Bunuo (Chinese: 布诺) (Pu No, autonym: pu33no22) - 12,115 speakers in Du'an (in Sanzhiyang 三只羊; Longma (龙麻) of Xia'ao (下坳乡),[2] etc.), Guangxi
The Shaoyang Prefecture Gazetteer (1997:533) reports that the Miao of Xinning County, Hunan, speak a Bunu-branch language.
The Yunnan Province Gazetteer (1989) reports that a Bunu dialect known as pu55ʐa11 (布咋) is spoken by about 7,000 people in Guichao (归朝乡) and Dongbo (洞波瑶族乡) (including in Dadongzhai 大洞寨, Saxiangdong Village 三湘洞村[3]) townships of Funing County, Yunnan.
Others
The following may be alternative names for speakers of Bunu languages.[4]
Changpao (长袍): 5,000 (1999) in southern Guizhou; undetermined linguistic affiliation, but could possibly be Bunu.[6] Identified as Dongmeng by Bradley (2007).[7]
Youmai (优迈): 2,000 (1999) in southwestern Guizhou; possibly a Bunu variety;[8] classified as Pingtang Miao by Li Yunbing (2000)[9]
Qibainong Dongnu has seven diphthongs: /ei/, /ai/, /au/, /ou/, /ɔi/, /iu/, and /eu/.[12] Of these, /ɔi/, /iu/, and /eu/ only appear in recent loans from Chinese and Zhuang.[13] Examples of words with diphthongs appear in the table below; yellow background is for those diphthongs that appear only in recent borrowings.
Several vowels in Qibainong Dongnu permit a nasal consonant following, either /n/ or /ŋ/; most vowels permit one or the other, but not both.[12] Qibainong also permits the rime /iaŋ/, despite not having a diphthong /ia/; /iaŋ/ is used only in recent loans.[14] The possible combinations of vowel with final nasal, organized by the position of the vowel, appear in the table below.
Qibainong Dongnu has eight tones, with four having an alternate realization, giving a total of 12 tone values.[15]
Tones
Tone number
Tone class
Tone value
Example word
1
A1
33
tɔ33 'deep'
1′
A1′
55
ven55 'winnowing basket'
2
A2
13
tɔ13 'come'
2′
A2′
35
ven35 'garden'
3
B1
43
tɔ43 'hit'
3′
B1′
54
pe54 'bowl'
4
B2
232
tɔ232 'read'
4′
B2′
454
pe454 'handle'
5
C1
41
tɔ41 'kill'
6
C2
221
tɔ221 'die'
7
D1
32
tɔ32 'affix (a seal)'
8
D2
21
tɔ21 'bite'
Grammar
Word Classes
According to Meng (2001), Bunu has 12 parts of speech, namely, nouns, pronouns, numerals, classifiers, adjectives, verbs, intensifiers (状词), adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliaries, and interjections.[16]
Pronouns
Personal pronouns in Bunu exhibit a three-way distinction in both person and number, yielding nine contrasting terms.[17]
Bunu also has pronouns for 'oneself' and 'everyone', as well as a set of interrogative pronouns.[18]
References
^ abMeng, Chaoji 蒙朝吉 (2001). Yáozú Bùnǔyǔ fāngyán yánjiū 瑤族布努语方言研究 [A Study of the Bunu Dialects of the Yao People] (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
^Meng, Youyi 蒙有义 (2011). "Lóngmá Bùnǔyǔ yǔyīn xìtǒng" 龙麻布努语语音系统 [On Phonetic System of Bunu Language in Longma]. Sānxiá lùntán (Sānxiá wénxué. Lǐlùn bǎn) 三峡论坛（三峡文学.理论版） (in Chinese). 2011 (5): 61–65, 148. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
^Bradley, David (2007). "East and Southeast Asia". In Moseley, Christopher (ed.). Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages. New York: Routledge.
