Nisu language

Nisu
Southern Yi
Native to	China
Ethnicity	Yi
Native speakers	300,000 apart from Northern (2004–2007) 160,000 Northern (no date)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Lolo-Burmese Loloish Nisoish Northern Loloish or Southeastern Loloish? Nisu
Writing system	Yi logograms
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: nsd – Southern yiv – Northern nos – Eastern nsv – Southwestern (duplicate or spurious code) nsf – Northwestern
Glottolog	nisu1237  Nisu–Nyisu

Nisu (Southern Yi) is a language cluster spoken by half a million Yi people of China. It is one of six Yi languages recognized by the government of China. The Yi script was traditionally used, though few can still read it. According to Lama (2012), Nisu (Nishu) autonyms include ne̠33 su55, ne̠33 su55 pʰo21, and ɲe̠33 ʂu55.

The position of Nisu within Nisoish is debated. Nisu is classified as Southeastern Loloish by Pelkey (2011), but is traditionally classified as a Northern Loloish language, including by Lama (2012).

Internal classification

Chen et al. (1985)

Chen et al. (1985:114) recognizes three major varieties of Southern Yi (i.e., Nisu) spoken in Yunnan province: Shijian (石いし建けん; Shiping-Jianshui), Yuanjin (元金がんきん; Yuanjiang-Jinping), and Exin (峨新; Eshan-Xinping). Autonyms include na̠33 su55 and na̠33 su55 pho21 (alternatively ne̠33 su55 pho21). Chen (1985) reported a speaker population of nearly 1.6 million.

• Shijian 石せき建けん土ど语: spoken in Shiping, Jianshui, Tonghai, Gejiu, Kaiyuan, Mengzi, and Hekou counties
• Yuanjin 元金がんきん土ど语: spoken in Yuanyang, Jinping, Mojiang, Yuanjiang, Pu'er, Jiangcheng, and Honghe counties
• Exin 峨新土ど语: spoken in Eshan, Xinping, Jiangchuan, Yuxi, Yimen, and Kunming counties

Yang (2009)

Yang (2009) classifies the Nisu dialects as follows.

• Northern Nisu
  • North-central (Shijian 石いし建けん): spoken in Shiping, Xinping, Jiangcheng, Mojiang, and Lüchun counties
  • Northwestern (Exin 峨新): spoken in Eshan and Jinning counties
• Southern Nisu (Yuanjin 元金がんきん): spoken in Honghe, Yuanyang, Jinping, Yuanjiang, Shiping, and perhaps also Jianshui counties
• Far Northwestern Nisu: spoken in Beidou Township (北斗ほくと彝つね族ぞく乡), Yongping County (descendants of Nisu soldiers who migrated to Yongping during the early Ming Dynasty; most divergent Nisu variety)

The Jiangcheng, Mojiang, and Lüchun varieties were grouped by Chen (1985) to be southern varieties, but Yang (2009) found that they actually belonged to the Northern Nisu group.

Other varieties

Other Nisu or Southern Yi groups with similar autonyms or language varieties are:

• Ache 阿おもね车: Autonym in Xinping County (population 100+ as of 1955) is nei˧su˧ pʰɯ˨˩.
• Luowu 罗武 (300+ people in Xinping County (1955); 100 households in Shuangbai County; also in Zhenyuan County): ni33 su33 pʰo33
• Achang 阿おもね常つね of Niukong 牛うし孔あな, Lüchun County
• Pulian 普ひろし连 of Qimaba 骑马坝, Daxing 大だい兴, and Gekui 戈ほこ奎, Lüchun County
• Alu 阿おもね鲁 of Dashuigou 大水おおみず沟, Lüchun County

A variety of Southern Nisu (autonym: ɲe33 su55 pʰo21) spoken in Aka Luoduo (阿おもね卡洛多た) village (also called Taiping village; 太平おうひら村むら), Tianfang Village (田房たふさ村むら), Jiangcheng County is covered in Lu Yan (2008).

In Tonghai County, Southern Yi (Nisu) is spoken by all generations only in Xiangping (象ぞう平たいら), Bajiao (芭蕉ばしょう), Sizhai (四よん寨), Shikan (石いし坎), Pingba (平ひら坝), Shangzhuangke (上庄かみしょう科か), and Xiazhuangke (下庄しもしょう科か) villages.

Lexicography

Pu (2021) is a Nisu-Chinese dictionary, with Nisu words transcribed in both IPA and Yi script. It is based on the Nisu dialect of Renhou Village 仁じん厚あつ村むら and Yongning Village 永なが宁村, both of which are located several kilometers north of Mengzi City, Yunnan.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar		(Alveolo-) palatal	Retroflex	Velar	Glottal
			plain	sibilant
Nasal		m	n		ȵ		ŋ
Stop/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	t͡s	t͡ɕ	t͡ʂ	k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	t͡sʰ	t͡ɕʰ	t͡ʂʰ	kʰ
	voiced	b	d	d͡z	d͡ʑ	d͡ʐ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s		ɕ	ʂ	x
	voiced	v	z		ʑ	ʐ	ɣ
	lateral		ɬ
Lateral			l

Vowels

There is distinction between tight-throat vowels and lax-throat (plain) vowels.

	Front		Central		Back
	unrd.	tight	unrd.	tight	unrd.	rnd.	tight
Close	i	i			ɯ	u	ɯ	u
Mid	e	e	(ə˞)	(ə˞)	ɤ	o	ɤ	o
Open-mid	(ɛ)	(ɛ)
Open			a	a

• Diphthongs /iɛ, iɛ/ occur with alveolo-palatal consonants /t͡ɕ, t͡ɕʰ, d͡ʑ, ɕ, ʑ/ in complementary distribution, in the Laochang dialect.
• Open-mid sounds /ɛ, ɛ/ only occur in the Shaochong dialect.
• Rhotic vowels /ə˞, ə˞/ occur mainly in the Northwestern dialects.
• Sounds /i, i/ are heard as syllabic consonants [z̩, z̩] when following alveolar sibilants or affricates, and as syllabic retroflex [ʐ̩, ʐ̩] when following retroflex ones.

Tones

3 tones occur as follows:

Name	Pitch	Symbol
Low (falling)	21	˨˩
Mid	33	˧
High	55	˦

References

• Blackburn, P. L.; Blackburn, Laura (2007). Yongping Nisu Wordlist. Dali: SIL East Asia Group.
• Chen, Shilin 陈士林りん; Bian, Shiming 边仕明あきら; Li, Xiuqing 李り秀しげる清きよし (1985). Yíyǔ jiǎnzhì 彝つね语简志こころざし [A Brief Description of the Yi Language] (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
• Lama, Ziwo Qiu-Fuyuan (2012). Subgrouping of Nisoic (Yi) Languages (Ph.D. thesis). University of Texas at Arlington. hdl:10106/11161.
• Li, Shengfu (1996). Yíyǔ nánbù fāngyán yánjiū 彜语南部なんぶ方言ほうげん研究けんきゅう (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
• Lu, Yan 陆燕 (2008). "Jiāngchéng Tiánfáng Yíyǔ jiégòu zhùcí yánjiū" 江こう城しろ田房たふさ彝つね语结构助词研究けんきゅう. Yúnnán Mínzú Dàxué xuébào (Zhéxué shèhuì kēxué bǎn) 云うん南みなみ民族みんぞく大学だいがく学がく报(哲学てつがく社会しゃかい科学かがく版ばん) (in Chinese). 25 (4).
• Yunnan sheng Lüchun xianzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui (1992). Lǜchūn xiànzhì 绿春县志 [Lüchun County Gazetteer] (in Chinese). Kunming: Yunnan renmin chubanshe.
• Pelkey, Jamin R. (2011). Dialectology as Dialectic: Interpreting Phula Variation. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
• Yang, Cathryn (2009). Nisu Dialect Geography. SIL Electronic Survey Report 2009-007. SIL International.
• Yunnan sheng minzu shiwu weiyuanhui yanjiushi (1955). Yúnnán mínzú shìbié cānkǎo zīliào 雲南うんなん民族みんぞく識別しきべつ參考さんこう資料しりょう (in Chinese). [Kunming]: Yunnan sheng minzu shiwu weiyuanhui yanjiushi – via doc88.com.
• Yunnan sheng Tonghai xian shizhi gongzuo weiyuanhui (1992). Tōnghǎi xiànzhì 通つう海うみ县志 [Tonghai County Gazetteer] (in Chinese). Kunming: Yunnan renmin chubanshe.
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