Eastern Minyag, an endangered language of Western Sichuan
Chen Wei’s uncle and mother pound rice for New Year. (Photo Credit: Chen Wei). Click on image to access collection.
| Language | Eastern Minyag (ISO639-3:emq) |
| Depositor | Agnes Conrad, Chen Wei |
| Affiliation | Qinghai Nationalities University, Southwest University for Nationalities |
| Location | China |
| Collection ID | 0637 |
| Grant ID | SG0532 |
| Funding Body | ELDP |
| Collection Status | Collection online |
| Landing Page Handle | http://hdl.handle.net/2196/87ff847d-140e-4d48-a265-0be3e7c03708 |
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Summary of the collection
English: Eastern Minyag is an endangered Tibeto-Burman language a spoken by perhaps no more than 1,000 individuals living in a cluster of villages located in Shimian County, Sichuan, China. This collection contains audio-visual documentation of over 30 hours of oral literature, songs, and spontaneous conversation. While no analyses have been conducted on the data to date, Simplified Chinese translations are available for almost all recordings. English and Written Tibetan translations are also available for select recordings. Data was primarily collected by community member and native speaker Chen Wei, with technical assistance provided by Agnes and Winifred Conrad.
中文: 储存汇总表
东明雅格语是一种濒临灭绝的藏缅语，在中国四川省石棉县的一个村庄里，使用这种语言的人可能不超过1000人。这个收藏包含了超过30小时的口头文学、歌曲和自发的对话的视听资料。虽然迄今为止还没有对数据进行分析，但几乎所有的录音都有简体中文翻译。精选的录音也有英文和藏文的书面翻译。数据主要由社区成员、母语者王宝宝收集，技术援助由Agnes和Winifred Conrad提供。
Group represented
English: Eastern Minyag is spoken fluently by perhaps no more than 1,000 individuals living in 12 or so villages in western Shimian County, Sichuan Province, China. An undetermined number of speakers reside across the county’s western border in Jiulong County. The speaking area lies to the east of Mt. Gongga, a local holy mountain.
Eastern Minyag speakers are officially recognized as ethnic Tibetans by the national government. They are practitioners of a form of Bön (a debated, aggregate label for the various pre-Buddhist religious practices found across the Tibetan Plateau). Both local family lineage histories and linguistic comparison suggest historical ties with speakers of Western Minyag, a language spoken to the west of Mt. Gongga. The languages share an endonym (mɨɲa), which may also be used to refer to members of the speaker community (mɨɲa-wa). It is believed that restrictions on certain ritual practices – particularly animal sacrifice – may have prompted the families of ritual knowledge holders to move east, but the approximate time of this move remains highly speculative. Eastern Minyag speakers retain limited ties with the southeastern-most area of Western Minyag speakers, but the languages are not mutually intelligible.
中文: 族群简介
位于中国四川省石棉县西部的东部木雅人，能够说一口流利的东部木雅语的人不超过1000人。石棉县其县城西部接壤的九龙县也有一部分不能够确定数量的讲木雅语的人。整个语言区域位于当地贡嘎神山的东部。
讲述东部木雅语的人被政府官方正式认定为藏族。他们是本教信仰的践行者（这是一个存在争议的、综合的说法，是指各派佛教在青藏高原上被发现之前的宗教实践）。当地的家族血统历史和语言比对都表明，他们和贡嘎山西部的木雅语使用者有着历史联系。这两种语言都有一个共同的后缀(mɨɲa)，它也可以用来指代使用该语言的社区成员(mɨɲa-wa)。人们相信，对某些仪式进行限制 – 尤其是动物祭祀 – 可能促使这些倾向动物祭祀仪式的家庭东迁，但是迁移的大致时间是可以较为正确推测的。东部雅语区域和西部木雅语的东南部仍保持着有限的联系，但是语言交流不能相互理解。
Language information
English: Eastern Minyag, sometimes referred to as Shimian Minyag, is a virtually unstudied language spoken in a mountainous rural area of Shimian County, Sichuan Province, China. Owing to a shared name, Eastern Minyag was previously considered to be a dialect of Minyag (mvm), with which it is mutually unintelligible but likely related. Eastern Minyag is most likely a Tibeto-Burman language. Its phonology appears to have influenced by the neighboring Ersu and its historical relationship with other languages in the family is unclear. The exact details of the language situation of Eastern Minyag are unclear, but it will soon be severely endangered. The number of fluent speakers may number no more than 1000. The majority of these speakers are over the age of forty with few monolingual speakers. The language is only sporadically being passed on to the youngest generation and it has received very little scholarly attention. In many of this deposit’s recordings, speakers use Southwest Mandarin alongside Eastern Minyag.
中文: 语言信息
东部木雅，有时也会被称为石棉木雅， 事实上几乎没有被研究过。 因为有一个共同的语言地名， 在mvm语言代码下， 东部木雅语被认为是西部木雅语的一种方言。 当地口述史和最初的比较表明了两种木雅语之间的关系。 至少可以清楚地看到， 东部木雅语是一种藏缅语， 而且它与周边羌语扩散地区有明显的区域性特征，如定向前缀。 但与该地区的许多语言不同， 它没有小舌音或卷舌辅音。 其他确切的语言情况细节， 包括确切的使用人数和东部木雅语的辩证差异尚不清楚。 这种语言只是偶尔传给年轻一代， 随着人口老龄化， 使用这种语言的人可能不到1000人， 这种语言可能很快就会严重濒危。
Special characteristics
English: Recordings were primarily accomplished with elderly speakers whose knowledge of oral literature, song, and local family histories are no longer being passed on to younger generations in the Eastern Minyag language. Data found in this deposit has been collected almost entirely collected by Chen Wei, a young native speaker who has been documenting language and cultural traditions in his hometown since 2018. Recordings collected by Chen Wei exhibit a high degree of naturalness.
中文: 存储特征
录音主要是由年老的人讲述完成的，他们口头文学、歌曲和当地家庭历史的知识已经不再通过东部木雅语传递给年轻一代。在这个历史沉积物中发现的数据几乎全部是由一个年轻的母语使用者王宝宝收集，自2018年以来，他一直在记录家乡的语言和文化传统。王宝宝收集的录音作品自然程度很高。
Collection contents
English: At present this collection includes roughly 20 hours of audio recordings and 10 hours of video documenting folk stories, rituals, local histories, songs, spontaneous conversation, and discussions on the origin of the Minyag-speaking people. Video recordings include footage from two Bön religious festivals available at the discretion of representative community members. With the exception of materials covering rituals and ceremonies, almost all of this material has been time-aligned in ELAN and translated into Standard Chinese. Over half of the materials include English translations, and a lesser number include Standard Written Tibetan translations.
For Chinese speakers, a video providing an introduction to the language, speakers, and speaking area produced by project depositor and Eastern Minyag speaker, Chen Wei, is available on the collection homepage.
中文: 存储内容
目前，该收藏包括了大约20小时的音频记录和超过10个小时的视频文件，记录民间故事、仪式、地方历史、歌曲、自发对话，以及讨论木雅人起源的对话。视频包括来自于两个宗教节日的片段，可以让具有代表性的社区成员自行决定。除了涉及宗教仪式的材料外，几乎所有的材料都是严格按照时间排列在ELAN并且翻译成标准汉语。超过一半的材料包括英文翻译，较少的是标准的藏文翻译。
对于汉语使用者，存款网站的主页上有一个由项目存款人和东部木雅语使用者王宝宝制作的视频，介绍语言、使用者和语言区域。
Collection history
English: Documentation represented in this collection began in August, 2018 under the auspices of an ELDP small grant project documenting Western Minyag (SG0532) awarded to Agnes Conrad from July 2018-July 2019. During the PI’s first trip to the speaking area in July 2018, it was discovered that Eastern Minyag was mutually unintelligible with Western Minyag. Chen Wei, a young speaker and community member joined the project, accomplishing recordings, and subsequent time-aligning and translation of files in ELAN independently until May 2019. English translations were then accomplished from the Chinese by Winifred Conrad. Tibetan translations were accomplished from the Chinese by Dolma Kyab.
Recordings added to the collection after November 2019 were accomplished with the support of a grant from the Firebird Foundation awarded to co-applicants Chen Wei and Agnes Conrad (2019-2021). The project, entitled “Oral Traditions of Eastern Minyag”, resulted in 30 hours of video-documentation to be made available in the summer of 2021. These data are subject to increased access restrictions.
中文: 存储历史
这笔保证金的文件始于2018年8月，由ELDP小额赠款项目赞助，记录西部木雅语 (SG0532)，于2018年7月至2019年7月授予Agnes Conrad。在首席调查员于2018年7月第一次访问该语言区时，发现东部木雅语与西部木雅语互不通话。王宝宝，一位年轻的母语者和社区成员，加入了该项目，直到2019年5月，独立完成录音工作，以及随后的时间在ELAN上调整和翻译文件。薇妮弗瑞德·康拉德(Winifred Conrad)从中文翻译了英文。藏文翻译由多玛·贾布(Dolma Kyab)完成。
在火鸟基金会的资助下，王宝宝和Agnes Conrad(2019-2021)完成了2019年11月之后新增的录音收藏。这一命名为”东部木雅语口头传统”的项目将于2021年夏季提供30小时的录像记录。这些数据受到访问限制。
Acknowledgement and citation
English: In making use of any of the data found in this collection, users are requested to acknowledge Chen Wei as the principal investigator, and Agnes Conrad and Winifred Conrad as research assistants. Depending on the date of the materials as discussed above, the user will acknowledge either The Endangered Languages Documentation Programme or the Firebird Foundation as the funding bodies. When using translated materials, the translator should be acknowledged. Relevant information can be found in the metadata.
Please cite this collection as follows:
Wei, Chen & Agnes Conrad. 2019. Eastern Minyag: an Endangered Language of Western Sichuan. Endangered Languages Archive. Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/2196/10727385-1165-4fb0-9169-778d2f51a0f4. Accessed on [insert date here].
中文: 确认
在使用本集合中发现的任何数据时，请用户请确认王宝宝为首席研究员，Agnes Conrad和Winifred Conrad为研究助理。根据上面讨论的材料的日期，使用者将承认濒危语言文件项目或火鸟基金会作为资助机构。在使用翻译材料时，译者应得到认可。相关信息可以在元数据中找到。
请列举以下藏品： 王宝宝和Agnes Conrad。 2019。木雅语:川西的一种濒危语言。濒危语言档案。处理： [http://hdl.handle.net/2196/10727385-1165-4fb0-9169-778d2f51a0f4]。访问 [插入日期在这里]。
