Editing Zhuang languages (section)

{{short description|Various Tai languages used by the Zhuang people of southern China}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Zhuang
| nativename       = {{lang|za|Vahcuengh}} ("Zhuang"), {{lang|zyb|Hauqcuengh}} (Yongbei)<BR>{{lang|zhn|Kauqnuangz}} (Nong), {{lang|zgn|Kauqnoangz}}<BR>{{lang|zgn|Hoedyaej}} (Guibian), {{lang|zqe|Hauƽyəiч}} (Qiubei)<BR>{{lang|mul|Hauqraeuz}}, {{lang|mul|Gangjdoj}} (Yongbei, Nong, Qiubei)<BR>{{lang|mul|Kauqraeuz}}, {{lang|mul|Gangjtoj}} (Nong, Yang, Dai)
| states           = [[China]]
| ethnicity        = [[Zhuang people]]
| speakers         = {{sigfig|15.9|2}} million, all Northern Zhuang languages
| date             = 2007
| ref              = ne2007
| familycolor      = Kradai
| fam2             = [[Kam–Tai]]
| fam3             = Be–Tai ?
| stand1           = [[Standard Zhuang]]
| script           = Zhuang, Old Zhuang, [[Sawndip]], [[Sawgoek]]
| iso1             = za
| iso2             = zha
| iso3             = zha
| lc1              = zch
| ld1              = Central Hongshuihe Zhuang
| lc2              = zhd
| ld2              = [[Dai Zhuang]] (Wenma)
| lc3              = zeh
| ld3              = [[Eastern Hongshuihe Zhuang]]
| lc4              = zgb
| ld4              = Guibei Zhuang
| lc5              = zgn
| ld5              = [[Guibian Zhuang]]
| lc6              = zln
| ld6              = Lianshan Zhuang
| lc7              = zlj
| ld7              = Liujiang Zhuang
| lc8              = zlq
| ld8              = Liuqian Zhuang
| lc9              = zgm
| ld9              = [[Minz Zhuang]]
| lc10             = zhn
| ld10             = [[Nong Zhuang]] (Yanguang)
| lc11             = zqe
| ld11             = [[Qiubei Zhuang]]
| lc12             = zyg
| ld12             = [[Yang Zhuang]] (Dejing)
| lc13             = zyb
| ld13             = [[Yongbei Zhuang]]
| lc14             = zyn
| ld14             = [[Yongnan Zhuang]]
| lc15             = zyj
| ld15             = [[Youjiang Zhuang]]
| lc16             = zzj
| ld16             = [[Zuojiang Zhuang]]
| glotto           = none
| glotto2          = daic1237
| glottoname2      = = Daic; Zhuang is not a valid group
| glottorefname2   = Daic
| notice           = IPA
| map              = Zhuang-dialects-map.png
| mapcaption       = Geographic distribution of Zhuang dialects in Guangxi and related languages in Northern Vietnam and Guizhou
| fam4             = [[Tai languages|Tai]]
| fam5             = [[Northern Tai languages|Northern Tai]] and [[Central Tai languages|Central Tai]]
}}

[[Image:Zhuang books.jpg|thumb|220px|Books of Zhuang language]]

The '''Zhuang languages''' ({{IPAc-en|'|dʒ<!--adjusted from word-medial form per US entry-->|w|æ|ŋ|,_|'|dʒ|w|ɒ|ŋ}};<ref>{{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Guangxi_Zhuang |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420052520/https://www.lexico.com/definition/guangxi_zhuang |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 20, 2021 |title=Guangxi Zhuang |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> [[exonym and endonym|autonym]]: {{Lang|za|Vahcuengh}}, {{IPA|za|βa˧ɕuːŋ˧}}, pre-1982: {{Lang|za|Vaƅcueŋƅ}}, [[Sawndip]]: 話僮, from ''vah'', 'language' and ''Cuengh'', 'Zhuang'; {{zh|s=壮语|t=壯語|p=Zhuàngyǔ}}) are the more than a dozen [[Tai languages]] spoken by the [[Zhuang people]] of Southern [[China]] in the province of [[Guangxi]] and adjacent parts of [[Yunnan]] and [[Guangdong]]. The Zhuang languages do not form a monophyletic linguistic unit, as northern and southern Zhuang languages are more closely related to other Tai languages than to each other. Northern Zhuang languages form a [[dialect continuum]] with [[Northern Tai]] varieties across the provincial border in [[Guizhou]], which are designated as [[Bouyei language|Bouyei]], whereas Southern Zhuang languages form another dialect continuum with [[Central Tai]] varieties such as [[Nung language (Tai)|Nung]], [[Tày language|Tay]] and [[Caolan language|Caolan]] in [[Vietnam]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bradley |first=David |title=Encyclopedia of the World's Engangered Languages |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-135-79640-2 |editor-last=Moseley |editor-first=Christopher |pages=349–422 |chapter=East and Southeast Asia}} p. 370.</ref> [[Standard Zhuang]] is based on the Northern Zhuang dialect of [[Wuming County|Wuming]].

The Tai languages are believed to have been originally spoken in what is now southern China, with speakers of the [[Southwestern Tai languages]] (which include [[Thai language|Thai]], [[Lao language|Lao]] and [[Shan language|Shan]]) having emigrated in the face of Chinese expansion.
Noting that both the Zhuang and Thai peoples have the same [[exonym]] for the [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]], ''kɛɛu<sup>A1</sup>'',<ref>A1 designates a tone.</ref> from the Chinese commandery of [[Jiaozhi]] in northern Vietnam, [[Jerold A. Edmondson]] posited that the split between Zhuang and the Southwestern Tai languages happened no earlier than the founding of Jiaozhi in 112 BC. He also argues that the departure of the [[Thai people|Thai]] from southern China must predate the 5th century AD, when the Tai who remained in China began to take family names.<ref>{{Cite conference |last=Edmondson |first=Jerold A. |year=2007 |editor2-last=Somsonge Burusphat |editor3-last=James E. Harris |title=Studies in Southeast Asian languages and linguistics |location=Bangkok, Thailand |publisher=Ek Phim Thai Co |pages=39–63 |chapter-url=http://ling.uta.edu/~jerry/pol.pdf |chapter=The power of language over the past: Tai settlement and Tai linguistics in southern China and northern Vietnam |editor1=Jimmy G. Harris |conference= |access-date=2011-06-19 |archive-date=2011-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716085333/http://ling.uta.edu/~jerry/pol.pdf |url-status=dead }} (see p. 15 of preprint)</ref>