Baipho

Central Bai

Sino-Tibetan > Bai (Baipho branch; sometimes classified as sister of Sinitic)

FamilySino-Tibetan > Bai (Baipho branch; sometimes classified as sister of Sinitic) Speakers約100万人 (中央白語) RegionDali Prefecture, Yunnan, China ReadingSino-Bai reading (Bai Wenzi Latin orthography)

Bai (白語, bca) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by about 1.5 million people around Dali in Yunnan, China. Its vocabulary contains two strata of Chinese loanwords: an early pre-Tang 'Sino-Bai' layer (often matching Middle Chinese closely) and a later Tang-dynasty literary layer. The romanization used here is the 1958 Bai Wenzi Latin orthography, which marks eight tones with numerals 1–8 following the syllable. Numbers 1–10, body terms, and nature words are largely borrowed from Old/Middle Chinese and thus closely resemble Mandarin or Cantonese cognates.

Where it is spoken

Han character readings in Central Bai

Character Meaning Reading Form IPA
one it6 /ʔit̚˨˨˨/
two nox3 /no˨˩˦/
three sae1 /sæ˥/
four sv4 /sɿ˨˩/
five ngux3 /ŋu˨˩˦/
six lox6 /lo˨˨˨/
seven chi1 /tɕʰi˦˦/
eight be2 /pe˧˥/
nine jiux3 /tɕiu˨˩˦/
ten cix6 /tsʰɿ˨˨˨/
sun nix4 /ni˨˩/
moon nyuex4 /ɲyɛ˨˩/
mountain sae1 /sæ˥/
water syq3 /sɿ˨˩˦/
fire hox3 /xo˨˩˦/
tree mux6 /mu˨˨˨/
soil thux3 /tʰu˨˩˦/
sky tie1 /tʰiɛ˥/
ground di4 /ti˨˩/
sea hae3 /xæ˨˩˦/
dragon long2 /loŋ˧˥/
tiger hux3 /xu˨˩˦/
dog khoe4 /kʰwɛ˨˩/
horse maq3 /ma˨˩˦/
bird niux3 /niu˨˩˦/
fish ngvx2 /ŋɯ˧˥/
ox ngiux2 /ŋiu˧˥/
sheep yang2 /jaŋ˧˥/
cat maox1 /mɑu˥/
person niex2 /niɛ˧˥/
hand shiux3 /ɕiu˨˩˦/
foot jvx6 /tɕɯ˨˨˨/
eye mux6 /mu˨˨˨/
ear nix3 /ni˨˩˦/
mouth khux3 /kʰu˨˩˦/
head thox2 /tʰo˧˥/
heart xim1 /ɕim˥/
blood xuex4 /ɕyɛ˨˩/
meat nyux6 /ɲu˨˨˨/
up shanx4 /ʂan˨˩/
down haq4 /xa˨˩/
middle zhong1 /ʐoŋ˥/
hit zhong4 /ʐoŋ˨˩/
center yang1 /jaŋ˥/
left zvx3 /ʦɯ˨˩˦/
right yux4 /ju˨˩/
east dong1 /toŋ˥/
西 west xi1 /ɕi˥/
south nae2 /næ˧˥/
north bei4 /peɪ˨˩/
go hang2 /xaŋ˧˥/
row hang2 /xaŋ˧˥/
come lae2 /læ˧˥/
leave qvx4 /tɕʰɯ˨˩/
see jie4 /tɕiɛ˨˩/
hear wen2 /wɛn˧˥/
eat zhix6 /ʐɿ˨˨˨/
drink im3 /ʔim˨˩˦/
run zvx3 /ʦɯ˨˩˦/
sit zvx4 /ʦɯ˨˩/
stand li6 /li˨˨˨/

Sources

Words compared

Compared with related Sino-Tibetan (Bai) languages

Meaning Central BaiSouthern QiangKhams TibetanClassical TibetanBaltiLadakhiNaxi
Water tshi /tʃʰɪ/ tʃʰu /tʃʰu/ ཆུ /tɕʰu/ ཆུ /tɕʰu/ ཆུ /tɕʰu/ ཆུ /tɕʰu/ ggee /ɡɯ̄/
Fire me /me/ miː /miː/ མེ /me/ མེ /me/ མེ /me/ མེ /me/ mee /mɯ˧/
Sun nyi /ɲi/ ɲit /ɲit/ ཉི་མ /ɲima/ ཉི་མ /ɲima/ ཉི་མ /ɲima/ ཉི་མ /ɲima/ ny-mei /ɲi˧mi˧/
Moon thsi /tʰsɪ/ ʐwaː /ʐwaː/ ཟླ་བ /dawa/ ཟླ་བ /dawa/ ཟླ་བ /dawa/ ཟླ་བ /zlawa/ he-mei /hɯ˧mi˧/
Star gɯsɿ /ɡɯ˧sɿ˧/ zgɿ /zɡɿ/ སྐར་མ /karma/ སྐར་མ /karma/ སྐར་མ /skarma/ སྐར་མ /skarma/ gee /kɯ˧/
Mother me /me/ miː /miː/ ཨ་མ /ama/ ཨ་མ /ama/ ཨ་མ /ama/ ཨ་མ /ama/ mei /mei˧/
Father phu /pʰu/ /pə/ ཨ་ཕ /apʰa/ /pʰa/ ཨ་ཕ /apʰa/ ཨ་པ /apa/ av /a˧/
I ngo /ŋo˧/ qa /qɑ/ /ŋà/ /ŋa/ /ŋa/ /ŋa/ ngeq /ŋə˨˩/
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Han readings compared

Compared with related Sino-Tibetan > Bai (Baipho branch; sometimes classified as sister of Sinitic) languages

Character Central BaiEarly Mandarin (Yuan)Taiwan MandarinChinese (Mandarin)Thai Mandarin (heritage)Northeastern MandarinGan Chinese (Yingtan)
it6 /ʔit̚˨˨˨/ i3 /i˨˩˦/ /i˥˥/ /i˥˥/ /i˥˥/ yi⁵⁵ /i˥˥/ it⁵ /it̚˥/
nox3 /no˨˩˦/ ʐï4 /ʐʅ˥˩/ èr /ɑɻ˥˩/ èr /ɑɻ˥˩/ èr /ɑɻ˥˩/ er⁵³ /ɚ˥˧/ ɛ²¹ /ɛ˨˩/
sae1 /sæ˥/ sam1 /sam˥/ sān /san˥˥/ sān /san˥˥/ sān /san˥˥/ san⁵⁵ /san˥˥/ sã⁴² /sã˦˨/
sv4 /sɿ˨˩/ sï4 /sɿ˥˩/ /sɿ˥˩/ /sɿ˥˩/ /sɿ˥˩/ si⁵³ /sɿ˥˧/ sɿ⁴⁵ /sɿ˦˥/
ngux3 /ŋu˨˩˦/ u3 /u˨˩˦/ /u˨˩˦/ /u˨˩˦/ /u˨˩˦/ wu²¹³ /u˨˩˧/ ŋ̩²¹³ /ŋ̩˨˩˧/
lox6 /lo˨˨˨/ lieu4 /liəu˥˩/ liù /ljou˥˩/ liù /ljou˥˩/ liù /ljou˥˩/ liu⁵³ /liou˥˧/ liuq⁵ /liuʔ˥/
chi1 /tɕʰi˦˦/ tshi3 /tsʰi˨˩˦/ /tɕʰi˥˥/ /tɕʰi˥˥/ /tɕʰi˥˥/ qi⁵⁵ /tɕʰi˥˥/ tɕʰit⁵ /tɕʰit̚˥/
be2 /pe˧˥/ pa3 /pa˨˩˦/ /pa˥˥/ /pa˥˥/ /pa˥˥/ ba⁵⁵ /pa˥˥/ pat⁵ /pat̚˥/
jiux3 /tɕiu˨˩˦/ kieu3 /kiəu˨˩˦/ jiǔ /tɕjou˨˩˦/ jiǔ /tɕjou˨˩˦/ jiǔ /tɕjou˨˩˦/ jiu²¹³ /tɕiou˨˩˧/ tɕiu²¹³ /tɕiu˨˩˧/
cix6 /tsʰɿ˨˨˨/ ʂï2 /ʂʅ˧˥/ shí /sz̩˧˥/ shí /ʂʐ̩˧˥/ shí /sz̩˧˥/ shi³⁵ /ʂʐ̩˧˥/ sɨt⁵ /sɨt̚˥/
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