The Southeastern Loloish languages, also known as Southeastern Ngwi, are a branch 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 ...
. In Lama's (2012) classification, it is called ''Axi-Puoid'', which forms the
Nisoish branch together with the ''Nisoid'' (''Nisu–Lope'') (
Northern Loloish) languages.
Languages
Southeastern Yi is one of the six
Yi languages (''fangyan'' 方言) officially recognized by the Chinese government.
Sani 撒尼 is the officially recognized literary standard for Southeastern Yi. Pelkey (2011) considers Southern Yi (
Nisu 尼苏) to be another officially recognized Yi ''fangyan'' 方言 that belongs to Southeastern Loloish.
Pelkey (2011)
Jamin Pelkey (2011) lists the following languages in Southeastern Ngwi (Southeastern Loloish). Four branches of Southeastern Loloish are recognized, namely ''Nisu'', ''Sani–Azha'', ''Highland Phula'', and ''Riverine Phula''.
*Nisu:
Nyisu?;
Northern Nisu,
Southern Nisu Lope">Lope_language.html" ;"title=" [
Lope*Sani–Azha:
Sani,
Axi; Azhe language">Azhe
Azhe (Chinese: 阿哲; Azhepo; autonym: ) is one of the Loloish languages spoken by the Yi people of China.黄建明 Huáng Jiànmíng 彝族古籍文献概要 1993 Yizu guji wenxian gaiyao utline of classical literature of Yi nationality By Hua ...
;
Azha [+ Samei language">Samei?">_
Azha Samei?*Highland Phula:
**
Muji:
***Core Muji:
Northern Muji,
Qila Muji,
Southern Muji,
Bokha–
Phuma;
Muzi;
Laghuu
***
Thopho
***
Moji
**
Phowa:
***
Ani Phowa,
Labo Phowa
***
Hlepho Phowa,
Phukha
***
Khlula,
Zokhuo
*Riverine Phula:
**Upriver: Phola language">Phola, Alo Phola language">Alo Phola, Phala language">Phala
Phala is a Sanskrit term that means “fruit” of one's actions in Hinduism and Buddhism. In Buddhism, the following types of ''phala'' are identified:
* ''Ariya-phala'' also refers to the fruition of following the Buddhist path.
* ''Maha-phala'' ...
**Downriver:
***
Phupa,
Phuza
***
Phupha,
Alugu
Pelkey (2011b) contains a comparative word list of
Phola (Upriver Phula),
Phuza (Downriver Phula),
Muji (Highland Phula), Phowa language">Phowa (Highland Phula), and Azha language">Azha.
Bradley (2007) had classified
Sani,
Axi, Azhe language">Azhe
Azhe (Chinese: 阿哲; Azhepo; autonym: ) is one of the Loloish languages spoken by the Yi people of China.黄建明 Huáng Jiànmíng 彝族古籍文献概要 1993 Yizu guji wenxian gaiyao utline of classical literature of Yi nationality By Hua ...
, and
Azha as forming a ''Southeastern Central'' subgroup of Central Loloish">Azha language">Azha as forming a ''Southeastern Central'' subgroup of Central Loloish, but Pelkey (2011) reclassified them as Southeastern Loloish rather than Central Loloish languages.
Also, Pelkey (2011) notes that ''Southeastern Ngwi'' may be most closely related to ''Northern Ngwi'' (including Nosu and Nasu), which is in line with Lama's (2012) proposal of a
Nisoish clade.
Other languages
Pelkey (2011:353)
[Pelkey, Jamin. 2011. ''Dialectology As Dialectic: Interpreting Phula Variation''. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.] specifically excludes Pholo language">Pholo, noting that although it has been closely associated with speakers of Southeastern Ngwi languages historically, it does not share the defining features of the branch.
Pelkey (2011) classifies
Nyisu of Shilin County as belonging to the
Nisu language cluster, but notes that this classification is in need of further formal evidence. Bradley (2007), however, classifies Nyisu of
Kunming
Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...
as being most closely related to
Suondi Yi. It is not known whether
Nyisu of Kunming and Nyisu of Shilin County are related or not.
''Ethnologue'' classifies
Ache as a Southeastern Loloish language. However, Ache has not been analyzed in classifications of Southeastern Loloish by Pelkey (2011) and Lama (2012), and hence remains unclassified within the Southeastern Loloish branch.
Pelkey (2011:431) suggests that the
Xiqi
Xiqi (, 665–651 BC) was briefly the ruler of the Jin (Chinese state), State of Jin during the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China. He was the son of Duke Xian of Jin and his favored concubine Li Ji (concubine), Li Ji, and later replaced ...
,
Ati
Ati or ATI may refer to:
* Ati people, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines
**Ati language (Philippines), the language spoken by this people group
** Ati-Atihan festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines
*Ati language (China), a ...
, and
Long
Long may refer to:
Measurement
* Long, characteristic of something of great duration
* Long, characteristic of something of great length
* Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate
* Longa (music), note value in early music mensur ...
languages of
Huaning County may be Southeastern Loloish languages.
It is uncertain if Zhayipo 扎依颇 (') of
Mile County
Mile (; ; Hani language: ; Yi: ) is a county-level city located in Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, China. It is named after the Maitreya Buddha, for which there was a temple located on a nearby mountain, making it the o ...
is a Southeastern Loloish language or not.
[Long Luogui 龙倮贵. 2007. ''Honghe yizu zuyuan zucheng ji qi renkou fenbu']
红河彝族族源族称及其人口分布
.
Glottolog and ISO 639 (2007) also add the "Nisi (China)" language (code:
yso
), previously named "Southeastern Lolo Yi", and still unclassified within branches of Southeastern Loloish.
[ISO 639-3 Registration Agency. 2007]
''Change Request Documentation: 2007-083''
Innovations
Pelkey (2011:356-365) lists the following four mergers from
Proto-Ngwi as Southeastern Ngwi innovations.
# Proto-Ngwi * and * > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi * (modern reflexes: tɬ, kɬ, k, t, ɬ, etc. in words such as ''to load'')
# Proto-Ngwi * and * > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi * (modern reflexes: tɬʰ, kɬʰ, kʰ, tʰ, ɬ, etc. in words such as ''bee, taro, destroy, change, excrement'')
# Proto-Ngwi * and * > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi * (modern reflexes: dɮ, ɡɮ, ɡ, d, etc. in words such as ''silver, face, pus, full, to fly, lightning, four'')
# Proto-Ngwi * and * > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi * (modern reflexes: ndɮ, ŋɡɮ, nd, etc.)
Another Southeastern Ngwi lexical innovation is that of ‘bat’, which is compounded from *b-yam¹ (‘to fly’) and *wa² (‘person’), literally meaning ‘flyer’ (Pelkey 2011:375).
Chen (1985)
Chen, et al. (1985)
[Chen Shilin 士林 et al. 1985. ''Yiyu jianzhi'' 语简志 Beijing: Ethnic Publishing House 族出版社] also recognizes a similar group called ''Southeastern Yi'' (彝语东南部方言), which includes the following dialects.
*''Yiliang 宜良土语'': spoken in Yiliang (including the Shilin border area), Qiubei, Luxi, Mile, and Luliang counties
*''Mile 弥勒土语'': spoken in Mile, Huaning, Kunming, Luxi, and Yiliang counties
*''Huami 华弥土语'' (''Huaning-Mile''): spoken in Mile, Huaning, and Jianshui counties
*''Wenxi 文西土语'' (''Wenshan-Xichou''): spoken in Wenshan, Xichou, Yanshan, Malipo, Maguan, Funing, Guangnan, and Qiubei counties. Internal variation is greatest within the Wenxi lect.
Chen (2010)
In Chen (2010), Southeastern Loloish called ''Nesu'' (聂苏方言). Also listed are the counties where each respective dialect is spoken.
*Nesu 聂苏方言
**Nesu, Nièsū 聂苏次方言
***
Nesu, Nièsū 聂苏 ('): 500,000 speakers in Honghe, Mojiang, Yuanjiang, Yuanyang, Luchun, Jiangcheng, Jinping, Hekou, Pu'er, Jinghong, Mengla, etc.
***Narsu, Nuósū 娜苏 ('): 500,000 speakers in Shiping, Eshan, Tonghai, Jianshui, Kaiyuan, Gejiu, Mengzi, Pingbian, etc.
***
Zoko, Zuòkuò 作括 ('): 100,000 speakers in Wenshan, Yanshan, Xichou, Maguan, Malipo, etc.
**Sani, Sǎní 撒尼次方言
***
Sani, Sǎní 撒尼 ('): 200,000 speakers in Lunan, Yiliang, Luliang, Mile, Luxi, Shizong, Malong, Luquan, Qiubei, etc.
***
Asi, Āxì 阿细 ('): 200,000 speakers in Mile, Lunan, Chengjiang, Kunming, Huaning, etc.
***Nise, Nísài 尼赛 ('): 100,000 speakers in Lunan
**Azi, Āzhé 阿哲次方言
***
Azi
''Azi'' (''Today'' in Romanian) is a Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. The paper was started in 1990.
Today was also the name of a literary magazine published monthly in Romania, from March 1932 to August 1938, under the directio ...
, Āzhé 阿哲 ('): 100,000 speakers in Mile, Huaning, Kaiyuan, Jianshui, etc.
***Neshu, Nièshū 聂舒: ('): 500,000 speakers in Xinping, Yuxi, Jiangchuan, Yimen, Puning, etc.
***
Lopo, Luópō 罗泼 ('): 100,000 speakers in Mile
***
Kopo, Gépō 格泼 ('): 100,000 speakers in Fuyuan, Luoping, Zhanyi, Qujing, Shizong, Huize, Lunan, Luliang, Mile, etc.
***Sanni, Sāngní 桑尼 ('): 100,000 speakers in Kunming
Demographics
The following demographics of Southeastern Loloish languages are from Pelkey (2011).
The following datapoints (i.e., sample locations) for Phula languages are from Pelkey (2011:26-27).
References
*Bradley, David. 1997.
Tibeto-Burman languages and classification. In ''Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas, Papers in South East Asian linguistics''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
*Bradley, David. 2002. The subgrouping of Tibeto-Burman. In ''Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages'', Christopher Beckwith and Henk Blezer (eds.), 73–112. (International Association for Tibetan Studies Proceedings 9 (2000) and Brill Tibetan Studies Library 2.) Leiden: Brill.
*Bradley, David. 2007. East and Southeast Asia. In Moseley, Christopher (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages'', 349-424. London & New York: Routledge.
*Chen Kang
康 2010. ''A study of Yi dialects''
语方言研究 Beijing: China Minzu University Press.
*Lama, Ziwo Qiu-Fuyuan. 2012.
Subgrouping of Nisoic (Yi) Languages'. Ph.D. thesis, University of Texas at Arlington.
*Pelkey, Jamin. 2011. ''Dialectology as Dialectic: Interpreting Phula Variation''. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
*van Driem, George. 2001. ''Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region.'' Leiden: Brill.
{{Lolo-Burmese languages