The Nasu language, also known as the Eastern Yi language or Naisu, Luquan Yi, Wuding Yi, Guizhou Yi, Weining Yi, Guangxi Yi or Longlin Yi, 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 by 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 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Nasu and Wusa are two of six Yi languages recognized by the

Government of China The government of the People's Republic of China is based on a system of people's congress within the parameters of a unitary communist state, in which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacts its policies through people's congresses. ...

. Unlike most written Yi languages, Nasu uses the

Pollard script The Pollard script, also known as Pollard Miao () or Miao, is an abugida loosely based on the Latin alphabet and invented by Methodist missionary Sam Pollard. Pollard invented the script for use with A-Hmao, one of several Miao languages spoke ...

. A distinct form of the

Yi script The Yi scripts (; ) are two scripts used to write the Yi languages; Classical Yi (an ideogram script), and the later Yi syllabary. The script is historically known in Chinese as ''Cuan Wen'' () or ''Wei Shu'' () and various other names (), amon ...

was traditionally used for Wusa, though few can still read it. The Nasu language is also known as the Black Yi language, but this name is no longer used.

Names

According to the ''Guizhou Ethnic Gazetteer'' (2002),Guizhou Province Gazetteer: Ethnic Gazetteer ��州省志. 民族志(2002). Guiyang: Guizhou Ethnic Publishing House ��州民族出版社 Yi autonyms include Nasu 哪苏, Tusu 兔苏, Lagou 腊勾, Guo 果, and so forth. Most of Yi people of the Luquan area do not have the autonym Luoluo and Nasu (transliterated into Chinese as 纳苏) means "black", hence the Black Yi (黑彝 Hei Yi), though Black Yi is an aristocratic

caste A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...

distinction among the Yi People, and Black Yi Script (Heiyiwen) was a Latin script for Yi introduced by missionaries.

Classification

Chen (1985)

Chen, et al. (1985:108) recognizes 3 major varieties of ''Eastern Yi'' (i.e., Nasu) that are spoken in

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 ...

and

Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...

provinces, namely ''Dianqian'' 滇黔 (Yunnan-Guizhou), ''Pan'' 盘县 ( Pan County of

), and ''Diandongbei'' 滇东北 (Northeastern Yunnan). Autonyms include ' (alternatively '), ' (including ', ', and '), ', and '. *Dianqian 滇黔次方言: 4 dialects **Shuixi 水西土语: spoken in

Bijie Bijie ( zh, s=毕节, t=畢節, p=Bìjíe) is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Guizhou Province, China, bordering Sichuan to the north and Yunnan to the west. The Daotianhe Reservoir, located to the north of the town was commissioned in ...

, Qianxi,

Dafang Dafang (), called Dading () until 1958, is a county of Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showin ...

, Zhijin, Nayong,

Qingzhen :''The term ''Qingzhen'' can also refer to Islam in China, Chinese Muslims, Chinese Islamic cuisine or the Hui people, Hui ethnic group.'' Qingzhen () is a county-level city under the administration of Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou, Guizhou Provi ...

, and

Zhenxiong Zhenxiong County () is a county in the northeast of Yunnan province, China, under the administration of Zhaotong Prefecture-level city, prefecture and bordering Guizhou and Sichuan. Geography Zhengxiong County is located in the northeastern part o ...

counties **Wusa 乌撒土语 ( ig: spoken in Weining, Shuicheng,

Hezhang Hezhang () is a county in the northwest of Guizhou province, China, bordering Yunnan to the north. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Bijie. Administrative divisions Hezhang County is divided into 5 subdistricts, 10 ...

, Nayong, Yiliang,

Huize Huize County (, old name: ''Dongchuan 東川'') is a county-level city, under the jurisdiction of Qujing City, Yunnan province, People's Republic of China. Demography The city has grown considerably over the past 20 years. It has 871,200 inhabit ...

, and

Xuanwei Xuanwei () is a county-level city in the northeast of Yunnan, Yunnan Province, China, bordering Guizhou province to the north and east. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Qujing. Geography Xuanwei is located in northea ...

counties **Mangbu 芒部土语: spoken in

and

counties **Wumeng 乌蒙土语 ( wu: spoken in

Zhaotong Zhaotong ( zh, t=昭通) is a prefecture-level city located in the northeast corner of Yunnan province, China, bordering the provinces of Guizhou to the south and southeast and Sichuan to the northeast, north, and west. History Zhaotong has ...

and Yongshan *Pan 盘县次方言: spoken in Xingren, Pu'an, Qinglong, Shuicheng, Fuyuan, and Luoping counties *Diandongbei 滇东北次方言: 5 dialects **Luquan 武禄土语: spoken in Wuding, Luquan, Yuanmou, Xundian, Lufeng, and

counties **Qiaowu 巧武土语 (''Qiaojia-Wuding''): spoken in Qiaojia, Wuding, Luquan, Yuanmou, and

counties **Wuding 武定土语: spoken in Wuding, Yongren, and Lufeng counties **Xundian 寻甸土语: spoken in Xundian, Luquan,

, Songming, Luxi, Shizong, Luoping, and

Mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a imperial unit, British imperial unit and United States customary unit of length; both are based on the older English unit of Unit of length, le ...

counties **Kun'an 昆安土语 (''Kunming-Anning''): spoken in Anning and Lufeng counties

Huang (1993)

In his description of the

(not the spoken language), Huáng Jiànmíng (1993) holds that the Nasu variety of the Yi script is used by the groups speaking languages of the Nasu language cluster of Northern Yi in south-eastern Sìchuān, eastern Yúnnán, Gùizhōu, as well as in Guǎngxī. He distinguishes two sub-groups. Nasu proper used in Wuding, Luquan, and the suburbs of

Kunming Kunming is the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II, Kunming was a Ch ...

, and Wusa used in Guizhou and the bordering areas of Eastern Yunnan.

Bradley (1997)

David Bradley (1997) distinguishes three main dialects of Nasu: *Southeastern (Panxian): 150,000 speakers in southwestern Guizhou *Northeastern (Nesu): 300,000 speakers, comprising most of the other Nasu speakers of Guizhou, and some in extreme northeastern Yunnan and southeastern Sichuan **Shuixi subdialect 水西土语 **Wusa subdialect 乌撒土语 **Mangbu subdialect 芒部土语 **Wumeng subdialect 乌蒙土语 *Western (Nasu proper): 250,000 speakers all in north-central Yunnan; Black (more numerous) and Red subdialects

Lama (2012)

Lama (2012) determined that Nasu (Western) is more closely related to Gepo than it is to the others: *Nesu **Panxian (Nasepho, '): North and South dialects **Shuixi Nesu (Dafang Nesu) **Nesu proper ***Wumeng ***Mangbu ***Wusa (Wusa Nasu) *Nasu **Nasu proper ** Gepo ('): 100,000 speakers

Chen (2010)

Phonology

Consonants

* The phonetic sound of // is mainly heard as .

Vowels

There is distinction between tight-throat vowels and lax-throat (plain) vowels. * Sounds are heard as syllabic consonants when following alveolar sounds , and as syllabic retroflex when following retroflex sounds . *The phonetic sounds of the rhoticized vowels are mainly heard as more back .

Tones

3 tones occur as follows:

References

Bibliography

*Bradley, David (1997).
Tibeto-Burman languages and classification
. In ''Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas, Papers in South East Asian linguistics''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. *Chen Kang ��康 2010. ''A study of Yi dialects'' ��语方言研究 Beijing: China Minzu University Press. *Lama, Ziwo Qiu-Fuyuan (2012), ''Subgrouping of Nisoic (Yi) Languages'', thesis, University of Texas at Arlington. *Lu Lin 卢琳. 2017. Yiyu Shuicheng Zhichanghua yanjiu 彝语水城纸厂话研究. In ''Guizhou Minzu Yanjiu'' 贵州民族研究.

External links

283-word wordlist in Wuding Maojie Naisu dialect
available from Kaipuleohone as well a
word lists from other Nasu speakers
{{Lolo-Burmese languages Loloish languages Languages of Yunnan Languages of Guizhou Languages of Sichuan Languages of Guangxi