Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Macro Bai languages

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Geographic distribution:
  
Guizhou, China

Glottolog:
  
macr1275

Linguistic classification:
  
Sino-Tibetan Sinitic? Macro-Bai

Subdivisions:
  
Bai Caijia Longjia Luren

Macro-Bai is a grouping of the Bai languages, spoken in the Chinese province of Yunnan, with the recently discovered Caijia language spoken in western Guizhou. Longjia and Luren (also from western Guizhou) may be closely related to Caijia, and therefore also be part of Macro-Bai. Bai has over a million speakers, but Longjia and Luren may both be extinct, and Caijia is highly endangered, with approximately 1,000 speakers. The Qixingmin people of Weining County, Guizhou may have also spoken a Macro-Bai language.

Waxiang, spoken in northwestern Hunan province, China, appears to share some words with Macro-Bai languages. However, linguists studying Chinese classify Waxiang as a divergent Chinese variety.

References

Macro-Bai languages Wikipedia