Lolopo (autonyms: ', '; ; Central Yi) is a
Loloish language
The Loloish languages, also known as Yi in China and occasionally Ngwi or Nisoic, are a family of fifty to a hundred Sino-Tibetan languages spoken primarily in the Yunnan province of China. They are most closely related to Burmese and its relat ...
spoken by half a million
Yi people
The Yi or Nuosu people,; zh, c=彝族, p=Yízú, l=Yi ethnicity historically known as the Lolo,; vi, Lô Lô; th, โล-โล, Lo-Lo are an ethnic group
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with eac ...
of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Chinese linguists call it "Central Yi" as well, which is one of the six Yi languages recognized by the government of China.
Names
Lolo speakers are referred to by a variety of exonyms. Below is a list of exonyms followed by their respective autonyms and demographics.
[Yang, Cathryn. 2011. ''Assessment of the Lolo languages: Current understanding and recommended next steps''. m.s.]
*
Mili: ' (spoken by about 12,000 people in
Jingdong County). Also called ''Alie''.
*Enipu 厄尼蒲 (' 'water buffalo people', an offensive exonym used by
Lalo speakers): ' (spoken in
Nanjian County
Nanjian Yi Autonomous County () is a county in the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture located in the west central part of Yunnan province, China.
Administrative divisions
Nanjian Yi Autonomous County has 5 towns and 3 townships.
;5 towns
;3 townsh ...
). Spoken by nearly 20,000 people in Weishan County (Qinghua Township) and Nanjian County (in Wuliang, Xiaowandong, and Langcang townships)
*Tu 土 (Tuzu 土族): ' (spoken by nearly 10,000 people in southern
Xiangyun County
Xiangyun County () is a county in the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture located in the west-central part of Yunnan province, People's Republic of China.
Administrative divisions
Xiangyun County has 8 towns, 1 township and 1 ethnic township.
;8 town ...
)
*Qiangyi 羌夷: ' (spoken by nearly 15,000 people in northern and central
Xiangyun County
Xiangyun County () is a county in the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture located in the west-central part of Yunnan province, People's Republic of China.
Administrative divisions
Xiangyun County has 8 towns, 1 township and 1 ethnic township.
;8 town ...
)
*Eastern Lalu: ' (spoken by nearly 20,000 people in
Xinping County and
Zhenyuan County)
*Lolo (of northeastern
Binchuan County): '
*Xiangtang 香堂 (spoken in
Zhenkang County
Zhenkang County () is located in the west of Yunnan province, China, bordering Burma's Shan State to the west. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Lincang.
Ethnic groups
Ethnic Bulang are found in the following village ...
). Widespread distribution in Jinggu, Zhenyuan, Pu'er, Jiangcheng, Mengla, Jinghong, and Zhenkang counties, with perhaps under 80,000 speakers.
*Lolo (of
Nanhua County
Nanhua County (; Yi script, Chuxiong Yi script: , International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) is a counties of the People's Republic of China, county located in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, Yunnan Province, China.
Administrative divisio ...
): '
*Lolo (of
Yao'an County
Yao'an County (; Chuxiong Yi script: , IPA: ) is under the administration of the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, in the west-central part of Yunnan province, China. A prominent Chinese philosopher Li Zhi used to a prefect of Yao'an county and h ...
): '
*Wotizo: ' (Yang 2010:7)
Classification
Yang (2011) proposes this tentative internal classification of Lolo.
*Southern Lolo (?)
**Western Lolo (Southern Lolopo in ''Ethnologue'', )
**Xiangtang
**Jingdong Lolo (Mili)
*Southern Dali Lolo (Enipu)
*Nanhua Lolo
**Eastern Lalu
**Tu
*Binchuan Lolo (?)
*Yao'an Lolo (Qiangyi) (?)
The ''Chuxiong Prefecture Ethnic Gazetteer'' (2013:364) lists the following
cognacy percentages between Lolopo 罗罗濮 and other Yi languages in Chuxiong Prefecture.
*
Ache 阿车: 74.86% (211/282)
*
Chesu 车苏: 55% (155/282)
*
Luowu 罗武: 75.89% (214/282)
*
Shansu 山苏: 78.4% (221/282)
*
Lipo 里濮: 93.36% (253/271)
Phonology
Consonants
* before stops and fricatives are heard as syllabic sounds , , and .
* is also heard in free variation as a voiced lateral fricative .
Vowels
* Sounds are pronounced as syllabic consonants when following alveolar sibilants, and as when following in a low tone syllable.
* Sounds are heard as syllabic consonants when following alveolar sibilants.
* Sounds are heard as central sounds when following alveolar consonants.
* is heard as open-mid following alveolar plosives , a palatal fricative , and within palatalized diphthongs .
Tones
References
External links
*
An audio recording of a word list in Lolopo is archived with
Kaipuleohone Kaipuleohone is a digital ethnographic archive that houses audio and visual files, photographs, as well as hundreds of textual material such as notes, dictionaries, and transcriptions relating to small and endangered languages. The archive is stored ...
{{Lolo-Burmese languages
Loloish languages