Language
The Xibe in northeast China speak Chinese as their first language. In Xinjiang, descendants of the Qing dynasty military garrison preserve their language, which is a dialect of the Manchu. Unlike the Manchu language, the Xibe language is reported to have eight vowel distinctions as opposed to the six found in Manchu, differences in morphology, and a complex kind of vowel harmony. The general vocabulary and structure of Xibe has not been affected as much by the influence of Chinese as Manchu has been. However, there are a number of Chinese loanwords, and a large body of sociological terminology, such as gəming (revolution) and gungshə (commune), have been borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the everyday vocabulary of the language. They use the Xibe script, a slightly revised Manchu script.
Read more about this topic: Xibe People
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“The angels are so enamored of the language that is spoken in heaven, that they will not distort their lips with the hissing and unmusical dialects of men, but speak their own, whether there be any who understand it or not.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I now thinke, Love is rather deafe, than blind,
For else it could not be,
That she,
Whom I adore so much, should so slight me,
And cast my love behind:
I’m sure my language to her, was as sweet,
And every close did meet
In sentence, of as subtile feet,
As hath the youngest Hee,”
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