Tanglang: Documentation of an Endangered Central Ngwi Language of South-West China

Language	Tanglang
Depositor	Hua Zhao
Affiliation	Trinity College Dublin
Location	China
Collection ID	0852
Grant ID	IGS1063
Funding Body	Endangered Languages Documentation Programme
Collection Status	Forthcoming
Landing Page Handle	http://hdl.handle.net/2196/49c301d4-87b3-419a-be33-683ebf146865

 

Summary of the collection

English: This project documents Tanglang, an endangered Tibeto-Burman language of China spoken by about 1,000 people in Hongmai Village in northeastern Yunnan Province. The documentation of Tanglang will include a detailed descriptive grammar, with a particular focus on contact-induced intergenerational change as part of the PhD project, and a collection of multimedia materials as an archive for academic continuity of Tanglang. Community outreach, including dictionaries and workshops, will support community transmission.

档案概述

中文：本项目记录中国云南西北部红麦村堂郎人所使用的濒危藏缅语——堂郎话，目前使用人口约一千人。该记录项目将形成一部较为详细的描写语法，并作为博士研究的一部分，特别关注语言接触所引发的代际变化；同时，项目还将建立一套多媒体材料档案，作为堂郎话长期学术保存与后续研究的重要档案。面向社区的回馈工作，包括词典编纂和工作坊，也将有助于促进堂郎话在社区内部的代际传承。

 

Group represented

English: The group represented in this deposit is the Tanglang community of Hongmai Village in Tai’an County, Yulong, Lijiang, in northwestern Yunnan, China. Tanglang speakers identify themselves as tho33lo53 sɑ53, and they are also known to neighbouring communities by exonyms such as Moxie and lu55lu33. In official classification, they are generally included under the Yi nationality (minzu), although their ethnic history remains unclear. the Tanglang community is concentrated in eight natural villages of Hongmai Village: Shuijing, Fangma, Xipo, Lizi, Dianxin, Shendeng, Shangden, and Haitai. The total population is around 1,000, although the number of people who speak Tanglang is lower.

所代表的群体

中文：本档案所代表的群体是中国云南西北部丽江市玉龙县太安乡红麦村的堂郎人。堂郎话使用者自称吐鲁沙，邻近社区也用麽些和 罗罗等来指称他们。按照官方民族识别，堂郎人一般被归入彝族，但其族群历史目前仍不清楚。现今堂郎人主要居住于红麦村的水井、放马、西坡、李子、甸心、申登、上登与海台等八个自然寨，总人口约一千人，但其中实际能够使用堂郎话的人数要更少。

 

Language information

English: Tanglang (ISO 639-3: ytl) is an endangered Tibeto-Burman language spoken by about 1000 people in Hongmai Village, Lijiang, in northwestern Yunnan, China. It is classified as a Ngwi language, more specifically Central Ngwi, although its subgrouping remains open to debate. Scholarship on Tanglang is still very limited, consisting mainly of a sketch grammar and a small number of phonological studies, which makes new documentation especially important. Linguistically and socially, Tanglang has developed through long-term contact with Naxi and Bai, while Mandarin Chinese now serves as the main contact language, producing a distinctive stratified pattern of language contact.

语言信息

中文：堂郎话（ISO 639-3: ytl）是一种濒危的藏缅语，分布于中国云南西北部丽江地区红麦村一带，使用人口约一千人。它通常被归类为倮倮语支（彝语支）语言，更具体地说常被视为中部倮倮语的一员，但其内部分支地位仍有争议。现有关于堂郎话的研究十分有限，主要仅有一篇语言概述和少量音系研究，因此开展新的系统性记录工作尤为重要。从语言和社会环境来看，堂郎话长期与纳西语和白语接触，而普通话如今已成为最主要的接触语言，由此形成了一种具有层次性的独特语言接触格局。

 

Acknowledgement and citation

English:
To refer to any data from the collection, please cite as follows:
Zhao, Hua. 2026. Tanglang: Documentation of an Endangered Central Ngwi Language of South-West China. Endangered Languages Archive. Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/2196/44ffa51f-7973-46ed-bb3a-532c3acf4915. Accessed on [insert date here].

致谢与引用格式

中文：
如需引用本档案中的任何资料，请使用以下格式：
Zhao, Hua. 2026. Tanglang: Documentation of an Endangered Central Ngwi Language of South-West China. Endangered Languages Archive. Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/2196/44ffa51f-7973-46ed-bb3a-532c3acf4915. Accessed on [insert date here].