The Southeastern Loloish languages, also known as Southeastern Ngwi, are a branch of the Loloish languages. In Lama's (2012) classification, it is called Axi-Puoid, which forms the Nisoish branch together with the Nisoid (NisuâÂÂLope) (Northern Loloish) languages.
Languages
Southeastern Yi is one of the six Yi languages (fangyan æÂ¹è¨Â) officially recognized by the Chinese government. Sani æÂÂå°¼ is the officially recognized literary standard for Southeastern Yi. Pelkey (2011) considers Southern Yi (Nisu å°¼èÂÂ) to be another officially recognized Yi fangyan æÂ¹è¨ that belongs to Southeastern Loloish.
Pelkey (2011)
Jamin Pelkey (2011) lists the following languages in Southeastern Ngwi (Southeastern Loloish). Four branches of Southeastern Loloish are recognized, namely Nisu, SaniâÂÂAzha, Highland Phula, and Riverine Phula.
- Nisu: Nyisu?; Northern Nisu, Southern Nisu [+ Lope]
- SaniâÂÂAzha: Sani, Axi; Azhe; Azha [+ Samei?]
- Highland Phula:
- Muji:
- Core Muji: Northern Muji, Qila Muji, Southern Muji, BokhaâÂÂPhuma; Muzi; Laghuu
- Thopho
- Moji
- Phowa:
- Ani Phowa, Labo Phowa
- Hlepho Phowa, Phukha
- Khlula, Zokhuo
- Riverine Phula:
- Upriver: Phola, Alo Phola, Phala
- Downriver:
- Phupa, Phuza
- Phupha, Alugu
Pelkey (2011b) contains a comparative word list of Phola (Upriver Phula), Phuza (Downriver Phula), Muji (Highland Phula), Phowa (Highland Phula), and Azha.
Bradley (2007) had classified Sani, Axi, Azhe, and Azha as forming a Southeastern Central subgroup of Central Loloish, but Pelkey (2011) reclassified them as Southeastern Loloish rather than Central Loloish languages.
Also, Pelkey (2011) notes that Southeastern Ngwi may be most closely related to Northern Ngwi (including Nosu and Nasu), which is in line with Lama's (2012) proposal of a Nisoish clade.
Other languages
Pelkey (2011:353) specifically excludes Pholo, noting that although it has been closely associated with speakers of Southeastern Ngwi languages historically, it does not share the defining features of the branch.
Pelkey (2011) classifies Nyisu of Shilin County as belonging to the Nisu language cluster, but notes that this classification is in need of further formal evidence. Bradley (2007), however, classifies Nyisu of Kunming as being most closely related to Suondi Yi. It is not known whether Nyisu of Kunming and Nyisu of Shilin County are related or not.
Ethnologue classifies Ache as a Southeastern Loloish language. However, Ache has not been analyzed in classifications of Southeastern Loloish by Pelkey (2011) and Lama (2012), and hence remains unclassified within the Southeastern Loloish branch.
Pelkey (2011:431) suggests that the Xiqi, Ati, and Long languages of Huaning County may be Southeastern Loloish languages.
It is uncertain if Zhayipo æÂÂä¾Â颠(') of Mile County is a Southeastern Loloish language or not.
Glottolog and ISO 639 (2007) also add the "Nisi (China)" language (code: <code>yso</code>), previously named "Southeastern Lolo Yi", and still unclassified within branches of Southeastern Loloish.
Innovations
Pelkey (2011:356-365) lists the following four mergers from Proto-Ngwi as Southeastern Ngwi innovations.
- Proto-Ngwi * and * > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi * (modern reflexes: tì, kì, k, t, ì, etc. in words such as to load)
- Proto-Ngwi * and * > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi * (modern reflexes: tìð, kìð, kð, tð, ì, etc. in words such as bee, taro, destroy, change, excrement)
- Proto-Ngwi * and * > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi * (modern reflexes: dî, áî, á, d, etc. in words such as silver, face, pus, full, to fly, lightning, four)
- Proto-Ngwi * and * > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi * (modern reflexes: ndî, Ã
Âáî, nd, etc.)
Another Southeastern Ngwi lexical innovation is that of âÂÂbatâÂÂ, which is compounded from *b-yamù (âÂÂto flyâÂÂ) and *waò (âÂÂpersonâÂÂ), literally meaning âÂÂflyerâ (Pelkey 2011:375).
Chen (1985)
Chen, et al. (1985) also recognizes a similar group called Southeastern Yi (å½Âè¯Âä¸ÂÃ¥ÂÂé¨æÂ¹è¨Â), which includes the following dialects.
- Yiliang å®Âè¯åÂÂè¯Â: spoken in Yiliang (including the Shilin border area), Qiubei, Luxi, Mile, and Luliang counties
- Mile å¼¥åÂÂÃ¥ÂÂè¯Â: spoken in Mile, Huaning, Kunming, Luxi, and Yiliang counties
- Huami Ã¥ÂÂå¼¥åÂÂ诠(Huaning-Mile): spoken in Mile, Huaning, and Jianshui counties
- Wenxi æÂÂ西åÂÂ诠(Wenshan-Xichou): spoken in Wenshan, Xichou, Yanshan, Malipo, Maguan, Funing, Guangnan, and Qiubei counties. Internal variation is greatest within the Wenxi lect.
Chen (2010)
In Chen (2010), Southeastern Loloish called Nesu (èÂÂèÂÂæÂ¹è¨Â). Also listed are the counties where each respective dialect is spoken.
- Nesu èÂÂèÂÂæÂ¹è¨Â
- Nesu, NièsÃ
« èÂÂèÂÂ次æÂ¹è¨Â
- Nesu, NièsÃ
« èÂÂè ('): 500,000 speakers in Honghe, Mojiang, Yuanjiang, Yuanyang, Luchun, Jiangcheng, Jinping, Hekou, Pu'er, Jinghong, Mengla, etc.
- Narsu, NuósÃ
« å¨Âè ('): 500,000 speakers in Shiping, Eshan, Tonghai, Jianshui, Kaiyuan, Gejiu, Mengzi, Pingbian, etc.
- Zoko, Zuòkuò ä½ÂæÂ¬ ('): 100,000 speakers in Wenshan, Yanshan, Xichou, Maguan, Malipo, etc.
- Sani, SÃÂnàæÂÂ尼次æÂ¹è¨Â
- Sani, SÃÂnàæÂÂå°¼ ('): 200,000 speakers in Lunan, Yiliang, Luliang, Mile, Luxi, Shizong, Malong, Luquan, Qiubei, etc.
- Asi, ÃÂxì é¿绠('): 200,000 speakers in Mile, Lunan, Chengjiang, Kunming, Huaning, etc.
- Nise, NÃÂsài 尼赠('): 100,000 speakers in Lunan
- Azi, ÃÂzhé é¿å²次æÂ¹è¨Â
- Azi, ÃÂzhé é¿å² ('): 100,000 speakers in Mile, Huaning, Kaiyuan, Jianshui, etc.
- Neshu, NièshÃ
« èÂÂèÂÂ: ('): 500,000 speakers in Xinping, Yuxi, Jiangchuan, Yimen, Puning, etc.
- Lopo, LuópÃ
 ç½Âæ³¼ ('): 100,000 speakers in Mile
- Kopo, GépÃ
 æ ¼æ³¼ ('): 100,000 speakers in Fuyuan, Luoping, Zhanyi, Qujing, Shizong, Huize, Lunan, Luliang, Mile, etc.
- Sanni, SÃÂngnàæ¡Âå°¼ ('): 100,000 speakers in Kunming
Demographics
The following demographics of Southeastern Loloish languages are from Pelkey (2011).
The following datapoints (i.e., sample locations) for Phula languages are from Pelkey (2011:26-27).
References
Bibliography
- Bradley, David. 1997. "Tibeto-Burman languages and classification". In Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas, Papers in South East Asian linguistics. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
- Bradley, David. 2002. The subgrouping of Tibeto-Burman. In Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages, Christopher Beckwith and Henk Blezer (eds.), 73âÂÂ112. (International Association for Tibetan Studies Proceedings 9 (2000) and Brill Tibetan Studies Library 2.) Leiden: Brill.
- Bradley, David. 2007. East and Southeast Asia. In Moseley, Christopher (ed.), Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, 349-424. London & New York: Routledge.
- 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.
- van Driem, George. 2001. Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Leiden: Brill.