摘要
本文所描寫的語言是福建省羅源縣畬族說的一種客家方言。據1982年的人口普查，中國南方約有三十萬畬族：集中於福建和浙江兩省。畬族絕大多數操客家話；只有廣東省幾個地點約有一千人仍會說原來的民族語言；據研究，這種語言與苗語有密切的關係。羅源的畬語雖然確實是一種客家方言，但它仍具有一些其他客家方言所無的特點。羅源畬語仍然保留幾個非漢語詞彙，與廣東苗語支的畬語有關係。據此，可以證明羅源的畬族原先也用一種苗語支的語言。
The language described in this paper is a Kehjia dialect spoken by the She minority in Luoyuan county, Fwujiann. At present there are almost 400,000 She in South China, the largest concentrations being in Fwujiann and Jehjiang. The vast majority of them speak varieties of Kehjia. Only about 1,000 speakers of the original She language survive in Goangdong province. While definitely a variety of Kehjia, the dialect described here has a number of features not found in non-She varieties of Kehjia. A few words related to the Miau language of the She in Goangdong suggest that these She are descended from forebearers who formerly were speakers of a type of Miau.