Taloid is a cluster of languages in the Lisoish branch of

Lolo–Burmese The Lolo-Burmese languages (also Burmic languages) of Burma and Southern China form a coherent branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. Names Until ca. 1950, the endonym ''Lolo'' was written with derogatory characters in Chinese, and for this reas ...

Languages

Yang, et al. (2017)Yang, Cathryn; Kwok Wailing 范秀琳 Zhou Decai 周德才; Yang Wenjing 杨文静. 2017. ''The Taloid Cluster of Northwestern Yunnan: Loyal Soldiers of the Nanzhao Kingdom'' / 滇西北彝语他留土群：忠诚的南诏战士. Presented at ICSTLL 50, Beijing, China. lists the following languages as belonging to the ''Taloid'' cluster of languages, whose speakers are descendants of soldiers sent by the

Nanzhao Kingdom Nanzhao (, also spelled Nanchao, ) was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuries. It was centered on present-day Yunnan in China. History Origins Nanzha ...

from the Dali region to be stationed in northwestern Yunnan. Taloid languages are most closely related to Lalo, Lolopo, and

Lipo A lithium polymer battery, or more correctly lithium-ion polymer battery (abbreviated as LiPo, LIP, Li-poly, lithium-poly and others), is a rechargeable battery of lithium-ion technology using a polymer electrolyte instead of a liquid electrolyt ...

, all of which share the lexical innovation a¹to^L for 'fire'. They are spoken primarily in

Yongsheng County Yongsheng County () is located in the northwest of Yunnan province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Lijiang. In 2019 the county had a population of 406,757 including 34.42% ethnic minorities. The Chenghai Lak ...

and

Heqing County Heqing County () is a county in the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture located in the northwest of Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The provinc ...

. Popei 泼佩 is spoken in

Huaping County Huaping County () is a county of Lijiang City, in the north of Yunnan province, China, bordering Sichuan province to the east. Located at the northwestern of Yunnan, it covers an area of and had a population of 159,695 in 2020 statistics. Huaping ...

, while Gomotage is spoken in

Eryuan County Eryuan () is a county in the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture located in southern 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 ...

. * Talu 他留, Nazan 纳咱 * Lang'e 崀峨,

Lawu The Lawu ( jv, ꦭꦮꦸ), or Mount Lawu ( jv, ꦒꦸꦤꦸꦁꦭꦮꦸ, Gunung Lawu) is a massive compound stratovolcano straddling the border between East Java and Central Java, Indonesia. The north side is deeply eroded and the eastern ...

拉务 *

Tagu Tagu ( my, တန်ခူး; mnw, ဂိတု စဲ) is the first month of the traditional Burmese calendar. Holidays and observances *Thingyan *Pagoda festivals **Shwemawdaw Pagoda Festival, Bago Tagu symbols *Flower: ''Mesua ferrea'' *As ...

塔古 * Popei 泼佩 (Shuitian 水田) * Naruo 纳若 (Shuitian 水田) * Kua-nsi 跨恩斯 * Kuamasi 跨玛斯 * Laizisi 莱兹斯 * Zibusi 子逋斯 * Sonaga 锁内嘎 * Gomotage 俄毛柔 Andy Castro, et al. (2010) have reported the discovery of 5 languages in

, Yunnan that are most closely related to Talu (他留话) of

. Autonyms are from Castro (2010:25). Sonaga is the most divergent, while the other four languages comprise a core subclade. * Kua-nsi ('; 跨恩斯话): 5,000+ speakers * Kuamasi ('; 跨玛斯话) * Laizisi ('; 莱兹斯话) * Zibusi ('; 子逋斯话) * Sonaga ('; 锁内嘎话): 2,000+ speakers Gomotage ('; also known as ' or Emaorou 俄毛柔) of

is also probably related to Kua-nsi (Yang 2010:7). Other languages that may belong to the Taloid cluster include: *Awu, Northern 阿乌(北): 3,000 speakers in Peiyuan 培元村, Shuiping 水坪村, and Yongle 永乐村 Villages of Da'an Township 大安彝族纳西族乡,

*Liude 六得: 500 speakers in 3 villages of Liude Township 六德乡,

. *Liwu 里乌: 4,000 speakers in

, in Liang'e 良峨 and Jifu 吉福 Villages of Xinghu Township 星湖村 *Tazhi: spoken by a few hundred people in Puwei Township 普威镇, northern

Miyi County Miyi County () is a county in the far south of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of Panzhihua Panzhihua (), formerly Dukou (), is a prefecture-level city located in the far south of Sichuan province, People's Republic of C ...

米易县,

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

. The Tazhi claim they came from northern Yunnan centuries ago. It is moribund or extinct, and is perhaps related to Talu,

, or other languages of

.Bradley, David. 2004.
Endangered Central Ngwi Languages of Central Yunnan
'. Keynote Presentation, 37th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, Lund University, Sweden. *Ta'er 塔尔 of

Ninglang County Ninglang Yi Autonomous County (; ii, ꆀꆿꆈꌠꊨꏦꏱꅉꑤ nip lat nuo su zyt jie jux dde xiep) is located in the northwest of Yunnan province, China, bordering Sichuan province to the northeast. It is under the administration of Lijiang ...

, spoken by about 1,000 people

Innovations

Some Taloid lexical innovations are: *head hair (头发) > fur (毛) + hair (头发) *'sky' > my²di¹mo³ *'mouth' > kʰa²bi² Taloid phonological innovations are: * *a > u * *ak > a̱ * *(-)rwe > ua * *(-)r/way > ua

References

{{Lolo-Burmese languages Languages of China