Waxiang Chinese

Waxiang
	Waxianghua
	Wogang
Region	western Hunan
Native speakers	unknown (300,000 cited 1995)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Chinese (unclassified) Waxiang; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wxa
Glottolog	waxi1236
	Dialect map of Hunan.; Waxianhua is the bit of dark blue in the medium blue (SW Mandarin) just above the red (Xiang)

Waxiang (simplified Chinese: 瓦乡话; traditional Chinese: 瓦鄉話; pinyin: wǎxiānghuà) is a divergent variety of Chinese,^[2]^[3] spoken by the Waxiang people, an unrecognized ethnic minority group in the northwestern part of Hunan province, China. Waxiang is a distinct language, very different from its surrounding Southwestern Mandarin, Xiang and Qo Xiong languages.

Waxiang may share some lexical innovations^[which?] with Bai, suggesting a possible Macro-Bai substratum.^[4]^[5]^{[unreliable source?]} It has also been suggested that perhaps Waxiang is a mixed language of Xiang and Miao.^{[citation needed]}

Distribution

Waxianghua is found in Luxi, Guzhang and Yongshun counties in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Zhangjiajie prefecture-level city (in Dayong 大庸), and Chenxi, Xupu and Yuanling counties in Huaihua prefecture-level city. Neighboring languages include Southwestern Mandarin, Xiang Chinese, Tujia, Qo Xiong, and Hm Nai.

The word Wa 瓦 is only a phonetic transcription.

Wu & Shen (2010) report Waxianghua to be spoken in the following villages.

Yuanling County: Qingshuiping 清水坪, Maxipu 麻溪铺, Taichang 太常, Wusu 乌宿, Liangshuijing 凉水井
Luxi County: Basheping 八什坪, Shangbao 上堡, Liangjiatan 梁家谭, Baisha 白沙镇
Guzhang County: Linchang 林场 of Gaowangjie 高望界, Gaofeng 高峰 (in Taojin 淘金村, Beishuiping 北水坪, etc.), Yantouzhai 岩头寨, Shanzao 山枣, Yezhu 野竹, Hepeng 河蓬, Caotan 草潭
Chenxi County: Tianwan 田湾, Banqiao 板桥, Chuanxiyi 船溪驿, Tanjiafang 谭家坊
Xupu County: Rangjiaxi 让家溪, Daweixi 大渭溪, Muxi 木溪
Yongshun County: Limin 里明村, Zhenxi 镇溪, Xiaoxi 小溪 of Wangcun Township 王村镇

Waxiang preserves a number of features of Old Chinese not found in most modern varieties of Chinese, such as the initial *l- (which became a voiced dental stop in Middle Chinese):^[6]

Waxiang also has some cases of /z/ for Old Chinese *r- (which became l- in Middle Chinese):^[7]

Like Proto-Min, it has affricate initials in a number of words where Middle Chinese has sy-:^[8]

Wu Yunji, Shen Ruiqing [伍云姬、沈瑞清]. 2010. An Investigative Report of Waxianghua of Guzhang County, Xiangxi Prefecture [湘西古丈瓦乡话调查报告]. Shanghai Educational Press [上海教育出版社].
Yang Wei [杨蔚]. 1999. A study of Yuanling Xianghua [沅陵乡话研究]. Changsha: Hunan Educational Press [湖南敎育出版社].
Yang Wei [杨蔚]. 2010. Xianghua comparative phonology [湘西乡话语音研究]. Guangzhou: Guangdong Press [广东省出版集团].

Hilary Chappell (2012), "Typology of an isolated Sinitic language: Waxiang, a language of northwestern Hunan, China" (presentation slides), keynote at 45th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics.
Macro-Bai comparative vocabulary list on Wiktionary