The Northern Loloish languages, also known as Northern Ngwi, are a branch of the Loloish languages that includes the literary standard of the Yi people. In Lama's (2012) classification, it is called Nisoid (NisuâÂÂLope), which forms the Nisoish branch together with the Axi-Puoid (Southeastern Loloish) languages.
Languages
Two of the six Yi languages (fangyan æÂ¹è¨Â) officially recognized by the Chinese government belong to the Northern Loloish branch.
- Northern Yi (Nuosu 诺èÂÂ)
- Eastern Yi (Nasu 纳èÂÂ)
Another officially recognized Yi language (fangyan), Southern Yi (Nisu å°¼èÂÂ), may or may not be a Northern Loloish language, as Pelkey (2011) classifies it as a Southeastern Loloish language based on phonological innovations shared with Southeastern instead of Northern Loloish languages.
Other Northern Loloish languages are listed below.
Nisu is classified as Southeastern Loloish by Pelkey (2011), but is traditionally classified as a Northern Loloish language.
Bradley (1997) also lists the endangered Kathu and Mo'ang languages of Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan, China as Northern Loloish languages, but they were later classified as Mondzish by Lama (2012) and Hsiu (2014).
Bradley (2007)
Within Northern Loloish, David Bradley (2007) recognizes the Nosoid and Nasoid subgroups. Lama (2012) also recognizes a distinction between the Nuosu and Nasu clusters, with the Nuosu cluster including Nuosu and Niesu, and the Nasu cluster include Nasu, Gepu, and Nesu.
Samei, Samataw, and Sanie are classified as Nasoid by Bradley (2007), but as Kazhuoish languages by Lama (2012).
Chen (2010)
Chen (2010) recognizes two topolects (Chinese: fangyan æÂ¹è¨Â), namely Nosu (Northern Yi) and Nasu (Eastern Yi).
- Nosu 诺èÂÂæÂ¹è¨Â
- Nasu 纳èÂÂæÂ¹è¨Â
- NÃÂ sÃ
« 纳èÂÂ次æÂ¹è¨Â
- NÃÂ sÃ
« 纳è ('): 400,000 speakers in Luquan, Wuding, Xundian, Huize, Dongchuan, Songming, etc.
- Naso, Nàsuà纳索 ('): 300,000 speakers in Zhaotong, Ludian, Yiliang, Daguan, Yanjin, Suijiang, Yongshan, Qiaojia, Huize, etc.
- Alo, ÃÂluó é¿罠('): 100,000 speakers in Wuding, Fumin, Lufeng, etc.
- Mongi, Mòqàè«åÂ
¶ ('): 50,000 speakers in Wuding, Luquan, Songming, Kunming, Mile, etc.
- Nersu, NèisÃ
« Ã¥ÂÂ
èÂÂ次æÂ¹è¨Â
- Nersu, NèisÃ
« Ã¥ÂÂ
è ('): 300,000 speakers in Weining, Shuicheng, Hezhang, Nayong, Yiliang, Huize, Xuanwei, Weixin, Zhenyong, etc.
- Nipu, NÃÂpà尼æÂ® ('): 300,000 speakers in Bijie, Qianxi, Jinsha, Dafang, Zhijin, Nayong, Qingzhen, Pingba, Puding, Liuzhi, Guanling, Zhenning, etc.
- Noso, Nuòsuà诺索次æÂ¹è¨Â
- Noso, Nuòsuà诺索 ('): 100,000 speakers in Panxian, Xingren, Pu'an, Xingyi, Qinglong, Shuicheng, Fuyuan, Luoping, etc.
- Polo, BÃÂluó 补罠('): 50,000 speakers in Kaiyuan, Gejiu, Mengzi, Honghe, Wenshan, Yanshan, etc.
Li (2013:245) lists the following autonyms for the Yi people of these counties.
Other autonyms listed by Dai (1998:218):
The ' of southwestern Guizhou reside in Pingdi åªå°, Pugu æÂ®å¤, and Jichangping 鸡åºåª townships, Pan County; Longchang é¾Âåº and Fa'er æ³Âè³ township, Shuicheng County (Chen 1987).
Innovations
Pelkey (2011:368) lists the following as Northern Ngwi innovations that had developed from Proto-Ngwi.
- Proto-Ngwi tone categories H and L flipped (*L > (13) in Nasu)
- Proto-Ngwi tone categories *1 and *2 merged to mid-level
- Proto-Ngwi tone category *3 > low-falling
- Lexicalized family group classifiers with frequent monosyllabic forms
- Burmic extentive paradigm is highly grammaticalized, with few lexical innovations
References
- Bradley, David (1997). "Tibeto-Burman languages and classification". In Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas, Papers in South East Asian linguistics. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
- Chen Kang [éÂÂ康]. 2010. A study of Yi dialects [å½Âè¯ÂæÂ¹è¨Âç Âç©¶]. Beijing: China Minzu University Press.
- Lama, Ziwo Qiu-Fuyuan (2012). Subgrouping of Nisoic (Yi) Languages. Ph.D. thesis, University of Texas at Arlington.
- Pelkey, Jamin. 2011. Dialectology as Dialectic: Interpreting Phula Variation. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.