Situ language

Situ
Eastern rGyalrong
Native to	China
Region	Sichuan
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Qiangic Rgyalrongic rGyalrong Situ
Language codes
ISO 639-3	(included in jya)
Glottolog	situ1238

Situ (Chinese: 四土话; pinyin: Sìtǔhuà) is a Rgyalrong language spoken in Sichuan, China. The name "Situ", literally "four Tusi", comes from a historical name of the Ma'erkang region.

Distribution

Gates (2012: 102-103) lists the following locations where Zbu is spoken. It is spoken by over 35,000-40,000 people in 57 villages.

• southern half of Ma’ěrkāng/'Bar-kams County (53 villages)
  • Zhuókèjī, Mǎ’ěrkāng/'Bar-kams, and Sōnggǎng/rDzong-'gag Towns, including surrounding villages
  • Sūomò/Somang and Báiwān/Brag-bar Townships
  • Báiwān/Brag-bar and Dǎngbà/Dam-pa Townships
• Jīnchuān/Chu-chen County (4 villages)
  • Jímù/Kye-mo Township (although Nilong Village primarily has Lavrung speakers)
  • possibly also Kǎlājiǎo and Sāwǎjiǎo Townships
• northwestern Li County, Sichuan
• southernmost Hóngyuán County (recent migrants)

Dialects

Gates (2012: 103) lists 7 dialects of Situ.

• Jiaomuzu Township 脚木足乡, western Barkam County
• Jimu Township 集木乡, Jinchuan County
• Dangba Township 党坝乡, southwestern Barkam County
• Bawang-Songgang Townships 巴旺乡-松岗镇, west-central Barkam County
• Ben Town 本镇, central Barkam County
• Zhuokeji Town 卓克基镇, central Barkam County
• Suomo Township 梭磨乡, eastern Barkam County

Phonology

Consonants of Brag-bar Situ

		Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo- palatal	Palatal	Velar/ Uvular
Nasal		m	n			ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t			c	k
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ			cʰ	kʰ
	voiced	b	d			ɟ	ɡ
	prenasalized	ᵐb	ⁿd			ᶮɟ	ᵑɡ
Affricate	voiceless		t͡s	t͡ʂ	t͡ɕ
	aspirated		t͡sʰ	t͡ʂʰ	t͡ɕʰ
	voiced		d͡z		d͡ʑ
	prenasalized		ⁿd͡z	ⁿd͡ʐ	ⁿd͡ʑ
Fricative	voiceless	(f)	s		ɕ		χ
	voiced	v	z		ʑ
Lateral			l
Sonorant		w	r			j

• /v/ can be realized as its voiceless equivalent [f], before a voiceless consonant. /v/ is heard as [v] in middle position, and may also be heard as a bilabial fricative [β], in free variation.
• [f] can appear in Chinese loans, and can also be heard as a voiceless bilabial fricative [ɸ].
• /r/ can be heard as a voiceless retroflex [ʂ] before a voiceless consonant. /r/ is heard as [r] in middle position and can also be heard as a voiced retroflex [ʐ] in free variation.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Near-open	iɛ	ɐ
Open		a

• The diphthong /iɛ/ can be heard as more open-front [ia], after being followed by a velar consonant.
• /ɐ/ can be heard as a front-mid [ɛ], when between a front and central vowel, or between a back and central vowel.

Grammar

Verbal agreement

Data adapted from Lin (1993). Columns indicate the patient, and rows the agent. For example, the item tə-no-n in row "2sg" and column "3" means "you(singular) drive him/her/it/them.two/them".

	1sg	1du	1pl	2sg	2du	2pl	3
1sg				ta-no	ta-no-ntʃ	ta-no-ɲ	no-ŋ
1du				ta-no	ta-no-ntʃ	ta-no-ɲ	no-tʃ
1pl				ta-no	ta-no-ntʃ	ta-no-ɲ	no-i
2sg	kə-w-no-ŋ	kə-w-no-tʃ	kə-w-no-i				tə-no-n
2du	kə-w-no-ŋ	kə-w-no-tʃ	kə-w-no-i				tə-no-ntʃ
2pl	kə-w-no-ŋ	kə-w-no-tʃ	kə-w-no-i				tə-no-ɲ
3sg	wə-no-ŋ	wə-no-tʃ	wə-no-i	tə-w-no	tə-w-no-ntʃ	tə-w-no-ɲ	no-u
3du	wə-no-ŋ	wə-no-tʃ	wə-no-i	tə-w-no	tə-w-no-ntʃ	tə-w-no-ɲ	no-ntʃ
3pl	wə-no-ŋ	wə-no-tʃ	wə-no-i	tə-w-no	tə-w-no-ntʃ	tə-w-no-ɲ	no-ɲ

References

• Zhang, Shuya (2016). La phonologie et la morphologie du dialecte de Brag-dbar du rgyalrong situ [The phonology and morphology of the Bragdbar dialect of Situ Rgyalrong] (MA thesis) (in French). INALCO.
• Prins, Maria Clazina (2011). A Web of Relations: A Grammar of rGyalrong Jiăomùzú (Kyom-kyo) Dialects (PhD thesis). Leiden University. hdl:1887/18157.
• Prins, Marielle (2016). A Grammar of rGyalrong, Jiǎomùzú (Kyom-kyo) Dialects: A Web of Relations. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9004-32563-0.