| Also Known As: Boan,Baonan,Paoan,Bao'an,Paongan,Bonan language
Description:
The Bonan language (pronounced [paoˈnaŋ]) (also Chinese 保安语, Baoan)) is the Mongolic language of the Bonan ethnic group of China. As of 1985, it was spoken by about 8,000 people, including about 75% of the total Baonan ethnic population and many ethnic Monguor, in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture. There are several dialects, which are influenced to varying degrees—but always heavily—by Tibetan and Chinese. The most commonly studied is the Tongren dialect.
Bonan phonology is has been heavily influenced by Tibetan. Consonants possess a [±aspirated] contrast. Initial consonant clusters of mostly falling sonority are present in native words, as are heavy diphthongs, though the content of both is heavily restricted. The possible word-initial consonant clusters in Baonan are [mp, nt, nt͡ɕ, ntʂ, ŋk, tʰχ, χt͡ɕ, rt͡ɕ, lt͡ɕ, ft, fk, ʂp, ʂk].
Baonan, like other Mongolic languages, is agglutinative.
There are five case markings for Baonan nouns: Nominative, Accusative-Genitive, Dative-Locative, Ablative-Comparative, and Instrumentative.
Verbal morphology is quite complex. Evidentiality is marked in the indicative mood as "definite" or "indefinite" with a..... full article at Wikipedia |
