The Sani people (撒尼人) are a branch of 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 in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering nine million people, they are the sev ...

in China and speak the

Sani language Sani () is one of the Loloish languages spoken by the Yi people of China. It is one of six Yi languages recognized by the Chinese government, under the name Southeastern Yi. Sani is spoken in Shilin, Luliang, Luxi, Shizong, Yiliang, Malong ...

a dialect of the

Yi language Nuosu or Nosu (, transcribed as ), also known as Northern Yi, Liangshan Yi, and Sichuan Yi, is the prestige language of the Yi people; it has been chosen by the Chinese government as the standard Yi language () and, as such, is the only one tau ...

. The Sani people live mainly in the central part of

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

, notably Shílín (formerly Lùnán) and Yíliáng counties as well as in Lúxī County.Nathan Hill - Medieval Tibeto-Burman Languages IV 2012- Page 450 "The traditional writing used by the Sani and Azhe (speaking languages of the Southeastern language cluster of Central Yi) could be divided into two separate varieties/scripts because of their formal differences. The Sani people live mainly in Shílín (formerly Lùnán) and Yíliáng counties as well as in Lúxī County (Hónghé Prefecture) in the central part of Yúnnán."

References

Ethnic groups in Yunnan Yi people {{China-stub