Jinfang Li, Yongxian Luo. The Buyang language of South China: grammatical notes, glossary, texts and translations

The Australian National University, 2010. — 229 p. — (Pacific Linguistics 607).Buyang is a Tai-Kadai (Kra-Dai) language, spoken by approximately 2,000 people in Yunnan and northwestern Guangxi, forming two dialect groups. In this sketch the Paha dialect (of the western group) is described. This volume is a much revised and reworked translation of materials by Li Jinfang, originally published in Chinese in the late 1990s, which fills a sorely felt gap in the descriptive sources available in English. Its publication now is especially welcome as Buyang shows various morphological parallels with Austronesian, which as have been noted in recent discussions about the linguistic prehistory of SE Asia. Paha also possesses a number of lexical items and structural features that are shared by surrounding Miao-Yao, Mon-Khmer and Tibeto-Burman languages. The work includes a selection of texts and a substantial lexicon, in addition to the grammatical sketch and detailed geographical and social information