Xibe language

The Sibe language (, also Sibo, Xibe) is a Tungusic language spoken by members of the Sibe minority of Xinjiang, in Northwest China. Sibe is conventionally viewed as a separate language within the southern group of Tungusic languages alongside the more well-known Manchu language, having undergone more than 200 years of development separated from the Tungusic-speaking heartland since Sibe troops were dispatched to the Xinjiang frontiers in 1764. Some researchers such as Jerry Norman hold that Sibe is a dialect of Manchu, whereas Xibologists such as An Jun argue that Sibe should be considered the "successor" to Manchu. Ethnohistorically, the Sibe people are not considered Manchu people, because they were excluded from chieftain Nurhaci's 17th-century tribal confederation to which the name "Manchu" was later applied. Sibe is mutually intelligible with Manchu, although unlike Manchu, Sibe has reported to have eight vowel distinctions as opposed to the six found in Manchu, as well as differences in morphology, and a more complex system of vowel harmony. Fricative sounds /x, χ/ are often voiced as [ɣ, ʁ], when occurring after a resonant sound. /s, ɕ/ often are voiced as [z, ʑ], when occurring in word-medial positions. /m/ can be heard as labio-dental [ɱ], when preceding a /v/. Allophones of /œ/, /ə/, and /o/ are [ø], [ɤ], [ɔ]. Sibe has seven case morphemes, three of which are used quite differently from modern Manchu. The categorization of morphemes as case markers in spoken Sibe is partially controversial due to the status of numerous suffixes in the language. Despite the general controversy about the categorization of case markers versus postpositions in Tungusic languages, four case markers in Sibe are shared with literary Manchu (Nominative, Genitive, Dative-Locative and Accusative). Sibe's three innovated cases - the ablative, lative, and instrumental-sociative share their meanings with similar case forms in neighboring Uyghur, Kazakh, and Oiryat Mongolian. The general vocabulary and structure of Sibe has not been affected as much by Chinese as Manchu has.