Laghuu () is a

Loloish language The Loloish languages, also known as Yi (like the Yi people) and occasionally Ngwi or Nisoic, are a family of 50–100 Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily in the Yunnan province of Southwestern China. They are most closely related to Bur ...

spoken in northwestern

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

.Raymond G. Gordon Jr., ed. 2005. ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World''. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics. In Nậm Sài,

Sa Pa Sa Pa (, also written as Sapa) is a district-level town of Lào Cai Province in the Northwest region of Vietnam. The town has an area of and a population of 70,663 in 2022. The town capital lies at Sa Pa ward. It is one of the main market and t ...

Town, the speakers' autonym is ', while in

Sơn La Sơn La (; Tai Dam: ) is a city in the north-west region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Sơn La Province. It is bordered by Thuận Châu District, Mường La District, and Mai Sơn District. History In the era of the Sip Hoc Chau Tai, ...

Province it is '. The people are also called the by the Vietnamese. Edmondson considers Laghuu to be related to but not part of the Yi language complex of China. Jamin Pelkey (2011) considers Laghuu to be a

Southeastern Loloish The Southeastern Loloish languages, also known as Southeastern Ngwi, are a branch of the Loloish languages. In Lama's (2012) classification, it is called ''Axi-Puoid'', which forms the Nisoish branch together with the ''Nisoid'' (''Nisu–Lope'' ...

language.

Distribution

Laghuu is spoken in the following locations by a total of about 1,000 people (Edmondson 1999 & 2002). * Lào Cai province ** Văn Bàn district ** Bảo Thắng district ** Bát Xát district ***A Lù **

town ***Nậm Sài **

Cam Đường Cam or CAM may refer to: Science and technology * Cam (mechanism), a mechanical linkage which translates motion * Camshaft, a shaft with a cam * Camera or webcam, a device that records images or video In computing * Computer-aided manufacturin ...

(near Lào Cai city) *

Yên Bái province Yên Bái was a former Provinces of Vietnam, province located in Northwest (Vietnam), Northwest Vietnam. It shares borders with six provinces which are Hà Giang province, Lào Cai province, Lai Châu province, Sơn La province, Phú Thọ provinc ...

Văn Yên district Văn Yên is a district of Yên Bái province, in the Northeast region of Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a po ...

Sơn La province Sơn La is a province nestled in the Northwestern region of Vietnam. In 2018, Sơn La ranked 31st among Vietnam's administrative units in terms of population, 40th in Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP), 49th in GRDP per capita, and 63rd in GR ...

** Thuần Giáo The Vietnam, Laghuu speakers are officially classified as part of the Phù Lá ethnic group. Some Laghuu are known as "Black Phu La," and others as "Flowery Phu La."

Phonology

Phonotactics

Words in Laghuu are typically

disyllabic A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...

compounds, consisting of two single-syllable

morphemes A morpheme is any of the smallest meaningful constituents within a linguistic expression and particularly within a word. Many words are themselves standalone morphemes, while other words contain multiple morphemes; in linguistic terminology, this ...

, as in other Yi languages. A syllable may be divided into an

initial In a written or published work, an initial is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter (books), chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is ultimately derived from the Latin ''initiālis'', which means '' ...

, a

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually the exact same phonemes) in the final Stress (linguistics), stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of rhyming (''perfect rhyming'') is consciou ...

, and a

tone Tone may refer to: Visual arts and color-related * Tone (color theory), a mix of tint and shade, in painting and color theory * Tone (color), the lightness or brightness (as well as darkness) of a color * Toning (coin), color change in coins * ...

. The initial is not obligatory, and it usually consists of a single consonant, though it may also be a

cluster may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study the magnetosphere * Asteroid cluster, a small ...

consisting of a velar stop followed by a lateral. The rhyme consists of a nuclear vowel followed by a glide or a nasal coda , with being the most common coda nasal.

Consonants

Laghuu has the following consonants. In addition to these single consonants, Laghuu also allows syllables to begin with velar stop + alveolar lateral sequences: .

Vowels

Laghuu has the following vowels. Also, the

diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...

s , , occur.

Tones

Laghuu has five tones: * high (/55/) * high-mid (/44/) * low-mid (/33/) * low-rising (/24/) * low-falling (/21/)

Notes

References

* *Nguyễn Văn Huy (1975). "Bước đầu tim hiểu mối quan hệ tộc người giữa hai nhóm Phù Lá và Xá Phó". In, Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam: Viện dân tộc học. ''Về vấn đề xác định thánh phần các dân tộc thiểu số ở miền bắc Việt Nam'', 415-428. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội. *http://ling.uta.edu/jerry/vietTB1.pdf *https://web.archive.org/web/20100627045649/http://ling.uta.edu/~jerry/tbv.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Laghuu language Loloish languages Languages of Vietnam