Fuyü Gïrgïs language
Encyclopedia
Fuyü Gïrgïs or Fu-Yu Kirgiz, also known as Manchurian Kirghiz, is the easternmost Turkic
language. It is spoken in northeastern China's
Heilongjiang
province, in and around Fuyu County
, Qiqihar
, which is located approximately 300 km northwest of Harbin
. Fuyü Gïrgïs is spoken by a small number of passive speakers
, who are classified as Kyrgyz nationality. However, it is not a dialect of Kyrgyz
, but of Khakas
; the people migrated from Russia in 1761, and the name may be due to the survival of a common tribal name. Girgis is probably a member of the Siberian Turkic languages and related to the Khakas language
.
analysis of Girgis has not been done, Hu and Imart have noted numerous observations about the sound system in their tentative description of the language. They describe Girgis as having the short vowel
s noted as "a, ï, i, o, ö, u, ü" which correspond roughly to IPA [a, ə, ɪ, ɔ, œ, ʊ, ʉ], with minimal rounding and tendency towards centralization. Vowel length is phonemic and occur as a result of consonant-deletion (Girgis /pʉːn/ vs. Kyrgyz /bygyn/). Each short vowel has an equivalent long vowel, with the addition of /eː/. Girgis does clearly display vowel harmony
as well as consonant harmony
. The consonant
sounds in Girgis, including allophone
variants, are [p, b, ɸ, β, t, d, ð, k, q, ɡ, h, ʁ, ɣ, s, ʃ, z, ʒ, dʒ, tʃ, m, n, ŋ, l, r, y]. Girgis does not display a phonemic difference between the stop set /p, t, k/ and /b, d, g/; these stops can also be aspirated to [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ] in Chinese loanwords.
, and children have switched to Chinese
as taught in the education system.
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...
language. It is spoken in northeastern China's
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang
For the river known in Mandarin as Heilong Jiang, see Amur River' is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. "Heilongjiang" literally means Black Dragon River, which is the Chinese name for the Amur. The one-character abbreviation is 黑...
province, in and around Fuyu County
Fuyu County, Heilongjiang
Fuyu County is a county of western Heilongjiang province of Northeast China, under the administration of Qiqihar City, to the southwest. Various economic crops and the milk are produced in the fertile land...
, Qiqihar
Qiqihar
- Subdivisions :Qiqihar is divided into 16 divisions: 7 districts , 8 counties and 1 county-level city .-Economy:...
, which is located approximately 300 km northwest of Harbin
Harbin
Harbin ; Manchu language: , Harbin; Russian: Харби́н Kharbin ), is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River...
. Fuyü Gïrgïs is spoken by a small number of passive speakers
Passive speakers (language)
A passive speaker is someone who has had enough exposure to a language in childhood to have a native-like comprehension of it, but has little or no active command of it....
, who are classified as Kyrgyz nationality. However, it is not a dialect of Kyrgyz
Kyrgyz language
Kyrgyz or Kirgiz, also Kirghiz, Kyrghiz, Qyrghiz is a Turkic language and, together with Russian, an official language of Kyrgyzstan...
, but of Khakas
Khakas language
Khakas is a Turkic language spoken by the Khakas people, who mainly live in the southern Siberian Khakas Republic, or Khakassia, in Russia...
; the people migrated from Russia in 1761, and the name may be due to the survival of a common tribal name. Girgis is probably a member of the Siberian Turkic languages and related to the Khakas language
Khakas language
Khakas is a Turkic language spoken by the Khakas people, who mainly live in the southern Siberian Khakas Republic, or Khakassia, in Russia...
.
Sounds
Although completely phonemicPhoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
analysis of Girgis has not been done, Hu and Imart have noted numerous observations about the sound system in their tentative description of the language. They describe Girgis as having the short vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s noted as "a, ï, i, o, ö, u, ü" which correspond roughly to IPA [a, ə, ɪ, ɔ, œ, ʊ, ʉ], with minimal rounding and tendency towards centralization. Vowel length is phonemic and occur as a result of consonant-deletion (Girgis /pʉːn/ vs. Kyrgyz /bygyn/). Each short vowel has an equivalent long vowel, with the addition of /eː/. Girgis does clearly display vowel harmony
Vowel harmony
Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on which vowels may be found near each other....
as well as consonant harmony
Consonant harmony
Consonant harmony is a type of "long-distance" phonological assimilation akin to the similar assimilatory process involving vowels, i.e. vowel harmony.-Examples:...
. The consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
sounds in Girgis, including allophone
Allophone
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
variants, are [p, b, ɸ, β, t, d, ð, k, q, ɡ, h, ʁ, ɣ, s, ʃ, z, ʒ, dʒ, tʃ, m, n, ŋ, l, r, y]. Girgis does not display a phonemic difference between the stop set /p, t, k/ and /b, d, g/; these stops can also be aspirated to [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ] in Chinese loanwords.
Speakers
In 1980, Fuyu Girgis was spoken by a majority adults of a community of around a hundred homes. However, many adults in the area have switched to speaking a local variety of MongolianMongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
, and children have switched to Chinese
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
as taught in the education system.