Jump to content

Main menu Navigation ●Main page ●Contents ●Current events ●Random article ●About Wikipedia ●Contact us ●Donate Contribute ●Help ●Learn to edit ●Community portal ●Recent changes ●Upload file

●Create account ●Log in ●Create account ● Log in Pages for logged out editors learn more ●Contributions ●Talk

(Top) 1 Languages 2 Grammar 3 Further reading 4 References 5 Works cited 6 External links

Ersuic languages

●Brezhoneg ●Català ●Galego ●中文 Edit links ●Article ●Talk ●Read ●Edit ●View history Tools Actions ●Read ●Edit ●View history General ●What links here ●Related changes ●Upload file ●Special pages ●Permanent link ●Page information ●Cite this page ●Get shortened URL ●Download QR code ●Wikidata item Print/export ●Download as PDF ●Printable version Appearance From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Ersu languages)

Ersu
Native to	China
Native speakers	(20,000 cited 1982)^[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Qiangic Ersu
Writing system	Ersu Shaba script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`ers`
Glottolog	`ersu1242`

The Ersuic languages (Chinese: 尔苏, Ersu; also called DuoxuorErhsu) are a Qiangic language cluster of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Ersu languages are spoken by about 20,000 people in China as reported by Sun (1982).^[2] Muya (alternatively Menia or Menya) is reported to be related, but it is not known how it fits in.

Ersuic speakers live in the western part of China's Sichuan province (several counties within the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, and the prefecture-level cityofYa'an).^[2] Most of them are classified by the Chinese government as members of the Tibetan ethnic group,^[1]^[2] although some also are registered as Han Chinese.^[1] Older adults mostly use Ersu, but younger people also use ChineseorYi.

The Ersu Shaba script of the shābā religious books is a pictographic system of proto-writing. The system, in which the color of the characters has an effect on the meaning, was inspired by Chinese writing and was created in the 11th century.

Languages[edit]

There are three Ersuic languages.^[3]

Ersu 尔苏 (Eastern Ersu) – 13,000 speakers^[4]
Lizu 傈苏, 里汝, 吕苏 (Western Ersu) – 4,000 speakers;^[4] 7,000 speakers^[5]
Tosu 多续 (Central Ersu) – 3,000 speakers;^[4] almost none remaining^[5]

Yu (2012) classifies Ersu languages as follows, with defining innovations given in parentheses.

Proto-Ersuic

Tosu
Ersu (ja- adjective prefix)
- Hanyuan 汉源
- Zeluo 则落 / Qingshui 清水 (*ui- > ri-, *tɕ- > ts-, etc.)
Lizu (*j- > ɲ-, *Ke > Kɯ, *riu >ri)
- Mianning 冕宁 (alveopalatal split)
- Central (*st- > k-, *HC- > C-)
  - Naiqu 乃渠
  - Kala 卡拉 (from Chirkova (2008))
  - Kala 卡拉 (from Huang & Renzeng (1991))

Grammar[edit]

Ersu is a subject–object–verb language. It has three tones.

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c ErsuatEthnologue (25th ed., 2022)

^ ^a ^b ^c "Ěrsūyǔ" 尔苏语 [Ersu Language]. Zhōngguó mínzú yǔyán yánjiū wǎng 中国民族语言研究网 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2012-04-26.

^ Yu (2012).

^ ^a ^b ^c Sun (1982).

^ ^a ^b Chirkova (2008).

Works cited[edit]

Chirkova, Katia (2008). Essential Characteristics of Lizu, a Qiangic Language of Western Sichuan. Workshop on Tibeto-Burman Languages of Sichuan, November 21–24, 2008.

Huang, Bufan 黄布凡; Renzeng, Wangmu 仁增旺姆 (1991).『Lǚsūyǔ』吕苏语 [The Lǚsū Language]. In Dai, Qingxia 戴庆厦; et al. (eds.). Zàng-Miǎnyǔ shíwǔ zhǒng 藏缅语十五种 [Fifteen Tibeto-Burman Languages] (in Chinese). Beijing: Yanshan chubanshe. pp. 132–152.

Sun, Hongkai 孙宏开 (1982).『Ěrsū (Duōxù) Huà jiǎnjiè』尔苏（多续）话简介 [A Brief Introduction to Ersu (Doshu)]. Yǔyán yánjiù 语言研究 (in Chinese). 3: 241–264.

Yu, Dominic (2012). Proto-Ersuic (PDF) (Ph.D. thesis). University of California, Berkeley.