The Pumi language (also known as Prinmi) is a Qiangic language used by the Pumi people, an ethnic group from

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, as well as by the

Tibetan people Tibetans () are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group Indigenous peoples, native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 7.7 million. In addition to the majority living in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, sig ...

of Muli in

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

. Most native speakers live in Lanping, Ninglang,

Lijiang Lijiang ( zh, s= ), formerly romanized as Likiang, is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China. It has an area of and had a population of 1,253,878 at the 2020 census whom 288,787 lived in the built-up area (metro) ...

, Weixi and Muli. The autonym of the Pumi is ' in Western Prinmi, ' in Central Prinmi, and ' in Northern Prinmi with variants such as ' and '. In Muli Bonist priests read religious texts in Tibetan, which needs to be interpreted into Prinmi. An attempt to teach Pumi children to write their language using the Tibetan script has been seen in Ninglang. A pinyin-based Roman script has been proposed, but is not commonly used.

Dialects

Earlier works suggest there are two branches of Pumi (southern and northern), and they are not mutually intelligible. Ding (2014) proposes three major groups: Western Prinmi (spoken in Lanping), Central Prinmi (spoken in southwestern Ninglang,

, Yulong and Yongsheng) and Northern Prinmi (spoken in northern Ninglang and

Lu (2001)

Dialects of Pumi include the following (Lu 2001). ;Southern (22,000 speakers) *Qinghua 箐花村, Lanping County, Yunnan * Ludian 鲁甸县, Yunnan *Xinyingpan 新营盘乡, Ninglang County, Yunnan ;Northern (55,000 speakers) *Taoba 桃巴村, Muli County, Sichuan *Tuoqi 拖七村, Ninglang County, Yunnan *Zuosuo 左所区, Yanyuan County, Sichuan *Sanyanlong 三岩龙乡, Jiulong County, Sichuan

Sim (2017)

Sims (2017) lists the following dialects of Pumi. *Northern **Sanyanlong 三岩龙 iulong County(B. Huang & Dai 1992) **Taoba 桃巴 uli County(Sun 1991) **Shuiluo 水洛 uli County(Jacques 2011) *Central **Wadu 瓦都 inglang County(Daudey 2014) **Niuwozi 牛窝子 inglang County(Ding 2001, etc.) *Southern **Dayang anping County(Matisoff 1997) **Qinghua 箐花 anping County(Sun 1991; B. Huang & Dai 1992) Sims (2017) reconstructs high tones and low tones for Proto-Prinmi.

Documentation

Transcribed, translated and annotated audio documents in the Pumi language are available from the

Pangloss Collection The Pangloss Collection is a digital library whose objective is to store and facilitate access to audio recordings in endangered languages of the world. Developed by the LACITO centre of CNRS in Paris, the collection provides free online access ...

. They concern Northern dialects of Pumi.

Phonology

Orthography

The pinyin-based Roman script for Pumi has been proposed, but yet to be promoted. Tones: * Monosyllabic words ** ''f'' – falling tone ** ''v'' – high tone ** ''none'' – rising tone * Polysyllable words ** ''f'' – nonspreading of the high tone ** ''v'' – spreading of the high tone to the next syllable ** ''r'' – rising tone ** ''none'' – default low tone

Grammar

A reference grammar of the Wadu dialect of Pumi i
available online
A grammar of Central Pumi is also available.

Example

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Languages of China Qiangic languages Languages of Yunnan Pumi people Languages of Sichuan