The Sani people (撒尼人) are a branch of 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 ...

in China and speak the Sani language a dialect of the

Yi 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 ...

. The Sani people live mainly in the central part 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 the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

, notably Shílín (formerly Lùnán) and Yíliáng counties as well as in Lúxī County.Nathan Hill - Medieval Tibeto-Burman Languages IV 2012- Page 450 "The traditional writing used by the Sani and Azhe (speaking languages of the Southeastern language cluster of Central Yi) could be divided into two separate varieties/scripts because of their formal differences. The Sani people live mainly in Shílín (formerly Lùnán) and Yíliáng counties as well as in Lúxī County (Hónghé Prefecture) in the central part of Yúnnán."

References

Ethnic groups in Yunnan Yi people {{China-stub