老佤文old Wa orthography in Chinese, and is now used mainly in the Burmese Wa areas and among the Wa in Thailand through the materials published by the Wa Welfare Society(Cub Yuh Bwan Ka son Vax, Cub Pa Yuh Phuk Lai Vax, Phuk Lai Hak Tiex Vax) inChiang Mai.[14]
In 1956, a transcription adapted to the newpinyinromanization, known asnew Wa orthography, "PRC orthography" or "Chinese orthography", was developed for the Wa people in China. However, its publications, mainly propagated through the Yunnan administration, are yet to reach a wider public beyond academics. This transcription, which originally included even a couple of letters of theCyrillic script, has also since been revised. Despite the revisions, both the Chinese and the Bible orthography are still marred by inconsistencies.[15]
Recently,[when?] a revised Bible orthography adopting some features from the Chinese orthography has been adopted asWa State Wa orthography or "official Wa spelling" by the central authorities of theWa State inPangkham which have published a series of primers in order to improve the literacy of theUnited Wa State Army troops. Also, after 2000 Wa people in social networks such asFacebook, as well as Wa songwriters inkaraoke lyrics of Wa songs, use this Myanmar (revised Bible) orthography in its main variations.[16] TheWa Women's Association promotes the use of the script.[17]
| WBO | IPA | WBO | IPA | WBO | IPA | WBO | IPA | WBO | IPA | WBO | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| p | [p] | bh | [ᵐbʱ] | nh | [nʰ] | rh | [rʰ] | o | [o] | e | [ei] |
| ph | [pʰ] | d | [ⁿd] | ny | [ɲ] | y | [j] | ie | [ɛ] | o | [ou] |
| t | [t] | dh | [ⁿdʱ] | nyh | [ɲʰ] | yh | [jʰ] | aw | [ɔ] | oi, oe, we | [oi~ɔi] |
| th | [tʰ] | j | [ᶮɟ] | ng | [ŋ] | l | [l] | a | [a] | ai | [ai] |
| c | [c] | jh | [ᶮɟʱ] | ngh | [ŋʰ] | lh | [lʰ] | iu | [iu] | au | [aɯ] |
| ch | [cʰ] | g | [ᵑg] | s | [s] | i | [i] | eei, ui | [ɯi] | au, ao | [au] |
| k | [k] | gh | [ᵑgʱ] | h | [h] | ee | [ɯ] | ui, wi | [ui] | iao | [iau] |
| kh | [kʰ] | m | [m] | v | [v] | u | [u] | ia | [ia] | oe | [uai] |
| x | [ʔ] | mh | [mʰ] | vh, f | [vʱ] | e | [e] | eue | [ɤi] | ||
| b | [ᵐb] | n | [n] | r | [r] | eu | [ɤ] | ua, wa | [ua] |
