Xibe language

Sibe is conventionally viewed{{by whom|date=November 2012}} as a separate language within the southern group of Tungusic languages alongside the more well-known Manchu language, having undergone more than 200 years of development separated from the Tungusic-speaking heartland since Sibe troops were dispatched to the Xinjiang frontiers in 1764. Some researchers such as Jerry Norman hold that Sibe is a dialect of Manchu, whereas Xibologists such as An Jun argue that Sibe should be considered the "successor" to Manchu. Ethnohistorically, the Sibe people are not considered Manchu people, because they were excluded from chieftain Nurhaci's 17th-century tribal confederation to which the name "Manchu" was later applied.

Sibe is mutually intelligible with Manchu,{{harvp|Gordon|2005|loc=[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=sjo Xibe]}} although unlike Manchu, Sibe has reported to have eight vowel distinctions as opposed to the six found in Manchu, as well as differences in morphology, and a more complex system of vowel harmony.{{harvp|Ramsey|1989|p=215}}

• Fricative sounds {{IPA|/x, χ/}} are often voiced as {{IPA|[ɣ, ʁ]}}, when occurring after a resonant sound.
• {{IPA|/s, ɕ/}} often are voiced as {{IPA|[z, ʑ]}}, when occurring in word-medial positions.
• {{IPA|/m/}} can be heard as labio-dental {{IPA|[ɱ]}}, when preceding a {{IPA|/v/}}.

• Allophones of {{IPA|/œ/}}, {{IPA|/ə/}}, and {{IPA|/o/}} are {{IPA|[ø]}}, {{IPA|[ɤ]}}, {{IPA|[ɔ]}}.{{sfn|Li|Zhong|1986}}{{pn|date=April 2022}}

Sibe has seven case morphemes, three of which are used quite differently from modern Manchu. The categorization of morphemes as case markers in spoken Sibe is partially controversial due to the status of numerous suffixes in the language. Despite the general controversy about the categorization of case markers versus postpositions in Tungusic languages, four case markers in Sibe are shared with literary Manchu (Nominative, Genitive, Dative-Locative and Accusative). Sibe's three innovated cases – the ablative, lative, and instrumental-sociative share their meanings with similar case forms in neighboring Uyghur, Kazakh, and Oiryat Mongolian.{{Cite book |last=Zikmundova |first=Veronika |title=Spoken Sibe: Morphology of the Inflected Parts of Speech |publisher=Karolinum Press |year=2013 |location=Prague |pages=48–69 |language=en}}

The general vocabulary and structure of Sibe has not been affected as much by Chinese as Manchu has. However, Sibe has absorbed a large body of Chinese sociological terminology, especially in politics: like gəming ("revolution", from {{lang|zh|革命}}) and zhuxi ("chairperson", from {{lang|zh|主席}}),{{harvp|Ramsey|1989|p=216}} and economics: like chūna ("cashier", from {{lang|zh|出纳}}) and daikuan ("loan", from {{lang|zh|贷款}}). Written Sibe is more conservative and rejecting of loanwords, but spoken Sibe contains additional Chinese-derived vocabulary such as nan (from {{lang|zh|男}}){{Citation needed|date=September 2024}} for "man" where the Manchu-based equivalent is niyalma. There has also been some influence from Russian,{{harvp|Guo|2007}} including words such as konsul ("consul", from {{lang|ru|консул}}) and mashina ("sewing machine", from {{lang|ru|машина}}). Smaller Xinjiang languages contribute mostly cultural terminology, such as namas ("an Islamic feast") from Uygur and baige ("horse race") from Kazakh.

{{see also|Manchu alphabet}}

Sibe is written in a derivative of the Manchu alphabet. The Sibe alphabet diverges from the Manchu alphabet in that the positions of the letters in some words have changed, Sibe lacks 13 out of 131 syllables in Manchu, and Sibe has three syllables that are not found in Manchu (wi, wo, and wu).{{Cite book |last=Gorelova |first=Liliya |title=Post-Soviet Central Asia |publisher=Tauris Academic Studies |editor-last=Atabaki |editor-first=Touraj |location=London |pages=327–329 |language=en |chapter=Past and Present of a Manchu Tribe: The Sibe |editor-last2=O'Kane |editor-first2=John}}

The table below lists the letters in Sibe that differentiate it from Manchu as well as the placement of the letters. Blue areas mark letters with different shapes from Manchu, green areas marks different Unicode codes from Manchu.

There was a proposal in China by 1957 to adapt the Cyrillic alphabet to Sibe, but this was abandoned in favor of the original Sibe script.{{Cite book |last=Zhou |first=Minglang |title=Multilingualism in China: The Politics of Writing Reforms for Minority Languages, 1949–2002 |date=2003 |publisher=Mouten de Gruyter |isbn=3-11-017896-6 |location=Berlin |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Ge |first=Siming 戈思明 |title=Mǎnwén de chuánchéng: Xīnjiāng Xíbózú |date=2019 |publisher=Xiuwei zixun keji gufen youxian gongsi |isbn=9789863266815 |location=Taibei Shi |script-title=zh:滿文的傳承 : 新疆錫伯族 |trans-title=Manchu Heritage: The Sibe of Xinjiang}}

File:CabcalSerkin.svg, the world's only Sibe-language newspaper)]]

In 1998, there were eight primary schools that taught Sibe in the Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County where the medium of instruction was Chinese, but Sibe lessons were mandatory. From 1954 to 1959, the People's Publishing House in Ürümqi published over 285 significant works, including government documents, belles-lettres, and schoolbooks, in Sibe. Since 1946, the Sibe-language Qapqal News has been published in Yining. In Qapqal, Sibe-language programming is allocated 15 minutes per day of radio broadcasting and 15 to 30-minute television programmes broadcast once or twice per month.{{harvp|Zhang|2007}}

Sibe is taught as a second language at the Ili Normal University in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of northern Xinjiang; it established an undergraduate major in the language in 2005.{{Cite news |last=Tong |first=Zhihong 佟志红 |date=2007-06-06 |title="Chábùcháěr bào" – Xíbórén zhǐ shàng de jīngshén jiāyuán |script-title=zh:《察布查尔报》——锡伯人纸上的精神家园 |language=zh |trans-title='Qapqal News' – A 'Spiritual Homestead' on Paper for the Sibe People |work=Yīlí wǎnbào |url=http://www.tianshannet.com/news/content/2007-06/06/content_1961623.htm |url-status=dead |access-date=2009-04-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930123103/http://www.tianshannet.com/news/content/2007-06/06/content_1961623.htm |archive-date=2011-09-30 |script-work=zh:伊犁晚报 |trans-work=Yili Evening News}} A few Manchu language enthusiasts from Eastern China have visited Qapqal Sibe County in order to experience an environment where a variety closely related to Manchu is spoken natively.{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Ian |date=2009-10-03 |title=In China, the Forgotten Manchu Seek to Rekindle Their Glory |language=en |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125452110732160485 |access-date=2009-10-05}}

{{reflist|3}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{Cite book |last1=Li |first1=Shulan 李树兰 |title=Xíbóyǔ jiǎnzhì |last2=Zhong |first2=Qian 仲谦 |date=1986 |publisher=Minzu chubanshe |location=Beijing |language=zh |script-title=zh:锡伯语简志 |trans-title=Outline of the Xibo Language}}
• {{Cite web |date=2005 |editor-last=Gordon |editor-first=Raymond G. Jr. |title=Ethnologue: Languages of the World |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/ |access-date=2006-12-19 |publisher=SIL International |language=en |publication-place=Dallas, Texas}}
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{{refend}}

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• {{Cite book |last=Jang |first=Taeho |title=Xíbóyǔ yǔfǎ yánjiū |date=2008 |publisher=Yunnan minzu chubanshe |isbn=978-7-5367-4000-6 |location=Kunming |language=zh |script-title=zh:锡伯语语法研究 |trans-title=Sibe Grammar}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Li |first1=Shulan 李淑兰 |title=Xíbóyǔ kǒuyǔ yánjiū |last2=Zhong |first2=Qian 仲谦 |last3=Wang |first3=Qingfeng 王庆丰 |date=1984 |publisher=Minzu chubanshe |location=Beijing |language=zh |script-title=zh:锡伯语口语研究 |trans-title=Research Into Xibo Oral Language}}
• {{Citation |last=Kida |first=Akiyoshi |title=A Typological and Comparative Study of Altaic Languages with Emphasis on Xibo Language: The Part of Xibo Grammar |date=2000 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Jin |first=Ning |title=Phonological Correspondences Between Literary Manchu and Spoken Sibe |date=1994 |publisher=University of Washington |language=en}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Tong |first=Zhongming 佟中明 |date=2005 |title=Éguó zhùmíng xuézhě B·B·lā dé luò fū yòng Xíbóyǔ fùshù jìlù de mínjiān gùshì |script-title=zh:俄国著名学者B·B·拉德洛夫用锡伯语复述记录的民间故事 |trans-title=The Folktales Retold and Recorded in Xibo Language by the Famous Russian Scholar B.B. Radloff |url=http://www.wanfangdata.net/qikan/periodical.articles/mzwxyj/mzwx2005/0503/050313.htm |url-status=dead |journal=Mínzú wénxué yánjiū / Studies of Ethnic Literature |language=zh |volume=2005 |issue=3 |pages=60–63 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230010821/http://www.wanfangdata.net/qikan/periodical.articles/mzwxyj/mzwx2005/0503/050313.htm |archive-date=December 30, 2007}}
• {{Cite book |last=Zikmundová |first=Veronika |title=Spoken Sibe: Morphology of the Inflected Parts of Speech |date=2013 |publisher=Karolinum Press |isbn=9788024621036 |location=Prague |language=en}}
• {{cite book |last=Jang |first=Taeho |chapter=Xibe and the Manchuric languages |editor1=Martine Robbeets |editor2=Alexander Savelyev |title=The Oxford Guide to the Transeurasian Languages |location=Oxford |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=269–287 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198804628.003.0018|isbn=978-0-19-880462-8 }} Accessed 7 May 2024.

{{refend}}

{{Incubator|code = sjo}}

• [https://minibuleku.github.io/ Mini Buleku: A Recorded Sibe Dictionary]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20141216193350/http://abkai.net/ Abkai — Unicode Manchu/Sibe/Daur Fonts and Keyboards]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071006204011/http://www.sibeculture.com/sibe/TopicOther.asp?t=5&BoardID=7&id=283 SibeCulture.com: Sibe-English-Chinese phrases]

{{Languages of China}}

{{Tungusic languages}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Xibe Language}}

Category:Agglutinative languages

Category:Tungusic languages

Category:Languages of Xinjiang

Category:Sibe people

Category:Manchu language

Category:Severely endangered languages

Category:Endangered languages of China