Laghuu () is a Loloish language spoken in northwestern Vietnam.Raymond G. Gordon Jr., ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics. In Nậm Sài, Sa Pa Town, the speakers' autonym is , while in Sơn La Province it is . The people are also called the by the Vietnamese.
Edmondson considers Laghuu to be related to but not part of the Yi language complex of China. Jamin Pelkey (2011) considers Laghuu to be a Southeastern Loloish language.
Distribution Laghuu is spoken in the following locations by a total of about 1,000 people (Edmondson 1999 & 2002).
Lào Cai province Văn Bàn district Bảo Thắng district Bát Xát district A Lù Sa Pa town Nậm Sài Cam Đường (near Lào Cai city) Yên Bái province Văn Yên district Sơn La province Thuần Giáo
The Vietnam, Laghuu speakers are officially classified as part of the Phù Lá ethnic group. Some Laghuu are known as "Black Phu La," and others as "Flowery Phu La."
Phonology
Phonotactics Words in Laghuu are typically disyllabic compounds, consisting of two single-syllable morphemes, as in other Yi languages. A syllable may be divided into an initial, a rhyme, and a tone. The initial is not obligatory, and it usually consists of a single consonant, though it may also be a cluster consisting of a velar stop followed by a lateral. The rhyme consists of a nuclear vowel followed by a glide or a nasal coda , with being the most common coda nasal.
Consonants Laghuu has the following consonants. In addition to these single consonants, Laghuu also allows syllables to begin with velar stop + alveolar lateral sequences: .
Labial Alveolar Post-alveolar Velar Glottal Nasal Plosive andAffricate prenasalized aspirated tenuis voiced Fricative voiceless voiced Approximant
Vowels Laghuu has the following vowels. Also, the diphthongs , , occur.
front central back unrounded rounded High ɿ Hi-mid Lo-mid Low
Tones Laghuu has five tones: high (/55/) high-mid (/44/) low-mid (/33/) low-rising (/24/) low-falling (/21/)
Notes
References
Nguyễn Văn Huy (1975). "Bước đầu tim hiểu mối quan hệ tộc người giữa hai nhóm Phù Lá và Xá Phó". In, Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam: Viện dân tộc học. Về vấn đề xác định thánh phần các dân tộc thiểu số ở miền bắc Việt Nam, 415–428. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội. http://ling.uta.edu/jerry/vietTB1.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20100627045649/http://ling.uta.edu/~jerry/tbv.pdf