# Bonan language

The Bonan language (pronounced, Baonang; Chinese: 保安语, Bǎo'ānyǔ; Amdo Tibetan: Dorké), also known by its endonym Manikacha (Tibetan: མ་ནི་སྐད་ཅི; Wylie: Ma ni skad ci), is the Mongolic language of the Bonan people of China. As of 1985, it was spoken by about 8,000 people, including about 75% of the total Bonan ethnic population and many ethnic Monguor, in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces. There are several dialects, which are influenced to varying degrees – but always heavily – by Chinese and Tibetan, while bilingualism in Wutun is less common. The most commonly studied is the Tongren dialect. Bonan is not typically written by speakers, though there is a folk practice of writing Bonan with the Tibetan syllabary following Amdo pronunciation.

## Phonology

Bonan phonology has been heavily influenced by Tibetan. Consonants possess a voicing contrast. Initial consonant clusters of mostly falling sonority are present in native words, as are heavy diphthongs, though the content of both is heavily restricted. The possible word-initial consonant clusters in Bonan are [mp, nt, nt͡ɕ, ntʂ, ŋk, tʰχ, χt͡ɕ, rt͡ɕ, lt͡ɕ, ft, fk, ʂp, ʂk].
Ñantoq Baoan has six vowels, with long counterparts for all except /ə/.
Vowels :
| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i iː | | u uː |
| Mid | e eː | ə | ɤ ɤː |
| Open | | a aː | |
* Sounds /ɤ, ɤː/ may also be heard as rounded, central [ɵ, ɵː].
Consonants :
| | | Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Alveolo- palatal | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal |
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | | | | k | | |
| Stop | aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | | | | kʰ | | |
| Stop | voiced | b | d | | | | g | | |
| Affricate | voiceless | | t͡s | t͡ʂ | t͡ɕ | | | | |
| Affricate | aspirated | | t͡sʰ | t͡ʂʰ | t͡ɕʰ | | | | |
| Affricate | voiced | | d͡z | d͡ʐ | d͡ʑ | | | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʂ | ɕ | ç | | χ | h |
| Fricative | voiced | | z | | ʑ | | | ʁ | |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | | ɲ | ŋ | | |
| Lateral | central | | l | | | | | | |
| Lateral | fricative | | ɬ | | | | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | | ɹ | | | j | w | | |
* The following sounds can also have pre-aspirated variants: /ʰp, ʰt, ʰtʰ, ʰt͡s, ʰt͡sʰ, ʰt͡ʂ, ʰt͡ʂʰ, ʰt͡ɕ, ʰt͡ɕʰ, ʰk, ʰkʰ/; /ʰz, ʰʑ/; /ʰn, ʰɲ, ʰŋ/; /ʰl, ʰj/.
* Stops may also have prenasalized variants as /ᵐp, ᵐb, ⁿt, ⁿd, ⁿt͡s, ⁿd͡z, ᶯt͡ʂ, ᶯd͡ʐ, ᶮt͡ɕ, ᶮd͡ʑ, ᵑk, ᵑɡ/.
* /ɹ/ may also be heard as retroflex [ɻ].
* /w/ may also be heard as [ʋ].

## Morphology

Bonan, like other Mongolic languages, is agglutinative.
There are five case markings for Bonan nouns: Nominative, Accusative-Genitive, Dative-Locative, Ablative-Comparative, and Instrumentative.
Verbal morphology is quite complex. Evidentiality is marked in the indicative mood as "definite" or "indefinite" with a specific suffix or with an auxiliary verb. The present definite is used to mark naturally occurring phenomena, while the present indefinite indicates the habits of animals. The indefinite may also mark volition. The future, continuous, and perfective suffixes also possess markers for evidentiality that are often used to mark negation.

## Syntax

Bonan has a primary SOV (subject–object–verb), but topicalization of an object is common. It is known for its peculiar double marking of the copula. A Mongolic copula, of which there are several with different meanings, comes sentence-finally, following Bonan SOV word order, while a copula [ʂɪ] from Chinese /ʂɨ̂/ "to be" appears between the copula's subject and complement, as in Chinese SVO word order. This Chinese copula is optional and is used to emphasize the subject. The definite, but not indefinite, copula can also act as a participle following some finite verbs. For example:
ənə
this
ʂɪ
COP
kuŋʂə-nə
commune-GEN
t͡ɕʰitʂə
car
o
IND.COP
ənə ʂɪ kuŋʂə-nə t͡ɕʰitʂə o
this COP commune-GEN car IND.COP
"This is the commune's car." (Buhe & Liu 1985: 65)
Uniquely among Mongolic languages, adjectives follow the noun they modify. This is due to Tibetan influence.