The Loloish languages, also known as Yi (like the

Yi people The Yi or Nuosu people (Nuosu language, Nuosu: , ; see also #Names and subgroups, § Names and subgroups) are an ethnic group in South China, southern China. Numbering nine million people, they are the seventh largest of the 55 Ethnic minorit ...

) and occasionally Ngwi or Nisoic, are a family of 50–100

Tibeto-Burman languages The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people spe ...

spoken primarily in the

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

province of

Southwestern China Southwestern China () is a region in the People's Republic of China. It consists of five provincial administrative regions, namely Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Xizang. Geography Southwestern China is a rugged and mountainous region, ...

. They are most closely related to Burmese and its relatives. Both the Loloish and

Burmish The Burmish languages are a subgroup of the Sino-Tibetan languages consisting of Burmese (including Standard Burmese, Arakanese, and other Burmese dialects such as the Tavoyan dialects) as well as non-literary languages spoken across Myanmar an ...

branches are well defined, as is their superior node, Lolo-Burmese. However, sub-classification is more contentious. The 2013 edition of ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

'' estimated a total number of 9 million native speakers of Loloish ("Ngwi") languages, the largest group being the speakers of Nuosu (Northern Yi) at 2 million speakers (2000 PRC census).

Names

''Loloish'' is the traditional name for the family in English. Some publications avoid the term under the misapprehension that ''Lolo'' is pejorative, but it is the Chinese rendition of the autonym of the

and is pejorative only in writing when it is written with a particular Chinese character (one that uses a beast, rather than a human,

radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

), a practice that was prohibited by the Chinese government in the 1950s.. David Bradley uses the term ''Ngwi'', and Lama (2012) uses ''Nisoic''. ''Ethnologue'' has adopted 'Ngwi', but ''Glottolog'' retains 'Loloish'. Paul K. Benedict coined the term ''Yipho'', from Chinese ''Yi'' and a common autonymic element (-''po'' or -''pho''), but it never gained wide usage.

Internal classification

Bradley (2007)

Loloish was traditionally divided into a northern branch, with

Lisu Lisu may refer to: *Lisu people, an ethnic group of the mountainous regions of Yunnan (China), Arunachal Pradesh (India), northern Myanmar and Thailand *Lisu language, Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Lisu people **Fraser script or Old Lisu A ...

and the numerous

Yi languages 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 Burme ...

and a southern branch, with everything else. However, per Bradley and Thurgood there is also a central branch, with languages from both northern and southern. Bradley adds a fourth, southeastern branch. *

Northern Loloish The Northern Loloish languages, also known as Northern Ngwi, are a branch of the Loloish languages that includes the literary standard of the Yi people. In Lama's (2012) classification, it is called ''Nisoid'' (''Nisu–Lope''), which forms the ...

: Nuosu (2 million), Nasu (1.0 million), etc. *

Central Loloish The Central Loloish languages, also known as Central Ngwi, is a branch of Loloish languages in Bradley (1997). It is not used in Lama's (2012) classification. Central Loloish is also not supported in Satterthwaite-Phillips' (2011) computational p ...

(940,000)– Lipho (250,000) (incl. Lolopo (570,000), Lalo (320,000)),

Micha Micha, or Miqie (; autonym: '), is a Loloish language of Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of ...

(50,000), Lahu (600,000), Jinuo (21,000), etc. *

Southern Loloish The Southern Loloish or Southern Ngwi languages, also known as the Hanoish or Hanish languages, constitute a branch of the Loloish languages that includes Akha and Hani. Languages The branches included in Lama (2012), with languages from Brad ...

: Akha–

Hani Hani may refer to: People * Hani (name) * Hani (singer), a South Korean singer and member of EXID * Hani (producer), a record producer and remixer from New York City * Hani people, an ethnic group of China and Vietnam Places * Hani, an island in ...

, Phunoi– Bisu, Pholo and ’Ugong (aberrant; removed in Bradley 1997) *

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'' ...

: Nisu, Phula, Sani, Azha, Khlula,

Muji , or is a Japanese retailer which sells a wide variety of household and consumer goods. Muji's design philosophy is minimalist, and it places an emphasis on recycling, reducing production and packaging waste, and a no-logo or "no-brand" policy. ...

Phowa ''Phowa'' (, ) is a tantric practice found in both Hinduism and Buddhism. It may be described as "transference of consciousness at the time of death", " mindstream transference", "the practice of conscious dying", or "enlightenment without medit ...

, etc. Ugong is divergent; Bradley (1997) places it with the

Burmish languages The Burmish languages are a subgroup of the Sino-Tibetan languages consisting of Burmese (including Standard Burmese, Arakanese, and other Burmese dialects such as the Tavoyan dialects) as well as non-literary languages spoken across Myanmar an ...

. The

Tujia language The Tujia language (; zh, s=土家语 , t=土家語 , p=Tǔjiāyǔ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken natively by the Tujia people in Hunan Province, China. It is unclassified within the Sino-Tibetan language family, due to pervasive influence ...

is difficult to classify due to divergent vocabulary. Other unclassified Loloish languages are Gokhy (Gɔkhý), Lopi and

Ache Ache or Aches may refer to: Ethnography * Aché, an indigenous people of eastern Paraguay * Aché language, the language of the Aché people * Ache language (China) * Aṣẹ (Cuban spelling: ''aché''), a concept in Orisha belief People * ...

Lama (2012)

Lama (2012) classified 36 Lolo–Burmese languages based on a computational analysis of shared phonological and lexical innovations. He finds the

Mondzish languages Mondzish (Mangish) is a small group of languages that constitute the most divergent branch of the Lolo–Burmese languages in the classification of Lama (2012). The Mondzish languages are spoken in Funing, Guangnan, Malipo, and Napo counties of C ...

to be a separate branch of Lolo-Burmese, which Lama considers to have split off before

did. The rest of the Loloish languages are as follows: The Nisoish, Lisoish, and Kazhuoish clusters are closely related, forming a clade ("Ni-Li-Ka") at about the same level as the other five branches of Loloish. Lama's Naxish clade has been classified as Qiangic rather than Loloish by

Guillaume Jacques Guillaume Jacques (, born 1979) is a French linguist who specializes in the study of Sino-Tibetan languages: Old Chinese, Tangut, Tibetan, Gyalrongic and Kiranti languages. He also performs research on the Algonquian and Siouan language fam ...

and Alexis Michaud (''see

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

''). A Lawoish (Lawu) branch has also been recently proposed. Satterthwaite-Phillips' (2011) computational phylogenetic analysis of the Lolo-Burmese languages does support the inclusion of Naxish (Naic) within Lolo-Burmese, but recognizes Lahoish and Nusoish as coherent language groups that form independent branches of Loloish.

Lesser-known languages

Notes

References

* * * * * * * {{Lolo-Burmese languages Lolo-Burmese languages Languages of Myanmar Languages of China