Lolopo language

Not to be confused with Lipo language.

Lolopo
Central Yi
Loxrlavu
Native to	China
Ethnicity	Yi
Native speakers	570,000 (2002–2007)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman) Lolo–Burmese Loloish Lisoish Lipo–Lolopo Lolopo
Writing system	Yi script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ycl – inclusive code Individual code: ysp – Southern Lolopo
Glottolog	lolo1259

Lolopo (autonyms: lɔ21 lo33 pʰɔ21, lo31 lo31 pʰo31; Chinese: 倮倮泼; Central Yi) is a Loloish language spoken by half a million Yi people of China. Chinese linguists call it "Central Yi" as well, which is one of the six Yi languages recognized by the government of China.

Names

Lolo speakers are referred to by a variety of exonyms. Below is a list of exonyms followed by their respective autonyms and demographics.

• Mili: lo21 lo33 pʰo21 (spoken by about 12,000 people in Jingdong County). Also called Alie.
• Enipu 厄尼蒲 (ɣɯ55 ni21 pa̠21 'water buffalo people', an offensive exonym used by Lalo speakers): lo21 lo33 pʰo21 (spoken in Nanjian County). Spoken by nearly 20,000 people in Weishan County (Qinghua Township) and Nanjian County (in Wuliang, Xiaowandong, and Langcang townships)
• Tu 土 (Tuzu 土族): lo21 lo33 pʰo21 (spoken by nearly 10,000 people in southern Xiangyun County)
• Qiangyi 羌夷: lɔ̠21 lɔ33 sɨ55 (spoken by nearly 15,000 people in northern and central Xiangyun County)
• Eastern Lalu: lo̠21 lo̠33 (spoken by nearly 20,000 people in Xinping County and Zhenyuan County)
• Lolo (of northeastern Binchuan County): lo̠21 lo33 pʰo21
• Xiangtang 香堂 (spoken in Zhenkang County). Widespread distribution in Jinggu, Zhenyuan, Pu'er, Jiangcheng, Mengla, Jinghong, and Zhenkang counties, with perhaps under 80,000 speakers.
• Lolo (of Nanhua County): lo̠21 lo̠33 pʰo21
• Lolo (of Yao'an County): lo21 la33 pʰo21
• Wotizo: wɔ21 ti33 zɔ21 (Yang 2010:7)

Classification

Yang (2011) proposes this tentative internal classification of Lolo.

• Southern Lolo (?)
  • Western Lolo (Southern Lolopo in Ethnologue, ISO 639 ysp)
  • Xiangtang
  • Jingdong Lolo (Mili)
• Southern Dali Lolo (Enipu)
• Nanhua Lolo
  • Eastern Lalu
  • Tu
• Binchuan Lolo (?)
• Yao'an Lolo (Qiangyi) (?)

The Chuxiong Prefecture Ethnic Gazetteer (2013:364) lists the following cognacy percentages between Lolopo 罗罗濮 and other Yi languages in Chuxiong Prefecture.

• Ache 阿车: 74.86% (211/282)
• Chesu 车苏: 55% (155/282)
• Luowu 罗武: 75.89% (214/282)
• Shansu 山苏: 78.4% (221/282)
• Lipo 里濮: 93.36% (253/271)

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p	t			k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ			kʰ
	voiced	b	d			ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		ts	tʃ
	aspirated		tsʰ	tʃʰ
	voiced		dz	dʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ		x
	voiced	v	z		ʝ	ɣ
Nasal		m	n			ŋ
Lateral			l~ɮ
Semivowel						w

• /m, n, ŋ/ before stops and fricatives are heard as syllabic sounds [m̩, ɱ̍], [n̩], and [ŋ̍].
• /l/ is also heard in free variation as a voiced lateral fricative [ɮ].

Vowels

	Front	Back
		unrd.	rnd.
Close	i, i̠	ɯ, ɯ̠
Near-close			ʊ, ʊ̠
Mid	e, e̠		o, o̠
Near-open	æ, æ̠
Open	a, a̠

Diphthongs

	Front		Back
Mid			ʲo, ʲo̠
Open	ʲɛ, ʲæ̠	ʲa, ʲa̠

• Sounds /ʊ, ʊ̠/ are pronounced as syllabic consonants [z̩ʷ, z̠̩ʷ] when following alveolar sibilants, and as [v̩, v̠̩] when following /d/ in a low [˨] tone syllable.
• Sounds /i, i̠/ are heard as syllabic consonants [z̩, z̠̩] when following alveolar sibilants.
• Sounds /ɯ, ɯ̠/ are heard as central sounds [ə, ə̠] when following alveolar consonants.
• /æ/ is heard as open-mid [ɛ] following alveolar plosives /t, d, ts, dz/, a palatal fricative /ʝ/, and within palatalized diphthongs /ʲ/.

Tones

Name	Pitch	Symbol
Low	21	˨
Mid	33	˧
High	55	˦

External links

• An audio recording of a word list in Lolopo is archived with Kaipuleohone