Maonan
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A language of China
30,000 (GXLOUS 2005), decreasing. A few thousand women and children are monolingual. Ethnic population: 107,000 (2000 census).
Guangxi province: Huanjiang Maonan autonomous county, Xianan area: Nandan, Yishan, and Yizhou; a few in Du’an and Hechi counties; Guizhou province: south central small border area.
6b (Threatened). Language of recognized nationality: Maonan.
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).
75% use it at home; 62% use it outside the home; 72% speak it to their children (GXLOUS 2005). Positive attitudes. Most also use Mandarin Chinese [cmn], or other local languages (GXLOUS 2005).
Daoist, Christian.