A wedding ceremony of the Kyakala in China: Language and ritual

Abstract

The language of the Kyakala in China is a seemingly extinct Tungusic language that is only known through Chinese publications from the 1980s (i.e., Mu Yuejun 1986, 1987, Mu Yejun & Ma Wenye 1983, Mu’ercha Yejun & Meng Huiying 1986, cf. Janhunen 1996, 1997, Fu, Guo & Janhunen 1999, Hölzl 2018b). This paper analyzes additional data that consist of a wedding song that was published in Chinese by Mu’ercha Anbulonga & Mu’ercha Yiling’a (1983) and has not been investigated in detail yet. This song, which apparently is the only extant text available for this language, is an integral part of a wedding ritual. The new data confirm Hölzl’s (2018b) hypothesis that Chinese Kyakala is best classified with the Jurchenic subbranch, although it exhibits certain indications of being a mixed Tungusic language.