Lalo language


Lalo is a Loloish language cluster spoken in western Yunnan, China by 300,000 speakers. Speakers are officially part of the Yi nationality, and Chinese linguists refer to it as "Western Yi" due to its distribution in western Yunnan. Lalo speakers are mostly located in southern Dali Prefecture, especially Weishan County, considered the traditional homeland of the Lalo.Yang, Cathryn. 2009. Regional variation in Lalo: Beyond east and west. La Trobe Papers in Linguistics, 12. http://arrow.latrobe.edu.au:8080/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.9/146522. Historically, this area is the home of the Meng clan, who ruled the Nanzhao Kingdom. Many speakers of Core Lalo dialects claim to be descendants of the Meng clan.

Names

Many Lalo are referred to by the exonym Menghua, a name used during the Yuan Dynasty to refer to an area comprising modern-day Weishan County and Nanjian County. They are also referred to as Tujia people.
David Bradley refers to the Lalo language cluster, which includes the Samatu language of Zhenkang County and Yongde County, as Laloid.

Demographics

Cathryn Yang gives the following demographic information for various Lalo languages. Combined, speakers of Lalo languages number fewer than 300,000 people.
Wang & Zhao, citing Chen, et al., divide Western Yi into two dialects, namely Dongshan and Xishan. In Lincang Prefecture, Western Yi speakers number approximately 30,000 people and have the autonyms ' and '.
  • Dongshan 东山: spoken in Weishan, Dali, Midu, Yongping, Baoshan counties
  • Xishan 西山: spoken in Weishan, Dali, Yun, Changning, Lincang, Shuangjiang, Midu, Jingdong, Jinggu counties
In Jianxing Township 建兴乡, Xinping County, Yunnan, Lalu 腊鲁 is spoken in the two administrative villages of Malutang 马鹿塘 and Mowei 磨味 by about 3,000 people.
  • Malutang 马鹿塘 : in the 11 villages of Goutoupo 狗头坡, Gaoyingzhai 高阴寨, Cizhujing 刺竹警, Upper Mazongshan 上马宗山, Lower Mazongshan 下马宗山, Daliqi 大力气, Yuwuxiang 玉武乡, Upper Mowei 上磨味, Lower Mowei 下磨味, Upper Yunpan 上云盘, Lower Yunpan 下云盘
  • Mowei 磨味 : in the 6 villages of Malu Dazu 马鹿大组, Lalu Xiaozhai 腊鲁小寨, Laojing 老警, Xinzhai 新寨, Tianfang 田房, and Meizijing 梅子警.
Lalu 腊鲁 is also spoken in Sipsongpanna, including in Xiangmeng 象明乡, Yiwu 易武乡, Mengpeng 勐捧镇, and Jinghong 景洪市 townships.
Yunnan mentions the Datou 达头 of Pu'er and Simao as having traditions and festivals similar to those of the Yi people of Weishan County, who are mostly Lalo speakers.
The Aciga 阿次嘎 of Lancang County reside in Yakou Township 雅口乡 and Nanxian Township 南现乡. They numbered 50 as of 1960. 100 years ago, they had migrated from Niujian Mountain 牛肩山, Zhenyue County 镇越县, and had spoken a different language that is now extinct. They now speak Chinese and "Yi". Aciga is an exonym, as the Aciga do not have an autonym.

Subdivisions

Lama splits Laluba into three dialects.
;Laluba
  • Misaba
*
  • *Laloba
  • *Laluba
A recent dialectological survey by Cathryn Yang shows that the Lalo cluster comprises at least 7 closely related languages. Three of these constitute the Core Lalo group and are located in the traditional Lalo homeland of southern Dali Prefecture. There are also four peripheral languages, Mangdi, Eka, Yangliu, and Xuzhang, whose ancestors migrated out of the Lalo homeland at different times.
All Lalo languages show a reflex of the Proto-Lalo autonym *la2lo̠Hpa̠L; i.e. the name that the Proto-Lalo called themselves are still preserved in the various modern Lalo languages. Eka speakers’ autonym is now ', but elderly speakers report that their more archaic autonym is '.
Yang's phylogenetic tree of Lalo is as follows.
  • Proto-Lalo
  • *Eka
  • *Mangdi 芒底
  • *Yangliu 杨柳
  • *Greater Lalo
  • **Xuzhang 徐掌
  • **Core Lalo
  • ***Eastern
  • ****Taoshu 桃树
  • ****Core Eastern
  • ***Central-Western
  • ****Central
  • *****East Mountain
  • *****Core Central
  • ****Western
  • *****Yilu 义路
  • *****Core Western
Alu may also be a peripheral Lalo language, but this is uncertain due to limited data.
Other languages that may be Lalo include:
  • Gaiji of central Yun County
  • Gaisu, Western of Yongde County
  • Gepo, Western of Heqing County
  • Pengzi of Yongde County
  • Suan of Yongde County
  • Xijima of Yun County

    Phonology

Consonants

  • are heard as alveolo-palatal before front vowels.
  • The glottal fricative is mainly always nasalized as, and vowels following are also nasalized.
  • Approximant sounds are in complementary distribution. is before back vowels, and is before front vowels.
  • is always heard as labio-dental before front vowels. In the Western dialects, is phonemically distinct.
  • is always heard as a voiced glottal sound before vowels. In the Western dialects, is heard as before, before, and before vowels.
  • Nasals are heard as palatal before a close vowel.
  • Nasals can have syllabic allophones of when preceding other consonants.
  • The glottalized is heard as a glottalized retroflex sound before a central close vowel.
  • Syllables with no initial consonant, always phonetically begin with a glottal stop.

    Vowels

There is phonetic distinction between tight-throat vowels and lax-throat vowels.
  • Close vowels are realized as mid tight-throat sounds and the back vowel is realized as tight, within syllables of harsh phonation. Vowels do not occur in syllables with harsh phonation.
  • The close rounded vowel mainly occurs after velar initials.
  • The close central vowel is heard as rounded when after bilabial consonants, as syllabic after alveolar sounds and as a syllabic retroflex after retroflex sounds. also only occurs after bilabial, retroflex and velar initial consonants and never after alveolar stops, labio-dental or labio-velar initials.
  • Mid-central vowel is realized as a syllabic labiodental fricative, when after labio-dental fricatives. never occurs after labial consonants or alveolar affricates or fricatives.
  • In citation form, front vowels are heard as diphthongs with an offglide as.
  • Close central vowel is heard as an apical syllabic sound after alveolar affricates and fricatives and as after retroflex affricates and fricatives.
  • Open back vowel is typically realized as a central and is then raised after retroflex sounds as a mid sound.
  • A syllabic fricative is contrastive with back vowels. It only occurs after labio-dental consonants.

    Tones

The following are the tones in Central and Western Lalo:
NamePitchSymbol
High55
High-rising45
Mid33
Mid, harsh33
Low, harsh31
Low, breathy22