Nasu language

Nasu
Eastern Yi
Native to China
Ethnicity Nasu (Yi)
Native speakers
 1.0 million  (2007)[1]
Pollard script, Yi script
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Variously:
ywq – Nasu (Wulu)
ygp – Gepo (Köpu)
yig – Wusa Nasu
ywu – Wumeng Nasu
Glottolog wudi1238  (Wuding-Luquan Yi = Wulu)[2]
gepo1234  (Gepo)[3]
nesu1235  (Nesu = Wusa–Wumeng)[4]

Nasu (Naisu, Eastern Yi), or Nasu proper, is a Loloish language spoken by a quarter million Yi people of China. Nasu proper and Wusa Nasu are two of six Yi languages recognized by the government of China. Unlike most written Yi languages, Nasu proper uses the Pollard (Miao) script. A distinct form of the Yi script was traditionally used for Wusa, though few can still read it.

Names

According to the Guizhou Ethnic Gazetteer (2002),[5] Yi autonyms include Nasu 哪苏,[6] Tusu 兔苏,[7] Lagou 腊勾,[8] Guo 果,[9] and so forth.

Most of Yi people of the Luquan area do not have the autonym Luoluo and Nasu (transliterasted into Chinese as 纳苏) means "black", hence the Black Yi (黑彝 Hei Yi),[10] though Black Yi is an aristocratic caste distinction among the Yi People, and Black Yi Script (Heiyiwen) was a Latin script for Yi introduced by missionaries.[11]

Classification

Huang (1993)

In his description of the Yi script (not the spoken language) Huáng Jiànmíng (1993) holds that the Nasu variety of 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.[12] He distinguishes two sub-groups. Nasu proper used in Wuding, Luquan and the suburbs of Kunming, and Wusa used in Guizhou and the bordering areas of Eastern Yunnan.

Bradley (1997)

David Bradley (1997) distinguishes three main dialects of Nasu:

Lama (2012)

Lama (2012) determined that Nasu (Western) is more closely related to Gepo than it is to the others:

Chen (2010)

References

  1. ↑ Nasu (Wulu) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Gepo (Köpu) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Wusa Nasu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Wumeng Nasu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Wuding-Luquan Yi". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  3. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Gepo". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  4. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Nesu". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  5. ↑ Guizhou Province Gazetteer: Ethnic Gazetteer [贵州省志. 民族志] (2002). Guiyang: Guizhou Ethnic Publishing House [貴州民族出版社].
  6. ↑ http://asiaharvest.org/wp-content/themes/asia/docs/people-groups/China/chinaPeoples/N/NasuWusa.pdf
  7. ↑ http://asiaharvest.org/wp-content/themes/asia/docs/people-groups/China/chinaPeoples/T/Tushu.pdf
  8. ↑ http://asiaharvest.org/wp-content/themes/asia/docs/people-groups/China/chinaPeoples/L/Lagou.pdf
  9. ↑ http://asiaharvest.org/wp-content/themes/asia/docs/people-groups/China/chinaPeoples/G/Guopu.pdf
  10. ↑ 彝族文化研究文集 1988 - Page 100 "西一带的彝族,仍有自称为"罗罗"。同时,男人自称"罗颇" ,女人自称"罗摩"。前述流行《四方八虎"图的滇东北武定、禄劝一带大多数彝族,虽己没有"罗罗》之自称,而从彝族尚黑祟虎的传统中,咯虎取黑以自称"纳苏"为《黑人"或《黑族" (彝语《纳"义为黑、大、深、 ...
  11. ↑ 黃新宪 基督敎敎育与中国社会变迁 福建教育出版社, 1996. ISBN, 7533422732, 9787533422738. 1996 Page 173 "... 这对民族区域的社会变迁具有十分积极的意义。首先,提高了少数民族地区的总体文化水平。据 1951 年对滇北武定区的调查表明,聚居于各县山谷中的苗族 9 / 10 能看能写外国传教士用拉丁字母拼写的苗文;分布在山谷中的黑彝和傈傈族,凡参加基甘教者都懂传教士用拉丁字母拼写的黑彝文和栗栗文。
  12. ↑ Nathan Hill Medieval Tibeto-Burman Languages IV 2012- Page 450 "The Nasu variety is used by the groups speaking languages of the Nasu language cluster of Northern Yi in the south-eastern part of Sìchuān, the eastern part of Yúnnán, Gùizhōu, as well as in Guǎngxī. Huáng Jiànmíng (1993: 152)"

Bibliography