| Nisu | |
| Nativename: | Southern Yi |
| States: | China |
| Ethnicity: | Yi |
| Speakers: | apart from Northern |
| Date: | 2004–2007 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Speakers2: | 160,000 Northern (no date) |
| Familycolor: | Sino-Tibetan |
| Fam2: | Tibeto-Burman |
| Fam3: | Lolo-Burmese |
| Fam4: | Loloish |
| Fam5: | Nisoish |
| Fam6: | Northern Loloish or Southeastern Loloish? |
| Script: | Yi logograms |
| Lc1: | nsd |
| Lc2: | yiv |
| Lc3: | nos |
| Lc4: | nsv |
| Ld1: | Southern |
| Ld2: | Northern |
| Ld3: | Eastern |
| Ld4: | Southwestern (duplicate or spurious code) |
| Lc5: | nsf |
| Ld5: | Northwestern |
| Glotto: | nisu1237 |
| Glottoname: | 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 pronounced as /ne̠33 su55/, pronounced as /ne̠33 su55 pʰo21/, and pronounced as /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).
Chen et al. (1985:114) recognizes three major varieties of Southern Yi (i.e., Nisu) spoken in Yunnan province: Shijian (石建; Shiping-Jianshui), Yuanjin (元金; 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.
Yang (2009) classifies the Nisu dialects as follows.[1]
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 Nisu or Southern Yi groups with similar autonyms or language varieties are:
A variety of Southern Nisu (autonym: pronounced as /ɲe33 su55 pʰo21/) spoken in Aka Luoduo (阿卡洛多) village (also called Taiping village; 太平村),[2] Tianfang Village (田房村), Jiangcheng County is covered in Lu Yan (2008).
In Tonghai 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.
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 仁厚村 and Yongning Village 永宁村, both of which are located several kilometers north of Mengzi City, Yunnan.[3]
| Labial | Alveolar | (Alveolo-) palatal | Retroflex | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sibilant | |||||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Stop/ Affricate | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ |
| aspirated | pronounced as /ink/ | 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/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| 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/ | |||||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||||
There is distinction between tight-throat vowels and lax-throat (plain) vowels.
| Front | Central | Back | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrd. | tight | unrd. | tight | unrd. | rnd. | tight | |||
| Close | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| Mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | (pronounced as /ink/) | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Open-mid | (pronounced as /ink/) | (pronounced as /ink/) | |||||||
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||||
3 tones occur as follows:
| Name | Pitch | Symbol | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low (falling) | 21 | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Mid | 33 | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| High | 55 | pronounced as /ink/ |