Lawu (autonym: ) is a highly endangered unclassified Loloish language of Yunnan, China. It has about 50 elderly speakers in Jiuha village 旧哈村, Shuitang district 水塘镇, Xinping County, Yuxi Prefecture, Yunnan Province. There are possibly also some speakers in Jiujia District 九甲乡, Zhenyuan County, Pu'er Prefecture, Yunnan Province.Yang (2011) (ISO 639-3 documentation) Lawu speakers are currently classified by the Chinese government as Lahu, but were formerly classified as Yi.
Classification Cathryn Yang (2012)Yang, Cathryn. 2012. Phonology sketch and classification of Lawu, an undocumented Ngwi language of Yunnan. In Linguistic Discovery, Volume 10, Issue 2, Year 2012. Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College. suggests that Lawu is most likely a Central Ngwi language, but notes that it does not classify with Lalo, Lahu, or the Lisoid (Lisu, Lipo, Lolopo) languages.
Andrew Hsiu (2017)Hsiu, Andrew. 2017. The Lawu languages: footprints along the Red River valley corridor. suggests that Lawu is related to Awu of Xiaopingzi 小坪子, Daping Township 大坪乡, Yuanyang County, Yunnan, China, which is documented in Lu & Lu (2011).Lu Peng 卢鹏; Lu Wei 路伟. 2011. 国际哈尼/阿卡区域文化调查: 中国元阳县大坪哈尼族阿邬人文化实录. Kunming: Yunnan People's Press 云南人民出版社. Together, Lawu and Awu form a Lawu or Lawoish language branch. The linguistic evidence suggests that the ancestors of the Awu had migrated down the Red River valley from further up northwest, and arrived at their present location after migrating downstream.
Lewu, which is currently extinct, may have been related to Lawu, but classification is uncertain due to the paucity of data.
Phonology +ConsonantsLabialAlveolarPalatalVelarPlosive Affricate Fricative NasalApproximant /n/ is pronounced [ɲ] before the vowels /i e/.
+VowelsFrontCentralBackHighMidLow /i/ is realised as an apical vowel [z̩] after the alveolar affricates and fricatives /tsʰ ts s z/.
Additionally, the following diphthongs have been observed: /ue/, /ie/, /au/, /ai/, /ua/.
Lawu also has four tones; high, mid, low, and falling.
References
Hsiu, Andrew. 2017. The Lawu languages: footprints along the Red River valley corridor.