Zhuang (Saw cuengh)

Zhuang is a northern Tai language spoken by about 10 million people mainly in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China, and also in Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou, and Hunan Provinces.

Zhuang was originally written with a mixture of standard Chinese characters, Chinese-like characters and other symbols. This script, known as the Old Zhuang Script or sawndip, dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) and was used to write folktales, myths, songs, play scripts, medical prescriptions, family genealogies, contracts, communist revolutionary propaganda, etc.

A method of writing Zhuang based on the Wuming dialect and using a mixture of Latin and Cyrillic letters and a number of IPA symbols was devised in 1955. A reform in 1986 removed the non-Latin letters and replaced them with individual Latin letters or combinations of Latin letters.

Zhuang is a tonal language with six tones which are indicated in written Zhuang with particular letters.

Zhuang alphabet

The 1955 version of the alphabet is shown in blue, while the 1986 version is in black.

Zhuang alphabet

Sample text in Zhuang (Latin alphabet)

Boux boux ma daengz lajmbwn couh miz cwyouz, cinhyenz caeuq genzli bouxboux bingzdaengj. Gyoengq vunz miz lijsing caeuq liengzsim, wngdang daih gyoengq de lumj beixnuengx ityiengh.

The same text in sawndip

Sample text in Zhuang (sawndip)

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Other languages written with the Latin alphabet

Links

Information about the Zhuang language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuang_language
http://web.hku.hk/~zhuang/Workshop/Abstracts.htm
http://www006.upp.so-net.ne.jp/FFS/zhuangyu_ch00.htm

Information about the Zhuang people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuang
http://www.chsource.org/Zhuang.htm

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