Sui language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Sui or Swi language (Chinese: 水語) belongs to the Tai-Kadai family, chiefly spoken by the Shui people in Guizhou province, China. According to Ethnologue, as of 1999, the total number of speakers is around 200,000.

The language is known for its complicated consonant system. The Sandong (三洞) dialect has as many as 70 consonants. The language has it own script, known as "Shuishu" (水書) in Chinese, for ritual purpose.

[edit] References

• (Chinese) 張均如，《水語簡誌》，北京：民族出版社，1980。

[edit] External links

• Sui language at Ethnologue
• Fang-Kuei Li, "The Distribution of Initials and Tones in the Sui Language", Language, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1948), pp. 160-167, available through JSTOR.