Phowa is a
dialect cluster
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...
of
Loloish languages
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 ...
spoken by the
Phula people
Phula is a village in Singhpur block of Rae Bareli district, Uttar Pradesh, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country ...
of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
. There are three principal varieties, Hlepho, Ani, and Labo, which may be considered distinct languages. Hlepho may be closer to
Phukha than it is to Labo and Ani. Usage is decreasing, with about two-thirds of Phowa speaking their language.
The representative Hlepho Phowa dialect studied in Pelkey (2011) is that of Feizuke 菲租克, Xinhua Township 新华乡,
Pingbian County.
References
Loloish languages
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