Bonan
མ་ནི་སྐད་ཅི
Bonan is a Mongolic-Khitan language spoken in China, by about 10 thousand people. Glottolog rates it shifting.
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The Bonan language (pronounced [p⁼aoˈnaŋ], Baonang; Chinese: 保安语, Bǎo'ānyǔ; Amdo Tibetan: Dorké), also known by its endonym Manikacha (Tibetan: མ་ནི་སྐད་ཅི; Wylie: Ma ni skad ci), is the Mongolic language of the Bonan people of China. As of 1985, it was spoken by about 8,000 people, including about 75% of the total Bonan ethnic population and many ethnic Monguor, in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces. There are several dialects, which are influenced to varying degrees – but always heavily – by Chinese and Tibetan, while bilingualism in Wutun is less common. The most commonly studied is the Tongren dialect. Bonan is not typically written by speakers, though there is a folk practice of writing Bonan with the Tibetan syllabary following Amdo pronunciation.
From Wikipedia · Bonan language · CC BY-SA 4.0
Words in Bonan
| Meaning | Word | Romanization |
|---|---|---|
| person | kuN* | |
| name | nari* | |
| eye | nedong | |
| ear | CiXaN* | |
| nose | Xor* | |
| tooth | duN* | |
| tongue | khaloN* | |
| hand | Xar* | |
| blood | CisuN* | |
| bone | yasuN* | |
| skin | arsuN* | |
| knee | ebd3g* | |
| breast | nono* | |
| liver | ganzi* | |
| water | se | |
| fire | xal | |
| sun | naraN* | |
| star | hotho* | |
| stone | taSi* | |
| mountain | n3ma* | |
| tree | mortong | |
| leaf | lapCuN* | |
| night | Xoso* | |
| dog | noXui* | |
| fish | na* | |
| louse | bosuN* | |
| one | n3g3* | |
| two | quar* | |
| I | bu* | |
| you | Ci* |
* in the simplified ASJP transcription
Most similar languages
Vocabulary
- MongghulMongolic-Khitan41% alike
- KangjiaMongolic-Khitan40% alike
- DongxiangMongolic-Khitan39% alike
- East YugurMongolic-Khitan33% alike
- Peripheral MongolianMongolic-Khitan28% alike
- MogholiMongolic-Khitan28% alike
Grammar
- MangghuerMongolic-Khitan87% alike
- Peripheral MongolianMongolic-Khitan86% alike
- MalavedanDravidian86% alike
- KalmykMongolic-Khitan86% alike
- ChocangacakhaSino-Tibetan85% alike
- MongolianMongolic-Khitan85% alike
Vocabulary compares 40 basic words (ASJP); grammar compares 195 features (Grambank). Similar is not always related.
Nearby languages
Elsewhere
Glottolog · bona1250 · Wikipedia (English) · Ethnologue · peh