Alternate Names: Tuchia, Tudja
Dialects: Baojing, Longshan. Northern and Southern Tujia , are not mutually intelligible. Lexical similarity: 40% with Southern Tujia ,.
Status Notes: Language of recognized nationality: Tujia.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 70,000 (Brassett and Brassett 2005). Regularly used but increasingly the young prefer to speak Chinese and are encouraged by their parents. In most areas children acquire a passive knowledge only. No longer used in southeastern Sichuan, northeastern Guizhou, and southwestern Hubei provinces. No longer used or moribund in northwestern Hunan and severely endangered in the remaining areas (Bradley 2007). 100 monolinguals. Ethnic population: 8,030,000 (2000 census). Ethnic population includes 1,500 speakers of Southern Tujia ,.
Language Use: Regularly used but increasingly the young prefer to speak Chinese and are encouraged by their parents. In most areas children acquire a passive knowledge only. No longer used in southeastern Sichuan, northeastern Guizhou and southwestern Hubei provinces. No longer used or moribund in northwestern Hunan and severely endangered in the remaining areas (Bradley 2007). All domains. 60% older than 50 years, 30% between 20 and 50, 10% under 25. Most also use Mandarin Chinese [cmn]. Written Chinese in use and used in schools. Also use Hmong Njua [hnj].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L2: 88% in Chinese (2000 census, Tujia nationality). Grammar.
Typology: SOV; tonal, 4 tones; no voiced stops or affricates.
Nation of Origin: China
Other Comments: Traditional religion, Buddhist.