| Horpa | |
| Nativename: | Stau |
| States: | China |
| Region: | Garzê Prefecture, Sichuan Province |
| Date: | 2002–2004 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Sino-Tibetan |
| Fam3: | Qiangic |
| Fam4: | Gyalrongic |
| Fam5: | West Gyalrongic |
| Lc1: | ero |
| Ld1: | Horpa |
| Lc2: | jih |
| Ld2: | sTodsde (Shangzhai) |
| Glotto: | horp1240 |
| Glottorefname: | Horpa |
Horpa (also known in some publications as Stau – Chinese: 道孚语 Daofu, 爾龔語 Ergong) are a cluster of closely related Gyalrongic languages of China. Horpa is better understood as a cluster of closely related yet unintelligible dialect groups/languages closely related to Horpa Shangzhai or Stodsde skad. The term Stodsde skad is a Tibetan name meaning "language of the upper village".
Ethnologue lists alternate names and dialect names for Horpa as Stau/Daofuhua, Bawang, Bopa, Danba, Dawu, Geshitsa/Geshiza/Geshizahua, Hor, Huo’er, Hórsók, Nyagrong-Minyag, Pawang, Rgu, Western Gyarong/Western Jiarong, Xinlong-Muya, and rTa’u.[1]
Horpa is a type of Gyalrongic language, a branch of the Qiangic languages of the Sino-Tibetan family. Gyalrong (proper), Khroskyabs, and Horpa are in the Gyalrongic subgroup. From a genetic perspective, Horpa is a branch within West Gyalrongic, the other being Khroskyabs. Shangzhai is a sub-type of Horpa. To date, the Horpa languages are the closest attested ones to the medieval language Tangut.[2]
Horpa is spoken primarily in western Sichuan province, China, including in Dasang District, Danba County of Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan.[3] There are about 50,000 Horpa speakers in the northwestern Sichuan. It is also spoken in nearby Dawu County, where it is called 'Stau', pronounced [stawuske].[4] Ergong is a non-tonal language (Sun 2013).[5]
Varieties of Horpa include Shangzhai Horpa and Gexi Horpa (Sun 2013).[6]
Jackson Sun (2018)[7] lists the following five varieties of Horpa.
| Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Alveolo- palatal | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | ||||||
| Stop/ Affricate | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | |
| aspirated | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | ||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||||
| Sonorant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
/r/ has four allophones as either retroflex voiceless [ʂ] or voiced [ʐ] fricatives, as a trill [r], or as a result of vowel rhotacization [V˞]. It is heard as [ʂ] when preceding or following voiceless consonants or also as a word-final coda. It is heard as [ʐ] when in free variation in initial position or when preceding or following voiced consonants. The occurrence of it as a trill [r] is heard word-medially when after a vowel and before a consonant, but is for the most part less predictable in that it overlaps in distribution with [ʂ] and especially [ʐ]. When words with /r/ are heard in isolation, the sound is heard as [ʐ], but then it becomes a trill [r] when in word context or within compounds. [r] also alternates with [ʂ] when it is in context word-final position. The rhotacization of vowels [V˞] occurs on the preceding vowel before /r/ in word-final position, however it can also be heard word-medially when before a lateral approximant /l/. The rhotacization is attested on the vowels /ɛ/, /ə/, /u/ and /ɑ/.[13]
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Close-mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Open-mid | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ |
The following comparative table of Horpa diagnostic vocabulary items is from Sun (2018:4). The Central Horpa (Rta’u) data is from Niwan Village, Dgebshes Township, Rta’u County (Daofu County), Sichuan. The Rgyalrongic languages Khroskyabs and Rgyalrong are also provided for comparison, since Horpa is one of the Rgyalrongic languages. Cognates are highlighted in bold.
| Gloss | Central Horpa (Rta’u 道孚) | Northern Horpa (Rtsangkhog 宗科) | Western Horpa (Rgyarwagshis 甲拉西) | Eastern Horpa (Dpa’bo 巴旺) | Northwestern Horpa (Nyinmo) | Khroskyabs (’brongrdzong) | Rgyalrong (Tshobdun) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sun | ɣbə | ʁɟə̀ | ɣbə̀ | ʁʷbə | ɣbə | ɣnəʔ ~ ʁbjə | tɐ́-ŋɐ | |
| water | ɣrə | grə̀ | ɣrə̀ | wrə | ɣrə | ɣdə | tə-ciʔ | |
| person | vdzi | vdzì | vdzì | vdzi-sme | vdzi | vɟoʔ | kə-rnbjoʔ | |
| mouth | jɑ | ɣmú | ɬó | ʁmo | ja | qʰo | tə-ɣmor | |
| heart | zjar | zɟwàʶ | jzò-rdá | zdzʌr | zʒar | sjar | tə-sni | |
| liver | sʰi | sʰə̀ | sʰə̀ | sʰi | si | fseʔ | tə-mtsʰi | |
| meat | bjoŋnoŋ | bdʒànó | ntʰú | mdʒʌno | pcene | tʰəmʔ | ʃe | |
| horse | rɣi | rì | rjí | rji | rji | breʔ | ⁿbri | |
| chicken | ɣra | χsó-vjá | ? | wə-rja | ɣə́-ra | pa-kuʔ | pɣe | |
| yellow | rȵə-rȵə | ʁrɲə̀ʶ | rȵə̀-rȵə́ | rɲə | rɲə | ʁrɲəɣ | kə-qɐ-rŋɛʔ | |
| bitter | sȵa-sȵa | sɲáʶ | sɲà | sɲæ | sɲa | tʃʰaχ | kə-qjev | |
| eat | ⁿgə | dzə́ | dzə́ | dzi | ⁿgə ~ tsə | dzeʔ | ⁿdze | |
| ill | ŋo | ŋò | ŋú | ŋwa | ŋo | ⁿge | nⁿgiʔ | |
| sleep | rgə | ⁿjáp ~ rgə́ | rgə́ | rgə | rgə | jəv | rⁿgu | |
| one | ro | réɣ | ré | raw | rəɣ | rʌɣ | cet | |
| ten | zʁa | zʁàʶ | zʁò | zʁa | zʁa | sɣə(t) | sqeʔ |
Jacques et al. (2017) list the following words as lexical innovations shared by Stau and Khroskyabs (Lavrung), but not by the Core rGyalrong languages.
| Gloss | Stau | Japhug | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| heart | zjar | sjɑ̂r | tɯ-sni | |
| smoke | mkʰə | mkʰə́ | tɤ-kʰɯ | |
| be big | cʰe | cʰæ̂ | wxti | |
| bread | ləkʰi | lækʰí | qajɣi | |
| writing | tɕədə | dʑədə́ | tɤscoz | |
| wind | χpərju | χpə̂rju | qale | |
| skin | tɕədʑa | dʑədʑɑ̂ | tɯ-ndʐi | |
| water | ɣrə | jdə̂ | tɯ-ci | |
| experience | zdar | zdɑ̂r | rɲo | |
| general classifier | ə-lɞ | ə̂-lo | tɯ-rdoʁ | |
| human classifier | a-ʁi | ə̂-ʁæi | tɯ-rdoʁ | |
| exist (animate) | ci/ɟi | ɟê | tu | |
| exist (be put on) | stʰə | stî | tu |
Shangzhai Horpa (Puxi Shangzhai) is a dialect of the Horpa language noted by a single consistently non-syllabic causative prefix "s-", which exerts pressure on the already elaborate onset system and triggers multiple phonological adjustments (Sun 2007).[14] Gexi Horpa language not only has split verbal agreement system like rGyalrong but also has a hybrid system involving a more intricate interplay of functional and syntactic factors (Sun 2013). The verbs in the rGylarongic family are marked for person and agreement, and Horpa language also has subtype of hierarchical agreement.
Stau is often used as an alternative name for Horpa, but in fact Stau is one of several Horpa languages (Jacques et al. 2014).[15] The Stau language is primarily spoken in Daofu County of Ganzi Prefecture, but is also spoken in the southeastern corner of Luhuo County and in the village of Dangling of western Danba County. Currently Jesse P. Gates is writing a comprehensive grammar of the Stau language (Gates to appear). Other articles on aspects of Stau grammar include Gates (2017),[16] Gates & Kim (2018),[17] Gates et al. (2019),[18] and Gates et al. (2022).[19]
Stau (Horpa) language follows some traits of the Tibetan language (Bradley 2012).[20] As a Qiangic language, Horpa has unique verb inflection and morphology such as the strategy of inverting the aspiration feature in the formation of the past and progressive stem(s) (Sun 2000).[21]
Verb agreementThe Horpa verb agrees with its subject. For example, zbəcʰa-i [zbəcʰe], means ‘you beat’, and zbəcʰa-u [zbəcʰo], means, 'I beat’.[22]