Maonan

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A language of China

ISO 639-3
mmd
Alternate Names
Ai Nan
Population

30,000 (2005 GXLOUS), decreasing. A few thousand women and children are monolingual. Ethnic population: 107,000 (2000 census).

Location

North central Guangxi, Huanjiang Maonan autonomous county, Xianan area: Yishan, Nandan, Yizhou; a few in Hechi and Du’an counties.

Language Maps
Language Status

6b (Threatened).

Classification
Tai-Kadai, Kam-Tai, Kam-Sui
Typology

SVO; numbers and adjectives follow nouns; reduplication; glottalized, prenasalized, palatalized, and labialized onsets; nasal and stop finals; many Chinese loans; tonal, 6 tone categories in unchecked syllables, 2 in checked (split into 4 according to vowel length)

Language Use

75% use it at home; 62% use it outside the home; 72% speak it to their children (GXLOUS 2005). Positive attitudes. Also use Chinese [cmn] or other local languages. More than 90% are bilingual or trilingual (GXLOUS 2005).

Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: 93% (2000 census, Manon nationality). Taught in primary schools. Radio programs. Grammar.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Maonan
Writing
Han script, Simplified variant. Han script, Traditional variant.
Other Comments

Officially classified within Maonan nationality. Daoist, Christian.