Erjie
| Erjie | |
|---|---|
| 迩捷語 (ěrjiéyǔ) | |
| erjie kelu | |
| Pronunciation | [ɚˈʑjɛ ˈkʰəlʊ] |
| Created by | SJ |
| Date | 2024 |
| Native to | China |
| Ethnicity | Erjie |
| Native speakers | 2000 (2023) |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
 Erjie is classified as Vulnerable | |
Erjie is an Indo-European language spoken by the Erjie people, who mainly live in the provinces of Qinghai and Gansu in Northwestern China. It is the sole extant member of the Tocharian branch of Indo-European. The Erjie number about 3200 people, about 2000 (2023) speak the Erjie language; around 800 are primarily monolingual, while many speak Mandarin and/or Amdo Tibetan to a degree of fluency. While a pinyin-based writing system has been devised, Erjie is not often written by speakers and primarily exists as a spoken language.
According to Erjie tradition, the Erjie are the descendants of the Tocharian speaking tribes of the Tarim Basin. During periods of the Uyghur Khaganate and Tang dynasty, these tribesmen migrated from the Tarim Basin and dwelt within China's borders and since then have lived within the Qinghai-Gansu border region. Erjie has considerable influence, both grammatical and lexical, from Mandarin Chinese and Amdo Tibetan.
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i ⟨i⟩ | u ⟨u⟩ | |
| Mid | ə ⟨e⟩ | ɔ ⟨o⟩ | |
| Open | a ⟨a⟩ |
| Phoneme/Sound | Allophones | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| /i/ | ɨ | when following alveolar sibilants or affricates |
| ɪ | when following labial and alveolar plosives or approximants | |
| ɨ˞ | when following a retroflex consonant | |
| /ə/ | ə | in stressed syllables without onset clusters or coda consonants |
| ɛ | in a syllable with a palatal onset or palatal coda | |
| ɘ | in a syllable with a nasal coda consonant | |
| /a/ | ɑ | when following a uvular consonant |
| æ | when a syllable is closed by an alveolar nasal /n/ | |
| ɛ | when following a palatal onset consonant, and preceding an alveolar nasal /n/ | |
| /ɔ/ | ɵ | when following retroflex and palatal consonants |
| /u/ | ʊ | when following alveolar and velar consonants |
| ʉ | when following retroflex and palatal consonants |
Consonants
| Labial | Denti-alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | plain | /p/ ⟨b⟩ | /t̪/ ⟨d⟩ | /k/ ⟨g⟩ | /q/ ⟨gh⟩ | ||
| aspirated | /pʰ/ ⟨p⟩ | /t̪ʰ/ ⟨t⟩ | /kʰ/ ⟨k⟩ | /qʰ/ ⟨kh⟩ | |||
| Affricates | plain | /t͡s/ ⟨z⟩ | /ʈ͡ʂ/ ⟨zh⟩ | /t͡ɕ/ ⟨j⟩ | |||
| aspirated | /t͡sʰ/ ⟨c⟩ | /ʈ͡ʂʰ/ ⟨ch⟩ | /t͡ɕʰ/ ⟨q⟩ | ||||
| Fricatives | voiceless | (f) ⟨f⟩ | /s/ ⟨s⟩ | /ʂ/ ⟨sh⟩ | /ɕ/ ⟨x⟩ | /x/ ~ /χ/ ⟨h⟩ | |
| voiced | (z) ⟨z⟩ | (ʑ) ⟨j⟩ | /ɣ/ ~ /ʁ/ ⟨gh⟩ | ||||
| Nasals | /m/ ⟨m⟩ | /n/ ⟨n⟩ | /ŋ/ ⟨ng⟩ | ||||
| Approximants | /w/ ⟨w⟩ | /l̪/ ⟨l⟩ | /ɻ/ ~ /ʐ/ ⟨r⟩ | /j/ ⟨y⟩ | |||
- /z/ and /ʑ/ are intervocalic allophones of plain affricates /t͡s/ and /t͡ɕ/ respectively.
- all plain plosives are phonetically voiced in intervocalic positions, however /q/ weakens to /ʁ/ rather than expected /ɢ/
- /x/ and /ɣ/ are uvular /χ/ and /ʁ/ before /a/, /ɔ/ and /u/.
- /f/ is only found in Chinese borrowings, alternatively substituted with /pʰ/.
- /j/ and /w/ can have spirantized allophones [ʝ] and [β] typically in stressed, initial syllables.