Bumang language
Bumang is a tonal Austroasiatic language of Yunnan, China. It is spoken by about 200 people in Manzhang, Mengla District, Jinping County, Honghe Prefecture. The existence of Bumang was only recently documented by Chinese linguist Dao Jie in the mid-2000s. It is closely related to Kháng.
Classification
considers Bumang and the closely related Kháng language to be Khmuic languages based on lexical evidence, while Dao Jie proposes that Bumang may be a Palaungic language.Although Bumang and Mang have similar names and are both spoken in Honghe Prefecture of Yunnan Province in China, they are not closely related and do not appear to be in the same branch together. Whereas Edmondson considers Bumang to likely be a Khmuic language, Mang is not one, and is more closely related to the Bolyu and Bugan languages of southern China.
Population
The Bumang autonym is . In China, the Bumang are classified as part of the Dai nationality. Bumang speakers are surrounded by speakers of White Tai, Black Tai, and Pu'er Dai. Bumang women's clothing is identical to that of the Kháng, Ksingmul, White Tai, and Black Tai.Within Manzhang, Mengla District, Bumang is spoken in Shangmanzhang and Xiamanzhang. Shangmanzhang is located in Tiantou Village, Mengla Township, while Xiamanzhang is situated on a state-run rubber plantation.
The Bumang are descended from Kháng people who had immigrated from Vietnam in the 1800s.