Caijia () is an endangered Sino-Tibetan language spoken in an area centred on Bijie, in the west of the Chinese province of Guizhou. It was first documented by Chinese researchers in the 1980s. It has been described by different authors as a relative of Bai or an early split from Old Chinese. The autonym is '. According to Lu (2022), Caijia speakers in Xingfa å ´åÂÂ乡, Hezhang County refer to their language as '.
Similarities among Old Chinese, Waxiang, Caijia, and Bai have been pointed out by Wu & Shen (2010) and others. Zhengzhang Shangfang (2010) argued that Bai and Caijia formed a Macro-Bai subgroup of Sino-Tibetan.
Caijia also appears to be related to the extinct Longjia and Luren languages, but they are too poorly documented for definitive classification.
In contrast, Sagart (2011) groups Caijia with Waxiang, a divergent Chinese variety spoken in northwestern Hunan, as the earliest group to split off from Old Chinese. Sagart (2011) lists the following features of Old Chinese retained by both Caijia and Waxiang:
Sagart identifies two words as shared innovations:
Bijie (1983) reports the Caijia people are found in the seven counties of Bijie prefecture â Qixingguan, Dafang, Qianxi, Zhijin, Nayong, Weining, and Hezhang â comprising a total of over 3,100 households and over 18,000 individuals. Bijie (1983) reports that smaller populations of Caijia people are found in Anshun (with over 400 people) and Liupanshui (with over 3,500 people) prefectures (to the southeast and southwest respectively), as well as Zhaoyang, Yiliang, and Zhenxiong counties in Zhaotong prefecture, Yunnan (to the northwest). Bijie (1983) also contains linguistic data for the Caijia language of Hezhang County.
Caijia speakers are distributed in the following locations in Bijie prefecture (Bo Wenze 2004).
Yinajia District 以é£æ¶åº has the most ethnic Caijia in Zhijin County. Bijie (1983) also reports the location of Baiyanjiao ç½岩èÂÂ, Puweng Township æ®ç¿Â堬社, Guiguo District æ¡ÂæÂÂåº, Zhijin County.
The Liupanshui City Ethnic Gazetteer å ÂçÂÂæ°´å¸Âå¿Âï¼Âæ°ÂæÂÂå¿ (2003:182âÂÂ183) lists ethnic Caijia populations for the following counties in the prefecture, with a total of 4,061 (1982):
In Shuicheng County, the Caijia language is still spoken in:
In Zhenxiong County, Yunnan, the Caijia people are scattered in the village cluster of Sumu èÂÂæ¨æÂÂ, and in Chuanjiu 串ä¹Â, Qinggang éÂÂæ , Liangshui Ã¥ÂÂæ°´, Poji æ³¼æº, Nantai Ã¥ÂÂå°, Wugu äºÂè°· (Zhenxiong County Gazetteer 1986).
Lee (2021) gives the following consonants and vowels for the phonology of Caijia:
Lee (2021) also notes that vowels can have three additional forms: long , nasal , and r-colored . Although sources conflict, consonants can additionally be glottalized or pharyngealized, which of the two it is actually unclear. This is presumably marked with their respective IPA symbols.
Guizhou (1982) lists the following two dialects of the Caijia language. The Caijia dialect documented in Guizhou (1982) is that of Yangjiazhai æ¨家寨, Liangyan Village 亮岩堬社, Xingfa District å ´åÂÂåº, Hezhang County.
Guizhou (1982) notes that the -an rime in Caijia of Xingfa å ´å corresponds to the -aà  rime in Caijia of Longchang é¾Âåº.
Hsiu (2018) reports the discovery of a previously undocumented Caijia dialect that is spoken in Niujiaojing çÂÂè§ÂäºÂæÂÂ, Yangjie Town ç¾Âè¡ÂéÂÂ, Weining County. This Caijia dialect is also spoken in the villages of Xinglongchang å ´éÂÂåºæÂÂ, Niuchishui çÂÂÃ¥ÂÂæ°´, and Fadi Ã¥ÂÂå°.
The Caijia people are ethnoculturally related to the Lu (å¢) people (Luren å¢人), who are classified as Manchu by the Chinese government. Luren (Lu) and Caijia are also closely related to Longjia (é¾Â家). Caijia, Longjia, and Lu are all spoken in western Guizhou.
In Weining County, Caijia speakers are officially classified by the Chinese government as ethnic Gelao (Hsiu 2017), while in Hezhang County they are classified as Bai (Bo 2004).
Caijia people with the autonym "Menni" (é¨尼 or é¨你) have also been reported in Puding County, Guizhou, where they were classified as ethnic Gelao during the 1980s (Zhou Guoyan 2004).
In Zhijin County, Guizhou, Caijia people are called Silie æ¯å by the local Miao and Awuna é¿ä¹Â纳 by the local Yi (Zhijin County Gazetteer 1997:166).
Ethnic subdivisions of the Caijia people include the Black é»Â, White ç½, Qingshangshui éÂÂä¸Âæ°´, Xiashui ä¸Âæ°´, Hanzhan æÂÂ毡, Zhuazhua æÂÂæÂÂ, Datou 大头, Qianqiaoba ä¹¾ä¹Âå·´, Laohu èÂÂèÂÂ, Luoluo å®å®, Xuejiao Ã¥ÂÂ觠(Xieguo Ã¥ÂÂæÂÂ), and Jiandao åªåÂÂ.
Historically recorded names for the Caijia include Caijiazi è¡家å and Gantan Caijia æÂÂ毡è¡家. The Yi call the Caijia "Sha'awu æ²Âé¿ä¹Â", the Miao call them "Sini æ¯你", and other ethnic groups also call them "Xieguo Ã¥ÂÂæÂÂ".
Bijie (1983:2âÂÂ3) lists the following autonyms and exonyms for the Caijia people.
Lü (2022) is a comprehensive grammar of Caijia.