The Pumi language (also known as Prinmi) is a

Qiangic language Qiangic (''Ch'iang, Kyang, Tsiang'', Chinese: 羌語支, "''Qiang'' language group"; formerly known as Dzorgaic) is a group of related languages within the Sino-Tibetan language family. They are spoken mainly in Southwest China, including Sichuan ...

used by the Pumi people, an ethnic group from

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 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 ...

, as well as by the

Tibetan people The Tibetan people (; ) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 6.7 million. In addition to the majority living in Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans liv ...

of Muli in

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 t ...

. Most native speakers live in Lanping,

Ninglang Ninglang Yi Autonomous County (; ii, ꆀꆿꆈꌠꊨꏦꏱꅉꑤ nip lat nuo su zyt jie jux dde xiep) is located in the northwest of Yunnan province, China, bordering Sichuan province to the northeast. It is under the administration of Lijiang C ...

Lijiang Lijiang (), also known as Likiang, is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China. It has an area of and had a population of 1,253,878 at the 2020 census whom 288,787 lived in the built-up area (metro) made of Gucheng ...

, Weixi and Muli. The autonym of the Pumi is ' in Western Prinmi, ' in Central Prinmi, and ' in Northern Prinmi with variants such as ' and '. In Muli Bonist priests read religious texts in Tibetan, which needs to be interpreted into Prinmi. An attempt to teach Pumi children to write their language using the Tibetan script has been seen in

. A pinyin-based Roman script has been proposed, but is not commonly used.

Dialects

Earlier works suggest there are two branches of Pumi (southern and northern), and they are not mutually intelligible. Ding (2014) proposes three major groups: Western Prinmi (spoken in Lanping), Central Prinmi (spoken in southwestern

, Yulong and Yongsheng) and Northern Prinmi (spoken in northern

and

Lu (2001)

Dialects of Pumi include the following (Lu 2001). ;Southern (22,000 speakers) *Qinghua 箐花村, Lanping County, Yunnan * Ludian 鲁甸县, Yunnan *Xinyingpan 新营盘乡, Ninglang County, Yunnan ;Northern (55,000 speakers) *Taoba 桃巴村,

Muli County Muli Tibetan Autonomous County (; ''smi-li rang-skyong-rdzong''; Yi: ''mup li op zzup zyt jie jux dde xiep'') is in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in the southwest of Sichuan province, China, bordering Yunnan province to the southwest. ...

, Sichuan *Tuoqi 拖七村, Ninglang County, Yunnan *Zuosuo 左所区, Yanyuan County, Sichuan *Sanyanlong 三岩龙乡, Jiulong County, Sichuan

Sim (2017)

Sims (2017) lists the following dialects of Pumi. *Northern **Sanyanlong 三岩龙 iulong County(B. Huang & Dai 1992) **Taoba 桃巴 uli County(Sun 1991) **Shuiluo 水洛 uli County(Jacques 2011) *Central **Wadu 瓦都 inglang County(Daudey 2014) **Niuwozi 牛窝子 inglang County(Ding 2001, etc.) *Southern **Dayang

anping County Anping () is a county located in the middle of Hebei Province, it is about away from Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital. Anping is known for its metal wire mesh in China and around the world. Over five hundred years ago, Anping people began to ...

(Matisoff 1997) **Qinghua 箐花

(Sun 1991; B. Huang & Dai 1992) Sims (2017) reconstructs high tones and low tones for Proto-Prinmi.

Documentation

Transcribed, translated and annotated audio documents in the Pumi language are available from the

Pangloss Collection The Pangloss Collection is a digital library whose objective is to store and facilitate access to audio recordings in endangered languages of the world. Developed by the LACITO centre of CNRS in Paris, the collection provides free online access ...

. They concern Northern dialects of Pumi.

Phonology

Orthography

The pinyin-based Roman script for Pumi has been proposed, but yet to be promoted. Tones: * Monosyllabic words ** ''f'' – falling tone ** ''v'' – high tone ** ''none'' – rising tone * Polysyllable words ** ''f'' – nonspreading of the high tone ** ''v'' – spreading of the high tone to the next syllable ** ''r'' – rising tone ** ''none'' – default low tone

Grammar

A reference grammar of the Wadu dialect of Pumi i
available online
A grammar of Central Pumi is also available.

Example

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Languages of China Qiangic languages Languages of China Pumi people