Sani () is one of the
Loloish languages
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 the
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 ...
. It is one of six
Yi languages
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 in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering nine million people, they are the s ...
recognized by the Chinese government, under the name Southeastern Yi. Sani is spoken in
Shilin,
Luliang,
Luxi,
Shizong,
Yiliang,
Malong
The malong is a traditional Filipino-Bangsamoro rectangular or tube-like wraparound skirt bearing a variety of geometric or okir designs. The malong is traditionally used as a garment by both men and women of the numerous ethnic groups in the mai ...
,
Luquan, and
Mile
The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...
counties by about 120,000 speakers.
[Wang Chengyou 成有 2003. ''Yiyu Fangyan Bijiao Yanjiu'' 语方言比较研究 Chengdu: Sichuan People's Press 川民族出版社 ]
The Sani call themselves . Their language is distinct from the closely related
Samei, whose speakers call themselves ''Sani'' .
[
Another group known as the ''Sa'' 撒 (]autonym
Autonym may refer to:
* Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym
* Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name
See also
* Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...
: Sani 撒尼) lives in Qiubei County
Qiubei County () is under the administration of the Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, in southeast Yunnan province, China.
Administrative divisions
In the present, Qiubei County has 3 towns, 4 townships and 5 ethnic townships.
;3 to ...
(Yunnan 1960).[Yunnan minzu shibie zonghe diaocha zubian 云南民族识别综合调查组编 (1960).]
Yunnan minzu shibie zonghe diaocha baogao 云南民族识别综合调查报告
'. Kunming: Yunnan minzu shibie zonghe diaochazu 云南民族识别综合调查组. Yunnan (1960) considers it to be similar to Sani of Shilin County
Shilin Yi Autonomous County (: Sani: ) is an autonomous county, under the jurisdiction of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, China.
Etymology
Lunan Yi Autonomous County () is the former name of Shilin, and usually be called for short as ...
. Population: 1443.
Innovations
Pelkey (2011:378) defines two innovations that Sani and Axi both share with each other.
#Exclusive devoicing of tone category 1 proto-voiced initials (even if there is voiced retention in tone category 2). These words include 'fly (v.)', 'wing', 'bridge', and 'liquor'.
#Dominant -e/-ɛ reflexes of *-ak rhymes.
References
*Pelkey, Jamin. 2011. ''Dialectology as Dialectic: Interpreting Phula Variation''. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
*Ma Xueliang 马学良. 1951. ''Sani Yiyu yanjiu'' 撒尼彝语研究. Beijing: Commercial Press 商务印书馆.
{{Lolo-Burmese languages
Loloish languages
Languages of China