Nuosu language
Nuosu | |
---|---|
Northern Yi, Liangshan Yi, Sichuan Yi | |
ꆈꌠꉙ Nuosuhxop | |
Native to | China |
Region | Southern Sichuan, northern Yunnan |
Ethnicity | Yi |
Native speakers | 2 million (2000 census)[1] |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
Standard forms |
|
Yi logograms | |
Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | China (Yunnan province) |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | ii Sichuan Yi, Nuosu |
ISO 639-2 | iii Sichuan Yi, Nuosu |
ISO 639-3 | iii Nuosu, Sichuan Yi |
Glottolog | sich1238 Sichuan Yi |
Nuosu or Nosu (ꆈꌠꉙ, transcribed as Nuo su hxop), also known as Northern Yi, Liangshan Yi, and Sichuan Yi, is the
The occasional terms "Black Yi" (黑彝; hēi Yí) and 'White Yi' (白彝; bái Yí) are castes of the Nuosu people, not dialects.[citation needed]
Nuosu is one of several often
Distribution
Liangshan Yi (Nuosu) is mostly spoken in southern Sichuan (mainly Liangshan). In places of Sichuan in which there are only Nuosu speakers, it is also simply referred to as Yi, and the other Sichuanese Yi language is Nasu.
Northern Yi (Nuosu) in northern Yunnan is spoken mainly in the northern part of Yunnan, including Kunming and Chuxiong. It is also called Black Yi or White Yi.
In
In
In Myanmar, Nuosu is possibly spoken in Shan State or Kachin State, and it is usually known as Northeastern Yi or simply Yi, and speakers are classified as Lisu people which form the Kachin people.
In
Dialects
Lama (2012)
Lama (2012) gives the following classification for Nuosu dialects.
- Nuosu
- Qumusu (Tianba)
- Nuosu proper
- Nuosu
- Muhisu
- Nuosu (nɔ³³su³³)
- Yinuo
- Shengzha
- Niesu (nie³³su³³)
- Suondi
- Adu
- Nuosu
The Qumusu (曲木苏, Tianba 田坝) dialect is the most divergent one. The other dialects group as Niesu (聂苏, Suondi and Adu) and as Nuosu proper (Muhisu 米西苏, Yinuo 义诺, and Shengzha 圣乍). Niesu has both lost voiceless nasals and developed diphthongs.[3]
Adu (阿都话), characterized by its labial–velar consonants, is spoken in the Butuo and Ningnan counties of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, and also in parts of Puge, Zhaojue, Dechang, and Jinyang counties.[4]
Nyisu or Yellow Yi (黄彝) of Fumin County, Yunnan may either be a Soundi Yi (Nuosu) dialect or Nisu dialect.
Zhu and Zhang (2005)
- Mianning County: Jionglong 迥龙, Lugu 泸沽, Hebian 河边; Manshuiwan 漫水湾[6]
- Xichang: Lizhou 礼州, Yuehua 月华
- Xide County: Mianshan 冕山镇 (including Shitoushan Village 石头山村[6]), Lake 拉克
Bradley (1997)
According to Bradley (1997),[7] there are three main dialects of Nosu, of which the Southeastern one (Sondi) is most divergent.
- Northern
- Tianba 田坝 a.k.a. Northwestern
- Yinuo 义诺 a.k.a. Northeastern
- Central (Shengzha 圣乍)
- Southeastern (Sondi)
- Sondi
- Adur
Chen (2010)
Chen (2010) lists the following dialects of Nosu. Also listed are the counties where each respective dialect is spoken.
- Nosu 诺苏方言
- Senza, Shèngzhà 圣乍次方言
- Senza, Shèngzhà 圣乍 (no̠33 su33): 1,200,000 speakers primarily in Xide, Yuexi, Ganluo, Jinyang, Puge, Leibo, Xichang, Dechang, Mianning, Yanyuan, Yanbian, Muli, Shimian, Jiulong, and Luding; also in Huaping, Yongsheng, Ninglang, Lijiang, Jianchuan, Yongshan, and Qiaojia
- Yino, Yìnuò 义诺 (no̠22 su22): 600,000 speakers primarily in Meigu, Mabian, Leibo, and Ebian, Ganluo; also in Yuexi, Zhaojue, and Jinyang
- Lidim, Tiánbà 田坝 (no̠33 su33): 100,000 speakers primarily in Ganluo, Yuexi, and Ebian; also in Hanyuan
- Sodi, Suǒdì 所地次方言 (no̠33 su33): 600,000 speakers primarily in Tuoxian,
- Senza, Shèngzhà 圣乍次方言
Writing system
Classic Yi is a syllabic logographic system of 8,000–10,000 glyphs. Although similar to Chinese characters in function, the glyphs are independent in form, with little to suggest a direct relation.
In 1958 the Chinese government had introduced a Roman-based alphabet based on the romanized script of Gladstone Porteous of Sayingpan.[8] This was later replaced by the Modern Yi script.
The Modern Yi script (ꆈꌠꁱꂷ nuosu bburma [nɔ̄sū bʙ̝̄mā] 'Nosu script') is a standardized syllabary derived from the classic script in 1974. It was made the official script of the Yi languages in 1980. There are 756 basic glyphs based on the Liangshan dialect, plus 63 for syllables only found in Chinese borrowings. The government requires the use of the script for signs in some designated public places.[9]
Phonology
The written equivalents of the phonemes listed here are "Yi Pinyin". For information about the actual script used see the section entitled "Writing System".
Consonants
Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | (Alveolo-) Palatal |
Velar | Glottal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | sibilant
| |||||||
Nasal
|
unvoiced | m̥ ⟨hm⟩ | n̥ ⟨hn⟩ | |||||
voiced | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩
|
ɲ ⟨ny⟩ | ŋ ⟨ng⟩ | ||||
Affricate
|
unvoiced | p ⟨b⟩ | t ⟨d⟩
|
ts ⟨z⟩ | ʈʂ ⟨zh⟩ | tɕ ⟨j⟩ | k ⟨g⟩ | |
aspirated | pʰ ⟨p⟩ | tʰ ⟨t⟩ | tsʰ ⟨c⟩ | ʈʂʰ ⟨ch⟩ | tɕʰ ⟨q⟩ | kʰ ⟨k⟩ | ||
voiced | b ⟨bb⟩ | d ⟨dd⟩
|
dz ⟨zz⟩ | ɖʐ ⟨rr⟩ | dʑ ⟨jj⟩ | ɡ ⟨gg⟩ | ||
prenasalized | ᵐb ⟨nb⟩ | ⁿd ⟨nd⟩ | ⁿdz ⟨nz⟩ | ᶯɖʐ ⟨nr⟩ | ᶮdʑ ⟨nj⟩ | ᵑɡ ⟨mg⟩ | ||
Continuant | unvoiced | f ⟨f⟩ | l̥ ⟨hl⟩
|
s ⟨s⟩ | ʂ ⟨sh⟩ | ɕ ⟨x⟩ | x ⟨h⟩ | h ⟨hx⟩ |
voiced | v ⟨v⟩ | l ⟨l⟩
|
z ⟨ss⟩ | ʐ ⟨r⟩ | ʑ ⟨y⟩ | ɣ ⟨w⟩ |
Vowels
Front | Non-front | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded
|
rounded
| |||
Syllabic
consonant |
loose | z̩ ⟨y⟩ | v̩ʷ ⟨u⟩ | |
tight | z̠̩ ⟨yr⟩ | v̠̩ʷ ⟨ur⟩ | ||
Close | loose | e̝ ⟨i⟩ | ɤ̝ ⟨e⟩ | o̝ ⟨o⟩ |
Open-mid | tight | ɛ ⟨ie⟩ | ɔ ⟨uo⟩ | |
Open | a ⟨a⟩ |
Nuosu has five pairs of phonemic vowels, contrasting in a feature Andy Eatough calls loose throat vs. tight throat. Underlining is used as an ad-hoc symbol for tight throat; phonetically, these vowels are
The syllabic consonants y(r) u(r) are essentially the usual Sinological vowels ɿ ʮ, so ⟨y⟩ can be identified with the vowel of the Mandarin 四 sì "four", but they have diverse realizations. Y(r) completely assimilates to a preceding coronal except in voice, e.g. /ɕz̩˨˩/ [ɕʑ̩˨˩] ꑮ xyp "to marry", and is [m͡l̩] after a labial nasal, e.g. /m̥z̩˧sz̩˧/ [m̥m͡l̩˧sɹ̩˧] ꂪꌦ hmy sy "cloth". U(r) assimilates similarly after laterals, retaining its rounding, e.g. /l̥v̩ʷ˧/ [l̥l̩ʷ˧] ꆭ hlu "to stir-fry", and is [m̩ʷ] after a labial nasal, e.g. /m̥v̩ʷ˧/ [m̥m̩ʷ˧] ꂥ hmu "mushroom"; moreover it induces a
The tight-throat phone [ɤ̝] occurs as the realization of /ɤ̝/ in the high tone. That it is phonemically loose-throat is shown by its behaviour in tightness harmony in compound words.
Nuosu syllable structure is (C)V.
Tones
- high [˥] / [V̋] – written ⟨-t⟩
- high-mid [˦] / [V́] or mid falling [˧˨] / [V᷆] – written ⟨-x⟩ (written with diacritic ̑ over symbol in the syllabary)
- mid [˧] / [V̄] – unmarked
- low falling [˨˩] / [V̂] – written ⟨-p⟩
The high-mid tone is only marginally contrastive. Its two main sources are from
Vocabulary and grammar
Nuosu is an
Numbers
Classifiers are required when numbers are used for fixing nouns.
Number | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yi script | ꋍ | ꑍ | ꌕ | ꇖ | ꉬ | ꃘ | ꏃ | ꉆ | ꈬ | ꊰ | ꊰꋍ | ꊰꑋ | |
IPA | t͡sʰẑ̩ | ɲê̝ | sɔ̠̄ | lz̩̄ | ŋɤ̝̄ | fv̩̋ʷ | ʂʐ̩̄ | he̝̋ | ɡv̩̄ʷ | t͡sʰz̩̄ | t͡sʰẑ̩ t͡sʰz̩̄ | t͡sʰē̝ ɲê̝ | |
Yi Pinyin | cyp | nyip | suo | ly | nge | fut | shyp | hxit | ggu | cy | cyp cy | ci nyip |
See also
- Appendix:Yi (Mihei) word list on Wiktionary (Mihei is a Nuosu dialect)
References
- ^ Nuosu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Zhu, Wenxu 朱文旭; Munai, Reha 木乃热哈; Chen, Guoguang 陈国光 (2006). Yíyǔ jīchǔ jiàochéng 彝语基础教程 (in Chinese) (4th ed.). Beijing: Zhongyang minzu daxue chubanshe.
- hdl:10106/11161.
- ^ Pan, Zhengyun 潘正云 (2001). "Yíyǔ Ādōuhuà chúnruǎn'è fùfǔyīn shēngmǔ bǐjiào yánjiū" 彝语阿都话唇软腭复辅音声母比较研究 [A Comparative Study of Labiovelar Cluster Initials in the Adu Patois of the Yi Language]. Mínzú yǔwén 民族语文. 2001 (2): 17–22.
- ^ Zhu, Wenxu 朱文旭; Zhang (2005). "Yíyǔ Shuǐtiánhuà gàikuàng" 彝语水田话概况 [A Brief Introduction of Shuitian Speech Yi Language]. Mínzú yǔwén 民族语文. 2005 (4): 67–80.
- ^ a b Main datapoint used in Zhu & Zhang (2005)
- ^ Bradley, David (1997). "Tibeto-Burman Languages and Classification" (PDF). In Bradley, D. (ed.). Papers in South East Asian Linguistics No. 14: Tibeto-Burman Languages of the Himalayas. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 1–72. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-10-11.
- ^ "Yi". WorldLanguage.com. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
- ^ Susan Gary Walters (2022): Nuosu script in the linguistic landscape of Xichang, China: a sociocultural subtext, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, DOI:10.1080/01434632.2022.2094388
- .
- Andy Eatough. 1997. Proceeding from Syllable Inventory to Phonemic Inventory in the Analysis of Liangshan Yi. Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota session, volume 41.
- Chen, Kang 陈康 (2010). Yíyǔ fāngyán yánjiū 彝语方言研究 [A Study of Yi Dialects] (in Chinese). Beijing: Zhongyang minzu daxue chubanshe.
- Edmondson, Jerold A.; Esling, John H.; Lama 拉玛兹偓, Ziwo (2017). "Nuosu Yi". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 47 (1): 87–97. S2CID 232345858.
Further reading
- Collective book, Ritual for Expelling Ghosts, A religious Classic of the Yi nationality in Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan. The Taipei Ricci Institute (November 1998) ISBN 957-9185-60-3.
- Ma Linying, Dennis Elton Walters, Susan Gary Walters (editors). Nuosu Yi-Chinese-English Glossary. Nationalities Publishing House (2008). ISBN 978-7-105-09050-1/H.638.
- Gerner, Matthias (2013). A Grammar of Nuosu. Mouton Grammar Library 64. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ISBN 978-3-11-030867-9.
- Review of Bilingual education and minority language maintenance in China: The role of schools in saving the Yi language, by Lubei Zhang and Linda Tsung. Journal of Linguistics 56: 450—454 (2020).