Nisu (Southern Yi,Classical Yi script:) is alanguage cluster spoken by half a millionYi people ofChina. It is one of six Yi languages recognized by the government of China. TheYi script was traditionally used, though few can still read it.[1] According to Lama (2012),[3] Nisu (Nishu) autonyms includene̠33su55,ne̠33su55pʰo21, andɲe̠33ʂu55.
The position of Nisu withinNisoish is debated. Nisu is classified asSoutheastern Loloish by Pelkey (2011),[4] but is traditionally classified as aNorthern Loloish language, including by Lama (2012).[3]
Yang (2009)[6] classifies the Nisu dialects as follows.[7]
Northern Nisu
North-central (Shijian 石建): spoken in Shiping, Xinping, Jiangcheng, Mojiang, and Lüchun counties
Northwestern (Exin 峨新): spoken in Eshan and Jinning counties
Southern Nisu (Yuanjin 元金): spoken in Honghe, Yuanyang, Jinping, Yuanjiang, Shiping, and perhaps also Jianshui counties
Far Northwestern Nisu: spoken in Beidou Township (北斗彝族乡),Yongping County (descendants of Nisu soldiers who migrated to Yongping during the earlyMing Dynasty; most divergent Nisu variety)[8]
The Jiangcheng, Mojiang, and Lüchun varieties were grouped by Chen (1985) to be southern varieties, but Yang (2009)[6] found that they actually belonged to the Northern Nisu group.
A variety of Southern Nisu (autonym:ɲe33su55pʰo21) spoken in Aka Luoduo (阿卡洛多) village (also called Taiping village; 太平村),[11] Tianfang Village (田房村),Jiangcheng County is covered in Lu Yan (2008).[12]
InTonghai County,Southern Yi (Nisu) is spoken by all generations only in Xiangping (象平), Bajiao (芭蕉), Sizhai (四寨), Shikan (石坎), Pingba (平坝), Shangzhuangke (上庄科), and Xiazhuangke (下庄科) villages.[13]
Pu wrote a Nisu-Chinese dictionary in 2021, with Nisu words transcribed in bothIPA andYi script. It is based on the Nisu dialect of Renhou Village 仁厚村 and Yongning Village 永宁村, both of which are located several kilometers north ofMengzi City, Yunnan.[14]
Diphthongs/iɛ,i̱ɛ̱/ occur with alveolo-palatal consonants/t͡ɕ,t͡ɕʰ,d͡ʑ,ɕ,ʑ/ in complementary distribution, in the Laochang dialect.
Open-mid sounds/ɛ,ɛ̱/ only occur in the Shaochong dialect.
Rhotic vowels/ə˞,ə̱˞/ occur mainly in the Northwestern dialects.[15]
Sounds/i,i̱/ are heard as syllabic consonants[z̩,ẕ̩] when following alveolar sibilants or affricates, and as syllabic retroflex[ʐ̩,ʐ̱̩] when following retroflex ones.[6]
