Nuosu or Nosu ( or written in traditional script, transcribed as ), also known as Northern Yi, Liangshan Yi, and Sichuan Yi, is the prestige language of the Yi people; it has been chosen by the Chinese government as the standard Yi language () and as such is the only one taught in schools in both oral and written forms. It is spoken by two million people and is increasing (as of PRC census); 60% were monolingual (1994 estimate). Nuosu is the native Nuosu name for their own language and is not used in Mandarin Chinese, though it may sometimes be translated as Nuòsūyǔ ().
The occasional terms 'Black Yi' () and 'White Yi' () are castes of the Nuosu people, not dialects.
Nuosu is one of several often mutually unintelligible varieties known as Yi, Lolo, Moso, or Noso. The six Yi languages recognized by the Chinese government have only 25% to 50% of their vocabulary in common. They share a common traditional writing system, but that is used for shamanism, rather than daily accounting.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, it is one of the eight Tibeto-Burman languages with over 1,000,000 speakers (others being Burmese, Tibetan, Meitei, Bai, Karen, Hani, Jingpo). Note: Encyclopedia Britannica defines modern Tibetan as having "four dialect groups: Central, Southern, Northern (in northern Tibet), and Western (in western Tibet)".
Distribution Nuosu is mainly spoken in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan.
There are other parts of Sichuan where Yi is spoken, including Panzhihua and Leshan.
In Yunnan, Northern Yi (Nuosu) is spoken in the north.
Dialects Lama (2012) Lama (2012) gives the following classification for Nuosu dialects. Nuosu Qumusu (Tianba) Nuosu proper Nuosu Muhisu Nuosu () Yinuo Shengzha Niesu () Suondi Adu
The Qumusu (曲木苏, Tianba 田坝) dialect is the most divergent one. The other dialects group as Niesu (聂苏, and Adu) and as Nuosu proper (Muhisu 米西苏, Yinuo 义诺, and Shengzha 圣乍). Niesu has both lost voiceless nasals and developed diphthongs.
Adu (阿都话), characterized by its labial–velar consonants, is spoken in the Butuo and Ningnan counties of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, and also in parts of Puge, Zhaojue, Dechang, and Jinyang counties.
Nyisu or Yellow Yi (黄彝) of Fumin County, Yunnan may either be a Soundi Yi (Nuosu) dialect or Nisu dialect.
Zhu and Zhang (2005) reports that the Shuitian people () reside mostly in the lowlands of the Anning River drainage basin, in Xichang, Xide, and Mianning counties of Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan. They are called Muhisu (mu33 hi44 su33) by the neighboring Yi highland people. Shuitian is spoken in the following locations. Shuitian belongs to the Shengzha dialect () of Northern Yi.
Mianning County: Jionglong 迥龙, Lugu 泸沽, Hebian 河边; Manshuiwan 漫水湾Main datapoint used in Zhu & Zhang (2005) Xichang: Lizhou 礼州, Yuehua 月华 Xide County: Mianshan 冕山镇 (including Shitoushan Village 石头山村), Lake 拉克
Bradley (1997) According to Bradley (1997), there are three main dialects of Nosu, of which the Southeastern one (Sondi) is most divergent. Northern Tianba 田坝 Northwestern Yinuo 义诺 a.k.a. Northeastern Central (Shengzha 圣乍) Southeastern (Sondi) Sondi Adur
Chen (2010) Chen (2010) lists the following dialects of Nosu. Also listed are the counties where each respective dialect is spoken.
Nosu 诺苏方言 Senza, Shèngzhà 圣乍次方言 Senza, Shèngzhà 圣乍 (): 1,200,000 speakers primarily in Xide, Yuexi, Ganluo, Jinyang, Puge, Leibo, Xichang, Dechang, Mianning, Yanyuan, Yanbian, Muli, Shimian, Jiulong, and Luding; also in Huaping, Yongsheng, Ninglang, Lijiang, Jianchuan, Yongshan, and Qiaojia Yino, Yìnuò 义诺 (): 600,000 speakers primarily in Meigu, Mabian, Leibo, and Ebian, Ganluo; also in Yuexi, Zhaojue, and Jinyang Lidim, Tiánbà 田坝 (): 100,000 speakers primarily in Ganluo, Yuexi, and Ebian; also in Hanyuan Sodi, Suǒdì 所地次方言 (): 600,000 speakers primarily in Tuoxian, Huili, Huidong, Ningnan, Miyi, Dechang, and Puge
Phonology Consonants + Consonant phonemes in Nuosu Labial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar GlottalNasal Stop/Affricate Continuant
and use the Sinological symbol to transcribe the alveolo-palatal nasal.
's chart and transcriptions slightly differ from the later sources: The retroflex fricatives and affricates are notated as plain postalveolar (i.e. with instead of ) The alveolo-palatal series is notated as palatalized (post)alveolar (i.e. with instead of ) The alveolo-palatal (palatalized) nasal includes a voiceless pairing in concordance with the alveolar nasals (i.e. with in addition to )
and transcribe the voiceless lateral as an approximant , while transcribe it as a fricative . See for descriptions of syllabic realizations of the laterals.
segments the bilabial trill as an allophone of the following set of consonants before the vowel phonemes , while and segment it as a syllabic realization of the same vowels (see ): as an allophone of as an allophone of and as allophones of as an allophone of
Vowels Eatough (1997) + Vowel phonemes according to Front Non-front Close() Close-mid Open-mid Open + Vowel phones according to Front Non-front Close() Close-mid Open-mid Open
Gerner (2013) + Vowels according to Front Central Back Close Close-mid Open-mid Open
Edmondson, Esling & Ziwo (2017) + Vowel phonemes according to (Near-)Front Central (Near-)Back Close Near-close Close-mid Open-mid Open + Vowel phones according to (Near-)Front Central (Near-)Back Close Near-close Close-mid Open-mid Open
Phonation Nuosu has five pairs of phonemic vowels, contrasting in a feature calls loose throat vs. tight throat, while call it lax vs. tense; simply describes the contrast as with and without laryngealization. Underlining is used as an ad hoc transcription for tight/tense phonation, used both phonemically and phonetically by , and phonemically by . treats the contrast both phonetically as and with the transcription of creaky voice , while treat it phonetically as laryngeal register and with the transcription of retracted tongue root . According to , vowel quality (height) is a byproduct of loose vs. tight throat, working as a reinforcement; the phonation type is the primary phonemic distinction, rather than the quality. 's analysis shows this reinforcement likewise extends to the fricativized vowels (syllabic fricatives). According to and , a syllable-final is added in the Nuosu Pinyin orthography to indicate vowels with tense/tight/creaky phonation.
Description Transcription Phonemic Phonetic Phonemic Phonetic loose throat vs. tight throat noncreaky vs. creaky lax vs. tense modal voice vs. raised larynx voice
Quality notes as sounding slightly closer (higher) than their cardinal values. 's analysis found this to be true for , while they found to be much closer (higher) and analyze them instead as more similar to , and found to be slightly more open (lower) than its cardinal value, the opposite of 's conjecture.
According to , the tight throat vowel occurs as a phonetic realization of the phonemically loose throat ('s ) in the high tone, due to raising of the larynx to produce high pitch; it only occurs in this tone. The loose throat never occurs in this tone, and as such there is no three way contrast known to exist in any tone between .
According to , vowels are often nasalized after nasal consonants. The tense (tight) vowels often have a schwa offglide .
Fricativized vowels The fricativized vowels (also called fricative vowels or syllabic fricatives) in Nuosu are the close vowel phonemes: unrounded or rounded or
The initial fricative elements of the fricativized vowels (which state have also been notated as ) may be voiceless or voiced bilabial trills after bilabial and alveolar plosives; both the lax and tense variants may be either type of voicing, depending on the context. suggests that the realization is more lenis after bilabial plosives, and more fortis after alveolar plosives. The vowel elements may be a range of , being fronted especially after more forward consonants. The fricative (or trill) elements may occasionally be reduced to offglides , or entirely neutralized. transcribes this process instead as bilabially trilled onglides while the fricativized vowel retains its form .
The fricativized vowels (which notates as ) are described by as 'voiced alveolar fricative syllabic continuants', which are apical and approximated (more open), and with the tongue position between and ; they are more accurately transcribed as , or with the Sinological symbol . They may also be fronted to or become fully rhotic after alveolo-palatal consonants. The retroflex pair are described as retroflex equivalents of this articulation; they are more accurately transcribed as , or with the Sinological symbol , and are shown to be allophones of after retroflex consonants. In addition to the assimilated forms described below, suggests complementary distribution of (or per the later authors' transcriptions ) and equivalent for the tight (tense) form, based on place of articulation of consonant onsets, which is roughly corroborated by in further detail.
Assimilation The fricativized vowels show systematic assimilation to preceding lateral continuants and bilabial nasals, resulting in the formation of syllabic lateral and nasal consonants.
According to , the fricativized vowels may assimilate with the laterals to form syllabic lateral–median approximants (roughly for and for ), which they transcribe as to indicate quality between and ; the voicing type is determined by the voicing of the laterals, not by vowel tenseness (tightness), and the combined forms in the case of the voiceless laterals indicates lengthened (geminated) with changing voicing. The initial voiceless onsets may be reduced to , resulting in the forms . shows almost the same process, but treats them as simple laterals . provides a similar but narrower analysis, stating only unrounded central assimilates with to form syllabic . Both and show both lax and tense (loose and tight) forms of the syllabic laterals, while does not.
In a similar case as the laterals, all authors show some degree of fricativized vowel assimilation with the bilabial nasals . treats this identically to the laterals; only unrounded central assimilates to form syllabic . also treats this closely to the laterals, where are labialized, and the voiceless variants are lengthened with changing voicing. However, rather than forming simple nasals, reports them as forming co-articulated nasals and laterals ; this results in the forms . do not include (extra-)labialized forms, but do note the same quality of changing voicing, and still show as assimilating under the process just as do; this results in the forms . Just as with the laterals, both and show both lax and tense (loose and tight) forms of the syllabic nasals, while does not.
Nuosu syllable structure is (C)V.
Tones
According to and , the Nuosu Pinyin orthography indicates tones with the following letters at the end of syllables: high / – written high-mid / or mid falling / – written (written with the diacritic over symbols in the syllabary) mid / – unmarked low falling / – written
The high-mid tone is only marginally contrastive. Its two main sources are from tone sandhi rules, as the outcome of a mid tone before another mid tone, and the outcome of a low-falling tone after a mid tone. However, these changes do not occur in all compounds where they might: for instance "bear" + "mother" regularly forms "female bear", but "jackal" + "mother" forms "female jackal" without sandhi. The syntax creates other contrasts: tone sandhi applies across the boundary between object and verb, so is present in SOV clauses like "Mujy looks for Luti", but is absent in OSV clauses like "Luti looks for Mujy". A few words, like "what?", have underlying high-mid tone.
Writing system