The Ersuic languages (, ''Ersu''; also called Duoxu or Erhsu) are a
Qiangic language cluster of the
Sino-Tibetan language family
Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...
. Ersu languages are spoken by about 20,000 people in
China as reported by
.
(alternatively Menia or Menya) is reported to be related, but it is not known how it fits in.
Ersuic speakers live in the western part of China's
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
province (several counties within the
Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, often shortened to Ganzi Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture in the western arm of Sichuan province, China, bordering Yunnan to the south, the Tibet Autonomous Region to the west, and Gansu to the north ...
,
Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture
Liangshan (; Yi: ''Niep Sha'', pronounced ), officially the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture occupying much of the southern extremity of Sichuan province, People's Republic of China; its seat is Xichang. Liangsha ...
, and the
prefecture-level city
A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure.
During the Republican era, many of China' ...
of
Ya'an
Ya'an (, Tibetan: Yak-Nga ) is a prefecture-level city in the western part of Sichuan province, China, located just below the Tibetan Plateau. The city is home to Sichuan Agricultural University, the only 211 Project university and the largest r ...
).
[ Most of them are classified by the Chinese government as members of the Tibetan ethnic group,][ although some also are registered as ]Han Chinese
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive v ...
.[ Older adults mostly use Ersu, but younger people also use Chinese or Yi.
The Ersu Shaba script of the ''shābā'' religious books is a ]pictograph
A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and g ...
ic system of proto-writing
Proto-writing consists of visible marks communicating limited information. Such systems emerged from earlier traditions of symbol systems in the early Neolithic, as early as the 7th millennium BC in Eastern Europe and China. They used ideogra ...
. The system, in which the color of the characters has an effect on the meaning, was inspired by Chinese writing and was created in the 11th century.
Languages
There are three Ersuic languages.
* Ersu 尔苏 (Eastern Ersu) – 13,000 speakers
* Lizu 傈苏, 里汝, 吕苏 (Western Ersu) – 4,000 speakers; 7,000 speakers
* Tosu 多续 (Central Ersu) – 3,000 speakers; almost none remaining
classifies Ersu languages as follows, with defining innovations given in parentheses.
;Proto-Ersuic
* Tosu
* Ersu (''ja''- adjective prefix)
**Hanyuan 汉源
**Zeluo 则落 / Qingshui 清水 (*ui- > ri-, *tɕ- > ts-, etc.)
* Lizu (*j- > ɲ-, *Ke > Kɯ, *riu > ri)
**Mianning 冕宁 (alveopalatal split)
**Central (*st- > k-, *HC- > C-)
***Naiqu 乃渠
***Kala 卡拉 (from )
***Kala 卡拉 (from )
Grammar
Ersu is a subject–object–verb language. It has three tones.
References
Works cited
*
*
*
*
External links
* ELAR archive o
Ersu language documentation materials
* List of Proto-Ersuic reconstructions (Wiktionary)
{{Na-Qiangic languages
Qiangic languages
Endangered Sino-Tibetan languages
Languages of China