Rawang language explained

Rawang
Nativename:	Rvwàng
States:	Myanmar, India, China, Thailand
Ethnicity:	Nung Rawang
Speakers:	63,000
Date:	2000
Ref:	e18
Familycolor:	Sino-Tibetan
Fam2:	Nungish
Dia1:	Mutwang
Dia2:	Longmi
Dia3:	Serwang
Dia4:	Tangsarr
Script:	Latin (Rawang alphabet)
Iso3:	raw
Glotto:	rawa1265
Glottorefname:	Rawang

Rawang, also known as Krangku, Kiutze (Qiuze), and Ch’opa, is a Sino-Tibetan language of India and Burma. Rawang has a high degree of internal diversity, and some varieties are not mutually intelligible. Most, however, understand Mutwang (Matwang), the standard dialect, and basis of written Rawang.^[1]

Rawang is spoken in Putao District, northern Kachin State, in Putao, Machanbaw, Naungmaw, Kawnglangphu, and Pannandin townships (Ethnologue). Alternate names are Chiutse, Ch’opa, Ganung-Rawang, Hkanung, Kiutze, Nung, Nung Rawang, and Qiuze.

The Matwang-related dialects share 82% to 99% lexical similarity. The Kyaikhu Lungmi and Changgong Tangsar dialects have less intelligibility with Matwang. Rawang shares 74% lexical similarity with Drung, 79%–80% with Anong, 81%–87% with Renyinchi (Langdaqgong Tangsar), 77% with Changgong Tangsar, 74%–85% with Lungmi, and 74%–80% with Daru-Jerwang.

Varieties

The Ethnologue lists the following varieties of Rawang.

• Daru-Jerwang (including the Kunglang variety spoken in Arunachal Pradesh)
• Khrangkhu/Thininglong (Southern Lungmi) (documented in Shintani 2018^[2])
• Kyaikhu (Dangraq-Mashang, Northern Lungmi)
• Matwang
• Tangsar East (Changgong)
• Tangsar West (Langdaqgong, Renyinchi)
• Thaluq

Lungmi varieties of Mashang and Dangraq are especially divergent, and varieties spoken near the Tibetan border are also divergent.

Kyaikhu Lungmi and Changgong Tangsar are less intelligible with the standard written variety of Matwang.

There are 4 major Rawang clan divisions, in addition to subclans (Ethnologue):

• Lungmi
• Matwang
• Daru-Jerwang (consisting of Daru and Zørwang^[3])
• Tangsar

Dvru (Daru) dialects include Malong, Konglang, Awiqwang, and Rvmøl. Tangsar is spoken to the east of Rvmøl, and Waqdamkong and Mvtwang to the south of Rvmøl. Rvmøl-speaking clans include Ticewang/Tisanwang/Ticvlwang/Chicvlwang, Abør, Chømgunggang, Chvngdvng, Dvngnólcv̀l/Dvngnóycv̀l, Dvlìnv̀m.^[4]

Wadamkhong is a Rawang dialect documented by Shintani (2014).^[5]

Straub (2017)^{[6] [7] [8] [9]} provides demographic details and phoneme inventories for the following Rawang dialects.

• Dvrù dialect: spoken by the Rvwàng, Konglang, and Sangnay clans, and was originally spoken on the upper Rvmetì (N'mai Hka) river north of Konglangpø. It is also spoken in Nokmong, Putao District, Kachin State, Myanmar.
  • Rvmø̀l Rvwàng: a southern Dvrù dialect originally spoken north of Konglangpø, Putao District, Kachin State, Myanmar. It is geographically and linguistically transitional between the western Dvngsar, Waqdvmkong (northern Mvtwàng), and Dvrù dialects.
• Krvngku dialect: spoken in southern Lungmi, Rvwàng, from Rv́zà village (no longer existent since the mid-1960s). The village was located on the upper Krang stream, an eastern tributary of the Mvliq river in Kachin State, Myanmar.
• Western Dvngsar (Tangsar) dialect: spoken by the Mvpáng clan. It was originally spoken along the upper Renyinchi and Langdaqgong streams north of Konglangpø, Putao District, Kachin State, Myanmar.

Tadahiko Shintani has also documented the Wadamkhong,^[10] Khwingsang,^[11] Agu,^[12] and Dingra^[13] dialects.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t̪			k
	voiced	b	d̪			ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		ts		tʃ
	voiced		dz		dʒ
Fricative			s		ʃ		h
Nasal		m	n̪			ŋ
Rhotic				ɽ
Approximant		w	l̪		j

• /w/ can be heard as [v] before front vowels.
• Voiced stops can sometimes be heard as prenasalised among speakers.^[14]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open		a

Writing systems

In Myanmar, the Matwang dialect of Rawang has been romanised, while romanised Derung and Anung orthography systems exist in China.^[15]

External links

• DaruWeb (Rawang language site)
• Rawang language site
• Kagvbu news (Rawang language news)
• Dinglag (Northern Lungmi language site)
• Rawang Language Resource collection of Rawang language documentation in the Computational Resource for South Asian Languages (CoRSAL) archive

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2016 . Myanmar . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20161010180533/http://www.ethnologue.com/country/MM/languages . 2016-10-10 . Ethnologue: Languages of the World.
2. Shintani, Tadahiko. 2018. The Khrangkhu language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area, no. 114. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
3. Book: Tournadre, Nicolas . Nicolas Tournadre . Suzuki . Hiroyuki . 2023 . The Tibetic Languages: an introduction to the family of languages derived from Old Tibetan . Paris . LACITO . 978-2-490768-08-0.
4. Straub, Nathan. 2016. Direction and time reference in the Rvmøl (Dvru) dialect of Rawang, from northern Myanmar. M.A. dissertation. Chiang Mai: Payap University.
5. Shintani Tadahiko. 2014. The Wadamkhong language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 103. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
6. Web site: Numeral Systems of the World.
7. Web site: Numeral Systems of the World.
8. Web site: Numeral Systems of the World.
9. Web site: Numeral Systems of the World.
10. Shintani, Tadahiko. 2014. The Wadamkhong language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area, no. 103. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
11. Shintani, Tadahiko. 2018. The Khwingsang language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area, no. 113. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
12. Shintani, Tadahiko. 2023. The Agu language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area, no. 146. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
13. Shintani, Tadahiko. 2023. The Dingra language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area, no. 147. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
14. Book: Morse, Stephen A. . A short update on Rawang phonology . 1988 . Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, Vol. 11, No. 2 . 120–132.
15. Book: Bradley, David . Brill's Tibetan studies library. 2,6: PIATS 2000: Tibetan studies: Leiden 2000 / ed. by Christopher I. Beckwith . 2002 . Brill . 978-90-04-12424-0 . Beckwith . Christopher I. . Proceedings of the ... seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies . Leiden Köln . 73–112 . The Subgrouping of Tibeto-Burman.