Caijia language


Caijia is an endangered Sino-Tibetan language spoken in an area centred on Bijie, in the west of the Chinese province of Guizhou. It was discovered in the 2000s. It has been described by different authors as a relative of Bai or an early split from Old Chinese. The autonym is .

Classification

Similarities among Old Chinese, Waxiang, Caijia, and Bai have been pointed out by Wu & Shen and others.
Zhengzhang Shangfang argued that Bai and Caijia formed a Greater Bai subgroup of Sino-Tibetan.
Caijia also appears to be related to the extinct Longjia and Luren languages, but they are too poorly documented for definitive classification.
In contrast, Sagart groups Caijia with Waxiang, a divergent Chinese variety spoken in northwestern Hunan, as the earliest group to split off from Old Chinese.
Sagart lists the following features of Old Chinese retained by both Caijia and Waxiang:
Sagart identifies two words as shared innovations:
Bijie reports the Caijia people are found in the seven counties of Bijie prefecture – Qixingguan, Dafang, Qianxi, Zhijin, Nayong, Weining, and Hezhang – comprising a total of over 3,100 households and over 18,000 individuals. Bijie reports that smaller populations of Caijia people are found in Anshun and Liupanshui prefectures, as well as Zhaoyang, Yiliang, and Zhenxiong counties in Zhaotong prefecture, Yunnan. Bijie also contains linguistic data for the Caijia language of Hezhang County.
Caijia speakers are distributed in the following locations in Bijie prefecture.
Yinajia District 以那架区 has the most ethnic Caijia in Zhijin County. Bijie also reports the location of Baiyanjiao 白岩脚, Puweng Township 普翁公社, Guiguo District 桂果区, Zhijin County.
The Liupanshui City Ethnic Gazetteer 六盘水市志：民族志 lists ethnic Caijia populations for the following counties in the prefecture, with a total of 4,061 :
In Shuicheng County, the Caijia language is still spoken in:
In Zhenxiong County, Yunnan, the Caijia people are scattered in the village cluster of Sumu 苏木村, and in Chuanjiu 串九, Qinggang 青杠, Liangshui 凉水, Poji 泼机, Nantai 南台, Wugu 五谷.

Dialects

Guizhou lists the following two dialects of the Caijia language. The Caijia dialect documented in Guizhou is that of Yangjiazhai 杨家寨, Liangyan Village 亮岩公社, Xingfa District 兴发区, Hezhang County.
  1. Xingfa District 兴发区, Hezhang County: Liangyan Village 亮岩公社, Yeli Village 野里公社, and Wocun Village 窝皮寸
  2. Kaiping Village 开坪公社, Longchang District 龙场区, Weining County
Guizhou notes that the -an rime in Caijia of Xingfa 兴发 corresponds to the -aŋ rime in Caijia of Longchang 龙场.
Hsiu reports the discovery of a previously undocumented Caijia dialect that is spoken in Niujiaojing 牛角井村, Yangjie Town 羊街镇, Weining County. This Caijia dialect is also spoken in the villages of Xinglongchang 兴隆场村, Niuchishui 牛吃水, and Fadi 发地.

Names and ethnic subdivisions

The Caijia people are ethnoculturally related to the Lu people, who are classified as Manchu by the Chinese government. Luren and Caijia are also closely related to Longjia. Caijia, Longjia, and Lu are all spoken in western Guizhou.
In Weining County, Caijia speakers are officially classified by the Chinese government as ethnic Gelao, while in Hezhang County they are classified as Bai.
Caijia people with the autonym "Menni" have also been reported in Puding County, Guizhou, where they were classified as ethnic Gelao during the 1980s.
In Zhijin County, Guizhou, Caijia people are called Silie 斯列 by the local Miao and Awuna 阿乌纳 by the local Yi.
Ethnic subdivisions of the Caijia people include the Black 黑, White 白, Qingshangshui 青上水, Xiashui 下水, Hanzhan 捍毡, Zhuazhua 抓抓, Datou 大头, Qianqiaoba 乾乔巴, Laohu 老虎, Luoluo 倮倮, Xuejiao 削角, and Jiandao 剪刀.
Historically recorded names for the Caijia include Caijiazi 蔡家子 and Gantan Caijia 擀毡蔡家. The Yi call the Caijia "Sha'awu 沙阿乌", the Miao call them "Sini 斯你", and other ethnic groups also call them "Xieguo 写果".
Bijie lists the following autonyms and exonyms for the Caijia people.