Habei language

Habei (also known as Mani 玛尼 ) is a Southern Loloish language of Yunnan, China. Hsiu (2018) suggests that Habei belongs to the Bisoid branch.

Background
Habei is spoken in only one village, namely Habei village 哈备村, Zhemi Township 者米乡, Jinping Miao, Yao, and Dai Autonomous County, Yunnan (Jinping County Ethnic Gazetteer 2013:89, 101). The Habei people refer to their village as Kuang An (况安), meaning 'old village' (< kuang 'village' + an 'old').

The Habei still preserve traditional animist rituals.

The Habei language has been documented by Yan (1995) and He & Liu (2011).

Names
Autonyms and exonyms for the Habei are as follows (Yan 1995:60).
 * autonym: (蛮尼)
 * Yao exonym: (单嘎)
 * Lahu exonym: (哈背)
 * Miao exonym: (哈备)
 * Zhuang exonym: (牙乌)
 * Hani exonym:, (哈备)

Phonology
Habei has 32 onsets and 62 rimes (Yan 1995:67). The consonant inventory is similar to that of standard Hani of Lüchun County, but also has /f/ and /v/, which Lüchun Hani does not have. Final consonants are -p, -t, -k, -m, -n, and -ŋ.

There are 6 tones. In songs, only 4 tones are recognizable (Yan 1995:67).

Phrase examples
The following Habei phrase examples are from Yan (1995:69-70). Adjectives follow head nouns.

tɕen55 ɲi323 lum24

bowl two CL

Two bowls

ɣa33 sum55 na55

chicken three CL

Three chickens

{kʰɤ tɕʰɔ33} ŋa24 tɕuŋ55

shoe five pair

Five pairs of shoes

na33 ŋɤ33 tɕʰɛ323ma33

2SG POS hoe

Your hoe

ja33tɕʰa323 ŋɤ33 a33xɤn33

friend POS sound

Friend's voice

Sentence examples
The following Habei sentence examples are from Yan (1995:68-69). Habei has SOV word order.

ŋa33 xaŋ24 iaŋ24

1SG rice eat

I eat rice.

na33 ti33kʰa55 taŋ55

2SG liquor drink

You drink liquor.

ŋa33 ja33pjɔ55 sum55 jo33 tɕa55

1SG children three CL have

I have three children.

na33 jɔ55ka55 tɕʰa55 xa33lo323 lo33 tɕa55

2SG household people how.many CL have

How many people does your household have?

ja33 la55 a323 la55

3SG come NEG come

Is he coming?

ve323 le33 ɣa33 lɔ323 dʑɛ323za323a55 bɤ33

pig and chicken both livestock PRT

Pigs and chickens are both domestic livestock.