Xibe Language - Lexicon

Lexicon

The general vocabulary and structure of Xibe has not been affected as much by Chinese as Manchu has. However, Xibe has absorbed a large body of Chinese sociological terminology, especially in politics: like gəming ("revolution", from 革命) and zhuxi ("chairperson", from 主席), and economics: like chūna ("cashier", from 出纳) and daikuan ("loan", from 贷款). Written Xibe is more conservative and rejecting of loanwords, but spoken Xibe contains additional Chinese-derived vocabulary such as nan (from 男) for "man" where the Manchu-based equivalent is niyalma. There has also been some influence from Russian, including words such as konsul ("consul", from консул) and mashina ("sewing machine", from машины). Smaller Xinjiang languages contribute mostly cultural terminology, such as namas ("an Islamic feast") from Uygur and baige ("horse race") from Kazak.

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