Bisu language

Bisu
Native to	Thailand, China
Ethnicity	700 in Thailand (2007)[1]
Native speakers	240 in China (2005)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Lolo–Burmese Loloish Southern Bisoid Phunoi–Bisu Bisu
Writing system	Thai script, Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bzi
Glottolog	bisu1244
ELP	Bisu

Bisu (

, with a couple thousand speakers in China. Varieties are Bisu proper (Mbisu) and Laomian (Guba), considered by Pelkey to be distinct languages.

The Laomian are classified within the Lahu ethnic group; the Lahu proper call them the "Lawmeh".^[2]

Distribution

According to Bisuyu Yanjiu 毕苏语研究 (2002), there are over 5,000 Bisu speakers in

.

• Lancang County
  澜沧县
  • Zhutang 竹塘乡
    • Dazhai 大寨, Laomian 老面^[3] (see Laomian language)
  • Laba 拉巴乡
  • Donglang 东朗乡
  • Fubang 富邦乡
• Menghai County 勐海县
  • Mengzhe 勐遮乡
    • Laopinzhai 老品寨^[4] (see Laopin language)
• Ximeng County
  西盟县
  • Lisuo 力锁乡
• Menglian County
  孟连县
  • Nanya 南雅乡

In Thailand, two dialects of Bisu are spoken in the following villages of

(Bisuyu Yanjiu 2002:152).

• Dialect 1: Huai Chomphu village (also called Ban Huaisan) and Doi Pui village
• Dialect 2: Phadaeng village

Another variety of Bisu differing from the Phayao variety is spoken in Takɔ (Ban Thako),

.

In

In Myanmar, Bisu is spoken in three or two villages of Shan State, and Bisu speakers live alongside Pyen speakers

Orthography

In Thailand, the Bisu language is written with the Thai script.

Consonants

Consonants^[6][7]

		Labial	Coronal		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			plain	sibilant
Plosive/ Affricate	unaspirated	p ⟨p, ป⟩	t ⟨t, ต⟩	ts ⟨c, จฺ⟩	t͡ɕ~t͡ʃ ⟨č, จ⟩	k ⟨k, ก⟩	ʔ ⟨-, อ⟩
	aspirated	pʰ ⟨ph, พ⟩	tʰ ⟨th, ท⟩	tsʰ ⟨ch, ชฺ⟩	t͡ɕʰ~t͡ʃʰ ⟨čh, ช⟩	kʰ ⟨kh, ค⟩
	voiced	b ⟨b, บ⟩	d ⟨d, ด⟩			g ⟨g, กง⟩
Fricative		f ⟨f, ฟ⟩		s ⟨s, ซ⟩	ʃ ⟨š, ซฺ⟩		h ⟨h, ฮ⟩
Nasal	plain	m ⟨m, ม⟩	n ⟨n, น⟩		ɲ ⟨ñ, ญ⟩	ŋ ⟨ŋ, ง⟩
	preaspirated	m̥ ⟨hm, ฮม⟩	n̥ ⟨hn, ฮน⟩		ɲ̊ ⟨hñ, ฮญ⟩	ŋ̊ ⟨hŋ, ฮง⟩
Approximant	plain	w ⟨w, ว⟩	l ⟨l, ล⟩		j ⟨y, ย⟩
	preaspirated		l̥ ⟨hl, ฮล⟩		j̊ ⟨hy, ฮย⟩

Vowels

There is no different meaning between long and short vowels. However, check syllables may sound shorter than non-checked ones when speaking. Thai standard uses only long vowels.

• -า – a – [a]
• -ี – i – [i]
• -ือ/-ื – ɨ – [ɨ~ʉ]
• -ู – u – [u]
• เ- – e – [e]
• แ- – ɛ – [ɛ~æ]
• โ- – o – [o]
• -อ – ɔ – [ɔ]
• เ-อ/เ-ิ – ə – [ə]
• เ-ีย – ia – [ia]^[6][7]

Tones

• – – no mark – mid
• -่ – grave accent – low
• -้ – acute accent – high

References

External links

• The New Testament in Bisu on Bible.com