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Zhuang language
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Zhuang language

Asian language
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Also known as: Chuang language, Chuang-chia language
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Wade-Giles:
Chuang

Zhuang language, language spoken by the Zhuang people, an official minority group of southern China, mostly in the Zhuang Autonomous Region of Guangxi. The dialects spoken in northern Guangxi belong to the Northern branch of the Tai language family and are known officially in China as the Northern dialect of the Zhuang language. Their closest linguistic affinities are with other Northern Tai languages, including Buyei (Puyi) in Guizhou province, just to the north. The Zhuang dialects of southern Guangxi belong to the Central branch of Tai and are officially designated the Southern dialect of the Zhuang language. Their closest linguistic relatives are the Central Tai languages of northeastern Vietnam known as Nung and Tho (the latter now called Tay in Vietnam).

All Zhuang dialects are typical of the Tai languages in using tone (pitch differences) to distinguish words. Words are largely monosyllabic and include many borrowings from Chinese, both ancient and modern.

A standard Zhuang language has been formulated and a romanized script developed to write it. The standard is based mostly on the dialect of Wuming, a Northern speech. More than 17 million people speak a Zhuang dialect.

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This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.