Wa language

Gerard Diffloth refers to the Wa geographic region as the "Wa corridor", which lies between the Salween and Mekong Rivers. According to Diffloth, variants include South Wa, "Bible Wa" and Kawa (Chinese Wa). Christian Wa are more likely to support the use of Standard Wa, since their Bible is based on a standard version of Wa, which is in turn based on the variant spoken in Bang Wai, 150 miles north of Kengtung (Watkins 2002). Bang Wai is located in Northern Shan State, Burma, close to the Chinese border where Cangyuan County is located. Certain dialects of Wa preserve a final -/s/. They include the variants spoken in Meung Yang and Ximeng County, such as a variety spoken in Zhongke (), Masan (), Ximeng County that was documented by Zhou & Yan (1984) (Watkins 2002:8). Burma David Bradley estimates that there is a total of about 500,000 Wa speakers in Burma. • Baraoke (): ~ 250,000 speakers; autonym: '''' • Aishi subdialect: 218,000 speakers • Cangyuan County: Yanshi , Tuanjie (), Mengsheng (), Nuoliang (), Danjia (), Mengjiao (), Menglai (), Yonghe () • Shuangjiang County: Shahe (), Mengmeng (), Nanlang () • Gengma County: Sipaishan (), Gengyi (), Hepai (), Mengjian (), Mengding (), Furong () • Lancang County: Donghe (), Wendong (), Shangyun (), Xuelin () • Banhong () subdialect: 35,000 speakers • Cangyuan County: Banhong (), Banlao (), most of Nanla () • Dazhai () subdialect: 3,000 speakers • Gengma County: Mengjian (), Dazhai () • Awa (Ava) (): ~ 100,000 speakers; autonym: '''' • Masan () subdialect: 60,000 speakers • Ximeng County: Mowo (), Xinchang (), Zhongke (), Mengsuo (), Yuesong (), Wenggake (), parts of Lisuo () • Awalai () subdialect: 3,000 speakers • Ximeng County: Awalai () in Lisuo () • Damangnuo () subdialect: 30,000 speakers • Menglian County: Fuyan (), Gongxin (), Lalei (), Nanya () • Ximeng County: parts of Wengjiake ) • Xiyun () subdialect: 5,000 speakers • Lancang County: Xiyun () in Donghui () • Menglian County: Shuangbo () in Mengman () • Wa (): ~ 40,000 speakers; autonym: '''' • Yongde County: Dedang (), Menggong (), Minglang (), Mengban (), Yongkang (), Dashan () • Zhenkang County: Mangbing (), Muchang () • Cangyuan County: parts of Nanla () Jackson Sun (2018a) lists the Awa dialects and their alternate names as follows. • Masan 馬散 (Lavïa; Ravia; Avë; Avo; etc.). Sun (2018b) documents the Lavïa [la-vɨɒʔ] variety of Banzhe () (pa-cʰək) Village, Mengka 勐卡 (məŋkʰa) Town in Ximeng County, Yunnan Province. Lavïa of Banzhe is non-tonal and sesquisyllabic. • Awalai () (Avëloy) • Damangnuo () (Vo) • Xiyun () (Va [vàʔ]). Sun (2018a) list the following names for Wa in various counties. • , (): in Lancang, Gengma, Shuangjiang, Lancang counties; exonyms: Small Kawa (), Kawa (), Cooked Ka (), Lajia () • '''' (): in Zhenkang and Yongde counties; exonyms: Benren () • ' (), ' (), '''' (): in Ximeng and Menglian counties; exonyms: Big Kawa 大卡瓦, Raw Ka 生卡, Wild Ka 野卡 • ' (): in Cangyuan and Gengma counties; also called ' () A language known as Bujiao () (autonym: Puga, ) in Mengla County was mentioned in Yunnan (1960) The Bujiao were classified as ethnic Bulang and had a population of 212 in 1960. The Kela () (Dai exonym: Kala (); population: 393 people) live in District 3 三区 of Tengchong County (), Yunnan (You 2013:359). The Kela used to speak a variety of Wa, but now speak only Chinese. The Kela also refer to themselves as the Wama (). Thailand Wa have also migrated to Thailand in the past several decades, mainly from Burma. There are about 10,000 Wa speakers in Thailand. Wa villages can be found in (Watkins 2002:6): • Mae Sai District, Chiang Rai Province, close to the Burmese border • Mae Yao subdistrict near Chiang Rai City • Wiang Pa Pao District, in southern Chiang Rai Province • Chiang Dao District, Chiang Mai Province ==Phonology==

Standard Wa is a non-tonal language. However, tone has developed in some of the dialects. There is correspondence between tones in tonal dialects and tenseness in non-tonal dialects. 35 consonants and 9 vowels. All of these vowels can be tense or lax. Tenseness is a phonemic feature in syllables with unaspirated initials. Vowels There are 15 diphthongs: and 2 triphthongs: . The general syllabic structure of Wa is C(C)(V)V(V)(C). Only a few words have zero-initials. Consonants ==Script==

The Wa language formerly had no script and some of the few Wa that were literate used Chinese characters, while others used the Shan language and its script. Christian missionary work among the Wa began at the beginning of the 20th century first in the Burmese and later in the Chinese areas of the Wa territory. It was led by William Marcus Young, from Nebraska. The first transcription of the Wa language was devised by Young and Sara Yaw Shu Chin (Joshua) in 1931 with the purpose of translating the Bible. This first Wa alphabet was based on the Latin script and the very first publication was a compilation of Wa hymns in 1933, the Wa New Testament being completed in 1938. This transcription, known as Bible orthography, is known as lǎowǎwén () old Wa orthography in Chinese, and is now used mainly in the Burmese Wa areas and among the Wa in Thailand through the materials published by the Wa Welfare Society (Cub Yuh Bwan Ka son Vax, Cub Pa Yuh Phuk Lai Vax, Phuk Lai Hak Tiex Vax) in Chiang Mai. In 1956, a transcription adapted to the new pinyin romanization, known as new Wa orthography, "PRC orthography" or "Chinese orthography", was developed for the Wa people in China. However, its publications, mainly propagated through the Yunnan administration, are yet to reach a wider public beyond academics. This transcription, which originally included even a couple of letters of the Cyrillic script, has also since been revised. Despite the revisions, both the Chinese and the Bible orthography are still marred by inconsistencies. Recently, a revised Bible orthography adopting some features from the Chinese orthography has been adopted as Wa State Wa orthography or "official Wa spelling" by the central authorities of the Wa State in Pangkham which have published a series of primers in order to improve the literacy of the United Wa State Army troops. Also, after 2000 Wa people in social networks such as Facebook, as well as Wa songwriters in karaoke lyrics of Wa songs, use this Myanmar (revised Bible) orthography in its main variations. The Wa Women's Association promotes the use of the script. ==See also==