Lawu (autonym: ')
is a highly endangered unclassified
Loloish language
The Loloish languages, also known as Yi in China and occasionally Ngwi or Nisoic, are a family of fifty to a hundred Sino-Tibetan languages spoken primarily in the Yunnan province of China. They are most closely related to Burmese and its rel ...
of
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...
, China. It has about 50 elderly speakers in Jiuha village 旧哈村,
Shuitang district 水塘镇,
Xinping County, Yuxi Prefecture,
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...
Province. There are possibly also some speakers in Jiujia District 九甲乡,
Zhenyuan County,
Pu'er Prefecture
Pu'er is a prefecture-level city in southern Yunnan Province, China. The urban administrative center of Pu'er is Simao District, which is also the former name of the prefecture-level city itself. A major downturn in the price of tea in 2007 cause ...
, Yunnan Province.
[Yang (2011)](_blank)
(ISO 639-3 documentation) Lawu speakers are currently classified by the Chinese government as
Lahu, but were formerly classified as
Yi.
Classification
Cathryn Yang (2012)
[Yang, Cathryn. 2012]
Phonology sketch and classification of Lawu, an undocumented Ngwi language of Yunnan
In ''Linguistic Discovery'', Volume 10, Issue 2, Year 2012. Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College. suggests that Lawu is most likely a
Central Ngwi language, but notes that it does not classify with Lalo, Lahu, or the Lisoid (Lisu, Lipo, Lolopo) languages.
Andrew Hsiu (2017)
[Hsiu, Andrew. 2017. ]
The Lawu languages: footprints along the Red River valley corridor
'. suggests that Lawu is related to
Awu of Xiaopingzi 小坪子, Daping Township 大坪乡,
Yuanyang County, Yunnan, China,
which is documented in Lu & Lu (2011).
[Lu Peng 卢鹏; Lu Wei 路伟. 2011. 国际哈尼/阿卡区域文化调查: 中国元阳县大坪哈尼族阿邬人文化实录. Kunming: Yunnan People's Press 云南人民出版社. ] Together, Lawu and Awu form a ''Lawu'' or ''
Lawoish'' language branch. The linguistic evidence suggests that the ancestors of the Awu had migrated down the
Red River valley from further up northwest, and arrived at their present location after migrating downstream.
Lewu, which is currently extinct, may have been related to Lawu, but classification is uncertain due to the paucity of data.
References
*Hsiu, Andrew. 2017.
The Lawu languages: footprints along the Red River valley corridor'.
{{Lolo-Burmese languages
Loloish languages
Languages of China
Endangered Sino-Tibetan languages