Kathu language

This article will address the topic of Kathu language, which has generated great interest and debate in today's society. Kathu language is a topic that has impacted people of all ages, genders and social classes, generating conflicting opinions and awakening great interest due to its relevance today. Throughout this article, different aspects related to Kathu language will be analyzed, from its origins to its impact on people's daily lives. Various perspectives and points of view will be presented with the aim of deeply understanding the importance of Kathu language in today's society.

Kathu
Thou
Native toChina
RegionGuangnan County
EthnicityYi
Native speakers
5,000 (2007)[1]
Dialects
  • Kathu
  • Thou
Language codes
ISO 639-3ykt
Glottologkath1251
ELPKathu

Kathu (Chinese: 嘎苏话) is a Lolo-Burmese language of Balong (坝聋), Nanping Township (南屏镇), Guangnan County, Yunnan, China.[2] The Kathu are locally known as the White Yi (白彝). Wu Zili (2004) estimates that Kathu has a total of more than 7,000 speakers in Guangnan County (including in Dayashao 大牙少[3]), as well as in Jinping County, Yunnan. Ethnologue mentions a possible presence in Xilin County, Guangxi Province.

A related variety is known as Thou.

Kathu-Thou is notable for having initial consonant clusters, which within the Lolo-Burmese branch are also found in Written Burmese (Old Burmese) and Jinuo (Hsiu 2014:66).[4] Wu (2004) lists the onset clusters pl, pʰl, bl, ml, kl, kʰl, gl, ql, qʰl, ɢl, ŋl.

Varieties

Hsiu (2014:65)[4] identifies two varieties, both spoken in Nanping Township (南屏镇).

  • Kathu (autonym: ka33 θu33), spoken in Anwang village 安王村
  • Thou (autonym: θou̯53), spoken in Balong village 坝聋村

Classification

Kathu vocabulary is largely similar to those of other Mondzish languages. However, there are various words that do not appear to be of Lolo-Burmese origin, and are derived from an unknown Tibeto-Burman branch (Hsiu 2014).[4] Hsiu (2014) suggests that Kathu could be added to George van Driem's list of Trans-Himalayan "fallen leaves."

Bradley (1997)[5] classified Kathu as a Northern Loloish language, while Bradley (2007)[6] classified it as a Southeastern Loloish language. However, Pelkey (2011:458)[7] notes that Kathu and Mo'ang are not Southeastern Loloish languages.

See also

References

  1. ^ Kathu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-12-30. Retrieved 2018-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-09-14. Retrieved 2015-09-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ a b c Hsiu, Andrew. 2014. "Mondzish: a new subgroup of Lolo-Burmese Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine". In Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics (IsCLL-14). Taipei: Academia Sinica.
  5. ^ Bradley, David. 1997. "Tibeto-Burman languages and classification". In Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas, Papers in South East Asian linguistics. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  6. ^ Bradley, David. 2007. East and Southeast Asia. In Moseley, Christopher (ed.), Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, 349-424. London & New York: Routledge.
  7. ^ Pelkey, Jamin. 2011. Dialectology as Dialectic: Interpreting Phula Variation. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
  • Wu Zili . 2004. "Gasu language ". In Studies on selected languages of Yunnan , 486-513. Kunming: Yunnan People's Press . ISBN 7536730624

Further reading