Habei language
Habei is a Southern Loloish language of Yunnan, China. Hsiu suggests that Habei belongs to the Bisoid branch.
Background
Habei is spoken in only one village, namely Habei village 哈备村, Zhemi Township 者米乡, Jinping [Miao, Yao, and Dai Autonomous County], Yunnan. The Habei people refer to their village as Kuang An, meaning 'old village'.The Habei still preserve traditional animist rituals.
The Habei language has been documented by Yan and He & Liu.
Names
Autonyms and exonyms for the Habei are as follows.- autonym:
- Yao exonym:
- Lahu exonym:
- Miao exonym:
- Zhuang exonym:
- Hani exonym:,
Phonology
Habei has 32 onsets and 62 rimes. The consonant inventory is similar to that of standard Hani of Lüchun County, but also has /f/ and /v/, which Lüchun Hani does not have. Final consonants are -p, -t, -k, -m, -n, and -ŋ.There are 6 tones. In songs, only 4 tones are recognizable.