Lahu language

Lahu (autonym: ''Ladhof'' ) is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Lahu people of China, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos. It is widely used in China, both by Lahu people, and by other ethnic minorities in Yunnan, who use it as a lingua franca. However, the language is not widely used nor taught in any schools in Thailand, where many Lahu are in fact refugees and illegal immigrants, having crossed into Thailand from Myanmar.

Distribution by dialect

Lahu Na (Black Lahu) is the northern and standard Lahu dialect and is spoken in most of Yunnan, China, in Kengtung District of Shan State, Myanmar and in Thailand. It should not be confused with Lahu Aga (Black Lahu of Laos ( See below) or Kucong (Black Lahu of Vietnam).

Lahu Phu (White Lahu) is the southern dialect of the Lahu language. It is spoken in 3 countries: China, Vietnam and Laos, including in Muong Te District of Lai Châu Province.

Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu) is only spoken in Thailand, including in the southern Yala Province.

Lahu Aga (Black Lahu) is spoken in Bokeo Province and Yunnan ( Xishuangbanna).

Lahu Shi (Yellow Lahu) is spoken in the following regions:
* China: Menghai County, Lancang County, other areas of Yunnan.
* Myanmar: Kengtung District
* Laos: Luang Namtha Province and Bokeo Province
* Thailand: Chiang Mai Province, Nan Province, Chiang Rai Province, Phayao Province and Tak Province.

In Thailand, Lahu Na and Lahu Nyi are spoken in the following provinces:
* Chiang Mai Province
* Chiang Rai Province
* Mae Hong Son Province
* Kamphaeng Phat Province
* Yala Province.

In Laos, Lahu Phu is spoken in the following locations:
* Bokeo province: Houayxay, Peung, and Ton pheung districts
* Luang Namtha province: Long district.

Classification

The Lahu language, along with the closely related Kucong language, is classified as a separate branch of Loloish by Ziwo Lama (2012), but as a Central Loloish language by David Bradley (2007). Lahu is classified as a sister branch of the Southern Loloish branch in Satterthwaite-Phillips' (2011) computational phylogenetic analysis of the Lolo-Burmese languages.

Dialects

Matisoff (2006)

A few dialects are noted, which are each known by a variety of names:
* Lahu Na (Black Lahu, Musser Dam, Northern Lahu, Loheirn)
* Lahu Shi (Yellow Lahu, Kutsung); the divergent ' dialect is spoken in Nanduan 南段村 (Lahu: ') Village, Nuofu Township 糯福乡, Lancang County, China
* Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu, Southern Lahu, Musseh Daeng, Luhishi, Luhushi), Shehleh
* Lahu Shehleh

Pham (2013)

Phạm Huy (2013:13) lists the following 3 branches.
* La Hủ Phu (White Lahu): only found in Lüchun County, Yunnan, China
* La Hủ Năk (Black Lahu)
* La Hủ Nê Thu

Yunnan (1998)

Yunnan (1998:280)Yunnan Gazetteer Commission ��南省地方志编纂委员会(ed). 1998. ''Yunnan Provincial Gazetteer, Vol. 59: Minority Languages Orthographies Gazetteer'' ��南省志. 卷五十九, 少数民族语言文字志 Kunming: Yunnan People's Press ��南人民出版社 lists 5 Lahu dialects.
*Lancang (''standard'') dialect 澜沧标准音区片 (in most of Lancang, Ximeng, Menglian, Cangyuan, and Shuangjiang counties)
*Nanmei dialect 南美土语群片 (in Nanmei Township 南美乡, Lincang County; Gengma County, and other nearby areas)
*Mojiang dialect 墨江土语群片 (in Pu'er, Simao, Mojiang, Xinping counties, etc.; Lahu Shi)
*Menghai dialect 勐海土语群片 (in Menghai, Jinghong, Mengla, Lancang counties (in Jiujing 酒井, Yakou 雅口, Qianliu 谦六 townships, etc.); Lahu Shi)
*Jinping-Lüchun dialect 金绿土语群片 (in Jinping and Lüchun counties)

Traditionally Lahu folk taxonomy splits the Lahu people into the two groups of Black Lahu and Yellow Lahu; Red Lahu and White Lahu are new dialect clusters originating in messianic movements within the past few centuries. Black Lahu is the standard dialect in China, as well as the lingua franca among different groups of Lahu in Thailand. However, it is intelligible to speakers of Yellow Lahu only with some difficulty.

Bradley (1979)

Based on the numbers of shared lexical items, Bradley (1979) classifies the Lahu dialects as follows:

;Common Lahu
*Black Lahu
**Shehleh
**(Core)
***Black Lahu proper
***Red Lahu
*Yellow Lahu
**Bakeo
**Banlan

Lama (2012)

Lama (2012) gives the following tentative classification for what he calls ''Lahoid''.
;Lahoid
*Lahu-Xi (Yellow Lahu)
*(Black Lahu cluster)
**Lahu-Na (Black Lahu)
**Lahu-Ni (Red Lahu)
**Lahu-Pu (White Lahu)
**Lahu-Shehleh

Jin (2007)

Jin Youjing (2007) classifies the Lahu dialects as follows.

*Lahu Na 拉祜纳 (Black Lahu 黑拉祜): about 80% of all Lahu
**''Xia'nanxian 下南现'' (Nanling Township 南岭乡) dialect
**''Dongkahe 东卡河'' (Laba Township 拉巴乡) dialect
*Lahu Xi 拉祜西 (Yellow Lahu 黄拉祜): about 20% of all Lahu
**''Northern dialect'': Donghe 东河, Xincheng 新城, Qianliu 谦六, Wendong 文东, Fudong 富东, and Dashan 大山 townships
**''Central dialect'': Yakou 雅口, Qianmai 谦迈, and Yingpan 营盘 townships
**''Southern dialect'': Southern Nuofu 糯福(南), Northern Nuofu 糯福(北), and Huimin 惠民 townships
*Lahu Alai 拉祜阿莱: located in Alai Dazhai 阿莱大寨, Fubang Township 富邦乡, Lancang County and a few other nearby villages
*Kucong 苦聪: located in Jinping, Lüchun, Zhenyuan, and other counties

Jin Youjing (1992) covers Lahu linguistic geography and dialectology in detail.

Heh (2008)

Heh (2008) lists Lahu Shi (Yellow Lahu) dialects as:
*Mikeng
*Nakeo
*Lahu Aga (also called Aphubele; spoken in Laos)
*Bakeo
*Balan

Lahu Aga was classified as Lahu Shi by Bradley (1979), but Heh (2008) found that it is actually linguistically closer to Lahu Na (Black Lahu). In Laos, there are about 9,000 Lahu Aga located in Bokeo Province (Tonpheung district, Muang Muang district, Houj Xai
district, and the special region of Nam Yut) and Luang Namtha Province (Vieng Phoukha district, Boten district, and Muang Long district) (Heh 2008:161). In Laos, the Lahu Aga are most numerous in Tonpheung district (in Baan Dong Keap, Baan Sam Sip, Baan Khi Lek, Baan Beu Neong, Baan Hoe Ong, and Baan Nan Fa villages) and Vieng Phoukha district (in Baan Na Kat Tai, Baan Na Kat Neua, Baan Pamak, Baan NaNoi, Baan NaVa, Baan NaPhe, and Baan Na Shin villages) (Heh 2008:161-162). The Yellow Lahu are also called Lahu Kui Lung in Laos (Schliesinger (2003:110), with ''Kui'' meaning 'people'. There are about 21 Lahu Aga villages in Bokeo and Luang Namtha provinces, including in Ban Don Keao, Bokeo, and Ban Na Kat Neua, who had originally migrated from Yunnan, China. (Heh 2008:8). There are also 11 Lahu Aga families living in Baan Son Pu Nong, Chiang Saen District, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. Heh (2008) provides comparative Lahu Aga dialectal data for:
*Na Kat Neua village, Vieng Phoukha district, Luang Namtha province
*Don Keao village, Tonpheung district, Bokeo province
*Na Kha village, Muang Muang Township, Bokeo province

Phonology

Consonants

* Palatal consonant sounds when occurring before a close central vowel are heard as dental affricate sounds . Stop sounds may also be heard as palato-alveolar sounds elsewhere, in free variation.
* may also be heard as a velar fricative , in free variation.
* before , can be articulated as a palatal nasal .
* Labial sounds before a close back vowel have affricated variants, heard as .

Vowels

* When following palatal or labial consonants, have special allophones .

Tones

Sound changes

Lama (2012) lists the following sound changes from Proto-Loloish as Lahu innovations.
* *s-l- > x-
* *z- > dz-
* *ŋ- > x-

Writing system

There are three alphabets based on the Latin script for Lahu:
* Protestant alphabet: used in Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.
* Catholic alphabet: in Myanmar.
* Pinyin in China and Vietnam.

Protestant alphabet

The first Lahu alphabet was created by American protestant missionaries C. B. Antisdel and H. H. Tilbe in Myanmar. . They began work on creating an alphabet for the Black Lahu in 1906, and published the first book in it in 1908. This alphabet was based on the Latin script and included only the letters of the standard Latin alphabet. In the first version of this alphabet, tones were unmarked, but in 1917, tone marks were introduced. In 1921, this alphabet has also spread to the Lahu of China. Some changes were made to the Protestant alphabet in 1950 and 1962. It is currently the main alphabet for the Lahu of Myanmar and Thailand.

In 1982, Yellow Lahu refugees from Laos living in the United States developed an orthography for writing their language, also based on the Protestant alphabet. It soon found use among the Yellow Lahu of Southeast Asia. At the same time, Black Lahu often feel that Yellow Lahu do not need their own orthography and are better off using the more established and widely used Black Lahu orthography.

Initials: p, hp, b, m, f, v, pf, hpf, bv, mv, w, t, ht, d, n, ny, l, ts, tc, tz, s, z, c, ch, j, sh, y, k, hk, g, ng, h, g', k', hk'. Finals: i, e, eh, a, u, aw, o, ui, uh, ya, yao, yu, ai, ao, wi, aweh. Tones are marked with ˉ ˅ ˯ _ ˄ ˰.

Catholic alphabet

In the 1930s, Catholic missionaries in Burma developed their own version of the Lahu alphabet. This alphabet had many features in common with the Protestant alphabet, but there were significant differences in the representation of the finals. The Catholic alphabet did not gain widespread use, but is still used today among Lahu Catholics in Myanmar.

Initials: q, qh, k, kh, g, ng, c, tc, ch, ts, j, dz, t, th, d, n, gn, p, pf, ph, phf, b, bv, m, mv, h, gh, sh, s, y, z, f, v, l. Finals: a, e, ë, è, i, o, ö, ò, u, ü, ae, ao. Tones are marked with _ ⌏ ⌍ ˯ ˄ ˰.

Pinyin

In 1952, the People's Republic of China closed all foreign Christian missions in the Lahu region. After this, it was decided to reform the existing Protestant alphabet. Work on a new version of the script began in 1953. After the new alphabet was reviewed by Chinese and Soviet scientists, as well as government bodies, it was approved in March 1957. The graphic basis of the new alphabet was the official system of romanization of Chinese writing - pinyin. The most important difference from the Protestant alphabet was the designation of tones not by special signs, but by letters l d q r t f after a syllable. Due to the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath from 1964 to 1980, the Lahu alphabet was not used in China, but was later revived. In 1989, minor changes were made to this alphabet. It is currently the official script for Lahu in China.

Initials: p, ph, b, m, f, v, w, t, th, d, n, l, z, zh, dz, s, r, c, ch, j, sh, y, k, kh, g, ng, h, x, q, qh. Finals: i, e, ie, a, u, aw, o, eu, eo, ia, iao, iu, ei, ai, ao, ui, uai, ou. Tones are marked with letters l, d, q, r, t, f. The final eo and the letter f (as a tone marker) were introduced in 1989.

Correspondence chart

()

Initials:

Finals:

Tones (for protestant and catholic alphabets examples with ''a''):

Grammar

Lahu has a similar grammar to many Tibeto-Burman languages.

Vocabulary

Below is the common vocabulary of the Lahu language.

See also

* Kucong language

Notes

Sources

*
*
* Phạm Huy (1997). ''Một phần chân dung: dân tộc La Hủ (nhật ký điền dã)''. Lai Châu: Sở văn hóa thông tin Lai Châu.
*

Further reading

*
*
*

External links

*

Radio Soap Opera in Lahu Language


James A. Matisoff Collection
of Lahu language documentation in the Computational Resource for South Asian Languages (CoRSAL) archive

Window onto a Vanished World: Lahu texts from Thailand in the 1960’s
by James A. Matisoff

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lahu Language
Loloish languages
Languages of Yunnan
Languages of Myanmar
Languages of Thailand