| Zhaba | |
| Nativename: | [dʐa35 ʂka55] |
| States: | China |
| Speakers: | 7,800 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Sino-Tibetan |
| Fam2: | Tibeto-Burman |
| Fam3: | Qiangic |
| Fam4: | Zhaba–Queyu |
| Iso3: | zhb |
| Glotto: | zhab1238 |
| Glottorefname: | Zhaba |
| Map2: | Lang Status 80-VU.svg |
Zhaba, also known as Bazi, Bozi, Draba, nDrapa, Zaba, Zha (Chinese: 扎坝语 or 扎巴语), is a Qiangic language of Sichuan, China spoken by about 8,000 people in Daofu County and Yajiang County. The Zhaba, who are officially classified by the Chinese government as ethnic Tibetan people, refer to themselves as pronounced as /[ndʐa55 pɪ31]/ and to the Zhaba language as pronounced as /[ndʐa35 ʂka55]/. Neighboring Khams Tibetan speakers refer to the Zhaba people as pronounced as /[ndʐa55 pa55]/. Zhaba speakers live primarily in the Xianshui River 鲜水河 valley.
Descriptions of Zhaba include Huang (1991)[1] and Gong (2007).[2] Huang & Dai (1992)[3] document the Queyu dialect spoken in Zhatuo Village 扎拖村, Zhatuo Township 扎拖乡, Daofu County, Sichuan.
| Labial | Alveolar | (Alveolo-)palatal | Retroflex | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | appr. | ||||||||||
| Nasal | voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| aspirated | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| prenasalized | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
| Trill | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||||
| Front | Central | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Rounded | ||||
| High | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | |
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | |
| Low | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ |
Additionally, the following diphthongs and triphthongs have been observed: /ui/, /ue/, /uɛ/, /uɛ̃/, /yɛ/, /uɐ/, /ua/, /ei/, /ɛi/, /əu/, /ai/, /au/, /uei/, /iau/.
Zhaba also has four tones:
Ethnologue (21st edition) lists two dialects of Zhaba:
A total of 8,319 Zhaba people are distributed in the following townships of Zhaba District 扎坝区 of Daofu County (Upper Zha 上扎 area), and Zhamai District 扎麦区 of Yajiang County (Lower Zha 下扎 area) (Gong 2007:2-3).[2] Zhaba people from the two districts speak the same mutually intelligible language.