She Chinese


She or Shehua is an unclassified Sinitic language spoken by the She people of Southeastern China. It is also called Shanha, San-hak or Shanhahua. She speakers are located mainly in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces of Southeastern China, with smaller numbers of speakers in a few locations of Jiangxi, Guangdong and Anhui provinces.
She is not to be confused with Shēyǔ, which is a Hmong–Mien language spoken in East-Central Guangdong. She and Sheyu speakers have separate histories and identities, although both are officially classified by the Chinese government as She people. The Dongjia of Majiang County, Guizhou are also officially classified as She people, but speak a Western Hmongic language closely related to Chong'anjiang Miao.

History

During the Tang dynasty, She speakers lived in the Jiangxi-Guangdong-Fujian border region. Afterwards, they moved to their present locations further to the northeast.

Classification

Some linguists consider She to be a variety of Hakka Chinese, while others consider it to be an unclassified variety of Chinese that has received some influence from Hakka and is part of Hakka. Hiroki Nakanishi considers She to be a Hakka dialect that may have a Sheyu substratum. However, Zhao considers She to be an independent branch of Chinese, and that it should not be classified within Hakka.
Depending on their locations, She dialects have been variously influenced by Hakka, Gan, Wu, and Min.

Dialects

You divides She into 9 dialectal areas, and with respective locations and speaker demographics from You listed as well. The Eastern Fujian and Southern Zhejiang dialectal areas each have over 100,000 speakers, while the smallest dialectal areas are in Guangdong and Jiangxi, with each having only a few thousand speakers. Altogether, there are more than 400,000 She speakers in China.
  • Mindong, spoken in the counties of Fu'an 福安, Fuding 福鼎, Xiapu 霞浦, Ningde 宁德, Shouning 寿宁, Zhouning 周宁, Zherong 柘荣, Pingnan 屏南, Luoyuan 罗源, Lianjiang 连江, Fuzhou 福州郊区, Minhou 闽侯, Minqing 闽清, and Yongqin 永泰. 184,000 speakers. In contact with Eastern Min.
  • Minbei, spoken in the counties of Nanping 南平, Jian'ou 建瓯, Jianyang 建阳, Shaowu 邵武, Shunchang 顺昌, and Guangze 光泽. 21,000 speakers. In contact with Northern Min.
  • Minzhong, spoken in the counties of Sanming 三明, Yong'an 永安, Shaxian 沙县, and Ninghua 宁化. Also spoken in Shuangguishan 双贵山, Youxi County, Fujian. 12,000 speakers. In contact with Central Min.
  • Minnan, spoken in the counties of Licheng District 鲤城区, Anxi 安溪, Dehua 德化, Yongchun 永春, Hua'an 华安, Longyan 龙岩, and Zhangping 漳平. 12,000 speakers. In contact with Southern Min. In Zhangping City, Shanyangge She 山羊隔畲话 is spoken by over 800 people in the two villages of Shanyangge 山羊隔, Guilin Township 桂林乡, and Jianci 尖祠, Xi'nan Township 溪南乡. Shanyangge She is distinct from Shejiake 畲家客, which is a Southern Min dialect spoken by over 100 people in Zhangping County in the two villages of Changta Village 长塔村, Xianghu Township 象湖乡 and Wei Village 尾村, Shuangyang Township 双洋乡.
  • Zhenan, spoken in the counties of Pingyang 平阳, Cangnan 苍南, Rui'an 瑞安, Wencheng 文成, Taishun 泰顺, Lishui 丽水, Jingning 景宁, Yunhe 云和, Longquan 龙泉, Songyang 松阳, Qingtian 青田, and Wuyi 武义. 120,000 speakers. In contact with Wu Chinese.
  • Zhezhong, spoken in the counties of Longyou 龙游, Quxian 衢县, Lanxi 兰溪, Jinhua 金华, and Suichang 遂昌. 23,000 speakers. In contact with Wu Chinese.
  • Zhebei, spoken in the counties of Tonglu 桐庐, Jiande 建德, Lin'an 临安, Fuyang 富阳, and Anji 安吉. 13,000 speakers. In contact with Wu Chinese.
  • Yuedong, spoken in the counties of Chaozhou 潮州 and Fengshun 丰顺. 2,200 speakers. In contact with the Teochew dialect of Southern Min. In Fengshun County, it is spoken in Fengping Village 凤坪村, Tanjiang Town 潭江镇. You, Lei & Lan document the She variety of Fenghuangshan 凤凰山 in eastern Guangdong.
  • Gandong, spoken in the counties of Guixi 贵溪 and Yanshan 铅山. 4,000 speakers. In contact with Gan Chinese. The She variety of Taiyuan 太源畲族乡, Yanshan County, Jiangxi has been documented in detail by Hu & Hu, while the She variety of Zhangping Township 樟坪畲族乡, Guixi City, Jiangxi has been documented in detail by Liu.
In Anhui Province, there is also a She dialect spoken by about 2,400 people in Yunti She Ethnic Township, Ningguo City that has been influenced by Lower Yangtze Mandarin.
You provides a comparative vocabulary list for the following 13 datapoints. The Zhebei dialectal area 浙北方言区 has not been included by You.
  1. Fu'an 福安, Ningde, Fujian
  2. Fuding 福鼎, Ningde, Fujian
  3. Luoyuan 罗源, Fuzhou, Fujian
  4. Sanming 三明, Fujian
  5. Shunchang 顺昌, Nanping 南平, Fujian
  6. Hua'an 华安, Zhangzhou 华安, southern Fujian
  7. Guixi 贵溪, Yingtan 鹰潭, Jiangxi
  8. Cangnan 苍南, Wenzhou 温州, Zhejiang
  9. Jingning 景宁, Lishui 丽水, Zhejiang
  10. Lishui 丽水, Zhejiang
  11. Longyou 龙游, Quzhou 衢州, Zhejiang
  12. Chaozhou 潮州, Guangdong
  13. Fengshun 丰顺, Meizhou 梅州, Guangdong

    Distribution

The following maps show ethnic She townships and other administrative divisions in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangxi provinces. The She people of these three provinces speak She, while the She of central Guangdong and Guizhou speak Hmongic languages.
The most She speakers are located in Ningde Prefecture, Fujian, and Wenzhou and Lishui Prefectures, Zhejiang. Smaller communities of She speakers are located in central Zhejiang, southern Fujian, the mountainous interior of western Fujian, southeastern Anhui, eastern Guangdong, and northeastern Jiangxi near its border with Fujian. It is not known whether She is spoken by She people living in central and southern Jiangxi.

Phonology

She is a very dialectally uniform language. Like many southern Chinese languages, it has syllables with stop codas, traditionally considered as part of a separate tone class. Much like its sister branch Hakka Chinese, it has the same three nasal codas as well as three stop codas. However, the /k/ coda has evolved into a glottal stop.

Consonants

In addition to the consonants listed below, She also has a null initial, often realized as a glottal stop.
Some dialects of She in eastern Fujian have the initial voiceless lateral fricative ɬ- where other She dialects have an initial s-.
Only a limited number of consonants can act as a coda, including the nasals and the plain labial, dental, and glottal stops.

Vowels

The syllabic coronal consonant /z̩/, frequently known in Chinese linguistics as the apical vowel, is also found in some dialects of She.

Tones

She has 4 phonemic contour tones, which can be organized into the following 6 tone categories ; the Dark Going tone has merged into the Dark Level tone in the development of She. Almost all She dialects have identical tone values in each tone category, which are provided below.
The Tàiyuán dialect may have more divergent tone values. Hú recorded the dialect as having for its Light Level tone, on its Rising tone, and for its Dark Entering tone.

Lexicon

Unique vocabulary

You notes that She has many unique vocabulary items that have no cognates in Hakka, Gan, Wu, or any other Chinese language. Instead, many words have parallels in Hmong-Mien languages, and in Tai and Kam-Sui languages. Other words appear to have no parallels in any other language family or branch.

Swadesh list

Below is a vocabulary table comparing Swadesh lists of She, Hakka, and She, from Gan.
Chinese
gloss		English
gloss		She
Hakka
She
我Iŋai1ŋai2vaŋ4
你youŋi1ŋi2muŋ2
我们weŋai1nai6ŋin2ŋai2ne6pa1
这thiskai6lia6lja3
那thathɔŋ6kai6u3
谁whomɔi6ŋin2nai5ŋin2pe4le2
什么whatmat7kai1mat7kai5ha5la5
不not—m1a6
全部all—tsʰiɛn2pu5tsʰjen5pʰu4
多manytɔ1tɔ1u5
一oneʒit7it2i6
二twoŋi6ŋi5u1
大bigtʰai6tʰai6vɔŋ2
长longtʃʰɔŋ2tsʰɔŋ2ka1ta3
小smallsai1sɛ5sɔŋ1
女人femalepu1ŋioŋ2ŋin2ŋi3ŋin2le2va3
男人malenam2ŋin2lam2ŋin2le2pu3
人personŋin2ŋin2le2
鱼fishŋiu2ŋ̩2pja4
鸟birdtau3tiau1lɔ4taŋ1
狗dogkou3kiu3kja3
虱子lousesɛt7ŋioŋ2set7taŋ5
树treeʃu6su6tɔŋ5
种子seed—tsuŋ3tsi3ka3lɔ1
叶子leafʒep3jap8pjɔŋ2
根rootkin1kʰjuŋ2
树皮bark—su5pi2tɔŋ5kʰu5
皮肤skinpʰi2pʰi2kʰu5
肉meatpi3ŋiuk7kwe2
血blood—hiet7si3
骨头bonekut7suŋ3kɔ3
脂肪fat———
鸡蛋egglan3kai1tsʰun2kwe1kja5
角horn—kɔk7kaŋ1
尾tailmui1mui1ka1tɔ3
羽毛feather—iuŋ2mau1pi1
头发hairtʰeu2mou1tʰiu2mau1kaŋ6kʰu5pi1
头headtʰeu2tʰiu2kaŋ6kʰu5
耳朵earŋi3kʰuŋ6ŋi3kuŋ1ka2kʰuŋ3
眼睛eyeȵian3kʰiʔ8ŋan2ka1kʰɔ3
鼻子nosepʰi6kuŋ6pʰi6ŋ̩3pju4
嘴mouthtsɔi1tsɔi5tjɔ2
牙齿toothŋa2tʃʰi3ŋa2mun3
舌头tongueʃet8ma2set8ma2pi6
爪子clawtsau3tsau3tsau5
脚footkioʔ7kiɔk7tɔ5
膝kneekioʔ7puʔ7tʰeu3tsʰit7tʰiu2tɔ5tʰju4kui3
手handʃeu3siu3kʰwa4
肚子bellytu3ʃi3tu3pʰat8ŋiɔ3ka3
脖子neckkiaŋ3kjaŋ3ka3kjen1
乳房breast—ŋiɛn5pʰɔŋ2ŋjuŋ3
心脏heartɕim1sim1fun1
肝liverkan1kɔn1fun1
喝drink—hɔt7hɔ6
吃eatʃiʔ8sit8luŋ2
咬biteŋieʔ8ŋau1tʰu6
看见seetʰai3tʰe3tʰau2mɔ6pʰu6
听见heartʰaŋ5tʰaŋ5tʰau2kuŋ5
知道knowtɛ1ti1pe1
睡sleepfun2sɔi5pɔ5
死die—si2tʰa4
杀killlaʔ7sat7ta5
游泳swim—ju2sui3ka1tu6kwe2
飞flypui1fui1ŋi5
走goham2tsiu2ka1pi1
来comelɔi2lɔi4lu4
躺lie—sɔi5ɔŋ2
坐sittsʰɔŋ3tsʰɔ1ŋjuŋ1
站standkʰi1kʰi1su3
给givepun1pi1puŋ1
说sayva6kɔŋ3kuŋ3kuŋ1
太阳sunŋiet8tʰeu2tʰai5jɔŋ1lɔ1kɔ3
月亮moonŋiɔt8hau6ŋiet7kɔŋ1le5
星星starsaŋ6sin1le5taŋ1
水waterʃui3sui3ɔŋ2
雨rainʃui3sui1luŋ1
石头stoneʃaʔ8sak8tʰiu2za1kɔ3
沙子sandʃa6sa1hja1
土地earthtʰi6tu2ta1
云cloudvun2vun2tsɔŋ1ɔŋ2
烟smokeien1iɛn1in1
火fire—fɔ3tʰɔ4
灰ashfɔi1fɔi1si3
烧burn—sau1fa3
路roadlu6lu6kja3
山mountainsan1san1kje6
红redfuŋ2fuŋ2si5
绿greenluʔ8luk8ka6pʰu2
黄yellowvɔŋ3vɔŋ2kʰun2
白whitepʰaʔ8pʰak8kjɔ1
黑blackvu1u1kjaŋ1
晚上nightam1pu6ʃi2man1sɔŋ5lɔ3kaŋ4tsʰi2
热hotŋiet8ŋiet8kʰaŋ1
冷coldlaŋ1laŋ1kjɔŋ5
满full—man1paŋ3
新newɕin1sin1tu6fun1
好goodhou3hau2ŋɔŋ5
圆roundʒen2jin2zin2
干dry—kɔn1kʰui1
名字name—miaŋ2mui2