The Lachi language (, Vietnamese: La Chí; autonym in China: '; autonym in Vietnam: ', where ' means "person") is a

Kra language The Kra languages (also known as the Geyang 仡央 or Kadai languages) are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family spoken in southern China ( Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan) and in northern Vietnam (Hà Giang Province). Names The name ''Kra'' c ...

spoken in

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 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

and in northern Vietnam. There were 9,500 Lachi speakers in Vietnam in 1990. Edmondson (2008) reports another 2,500 in Maguan County, Yunnan, China for 1995, but Li Yunbing (2000) reports 60 speakers in Maguan out of an ethnic population of 1,600.

Subdivisions

Weera Ostapirat proposed three major subdivisions for the Lachi language. *Northern (Chinese or Flowery Lachi) *Central (White Lachi) *Southern (Long Haired and Black Lachi) Jerold A. Edmondson notes that Vietnamese researchers recently have not been able to locate White (Central) Lachi speakers. It is also the least studied variety of Lachi. The ''Maguan County Gazetteer'' 马关县志 (1996) lists the following Lachi ethnic subdivisions. *Flowery Lachi 花拉基 *White Lachi 白拉基 *Black Lachi 黑拉基 *Chinese Lachi 汉拉基 *Manyou Lachi 曼忧拉基 *Manpeng Lachi 曼棚拉基 The ''Maguan County Gazetteer'' 马关县志 (1996) also lists the following autonyms for the Lachi. *She 舍 *Laguo 拉果 *Heitu 黑土 *Gudai 古逮 *Yibi 依比 *Yimei 依梅 *Yiduo 依多 *Yibeng 依崩 The Republic of China-era ''Maguan County Gazetteer'' 马关县志 gives the names Labo 剌僰 (with a dog radical 犭for La 剌) and Laji 拉鸡 (Li 2000: 5).

Geographic distribution

Kosaka (2000) reports 6,000–8,000 Lachi speakers in Vietnam, and 2,000 in China. The Lachi of Maguan County, China are currently classified as Zhuang (Li 2000), while the Lachi of Malipo County, China, along with the Qabiao, are classified as Yi. The Lachi of Vietnam have official status as a separate ethnic group.

China

The Lachi of China live in various locations in Maguan County (马关县),

, which is located in

Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in southeastern Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China and the easternmost prefecture-level division of the province. It borders Baise, Guangxi to the east, Vietna ...

(文山壮族苗族自治州) near the border with

Hà Giang Province Hà is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as He in Chinese and Ha in Korean. Ha is the anglicized variation of the surname Hà. It is also the anglicized variation of Hạ. Notable people with the surname Hà * Hà Kiều Anh, ...

, Vietnam. According to American linguist Jerold A. Edmondson, the Lachi of China are thought to have moved to their present location during the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

from places in Vietnam called Maibu 麥布, Maidu 麥督, and Maiha 麥哈.Diller, Anthony, Jerold A. Edmondson, and Yongxian Luo ed. The Tai–Kadai Languages. Routledge Language Family Series. Psychology Press, 2008. Other Lachis are also found scattered in Yanshan, Qiubei, Xichou, and Malipo counties. The subdivisions, with their respective locations, are as follows: Flowery Lachi ( autonym: ') *Jinchang Township 金厂镇 **Zhongzhai 中寨 **Sanjiajie 三家街 Chinese Lachi ( autonym: ') *Jiahanqing Township 夹寒箐乡 **Niulongshan 牛龙山 **Dujiaozhai 独脚寨 **Shi'er Daohe 十二道河 **Laozhai 老寨 *Renhe Township 仁和镇 **Baishiyan 白石岩 **Shiqiao 石桥 **Huomuqing 火木箐 Pocket Lachi ( autonym: ') *Nanlao Township 南捞乡: Busu 布苏 Red Lachi ( autonym: ') *Xiaobazi Township 小坝子镇 **Tianpeng 田棚 **Laqie 拉劫 / Laqi 拉气

Vietnam

The Lachi live mostly in Xín Mần District and

Hoàng Su Phì District Huang (; ) is a Chinese surname that originally means and refers to jade people were wearing and decorating in ancient times. While ''Huáng'' is the pinyin romanization of the word, it may also be romanized as Hwang (Korean surname), Hwang, Wong ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

. There are also many Lachi living in Bắc Quang District in southern

, which is outside their home district of

Hoàng Su Phì Huang (; ) is a Chinese surname that originally means and refers to jade people were wearing and decorating in ancient times. While ''Huáng'' is the pinyin romanization of the word, it may also be romanized as Hwang, Wong, Waan, Wan, Waon, Hwo ...

. Since the Lachi dialects of Vietnam have many Chinese loanwords, the Lachi of Vietnam must have migrated from areas to the north in China (Kosaka 2000). Similarly, the Lachi of Maguan County, Yunnan, China just across the border believed that their ancestors had migrated from Ami Prefecture 阿迷州, which is now Kaiyuan, Yunnan. In Vietnam,

Jerold Edmondson Jerold Alan Edmondson (born 1941) (Chinese name: 艾杰瑞 Aì Jiéruì) is an American linguist whose work spans four subdisciplines: historical and comparative linguistics, Asian linguistics, field linguistics, and phonetics. He is a leading spe ...

notes that the most common autonym used by his Lachi informants is ', with ' meaning 'people' (from Proto-Kra *khra^C1 'people').Edmondson, Jerold A. and Shaoni Li. 2003.
Review of ''Lajiyu Yanjiu'' by Li Yunbing
." In Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 26 , no. 1: 163-181. The Lachi people are an officially recognized ethnic group in Vietnam, and are divided as such (Kosaka 2000, Edmondson 2008): Long Haired Lachi ( autonym: ') *Bản Phùng, Hoàng Su Phì District — largest village; regarded as cradle site Black Lachi ( autonym: ') *Bản Díu, Xín Mần — speakers have shifted to the Nùng language White Lachi ( autonym: '; language possibly extinct) *Bản Pắng, Hoàng Su Phì District — speakers have shifted to the Nùng language, the regional lingua franca *Bản Máy, Hoàng Su Phì District — speakers have shifted to the Nùng language, the regional lingua franca Lachi is also spoken in (Kosaka 2000): *Tân Lợi hamlet (Thôn Tân Lợi), Bắc Quang District,

— formed through a secondary migration from Tân Lập village (Xã Tân Lập), which is now called Xã Tân Thành. *Chí Cà, Xín Mần District,

* Bắc Hà District, Lào Cai Province — descended from Bản Phùng migrants; can no longer speak Lachi (e.g., in Thôn Núng Choáng, Xã Nàm Sán) * Mường Khương District, Lào Cai Province — descended from Bản Phùng migrants; can no longer speak Lachi Kosaka (2000) describes the following migratory route that took the Lachi of Bản Phùng, Hoàng Su Phì District to other locations, all in Bắc Quang District,

. #Bản Phùng, Hoàng Su Phì District #Xã Tân Lập (now called Xã Tân Thành) #Xã Yên Bình #Xã Vĩ Thượng #Xã Xuân Giang (later divided into two parts, including Nà Khương, which has the higher concentration of Lachi people) The ''Maguan County Gazetteer'' 马关县志 (1996) lists the following locations in Vietnam with ethnic Lachi. *Manyou 曼忧 *Manpeng 曼棚 *Manban 曼班 *Manmei 曼美 *Jiga 鸡嘎 *Hualong 花隆 *Mengkang 猛康

Grammar

Like other Kra languages such as Gelao and Buyang, Lachi displays clause-final negation (Li 2000).

Phonology

Consonants

* appears in loanwords of Vietnamese origin. * Approximant sounds when occurring before , maybe also be realized as . Both sounds also can be realized as a voiced glottal sound .

Vowels

* Standard vowel sounds and , only occur after palatal, velar, palatalized and labialized initials. After other initials elsewhere, they become velarized as , .

References

*Diller, Anthony, Jerold A. Edmondson, and Yongxian Luo ed. ''The Tai–Kadai Languages''. Routledge Language Family Series. Psychology Press, 2008. *Hoàng Thanh Lịch. 2012. ''Người La Chí ở Việt Nam / The La Chi in Vietnam''. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản thông tấn. *李云兵 / Li Yunbing. 2000. 拉基语硏究 / Laji yu yan jiu (A Study of Lachi). Beijing: 中央民族大学出版社 / Zhong yang min zu da xue chu ban she.

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20131203002223/http://cema.gov.vn/modules.php?name=Content&op=details&mid=511 {{Tai-Kadai languages Kra languages Languages of China Languages of Vietnam