Project Results

About This Project

The Mondzish languages are spoken mostly in Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwestern China. These languages are highly endangered and poorly documented, often lacking even basic descriptions. I plan to finish collecting audio recordings and basic word lists for all Mondzish languages. Since most of these languages have fewer than 500 speakers left, and some have only around 50 elderly speakers remaining, research is highly urgent.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

The Mondzish languages were recently identified by Ziwo Lama in 2012 as a new group (clade) of languages. They share a common ancestor with Burmese, and form part of the Lolo-Burmese branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family. However, at the time, Lama identified only 2 languages as part of the group.

So far, I have identified 6 separate languages in this language group, some of which are new to science and extremely endangered (many with fewer than 500 speakers left). At least a few more Mondzish languages in China still await discovery and identification.

According to Wenshan locals, a few nearby small ethnic groups reportedly speak similar but "different" languages, which could possibly be other languages unknown to science. These include "Meng" of Lisa village, and "Mengpu" of Dagulu.

What is the significance of this project?

Today, language diversity is highly threatened by globalization and cultural assimilation. In China, language endangerment is especially severe, with ethnic minority languages often not being passed onto people under the age of 30 or 40. Many minority languages in China are so endangered that only a few elderly speakers remain, making language documentation a desperately urgent "race against time". Such languages often hold important clues to human prehistory and migration, but may soon die out without ever being known to science.

Furthermore, some Mondzish languages preserve highly archaic sounds and words. For instance, the Kathu language preserves many rare, archaic sounds such as "kl"-, as well as many words that are closer to its common ancestral language, Proto-Tibeto-Burman.

What are the goals of the project?

- Collection of basic vocabulary word lists (a few hundred items). Audio recordings will be collected and posted online; each word will be repeated by the consultant 3 times.
- Conduct fieldwork in rural Yunnan, China for one month by hiring local motorbikes and minivans. Springtime (before the rainy season) is optimal.
- Survey of demographics, such as villages where the language is spoken
- Identify other little-known ethnic subgroups who may speak languages that are previously unknown to science and undocumented.
- All data collected from field trips will be open-source and freely shared. Data has been supplied to Glottolog, resulting in cataloging of languages new to science, freely available online (example: the Muangphe language: http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/muan1234 )