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Pumi language

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Pumi
Prinmi
Native toPeople's Republic of China
RegionSichuan, Yunnan
EthnicityPumi
Native speakers
(54,000 cited 1999)[1]
none
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
pmi – Northern Pumi
pmj – Southern Pumi
Glottologpumi1242

The Pumi language (also known as Prinmi[citation needed]) is a Qiangic language used by the Pumi people, an ethnic group from Yunnan, China, as well as by the Tibetan people of Muli in Sichuan, China.[2][3] Most native speakers live in Lanping, Ninglang, Lijiang, Weixi and Muli.

The autonym of the Pumi is pʰʐə̃˥mi˥ in Western Prinmi, pʰɹĩ˥mi˥ in Central Prinmi, and pʰʐõ˥mə˥˧ in Northern Prinmi with variants such as pʰɹə̃˥mə˥ and tʂʰə̃˥mi˥˧.[4][5]

In Muli Bonist priests read religious texts in Tibetan, which needs to be interpreted into Prinmi.[citation needed] An attempt to teach Pumi children to write their language using the Tibetan script has been seen in Ninglang.[6] A pinyin-based Roman script has been proposed, but is not commonly used.[7]

Dialects

Earlier works suggest there are two branches of Pumi (southern and northern), and they are not mutually intelligible. Ding (2014) proposes three major groups: Western Prinmi (spoken in Lanping), Central Prinmi (spoken in southwestern Ninglang, Lijiang, Yulong and Yongsheng) and Northern Prinmi (spoken in northern Ninglang and Sichuan).[8]

Lu (2001)

Dialects of Pumi include the following (Lu 2001).[9]

Southern (22,000 speakers)
Northern (55,000 speakers)

Sim (2017)

Sims (2017)[10] lists the following dialects of Pumi.

  • Northern
    • Sanyanlong 三岩龙 [Jiulong County] (B. Huang & Dai 1992)[11]
    • Taoba 桃巴 [Muli County] (Sun 1991)[12]
    • Shuiluo 水洛 [Muli County] (Jacques 2011)[13]
  • Central
    • Wadu 瓦都[14] [Ninglang County] (Daudey 2014)[15]
    • Niuwozi 牛窝子[16] [Ninglang County] (Ding 2001, etc.)[17]
  • Southern
    • Dayang [Lanping County] (Matisoff 1997)[18]
    • Qinghua 箐花 [Lanping County] (Sun 1991; B. Huang & Dai 1992)[12][11]

Sims (2017)[10] reconstructs high tones and low tones for Proto-Prinmi.

Documentation

Transcribed, translated and annotated audio documents in the Pumi language are available from the Pangloss Collection.[19] They concern Northern dialects of Pumi.

Sounds

Orthography

The pinyin-based Roman script for Pumi has been proposed, but yet to be promoted.

Initials:

Letter IPA Letter IPA Letter IPA Letter IPA Letter IPA
b [p] p [pʰ] bb [b] m [m] hm [m̥]
d [t] t [tʰ] dd [d] n [n] hn [n̥]
g [k] k [kʰ] gg [ɡ] h [x] hh [ɣ]
j [tɕ] q [tɕʰ] jj [dʑ] x [ɕ] xx [ʑ]
z [ts] c [tsʰ] zz [dz] s [s] ss [z]
zh [ʈʂ] ch [ʈʂʰ] zzh [ɖʐ] sh [ʂ] ssh [ʐ]
zr [ʈ], [ʈʂ/kʴ] cr [ʈʰ], [ʈʂʰ/kʴʰ] zzr [ɖ], [ɖʐ/ɡʴ] l [l] lh [ɬ]
br [pʴ] pr [pʴʰ] bbr [bʴ] r [ɹ] hr [ɹ̥]
ng [ŋ] hng [ŋ̥] w [w] y [j]

Rimes:

Letter IPA Letter IPA Letter IPA Letter IPA
i [i/iə] u [u] ui [ɥi/wi] e [ə]
ie [jɛ/e] iu [ju] uee [ɥe/we]
ii [ɨ/ə] uu [uə/ʉ] ue [ɥɛ/wɛ/wə] üa [ɥɐ]
in [ĩ/ə̃] ien [(j)ɛ̃/ĩ] uen [ɥɛ̃/wɛ̃/wĩ] uin [ɥĩ]
o [o/ɤ] io [(j)ɐw/ɨɤ] on [õ] ion [jõ]
a [ɑ] ia [jɐ/jɜ] ua [wɑ/wɜ] uan [wɐ̃/wɜ̃]
aa [a] uaa [wa] an [ɐ̃]
ea [ɜ/ɛ] ai [ɜj] uai [wɜj]

Tones:

  • Monosyllabic words
    • f - falling tone
    • v - high tone
    • none - rising tone
  • Polysyllable words
    • f - nonspreading of the high tone
    • v - spreading of the high tone to the next syllable
    • r - rising tone
    • none - default low tone

Grammar

A reference grammar of the Wadu dialect of Pumi is available online.[20] A grammar of Central Pumi is also available.[21]

Example

Pumi[by whom?] English
Tèr gwéjè dzwán thèr phxèungphxàr sì.
Timitae llìnggwe zreungzrun stìng.
He has broken several hammers.
This man is crying and shouting all the time.

References

  1. ^ Northern Pumi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Southern Pumi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Ding, Picus S. 2003. Prinmi: a sketch of Niuwozi. In Graham Thurgood and Randy LaPolla (eds.) The Sino-Tibetan Languages, pp. 588-601. London: Routledge Press.
  3. ^ Lu, S. (2001), Dialectal Studies of the Pumi Language, Beijing: Nationalities Press
  4. ^ Pumiyu Fangyan Yanjiu 2001.
  5. ^ Ding 2014, chapter 1
  6. ^ Wáng lěi and Shī Xiǎoliàng. 2011. Shínián, xiāngcūn “hánguī” zǒujìn xiànxué “pǔmǐbān”.[1]
  7. ^ Ding, Picus Sizhi (2007), "Challenges in Language Modernization in China: The Case of Prinmi" (PDF), in David, Maya; Nicholas Ostler; Caesar Dealwis (eds.), Working Together for Endangered Languages: Research Challenges and Social Impacts (Proceedings of FEL XI), Bath, England: Foundation for Endangered Languages, pp. 120–126, archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-26
  8. ^ Ding 2014, chapter 1
  9. ^ Lù, Shàozūn. 2001. Pŭmĭyŭ fāngyán yánjiū [A dialectal study of the Pŭmĭ language]. Beijing: Mínzú Chūbănshè
  10. ^ a b Sims, Nathaniel. 2017. The suprasegmental phonology of proto-Rma (Qiang) in comparative perspective. Presented at the 50th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, Beijing, China.
  11. ^ a b Huang Bufan and Dai Qingxia, eds. 1992. Zangmianyuzu yuyan cihui 《藏緬語族語言詞匯》[A Tibeto-Burman Lexicon]. Beijing: Central Institute of Minorities.
  12. ^ a b Sun Hongkai et al. 1991. Zangmianyu yuyin he cihui 《藏缅语语音和词汇》 [Tibeto-Burman phonology and lexicon]. Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Press.
  13. ^ Jacques, G. (2011). Tonal alternations in the Pumi verbal system. Language and Linguistics, 12(2), 359-392.
  14. ^ http://www.ynszxc.net/villagePage/vIndex.aspx?departmentid=230994
  15. ^ Daudey 2014
  16. ^ http://www.ynszxc.net/villagePage/vIndex.aspx?departmentid=223332
  17. ^ Ding, Picus Shizhi (2001). "The Pitch-accent System of Niuwozi Prinmi" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 24 (2): 57–83.
  18. ^ Matisoff, James A. (1997). "Dàyáng Pumi Phonology and Adumbrations of Comparative Qiangic" (PDF). The Mon-Khmer Studies Journal. 27: 171–213.
  19. ^ "Pumi corpus". The Pangloss Collection.
  20. ^ Daudey 2014
  21. ^ Ding 2014

Bibliography