Choyo language

Choyo
Queyu, Choyu
Native to	China
Native speakers	(7,000 cited 1995) [1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Qiangic Zhaba–Queyu Choyo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	qvy
Glottolog	quey1238
ELP	Queyu

Queyu (Choyo, Choyu) is a Qiangic language of Yajiang County and Xinlong County, Sichuan. It is similar with and shares a name with Zhaba, but the two languages are distinct from each other.

Dialects

The four dialects of Choyo are those of: ^[2]

• Youlaxi Township 尤拉西乡, Xinlong County (Wang 1991; Huang ed. 1992) ^{[3] [4]} (which also has Western Horpa speakers ^[5] )
• Rongba Township 绒坝乡, Litang County (Nishida 2008) ^[6]
• Tuanjie Township 团结乡, Yajiang County (Lu 1985; Sun ed. 1991) ^{[7] [8]}
• Xiala Township 呷拉乡, Yajiang County (Prins & Nagano 2013) ^[9] (which also has Dao speakers ^[10] )

Suzuki & Wangmo (2016) ^[2] consider the Lhagang Choyu language to be similar to but not part of Choyu proper, which consists of the four dialects listed above.

Huang & Dai (1992) ^[4] document the Queyu dialect spoken in Youlaxi Township 尤拉西乡, Xinlong County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan.

Lhagang Choyu

Lhagang Choyu (Chinese :Tagong Queyu 塔公却域語) is a Qiangic language similar to Choyu recently described by Suzuki & Wangmo (2018). ^[11] It is spoken in Tage [Thabs-mkhas] Hamlet, southwestern Tagong [lHa-sgang] Town, Kangding [Dar-mdo] Municipality, Sichuan Province, China. It used to be spoken in Xiya 西雅 Hamlet of the same township (Suzuki & Wangmo 2016:63). Lhagang Choyu is an endangered language with about 100 speakers.

Phonology

Consonants ^[12]

		Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	oral	p b	t d			k g
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ			kʰ
Affricate	oral		ts dz	ʈʂ ɖʐ	tʃ dʒ
	aspirated		tsʰ	ʈʂʰ	tʃʰ
Fricative	oral	( f ) v	s z	ʂ ʐ	ʃ ʒ	x ɣ
	aspirated		sʰ	ʂʰ	ʃʰ
Nasal		m̥ m	n̥ n			( ŋ̊ ) ŋ
Approximant		w	l̥ l	r̥ r	j

• /f/ and /ŋ̊/ are only observed in one word each.

Vowels ^[12]

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid-high	e eˤ	ɘ	o oˤ
Mid-low		ə əˤ
Low	ɛ	ɜ ɜˤ	aˤ

Choyo also has three tones; ^[12] high, low, and rising.

References

1. Choyo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Suzuki, Hiroyuki and Sonam Wangmo. 2016. “Lhagang Choyu: A first look at its sociolinguistic status”. Studies in Asian Geolinguistics II: Rice. pp.60–69.
3. Wang, Tianxi. 1990. “Queyuyu [Choyu]”. In Qingxia Dai, Bufan Huang, Ailan Fu, Rig-’dzin dBang-mo, and Juhuang Liu. Zangmianyu Shiwuzhong. pp.46–63. Beijing: Beijing Yanshan Chubanshe.
4. Huang Bufan and Dai Qingxia, eds. 1992. Zangmianyuzu yuyan cihui 《藏緬語族語言詞匯》[A Tibeto-Burman Lexicon]. Beijing: Central Institute of Minorities.
5. Sun, Jackson T.-S. 2018. The Ancestry of Horpa: Further Morphological Evidence ^{[ permanent dead link ]}. Taipei: Academia Sinica.
6. Nishida, Fuminobu. 2008. “Tyuyugo no on-in taikei [Phonological system of Choyu]”. Tyuugoku Kenkyuu 16. pp.77–85.
7. Lu, Shaozun. 1985. “Zhabayu gaikuang [Overview of Zhaba]”. Minzu Yuwen 2. pp.67–76.
8. Sun Hongkai et al. 1991. Zangmianyu yuyin he cihui 藏缅语音和词汇 [Tibeto-Burman phonology and lexicon]. Chinese Social Sciences Press.
9. Prins, Marielle and Yasuhiko Nagano (eds.). 2013. rGyalrongic Languages Database.
10. Yeshes Vodgsal Atshogs / Yixiweisa Acuo [意西微萨・阿错]. 2004. A study of Dao [倒话研究]. Beijing: Ethnic Publishing House [民族出版社]. ISBN   978-7-105-06016-0
11. Suzuki, Hiroyuki and Sonam Wangmo. 2018. “Lhagang Choyu wordlist with the Thamkhas dialect of Minyag Rabgang Khams (Lhagang, Khams Minyag)”. Asian and African Languages and Linguistics 12. pp.133–160.
12. Zheng, Jingyao (2023). "A Phonological Study of Rongpa Choyul". Languages. 8 (2): 133. doi: 10.3390/languages8020133 .

• Nishida, Fuminobu. 2008. Chuyu-go no on'in taikei. Chūgoku kenkyū / Reitaku University 16. 77-85.