She language

Speakers refer to themselves as Ho Le (lit. 'mountain people'), as She is the Chinese exonym. Only the Huidong dialect has Ho Ne, while the Boluo, Haifeng, and Zengcheng dialects all use Ho Le as their autonym.{{cite conference|conference=56th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, 10-12 October 2023|location=Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok|date=2023|title=The Unchecked Tones of Ho Le She|first=Wang|last=Xiyao}}

There are two main dialects of She, both of which are highly endangered.{{Cite web |title=She |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/shx |access-date=2017-02-10 |website=Ethnologue}} They are spoken in two small pockets to the west and east of Huizhou City, Guangdong.

• Luofu 罗浮 (Western She dialect), spoken in Luofu Mountain District 罗浮山区, Boluo County and in Zengcheng District.{{Cite book |last=Mao |first=Zongwu 毛宗武 |title=Shēyǔ jiǎnzhì |date=1986 |publisher=Minzu chubanshe |location=Beijing |language=zh |script-title=zh:畲语简志}} 580 speakers according to Ethnologue.
• Lianhua 莲花 (Eastern She dialect), spoken in Lianhua Mountain District 莲花山区, Haifeng County. 390 speakers according to Ethnologue.

She has been difficult to classify due to the heavy influence of Chinese on the language. Matisoff (2001), for example, left it unclassified within the Hmongic languages, and some have considered that much to be doubtful, leaving it unclassified within (and potentially a third branch of) the Hmong–Mien languages. She has monosyllabic roots, but has mainly compound words. However, due to the similar components of She, Mao & Li (2002) and Ratliff (2010) consider She to be most closely related to Jiongnai.{{Cite book |last=Mao |first=Zongwu 毛宗武 |title=Jiǒngnàiyǔ yánjiū |last2=Li |first2=Yunbing 李云兵 |publisher=Zhongyang minzu daxue chubanshe |year=2002 |location=Beijing |language=zh |script-title=zh:炯奈语硏究 |trans-title=A Study of Jiongnai}}{{Cite book |last=Ratliff |first=Martha |title=Hmong-Mien Language History |date=2010 |publisher=Pacific Linguistics |isbn=978-0-85883-615-0 |location=Canberra |language=en |hdl=1885/146760 |hdl-access=free}}

The She language is not to be confused with She Chinese ({{zh|畲话}}, meaning 'She dialect' or 'She speech'), a sister branch to Hakka Chinese spoken by the She people of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. She language and She Chinese speakers have separate histories and identities, although both are officially classified by the Chinese government as She people. The Dongjia of Majiang County, Guizhou are also officially classified as She people, but speak a Western Hmongic language closely related to Chong'anjiang Miao (重安江苗语).

Glottal stop is not distinct from zero (a vowel-initial syllable).

There are consonant mutation effects. For instance, pǐ + kiáu becomes pi̋’iáu, and kóu + tȁi becomes kóulȁi.

The vowels of She are {{IPA|/i e a ɔ ɤ u/}}. It has the finals {{IPA|/j w n ŋ t k/}}, with {{IPA|/t k/}} only in Hakka loans, though {{IPA|/ɤ/}} is never followed by a final, and the only stops which follow the front vowels are {{IPA|/n t/}}.

She has six tones, reduced to two (high and low) in checked syllables (Hakka loans only). There is quite a lot of dialectical variability; two of the reported inventories (not necessarily in corresponding order) are:

{{IPA|[ ˥ ˦ ˧ ˨ ˨˩ ˧˥ ]}}: that is, /5 4 3 2 1 35/, or (on {{IPA|/a/}}), {{IPA|/a̋ á ā à ȁ ǎ/}}

{{IPA|[ ˥˧ ˦˨ ˧ ˨ ˧˩ ˧˥ ]}}: that is, /53 42 3 2 31 35/

As a language in southern China, She has various loanwords from Old Chinese.{{cn|date=December 2020}}

• 走 to run
• 行 to walk; in Standard Mandarin, it means "do" (general sense, not just "to walk")
• 烏 black
• 赤 red
• 寮 house; in Standard Mandarin, it means "hut"
• 禾 rice (plant); in Standard Mandarin, it means "millet"
• 鑊 wok
• 奉 to give; in Standard Mandarin, it means "give with respect"
• 其 he/she/it
• 着 to wear
• 睇 to look; in Standard Mandarin, it means "look askance"
• 戮 to kill
• 齧 to bite
• 使 to use

• She word list (Wiktionary)

{{Incubator|shx}}

{{Reflist}}

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• {{Cite web |last=Bruhn |first=Daniel |date=2008 |title=Minority Language Policy in China, with Observations on the She Ethnic Group |url=http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~dwbruhn/dwbruhn_250E-paper.pdf |access-date=30 July 2018 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Mao |first=Zongwu 毛宗武 |title=Shēyǔ jiǎnzhì |last2=Meng |first2=Chaoji 蒙朝吉 |publisher=Minzu chubanshe |year=1986 |location=Beijing |language=zh |script-title=zh:畬語簡志 |trans-title=A Sketch of the She Language}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Ratliff |first=Martha |date=1998 |title=Ho Ne (She) is Hmongic: One final argument |url=http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/ratliff1998ho.pdf |journal=Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area |language=en |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=97–109}}
• {{Cite book |last=You |first=Wenliang 游文良 |title=Shēzú yǔyán |date=2002 |publisher=Fujian renmin chubanshe |location=Fuzhou |language=zh |script-title=zh:畬畲族语言 |trans-title=The Languages of the She People}}

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{{Languages of China}}

{{Hmong-Mien languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:She Language}}

Category:Hmongic languages

Category:Languages of Guangdong

Category:Critically endangered languages

Category:She people

Category:Endangered languages of China