| Mantsi | |
| Nativename: | mã53 tsi53 |
| States: | China, Vietnam |
| Ethnicity: | Lo Lo, ethnic population: (2019) |
| Date: | 2002 |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Familycolor: | Sino-Tibetan |
| Fam2: | Lolo-Burmese |
| Fam3: | Mondzish |
| Dia1: | Mantsi (Vietnam and China) |
| Dia2: | Mondzi (Ma21 Ndʑi21, China) |
| Dia3: | Munji (China) |
| Script: | Yi script |
| Glotto: | mant1265 |
| Glottoname: | Mantsi |
| Iso3: | nty |
| Iso3comment: | (all dialects) |
Mantsi (autonym: pronounced as /mã53 tsi53/; also called Lô Lô, Flowery Lolo, White Lolo or Black Lolo, is a Lolo-Burmese language. Speakers are mostly located in Hà Giang Province, Vietnam. In China, speakers are classified as a subgroup of the Yi people. In Vietnam they are called Lô Lô and is classified as one of the official 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam.
Mantsi may be related to the Kathu (Kasu, Gasu) and Mo'ang () languages of Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan, China (Edmondson 2003). Lama (2012) concludes that Mantsi (Mondzi) and Maang constitute the most divergent branch of the Lolo-Burmese languages.
Monji or Mondzi is reportedly spoken in some villages of Muyang Township, Funing County, Yunnan, China.
Munji is reportedly spoken by the Flowery Yi (Lolo) of Donggan (董干) Town, Malipo County, Yunnan. It is closely related to the Mandzi or Mantsi language of the Flowery Lolo and Black Lolo people of Vietnam and of the White Lolo people of Funing Country. The Red Lolo and Flowery Lolo live across the border in Đồng Văn district, Hà Giang province of Vietnam. Both speak similar languages. The language spoken by the Red Lolo was investigated by Jerold A. Edmondson in the late 1990s.
The Lô Lô ethnic group of northern Vietnam consists of 3,134 people in Hà Giang and Cao Bằng, also including some in Mường Khương District of Lào Cai Province. They are also known as Mùn Di, Di, Màn Di, La La, Qua La, Ô Man, and Lu Lộc Màn.[1]
Phonology of Mondzi:
| Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Alveolo- palatal | Velar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | |||||
| Plosive/ Affricate | prenasalized | pronounced as /ᵐb/ | pronounced as /ⁿd/ | pronounced as /ⁿʣ/ | pronounced as /ⁿdʐ/ | pronounced as /ⁿʥ/ | pronounced as /ᵑg/ | |
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| aspirated | pronounced as /pʰ/ | pronounced as /tʰ/ | pronounced as /ʦʰ/ | pronounced as /tʂʰ/ | pronounced as /ʨʰ/ | pronounced as /kʰ/ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| Lateral | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||||
[ŋ] can appear only as a coda.
Mondzi also has three consonant clusters: [lg], [lk], [lkʰ].
| Front | Non-front | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | ||||
| SyllabicConsonant | loose | ɿ | |||
| tight | ɿ̠ | ||||
| Close | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| Close-mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Open-mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| a | e | e̠ | ɛ | ɛ̠ | o | ɔ | u | i | ɑ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| i | ia | ie | ie̠ | iɛ | iɛ̠ | io | iɔ | iu | |||
| y | yi | ||||||||||
| u | ue | ui | uɑ | ||||||||
| e | ei |
| IPA | Tone value | |
|---|---|---|
| ˥ | 55 | |
| ˦ | 44 | |
| ˧ | 33 | |
| ˥˧ | 53 | |
| ˨˩ | 21 | |
| ˩˧ | 13 |