Linglinghua

Lingling
Linghua
liŋ55 va33
Pronunciation	[liŋ˥ va˧]
Native to	China
Region	Guangxi
Ethnicity	Miao
Native speakers	(20,000 cited 1991)
Language family	mixed Mandarin–Miao
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None

Lingling (Chinese: Linghua 伶话 Línghuà or Lingling hua; Lingling: liŋ55 va33) is an unclassified mixed Chinese dialect. It is spoken by 20,000 ethnic Miao in Longsheng County, Guangxi. It is only spoken within the community; with outsiders, Southwestern Mandarin is spoken.

He (2009) covers the Linghua dialect of Taiping (太平村), Pingdeng Township (平等乡), Longsheng County, Guangxi.

A description of the Taipingtang 太平塘村 dialect of Linghua can be found in Wang (2014).

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar		Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Velar
			plain	lateral
Plosive/Affricate	plain	p	t	tɬ	tʂ	tɕ	k
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	tɬʰ	tʂʰ	tɕʰ	kʰ
	voiced	b	d	dl		dʑ	g
Nasal		m	n				ŋ
Fricative		f	s	ɬ		ɕ	h
Approximant		w		l

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
Close	i	y		u
Mid			ə	ɔ
Open	a

Tones

Tone category	Tone value
A1	55
A2	22
B1	33
B2	44
C	44
D	22

Vocabulary

This section lists sample vocabulary in Linghua from Wang (2014). Translated English glosses have also been provided.

Pronouns

	sg.	pl.
1st person	ŋa³³	ŋai³³
2nd person	ŋ̍³³	ŋ̍³³liɛ⁵⁵
3rd person	tʰa⁵⁵, i⁵⁵	i⁵⁵liɛ⁵⁵

Numerals

Numeral	Linghua
1	i²²
2	ni⁴⁴
3	ɬa⁵⁵
4	ɬi⁴⁴
5	ŋ̍³³
6	liu²²
7	tɬʰi²²
8	pia²²
9	tɕiu³³
10	dl̩²²

Nature

Chinese gloss	English gloss	Linghua
天	sky	tʰiɛ⁵⁵
太阳	sun	ni²²dau²²/⁵⁵
月亮	moon	wei²²liɔ⁴⁴
星星	star	ɬiɛ⁵⁵liɛ³³
云	cloud	uŋ²²wu⁴⁴
雨	rain	u³³
风	wind	puŋ⁵⁵
山	mountain	ɬai⁵⁵
田	field	diɛ²²

Body parts

Chinese gloss	English gloss	Linghua
头	head	dau²²
头发	hair (of head)	dau²²pei²²/⁵⁵
脸	face	miɛ⁴⁴
耳朵	ear	niɛ³³tɔ³³
眼睛	eye	ŋai³³tɬiɛ⁵⁵
鼻子	nose	bi²²haŋ³³
嘴	mouth	hau³³
舌头	tongue	iɛ²²liɛ³³
牙齿	tooth	ŋa²²tɬʰl̩³³
脖子	neck	tɕiɛ³³kuai³³
肩	shoulder	kai⁵⁵dau²²
脊背	back	pei⁴⁴
手	hand	ɕiu³³
脚	leg, foot	tɕiɔ²²
心	heart	ɬiŋ⁵⁵
肉	meat, flesh	nai⁴⁴
皮	skin	bi²²
骨头	bone	gy³³
左	left (side)	tɬɔ³³
右	right (side)	iu⁴⁴

References

• He Danpeng [何丹鵬]. 2009. 廣西龍勝伶話語音的歷史層次研究 [Study of the Longsheng (Guangxi) Linghua phonology and its historical strata]. Ph.D. dissertation. City University of Hong Kong.
• Ming studies, 34–35:55, University of Minnesota, 1990