Na language

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Wikipedia

Na
Narua
Native toChina
RegionSichuan
EthnicityMosuo
Native speakers
47,000 (2010)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3nru
Glottologyong1270

Na (or Narua, Mosuo) is a language of the Naish subbranch of the Naic group of the Sino-Tibetan languages.

Varieties

Yongning Na, which is spoken in Yongning Township, Ninglang County, Lijiang, Yunnan, China, has been documented by Jacques and Michaud (2011).[2] It has three tonal levels.[3] A trilingual dictionary is available online.[4]

Lataddi Narua is notable for having only two tonal levels.[5]

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Retroflex Alveolo-
palatal		 Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n (ɳ) ɲ (ŋ)
Stop voiceless p t (ʈ) k q (ʔ)
aspirated pʰ tʰ (ʈʰ) kʰ qʰ
voiced b d (ɖ) ɡ ɢ
Affricate voiceless t͡s t͡ʂ t͡ɕ
aspirated t͡sʰ t͡ʂʰ t͡ɕʰ
voiced d͡z d͡ʐ d͡ʑ
Fricative voiceless f s ʂ ɕ (x) h
voiced (v) z ʐ ʑ ɣ (ʁ)
Lateral fricative ɬ
glide l (ɭ)
Approximant w j
  • /t, tʰ, d, n, l/ can be heard as [ʈ, ʈʰ, ɖ, ɳ, ɭ] when preceding vowel sounds /ɯ, u, v̩, ɤ, æ/.
  • /p, pʰ, b, m, w/ can be heard as [ʙ̥, ʙ̥ʰ, ʙ, ɱ, v] when preceding vowel sounds /ɯ, u, v̩/.
  • /ɣ/ can also be heard as uvular [ʁ] in word-initial position.
  • /w, h/ is also heard as voiceless [w̥, x] in free variation.
  • /n/ is heard as velar [ŋ] when before velar stops.
  • [ʔ] is heard in initial position before vowels.[6]

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i ɯ u
Mid ɛ ə ɤ ɔ
Open æ, æ̃ ɑ
Syllabic v̩
  • /ɯ/ can be heard as [ɨ] in syllable-initial position and as retroflex [ɻ̩] when after retroflex consonants.[7]

Grammar

Syntax

Narua's default word order is agent–object–verb, although expression of all verb arguments is not obligatory.

Narua marks sentence topics with jjo /dʑo˥/ after a topicalized clause or noun phrase.

References

  1. ↑ Na at Ethnologue (24th ed., 2021) Closed access icon
  2. ↑ Jacques, Guillaume, and Alexis Michaud. 2011. "Approaching the historical phonology of three highly eroded Sino-Tibetan languages." Diachronica 28:468-498.
  3. ↑ Michaud, Alexis (2017). Tone in Yongning Na: Lexical tones and morphotonology. Studies in Diversity Linguistics. Berlin: Language Science Press. ISBN 978-3-946234-87-6.
  4. ↑ Michaud, Alexis; Latami, Dashilamu; Milan, Pascale-Marie; Galliot, Benjamin (2025). Na (Mosuo) – English – Chinese dictionary (version 2.1 ed.). France: Lexica.
  5. ↑ Dobbs, Roselle, and La Mingqing. 2016 "The two-level tonal system of Lataddi Narua." Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, Vol. 39:1 (2016), 67–104. doi:10.1075/ltba.39.1.04dob
  6. ↑ Lidz, Liberty A. (2010). A Descriptive Grammar of Yongning Na (Mosuo). University of Texas at Austin.
  7. ↑ Zhenhong, Yang (2009). An overview of the Mosuo language. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 32. pp. 1–43.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)