Southern Qiang
Sino-Tibetan (Qiangic)
Southern Qiang (ISO 639-3: qxs) is a Sino-Tibetan language traditionally classified in the Qiangic branch and spoken by Qiang communities along the Min River in northern Sichuan, China. Its varieties are reported in Li County, Wenchuan County, and part of Mao County, and seven markedly divergent dialects are commonly distinguished. Unlike closely related Northern Qiang, Southern Qiang is tonal; some varieties also preserve older pronominal inflection lost in the north. The language is threatened as Standard Chinese dominates education and mass media, and published descriptions cover particular local varieties rather than a single uniform standard.
Where it is spoken
31 core words in Southern Qiang
Water
tʃʰu
/tʃʰu/
Fire
miː
/miː/
Sun
ɲit
/ɲit/
Moon
ʐwaː
/ʐwaː/
Star
zgɿ
/zɡɿ/
Mother
miː
/miː/
Father
pə
/pə/
I
qa
/qɑ/
You
ʔu
/ʔũ/
Name
rmə
/rmə/
Eye
mit
/mit/
Hand
kʰaː
/kʰaː/
Heart
ɲit
/ɲit/
Love
pʰo
/pʰo/
Tree
tʃʰoː
/tʃʰoː/
House
kʰə
/kʰə/
Dog
kʰwe
/kʰwe/
Cat
maː
/maː/
Eat
tʃʰə
/tʃʰə/
Drink
ʂu
/ʂu/
One
tʃʰik
/tʃʰik/
Two
ɣnə
/ɣnə/
Hello
niə
/niə/
Thank you
—
/—/
Good
kʰo
/kʰo/
Words compared
Compared with related Sino-Tibetan (Qiangic) languages
| Meaning | Southern Qiang | Northern Qiang | Situ rGyalrong | Parauk Wa | Lhomi | Central Bai | Balti |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | tʃʰu /tʃʰu/ | cu /tsu/ | tʃʰu /tʃʰu/ | tʃɔː /tʃɔː/ | ཆུ་ /tɕʰu˥/ | tshi /tʃʰɪ/ | ཆུ /tɕʰu/ |
| Fire | miː /miː/ | mi /mi/ | mə /mə/ | miː /miː/ | མེ་ /me˥/ | me /me/ | མེ /me/ |
| Sun | ɲit /ɲit/ | mu /mu/ | niʂ /niʂ/ | waː /waː/ | ཉི་མ་ /ɲi˥ma˩/ | nyi /ɲi/ | ཉི་མ /ɲima/ |
| Moon | ʐwaː /ʐwaː/ | nyi /ɲi/ | zla /zlɑ/ | lɔː /lɔː/ | ཟླ་བ་ /dawa˩/ | thsi /tʰsɪ/ | ཟླ་བ /dawa/ |
| Star | zgɿ /zɡɿ/ | ʁʐə /ʁʐə/ | zgrɯ /zɡrɯ/ | si-ngai /sŋaɪ/ | སྐར་མ /karma˥/ | gɯsɿ /ɡɯ˧sɿ˧/ | སྐར་མ /skarma/ |
| Mother | miː /miː/ | ami /ami/ | ma /mɑ/ | maː /maː/ | ཨ་མ་ /ʔama˩/ | me /me/ | ཨ་མ /ama/ |
| Father | pə /pə/ | apa /apa/ | pə /pə/ | pʰaː /pʰaː/ | ཨ་པ་ /ʔapa˩/ | phu /pʰu/ | ཨ་ཕ /apʰa/ |
| I | qa /qɑ/ | qa /qɑ/ | nga /ŋa/ | ê /ʔɤʔ/ | ང /ŋà/ | ngo /ŋo˧/ | ང /ŋa/ |
| You | ʔu /ʔũ/ | ʔũ /ʔũ/ | nənjo /nənɟo/ | mêh /mɤʔ/ | ཁྱོད /kʰjø˥/ | no /no˧/ | ཁྱང /kʰjaŋ/ |
| Name | rmə /rmə/ | mi /mi/ | termi /tərmi/ | yaom /jɔm/ | མིང /miŋ˩/ | mie /mie˧/ | མིང /miŋ/ |
| Eye | mit /mit/ | mil /mil/ | miʂ /miʂ/ | miːn /miːn/ | མིག་ /mik˥/ | ngat /ŋɑ́t/ | མིག /mik/ |
| Hand | kʰaː /kʰaː/ | ki /ki/ | laʂ /lɑʂ/ | miːk /miːk/ | ལག་པ་ /lakpa˩/ | khon /kʰɔ̃/ | ལག་པ /lakpa/ |
| Heart | ɲit /ɲit/ | shulm /ʃulm/ | tʰoŋ /tʰɔŋ/ | sɛɛ /sɛɛ/ | སྙིང་ /ɲíŋ/ | sin /sɪ̃/ | སྙིང /ɲiŋ/ |
| Love | pʰo /pʰo/ | halia /halia/ | nə-ŋɯ /nə.ŋɯ/ | rəŋ /rəŋ/ | — /—/ | phi-tshje /pʰɪ tʃʰje/ | དགའ་བ /ɡaba/ |
| Tree | tʃʰoː /tʃʰoː/ | səf /səf/ | sin /sin/ | tʰɔː /tʰɔː/ | ཤིང་ /ɕiŋ˥/ | si /sɪ/ | ཤིང /ɕiŋ/ |
| House | kʰə /kʰə/ | stuapa /stuapa/ | kʰoŋ /kʰɔŋ/ | miː /miː/ | ཁྱིམ་ /kʰim˥/ | khe /kʰe/ | ཁང་པ /kʰaŋpa/ |
| Dog | kʰwe /kʰwe/ | kuel /kʷel/ | kʰə /kʰə/ | kʰɔː /kʰɔː/ | ཁྱི་ /kʰi˥/ | kho /kʰo/ | ཁྱི /kʰi/ |
| Cat | maː /maː/ | miu /miu/ | tsa /tsʰɑ/ | mɛː /mɛː/ | — /—/ | mau /mau̯/ | བྱི་ལ /bjila/ |
| Eat | tʃʰə /tʃʰə/ | ndzu /ndzu/ | mə-za /mə.zɑ/ | sɛː /sɛː/ | ཟ་ /sa˩/ | tshje /tʃʰje/ | ཟ /za/ |
| Drink | ʂu /ʂu/ | ndhu /ndʱu/ | nə-tɕʰə-n /nə.tɕʰə.n/ | pə /pə/ | འཐུང་ /tʰuŋ˩/ | phi /pʰɪ/ | ཐུང་ /tʰuŋ/ |
| One | tʃʰik /tʃʰik/ | lhe /ɬe/ | tʃʰiʂ /tʃʰiʂ/ | tʃit /tʃit/ | གཅིག་ /tɕik˥/ | yi /i˧/ | གཅིག /tɕik/ |
| Two | ɣnə /ɣnə/ | ɣnə /ʁnə/ | kanəs /kʰanəs/ | rao /ra̤ɯ/ | གཉིས /ɲi˩/ | ko /ko˧/ | གཉིས /ɲis/ |
| Hello | niə /niə/ | nia ja /nia dʒa/ | ŋ̩ /ŋ̩/ | sawʔdiː /sawʔdiː/ | བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས /taɕi˥ tele˩/ | he /he/ | ཨ་སི་ལམ /asilam/ |
| Thank you | — /—/ | — /—/ | ʒo /ʒɔ/ | tʰɔk /tʰɔk/ | — /—/ | mje-kje /mje kje/ | བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེ /kadrintɕʰe/ |
| Good | kʰo /kʰo/ | stsuq /stsuq/ | tʰuŋ /tʰʊŋ/ | jɔː /jɔː/ | ཡག་པོ་ /jakpo˩/ | no /no/ | ཡག་པོ /jakpo/ |
Part of LangMap — a linguistic visualization project. This is a static, crawlable summary; the interactive maps offer pronunciation audio, filters, and a globe view.