- Nuosu language
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Nuosu ꆈꌠ꒿ Nuosuhxop Spoken in China Region southern Sichuan, northern Yunnan Ethnicity Yi people Native speakers 2 million (2000 census) Language family Sino-Tibetan- (Tibeto-Burman)
- Lolo–Burmese
- Loloish
- Northern Loloish
- Nuosu
- Northern Loloish
- Loloish
- Lolo–Burmese
Language codes ISO 639-1 ii ISO 639-3 iii This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. Nuosu (Nosu), also known as Northern Yi, Liangshan Yi, and Sichuan Yi, is the prestige language of the Yi people; it has been chosen by the Chinese government as the standard Yi language (in Mandarin: Yí yǔ, 彝語/彝语) and, as such, is the only one taught in school, both in its oral and written form. It is spoken by two million people and is increasing; 60% are monolingual. Nuosu is the native Nuosu/Yi name for their own language and is not used in Mandarin Chinese; although it may sometimes be spelled out for pronunciation (nuòsū yǔ 诺苏语/諾蘇語), the Chinese characters for nuòsū have no meaning.[1]
The occasional terms 'Black Yi' (Mandarin: hēi Yí 黑彝) and 'White Yi' (bái Yí 白彝) are castes of the Nuosu people not dialects.
Nuosu is one of several often mutually unintelligible varieties known as Yi, Lolo, Moso, or Noso; the six Yi languages recognized by the Chinese government hold only 25% to 50% of their vocabulary in common. They share a common traditional writing system, though this is used for shamanism rather than daily accounting. The Yi people regard the traditional Western term Lolo (Luóluó 羅羅/罗罗) as pejorative.
Contents
Writing system
Main article: Yi scriptClassic Yi is a syllabic logographic system of 8,000–10,000 glyphs. Although similar to Chinese in function, the glyphs are independent in form, with little to suggest a direct relation.
The Modern Yi script (ꆈꌠꁱꂷ nuosu bburma [nɔ̄sū bʙ̝̄mā] 'Nosu script') is a standardized syllabary derived from the classic script in 1974 by the local Chinese government. 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.
In 1958 the Chinese government had introduced a Roman-based alphabet for use in Yi, based on the romanized script of Gladstone Porteous of Sayingpan.[2] (This was later replaced by the Yi script.)
Phonology
The written equivalents of the phonemes listed here are "Yi Pinyin". For information about the actual script used, see the section above entitled Writing System.
Consonants
Labial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal voiced m /m/ n /n/ ny /ɲ/ ng /ŋ/ unvoiced hm /m̥/ hn /n̥/ Plosive prenasalized nb /mb/ nd /nd/ mg /ŋɡ/ voiced bb /b/ dd /d/ gg /ɡ/ unvoiced b /p/ d /t/ g /k/ aspirated p /pʰ/ t /tʰ/ k /kʰ/ Affricate prenasalized nz /ndz/ nr /ndʐ/ nj /ndʑ/ voiced zz /dz/ rr /dʐ/ jj /dʑ/ unvoiced z /ts/ zh /tʂ/ j /tɕ/ aspirated c /tsʰ/ ch /tʂʰ/ q /tɕʰ/ Fricative unvoiced f /f/ s /s/ sh /ʂ/ x /ɕ/ h /x/ hx /h/ voiced v /v/ ss /z/ r /ʐ/ y /ʑ/ w /ɣ/ Lateral voiced l /l/ unvoiced hl /l̥/ Vowels
Front Central Back Close i /i/ y /z̞*/ u /u/ Close-mid ie /e/ o /o/ Open-mid e /ə/ uo /ɔ/ Open a /a/ * Identified with the vowel of the Mandarin 四 sì "four"
Tones
- high [˥] – written -t
- mid falling [˧˨] or mid [˧] – written -x
- mid [˧] – unmarked
- low falling [˨˩] – written -p
References
- ^ Zhu Wenxu etc. 朱文旭、木乃热哈、陈国光 Yi-yu basic course 彝语基础教程 Central Minorities Publishing Co. 中央民族大学出版社 (2006-04出版)
- ^ Yi language
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)
- Ma Linying, Dennis Elton Walters, Susan Gary Walters (editors). Nuosu Yi-Chinese-English Glossary. Nationalities Publishing House (1991). ISBN 7105090502.
External links
Categories:- Loloish languages
- Languages of China
- Languages of Thailand
- Yi people
- (Tibeto-Burman)
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