Alternate Names: Ch’iang
Dialects: Cimulin, Luhua, Mawo, Weigu, Yadu.
Status Notes: Language of recognized nationality: Qiang.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 57,800 (1999), decreasing. 14,000 Mawo, 14,000 Weigu, 11,000 Luhua, 8,000 Cimulin, and 9,000 Yadu. 130,000 total for Northern and Southern Qiang languages, including 80,000 as Qiang nationality and 50,000 as Tibetan nationality (1990 J-O. Svantesson). 0 monolinguals. Ethnic population: 306,000 (2000 census).
Language Use: Parents encourage children to excel in school, which means learning Mandarin Chinese [cmn] well. Some use Qiang at home. Home. Mainly adults. Negative attitudes. Also use Mandarin Chinese [cmn]. Written Chinese used. Also use Central Tibetan [bod]. Used as L2 by Jiarong [jya].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 0%. Literacy rate in L2: 100%. Men are more literate than women. Those under 30 are fairly literate in Chinese. Taught in primary schools, only for 1st and maybe 2nd grades. Dictionary. Grammar.
Typology: SOV; more consonants than Southern Qiang; heavy phonemic inventory; consonant clusters in syllable onsets; nontonal.
Writing System: Latin
Nation of Origin: China
Other Comments: Buddhist (Lamaist), Daoist, traditional religion.